the crazy quilt

28 Jan the crazy quilt

Several people asked me about the quilt B is snuggling in my last post. Yes, I did make it, but there’s a bit of a story behind it…

Do you ever see a project on a blog or Pinterest and think, “I can TOTALLY do that!” And then you get started and realize, “what the HELL was I thinking attempting this?!”

This quilt was one of those projects.

It all began a couple years ago when I made this scrappy blanket for Miles.

Sister decided she wanted one too. Except, she wanted hers to be big enough to cover her twin bed. So last fall, I set out to make one in time for Christmas.

I’m not much of a seamstress, and I’m certainly not a quilter, so I looked at “cheater quilts” online (using a sheet or existing blanket as the foundation of your quilt and ironing on the squares). Nothing looked quite like what I wanted, so I decided to wing it. I ended up buying an ultralight bedspread from IKEA for $18:

I draped it over my ironing board and started gathering the fabric scraps I wanted to use. I arranged one row at a time, starting at the bottom, then sewed the scraps together.

I then pinned that row of scraps onto the bedspread and ran it through my sewing machine to secure it.

I left the seams unfinished so it will fray (let’s call it shabby chic).

Wrestling all that fabric through my sewing machine wasn’t easy. The stitching is crooked and uneven. Each row took over an hour to complete. It’s the most imperfect thing I’ve ever sewn.

I broke the walking foot off my machine twice. I jammed the needle. I went through tons of thread. I cursed (a lot).

I started to think B would hate it, actually. But halfway through, I figured I’d at least finish it and see how it looks.

When I finally presented it to B (two weeks after Christmas), she gasped, grabbed it close to her face and said “Mommy, it is SO beautiful. It’s my favorite thing you ever gave me! It’s PERFECT!”

She carried it around for days, fully aware that I had made something special just for her. Which makes it, despite its flaws, the most perfect creation ever.

Later, my mother-in-law came to visit and I showed her the quilt and she said, “you made a crazy quilt!” …A crazy quilt? Yes, apparently quilters have a name for this type of imperfect, no-pattern, make-it-up-as-you-go quilt. Who knew?