The Austen Quilt
After my flash of inspiration on the Michael Myers Quilt, I was sure, finally something had clicked in my brain and I was now able to visualise any image as the perfect pixel quilt. I was a pixel quilt making machine with vision gifted by Jesus himself.
Not so.
This quilt taught me that.
The Austen quilt was a journey – and not a good one at times. I went back to agonising over the perfect image and did the whole few-day long process of converting photos, changing pixels, looking through squinted eyes etc.. not once, not twice but with FOUR DIFFERENT PICTURES.
In a last ditch effort to try and break free of the chains of pixel hell that I had immersed myself in. I sent the images to my sister in law and asked her:
- Who is this (I figured it being her brother she should be able to recognise him if they are anywhere near close)
- WHICH FREAKING PHOTO LOOKS THE BEST???!!!! HELP ME, IM DYYYYYING!!!
She immediately responded with a very straight forward answer and gave me the exact guidance I needed to stop worrying about every little detail, it is recognisable and yes he will like it. I will add, at this point, I had picked the exact image of my brother in law that she picked and had taken it through to somebody in my family who will remain nameless *cough* husband *cough* and he had in fact thought it was a completely different member of the family. Completely different person – although still male which I was semi-grateful of!
So, hoping that my husbands comments weren’t accurate, I ordered the dang fabric and half-heartedly committed to getting it done in a very tight timeframe of around 3 weeks. (In which I had to get it quilted and bound also) The main hang ups I had when creating this quilt was the fact that it was going to be a gift. I just kept wondering if my brother in law would get it or whether making a hand created gift was a good idea at all.
I think there are two very different camps of thought when it comes to handmade items. There are those who appreciate the work and time that go into them and that in and of itself makes the recipient feel loved and there are those that really don’t have any concept and so associate little value to handmade. I knew my brother in law has a big heart and is one of the most gracious gift receivers I have known, but I also wanted to make sure we got him something he loved on this very big birthday he was having!
I spent about 80 hours over the next ten days focused on the quilt, making sure I gave the quilter the maximum amount of time to do her part. When it was complete, and I sat and hand sewed the binding whilst watching serial killer documentaries (a vital part of the creation process) and wrapped it up ready for it to fly to England and be gifted to the recipient.
I also bought and wrapped up other presents so that the quilt was an ‘extra’ and not the main show, because, you know I could potentially be giving a gift that was, well….pretty crap.
Looking back, I can see how sad it is to completely dismiss myself and the things I create as not even being worthy of a gift. Because the reality of what transpired, is that my sweet brother in law did love the quilt. He knew it was him straight away and thought it was just the best gift that he could use whilst sat on the sidelines of his sons football games on the cold days.
It filled my heart knowing he liked it. He got it.
And what a freaking lesson to me – to stop putting myself down, dismissing my own, hard-earned abilities and talents and enjoy not only the process of creation, but embrace the afterglow of when it is gifted and makes that person happy too.
The quilt is 72″ x 54″ has 2,035 pieces of fabric in 9 colours