Ice Cream Soda blocks are DONE!
Someone sound the trumpets! I can hardly believe that I’ve come this far at last. It is the biggest, bestest milestone in the process of making my first, completely hand sewn quilt - - -
All 68 full-sized Ice Cream Soda blocks are complete!!!!
And not just that, but I’ve also attached all the joining pieces to my blocks. Those are the little solid aqua diamonds and triangles. Couldn't you just swim in this pile?
Each block is made of fabrics specially cut and placed just so for pretty, sparkly star effects. It was quite a delightful journey! If you’d like to watch me swirl over each and every one, check out my Instagram video.
Once nestled together, they look like this, with the pale aqua joining shapes forming echo stars in between the main blocks. The Ice Cream Soda quilt design is not my creation, but that of the fantastic Jodie Godfrey from Tales of Cloth. I think it’s become one of the most popular English paper piecing projects of our day. It’s easy enough for a newbie, but loved by all.
Next step: Join blocks to form rows. I’m on it! I’m relishing the chance to get up close and personal with each block again.
And, yes, I totally have favorites. Shhhhh, don’t tell them.
Four years of Ice Cream Soda. Really, four and a half (but who’s counting)? A look back at all the places this quilt has taken me from South Carolina, to the train and plane to The Netherlands, all over Europe and now to Floris. Each time I joined another row together, he would marvel. I would have relished seeing the blocks come together anyway, but there’s nothing like love to give your needle wings.
Oh. my. gosh. This quilt top is finished people. FINISHED! That’s four and half years of meditative hand stitching. So many moments, so many journeys, changes and dreams.
For four years now I’ve been sewing together diamonds and kites and crowns. Each stitch by hand and only when my heart desired. Progress came mostly in bursts during my travels. But now all the blocks are sewn and the cadence has changed.
The Dutch word for “to process” is verwerken. Can you spy the Dutch version of “work” in there? That’s because verwerken means more literally to work on something until it is completely integrated into who you are. It’s like how we say in English, “I worked through it”.
Someone sound the trumpets! I can hardly believe that I’ve come this far at last. It is the biggest, bestest milestone in the process of making my first, completely hand sewn quilt - - -
“Hey, what ever happened to that star quilt that Rachel started hand-sewing three years ago?” Oh, it’s still here, friends! It’s my longest ever work-in-process and that’s just fine with me! But, it’s official, the end is in sight.
When your hobby is also your job (so lucky!) it does blur the lines between work and rest. It’s healthy to mark boundaries from time to time. That why I set the Ice Cream Soda quilt apart when I embarked on the project years ago. No goals, no pressure. Just slow, satisfying sewing.
I’ve been sewing an Ice Cream Soda EPP quilt for almost two and a half years now. I refuse to rush the process or set any goals for myself, so it’s slipped contentedly in and out of my attention during that time. Now I begin the filler pieces.
A week of sand, sea and slow stitches, in photos - - - the Zeeland coast, Camping Dutch style, Feet in the North Sea, Veere Harbor, Middelburg Abbey, Slow Stitching spot and new Ice Cream Soda blocks.
Guess what? Next Friday my family departs for two weeks in France! Eeee! We are taking the train from our home in The Netherlands to southern France, via Amsterdam and Paris. I’m totally taking my favorite slow stitching project!
New Ice Cream Soda blocks, plus a good look at my English Paper Piecing project bag. Here’s the process and tools that work best for me. I love a take-along project for summer!
Sitting down with hand sewing instantly calms my body and mind. Stop by for slow stitching, a background fabric discovery and fixing a block that turned out a bit muddled.
Each one is counted as a little finish. I think that’s why I’m able to stay engaged on such a long, winding road. I don’t really worry where it is taking me or how long we will travel this path. Each Ice Cream Soda block is its own destination.
Will you weigh in on my choice background fabric? At first I thought I’d use a low volume background - classic and effective. But, I think I’ll enjoy the joining process more if it feels unique. Here are a few possiblities.
Hello, friends! Today I’m busy unpacking and organizing in our new home. As you can imagine, everything is topsy turvy, but I do know where my Ice Cream Soda blocks can be found. I’ve made three new blocks!
Stitch by stitch, color on color, shape by shape by shape, a patchwork quilt comes into being slowly. This one, entirely sewn by hand, offered seemingly endless quiet moments for contemplation and rest. But four and a half years later, an end did come. A period was set. Now it is finished, my version of the famous Ice Cream Soda quilt in blues, aqua, teal and purple, cream and black and gray.