un-Quilting

I know we've all done our fair share of un-sewing, but have you ever un-quilted an entire quilt?  How about, un-binding?  Yes, un-finishing!  That's what I've started today.

In 2014, Robert Kaufman, makers of Kona Cotton, invited a bunch of quilters to design quilts for their 75th anniversary celebration.  I designed an all-solids quilt called Cascade, which is a play on the flying geese block. 

I remember getting to the quilting stage on this one.  I knew the quilting would really show and felt completely intimidated.  In the end I did some minimal straight-line quilting, following block seams.  It didn't turn out great.  The quilt had been pieced nice and flat, but areas of fullness developed from the quilting process.  Probably more quilting would have helped, but I didn't realize that at the time.

My quilt went on tour with the others and returned home in 2015.  Meanwhile, I published Cascade as a pattern.  When the quilt arrived home, I'm sure I sighed.  A colorful and unique quilt... but the quilting.

Cascade has been carefully stored away in my cupboard these past years.  I think it's time to give it a real life, and that begins with proper quilting. 

Today I've started removing the binding.  I'll also remove all the quilting.  Then I'll have to use a new backing to load the recovered quilt top on my longarm sewing machine.  I haven't yet decided how I'm going to quilt it, but I know it's going to be 100% better and ready to be sold and used at last.  That's a lot of work, but I'm confident that at the end I'll feel quite a lot of satisfaction.

Here's to second chances!  We all deserve those sometimes.