Rag Quilt: Quilt #4

 

Oh how I hate this quilt. I have never hated a quilt before, or since, but I really hated this one.

 

Originally, it was going to be a gift for my parents. A handmade, flannel lap quilt for Christmas! What a great idea, right? So soft...so cozy...and how hard can they be?

Well for starters, this has three layers of flannel. What was I thinking? I was thinking "softness" but I was clearly soft in the head for attempting this. Using three layers of flannel means that there is flannel "dust" EVERYWHERE. Also, it's thick, unrelenting, wiggly fabric and trying to jam all of those layers together when piecing was an exercise in major frustration and machine rebellion. Remember that when you fold them together to attach two blocks together, you are actually sewing through six layers of flannel. Six! Cough, cough, wheeze, wheeze! Jam, snap, curse!

Once you have finally ruined a million needles and your machine's motor (I had a crap machine then), you still have to snip every bit of exposed fabric into fringe. This. Takes. A. Long. Time. And it hurts. I purchased special scissors for the job...they're spring loaded with small blades, and that did help...but still. Eek and ow. And since the first baby quilt I did only took me an evening...I waited until Christmas Eve to begin. To BEGIN! I was insane.

So I worked like a crazy person all night long and still wasn't able to finish it. I was able to destroy my room, however. I was sewing in my bedroom then and didn't have a designated sewing room, so you can just imagine the fluff and threads and fabric shrapnel that were everywhere. It was ungodly. I hate this quilt.

So I finally admitted defeat and groggily went to bed with the quilt unfinished. I told the 'rents that it wasn't done and that I would get it to them that week. I never did. I couldn't face it. I burnt myself out. This is the only quilt that I never finished once I began it.

Had I finished it...I'm sure it would have been VERY cozy. So any sadist out there who wants to make me one, I will take it with gratitude and respect for the work and insanity involved. Just don't ever ask me to make you one. I don't love anyone that much. ;)