Quilts by Julie Ramsey
musings
Fun with color
Aug 6th
My best friend from high school recently had her second baby, and I made quilts for both the new little girl and her big brother. I zipped through the big brother quilt, and put together the top for the baby quilt, but never got around to actually quilting the one for the newborn. No big rush, as I was having a hard time getting in touch with the mom so she could send me her address! I finally got the mailing information this week, and as I sat down to finish the baby quilt, I decided that I really didn’t like it. The color balance in the border isn’t great, the top didn’t quite lie straight, the pattern repeat on the teddy-bear fabric made all of the squares look the same, bleh. Time to try again!
I wandered around the fabric store tonight with no inspiration, as all my books and magazines were turning up nothing complicated enough to be fun to make, yet simple enough to put together in an evening. I ended up picking out 10 fat quarters (since they were on sale for a buck apiece!) in five colors, knowing that I had a handful of FQ patterns waiting for me at home, and hoped for the best.
Onward to a Google search for “fat quarter baby quilt patterns,” and an image search for crib quilts. Finally, I stumbled upon a quilt on Etsy that I really liked– inspiration! I grabbed my notebook and trusty mechanical pencil and sketched out the design, then the sizes of the patches, how they’d been cut from the original design fabric (charm squares), then how I’d cut the pieces out from MY fabric, and in about fifteen minutes, I had a fully penciled-out quilt blueprint, just like that!
The actual cutting and piecing came in at about three hours– long enough to prep spaghetti for dinner and then watch Julie & Julia on Netflix while I worked. I’m honestly amazed that I could pull something like this off in so little time; it feels like only yesterday that I tediously plodded through the steps in my first “Quilt in a Day” book and took the better part of twenty hours to piece a log cabin pattern. I’ve really come a long way since I first started, and it makes me feel really good about myself to know that I’m good at something unique like this 
Sharing the love
Apr 30th
All three of the quilts I mailed out on Monday have reached their intended destinations, and the recipients couldn’t be happier!
My Mom messaged me on Skype to let me know she’d gotten hers yesterday. She’s going to take it to the recipient today, and I can’t wait to hear what the gift-getter thinks of it! I also repaired a quilt I’d made for Mom that her dog chewed up, and she’s very relieved to have it back in one piece so she can nap with it.
I got a Facebook note from the cousin who recieved the princess quilt, and she was thrilled to get it! She posted a picture of herself holding up the quilt, and that made me smile.
Also, I just got a phone call from my grandparents a few minutes ago– I didn’t think their quilt would be there until Monday, but it made it early! They were so touched and so happy to get their surprise present, and I’m glad I could make their day a little brighter with some Arizona quilt sunshine.
It’s times like this that I have to remember that no matter how down I may get about little mistakes in my quilting, people love getting them and think I do good work. Quilting is more than a way to pass the time, it makes tangible things that mean a whole lot to the people who get them. All the love I put into my sewing projects is amplified a thousand times to those who get to use the quilts every day, and I can’t think of a more special aspect of the hobby I enjoy so much.
Open for business
Mar 14th
I finally got brave and listed two quilts on Etsy today.
I was worried that the quality isn’t good enough to sell, but overall I like the pieces well enough that someone else should appreciate them. I need to remind myself that I do good work, and that other people tend to really like my quilts, so hopefully my little shop will be successful.
I have absolutely NO idea how to price things and wouldn’t be surprised if I’ve gone a little too far off the low end… I guess we’ll wait and see what happens.
Good at something
Feb 10th
At a time like this, when I’m out of work and feeling not-so-great about myself, having something that I’m good at is something that really helps keep me going. I wasn’t good at my last job, and my self-esteem took a pretty good hit because of it. But even now, as the job hunt drags my spirits down, it’s a little bit reassuring to know that I still have something I’m reasonably good at– even if it’s not going to put groceries on the table.
I’m not be the greatest quilter in the world by a long shot, a fact that gets reinforced every time I open a quilting magazine or visit my local quilt shop. There are plenty of things I need to work on, some little (remembering to square up blocks before I assemble them into tops) and some much bigger (i.e. the fact that I can’t do any free-motion quilting more complicated than a medium-sized meander). But in between the moments of frustration and “I wish I could do this better,” there are bright spots:
Quilting is a skill that not a whole lot of people have, and I have to remind myself that I’m pretty good at something that not many others can do. When I’m feeling as depressed as I’ve been lately, I need to remember that fact: there is something special that I’m good at, and that’s part of what makes me a special person. Cheezy, but useful to remember.
Competence
Jan 25th
For my birthday, my mother-in-law (also a quilter) got me a subscription to a quilting magazine. I love flipping through the pages and seeing all the amazing work that others have done; it helps me to figure out what I like and don’t like in a quilt, which makes it easier to design projects that I like to work on. Unfortunately, that same process can get quite discouraging.
As fun as it is to look at award-winning quilts, I’ll admit that the browsing process gets very intimidating very quickly. By comparison, my designs are cheezy and my workmanship sub-par. Surely these are the kinds of quilts people want to see and receive, not any of the things that I’ve made during my tenure as a quilter.
Sure, I can reassure myself that there’s a massive skill gap between these featured artists and myself. I’ve only been quilting for about five years, and only semi-seriously for about three. By comparison, the people who are entering their work in national shows have likely been doing this for decades! And yet, it’s hard to remember that when I get so discouraged about the quilts that I’ve made in that relatively short timespan.
Certainly, I can compare the projects I’ve completed in the past few months to my very first quilt, and I can definitely see the improvement. Maybe one day, I’ll be able to create work as complex as that seen in big national magazines.
Then again, maybe I won’t, and all my time spent sewing will be “wasted” as I keep turning out projects that are silly and amateurish. And I guess that’s something I need to keep dealing with while I keep reading and keep learning.
