Nurse Liz

Hoping for clearer thinking one of these days

nurseliz

nurseliz
Location
Nether Regions, Nebraska, USA
Birthday
November 02
Title
Hand Holder
Company
of strangers
Bio
I am a mom, wife, and nurse. I love being a nurse, even though I have to say at least once a shift, "This is for your own good." I also secretly love poking people with needles, any size. Plus, the Great Plains are not really that plain.

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JUNE 11, 2009 4:03AM

I quilt. Am I getting old?

Rate: 11 Flag

My most boring post ever: 

Over the last several months, I have decided to put my sewing machine to good use. I have made a few handbags with varying success and I finally made my first quilt top for one of my daughters. She picked out some of the fabrics. (We were going for bold with graphic prints.) For being 6 years old, I think she did a great job helping me! I gave her the ultimate veto power on fabric choices so she would really feel like it was hers. 

It's a twin-sized black and white quilt with pink, lime green, and some lavender. I think I will probably have one of the ladies in town quilt it so it gets done before she finishes high school. And so it doesn't fall apart!

The floral fabric in the middle (below) is my favorite, but I couldn't find very much of it. It's Michael Miller. Also, Vera Bradley has a new fabric in her line of handbags that looks extremely similar.

Author tags:

hobbies that are addicting, fabric stashes, purty colors, therapy, idle fingers are the devils tools, quilting

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I love your color choices, cool pattern too. Very pretty, and now they have those quilting machines, quilting is in. I made some quilts years ago, baby ones, but they didn't survive. I really didn't know what I was doing, but I tried. Hobbies are addicting and this is one that is truly worthwhile. I'm ordering a sewing machine because what I can do is make curtains and slip covers and pillow shams. They're just ridiculously expensive and the investment in a sewing machine is going to be well worth it. I probably won't make a quilt, but I think I could make a comforter. Good luck, it's beautiful.
latethink
June 11, 2009 04:15 AM
your daughter has a great eye for color and pattern, and the quilt is beautiful. good work you two:)
nanatehay
June 11, 2009 04:28 AM
LT-Thanks...the lady I would like to quilt it has a midarm HQ sixteen I think? There are many more great patterns available now for home stuff than there were when I bought my Kenmore 10 years ago. Even if you never make a quilt!
nanatehay - Thank you - she does have a great eye for patterns and what matches. I usually take her clothes shopping with me and she can always tell me what looks good and what is not in style. She's my "artistic" one.
nurseliz
June 11, 2009 04:37 AM
I wouldn't expect to like these colors and patterns together, but the whole thing is extremely cool. You and your daughter did great! And no, you're not getting old. I haven't made any quilts since I was in my 20s. I'm the one getting old.
Mumbletypeg
June 11, 2009 06:17 AM
Nope. You're getting young!
Steve Blevins
June 11, 2009 10:27 AM
I don't quilt, and I'm getting old anyway.

Very pretty.
Lea Lane
June 11, 2009 10:30 AM
Liz ! GORGEOUS ... you could sell those on Ebay for a hundred bucks, easy. I would be the first to buy one! Keep that old Singer humming, girl!
1_Irritated_Mother
June 11, 2009 11:00 AM
I love quilts, but they do recall the ladies in the church basement quilting together. As you may know, there's a novel, How to Make an American Quilt, by Whitney Otto, that was made into a movie with Winona Ryder.
Con Chapman
June 11, 2009 04:41 PM
My grandma quilts. She's old.

She showed me one of her quilting magazines. Those quilting sewing machines are outrageously expensive. I don't blame you for getting someone else to quilt it for you.

This is definitely not an old lady quilt. So long as you keep pursuing it as a creative outlet, and don't get stuck in a rut of making the same thing over and over again, you're not old.

I like the vibrant colors. Try some patterns, make some crazy ones. Try to do that thing where you make pictures with different pieces of cloth. Quilting can be cool, you just have to think of it as art, and not as making something to sleep under.
Existence of Contradiction
June 11, 2009 05:24 PM
Thanks all. I went to a quilt show in Denver last month and was amazed at all the art quilts and variety of materials besides fabric used. I just need a lot more practice before I get to that point. It is appealing to the mathematical part of my brain to work with the measurements and angles, but also the creative side of me for the color and pattern combinations. Those big quilting machines (the long arms) can run up to $15,000!! I got to try one out at the quilt show, pretty cool, but not worth it unless you own your own business.
nurseliz
June 12, 2009 01:59 AM
My mom used to be part of a quilting...bee? ... club? whatever it's called, they looked like the ladies on the Toilet Paper commercial. They all sat around a big frame and quilted the top, middle, and bottom layers together. I didn't even know they MADE machines for that, but I guess it makes sense. Would explain why they have quilts in stores for so cheap, huh. You could take your top to something like that, though, if your neighborhood has one. The ladies charge you some kind of (usually ridiculously nominal for the quality of work involved) fee, and in a couple weeks your quilt is all finished. Hand-stitched.

Your work is inspiring. I'm really tempted to try this now.
RavingBits
June 12, 2009 08:30 AM
I haven't heard of any groups in the area that do the quilting bee, that would be a good idea. I think I will have it done by machine by someone who is already experienced, that way it will stay sewn together for longer than if I attempted it!
You should try it - I started easy with squares and rectangles. You can choose any difficulty you are comfortable with. It's amazing the creativity that people have with fabrics.
nurseliz
June 12, 2009 11:28 PM
Great colors and fabric combinations! My solution to not wanting to do the handwork of quilting is to sew the top to a duvet cover - our family prefers down comforters to heavier quilts. Now, I am even skipping the duvet covers and just sewing together the front and a back without the insides. Easier to wash; easier to hang on the wall if you want a change of bedding. Easy to make the bed. I just finished my last topper yesterday - I will add it to my History of Quilting post, if you are interested. Please let me know if you post more quilts...I like to see what others are doing.
Susan Ostlie
June 04, 2010 10:29 PM