The Rebel

Libs Elliott came to town, gave a talk and held a Rebel quilt workshop. More than a year later, my Rebel quilt has finally come under control. Well, almost.

Now, I have to tell you the Rebel caused me some angst, as rebels are wont to do. I was in a “sew my stash” period, which always adds to the challenge of fabric selection, particularly when you decide to use no solids except for the background. To make matters worse, I was exploring a palette outside my usual choices, inspired by the cover of Vintage Quilt Revival. I know, it isn’t really the same. Inspiration is fluid if you’re sewing your stash.

What did happen is that I second guessed my colours every step of the way. When fellow guild members brought their lovely, more monochromatic, solid Rebels to show and tell, I wondered even more if I had made a mistake. With the long arm out of commission, I could postpone the inevitable unsatisfactory finish until, finally, the machine seemed to be behaving and I needed to finish the quilt to gift it.

I added borders to contain the rebellion. No. I added borders so I wouldn’t lose my points when the quilt was bound. Besides, I wanted to explore a little free motion combined with straight line quilting. Each background section got a curvy motif and each coloured one got straight lines.

Finally, she was ready for her photo shoot. I really wanted some graffiti in the picture, as a tribute to Libs and her tattoos. You know how there seems to be graffiti everywhere? Not where I live, there isn’t,  and certainly not with a nice rail or fence on which to attach a quilt. One spot tempted me, but there were multiple police cars around and I really wasn’t sure I’d be welcome, so I headed home, via a quilt store. I pulled into the industrial centre parking lot to get thread and saw my backdrop. Thrilled with my success, I arrived home, but I felt a little sad for the beautiful quilt, so I took her to the pond for a moment on the bench. And yes, after all the agonizing, I find her beautiful.

She’s off to live happily ever after with some newlyweds. May they live happily ever after, too.

Linking up to Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.