Quilting

[jethrien]

I'm planning to start my first quilt soon, and so I've been going through patterns online trying to decide what I want to make. Quilt patterns have all kinds of weird names, from the very traditional Flying Geese and Log Cabins to some more fun names like Drunkard's Path and Mariner's Star. They're named after everything - people, flowers, seasons, and in many cases, food.

So I was working my way down a list from a back issue of a quilting magazine - Orange Peel, Ginger and Tea Leaves, Spiced Wine. Orange Peel involves half circles rotated against each other, and Spiced Wine was an elaborate arrangement of holiday-colored squares. Ginger and Tea Leaves, however...was a cookie recipe. No mention in the description of being actual food instead of a quilt.

I was rather confused for a minute.

Comments

You know you've been in grad school too long when...

[maydove.livejournal.com]

The first thing that came to my mind when I read "Drunkard's Path" was "random walk." Not as lyrical a description for a quilt pattern, though.

[lyriendel.livejournal.com]

I had crazy ambitions of doing a beautiful fancy pattern for my first quilt. But the quilting shop where I bought my first batch of supplies talked me into doing a more basic, easy one. By the end, I was super glad. I just don't have the temperament to do crafts that are highly repetitive and pattern-based for very long--I much prefer the type that's "mess with this until it happens to look like x." I'm guessing you're much better at doing that sort of thing, since you also make clothing from patterns, which is another craft I've tried to start and rejected.
Of course, IIRC, you've already done the basic-easy business with some relative of yours. My favorite not-basic-alternating-blocks pattern is the Lone Star, because even though it *looks* fancy-schmancy like some of the other laborious put-together-piece-by-piece patterns, it actually involves sewing long strips together and cutting them. Trip Around The World is similar, but I think less pretty.

[lithoglyphic.livejournal.com]

My favorite quilt pattern: Flower Garden.
http://www.it.dtu.dk/~db/kari/IMG_2163a.jpg

We've had one made my either my mom or grandmother (can't recall) sitting on the guest bed since I can remember.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

My god, what work those are! I mean: wow. All those hexes. You can't just sew them straight on either. Well done and my compliments to either of your ancestors who managed one.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

My mother quilts, and I recognized almost all of those designs. I love a good log cabin. The greatest loss of my mother's quilting life was the most beautiful purple-to-yellow-to-green log cabin that she made for my older sister's former roommate. She got the quilt and we never saw it again. Le sigh.

However, if you want to steal books or ideas, I could always funnel some to you from home.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

If (and only if) you happened to be home some time in the next couple weeks, I'd love to borrow some. But I don't want to put this off too long, and I really don't want to make you go to too much trouble. My grandmother is helping me, so we've been going back and forth by email, and I'm going to make a trip down to Philadelphia to do the first of the piecing.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

So exciting! The piecing part is usually not too bad if you've chosen a more straight-edged pattern. My mother gave up on applique a long time ago for the reason that curved piecing drove her nuts.

I'll see if I get home or see people from there any time soon. If not, good luck and I can't wait to see pictures.