Something old, something new

I can't keep my fingers out of something new, something different. I jump from one hobby to the next. Just when I've reached relative proficiency, bop! There I go, off to the next thing.

I had never thought of myself as having this kind of personality, and have had some small degree of disdain for people who do, preferring what I thought as the philosophical high road of learn-it-'til-you're-an-expert. Do that one thing forever, do it until you're so damn good at it no one can deny your hard work, your skill, your artistry. Whatever.

That's not who I am, though. I want to taste it all. And right now, I want to taste the flavor of ... quilting. The frustrating, maddening, discouraging, deceptively simple craft of quilting. The delightful craft of quilting, too.

A few weeks before my 25th birthday my mom asked me, hey, you're about to be really old (paraphrasing), can I get you something special to mark the day? Little did she know that for the past few weeks I'd been eyeballing a series of three beginning sewing classes at A Verb For Keeping Warm, my local Oakland fancy fabric and fiber store. The cost of the Saturday afternoon classes, $75, was too far outside of my budget to consider, but birthdays have a way of making budgets work. Birthdays and very kind, loving, generous parents.

The first class was this past Saturday. I came in the week before to pick up supplies, then stopped by the discount fabric store down the street on the day-of to pick up the pricier tools I would need, like a rotary cutter and fabric shears. Michael grabbed some fabric for his Jughead costume, and I snagged some tulle. For what? We'll talk about that later.

The class was taught by the wonderful Carolyn Weil of Laughing Duck, who was an excellent teacher and suffered my many foolish questions. On top of being a new hand at quilting, I've also never sewn before. I knooow. I know.

I wasn't prepared for the mathematical nature of quilting, but now that I think about it I really should have expected it. Guess I'll have to brush up on my simple math. My lacking math acuity aside, we cut our fabric and built one 9 inch square during the class; I finished the other five at home, all of which you can see here. Next week we'll add the solid blocks and work on the backing.

And I'll tell you what, I can't wait.