Quilting Sweatshop

A few months ago, my dear Aunt Betty-Ann was looking for bedding for her new beach cabin and asked me how long it usually takes me to make a quilt. I told her about 6 months, which I thought was accurate for my leisurely pace, but it also turned out to be a lie since I started the quilt I'm currently working on in 2007. Obviously I'm not making the quilts for the bunk beds in her beach house because she really couldn't wait until her four year old was in college to get them.

So I am really beyond sick of this quilt. Granted I did take a gigantic break from it when I was pregnant and for most of Rush's first year, but still, it's taking forever. For some reason after one male child I feel that the colors are totally irrelevant to my life, even though I could follow in the footsteps of the Frisco branch of the Williams family and have three girls after the first boy. But for now, I've invested too much time in it to quit, so I'm going to push through and get it finished as quickly as possible so I can move on with my life. Which is why last night when Trent and I settled down to watch a movie (The Informant - I liked it) after Rush went to bed, Trent lounged around in his pajamas eating ice cream and I got to work.


Because it obviously takes me forever to finish a quilt, I've already started working on a quilt for Rush when he moves into a twin bed. I'm still just cutting out pieces, but yesterday I decided to add some meaningful fabric by cutting up a pair of my old pajama pants. On our first date (10 years ago - wow), Trent was telling me some long story about these pajama pants he had with fish on them. I really don't remember the story and looking back it seems like odd first date conversation. But I had the same pair of pajama pants (why did I have a pair of men's pajama pants with fish on them?) and when I told him that, Trent said -on our first date- "this could be long term." Apparently so. He's going to freak out when he finds out I cut my fish pants, which I never wear and was only keeping for sentimental reasons anyway.

Looking at this picture, I realize that my handiwork might be better if I sat at a table instead of the floor, but I was trying to see the tv so I could watch Little Miss Perfect. And while some quilters try to be precise with their cuts and use actual measuring tools, I use a piece of cardboard labeled "blue", which means "cut all the blue/green/white fabric this size." I like to think it adds character to my work.

This really doesn't look like enough fabric for a twin size quilt, but I'm not sure what I did with the measurements so I'm not 100% sure how much fabric I actually need. It's another trial and error project that will hopefully produce something wonderful in the end. Thomas Edison was really into trial and error, and he invented the light bulb. I should be able to finish a blanket by the end of the year.