I took the plunge. I'm making my first quilt! I've been thinking about doing it for a while but I've never tackled such a big sewing project (the biggest thing I've ever sewn are bags), I've been sewing for only a year and a half, I'm a very slow sewer and I don't always sew straight! I'm also very impatient and easily distracted. I have 3 bag projects that I started about a year ago but haven't finished. I just get excited by other ideas, sewing and otherwise.
But I wanted to try making a quilt this year. I was tempted to join a
quilt-along but that Dresden circle would have been a crazy project for a beginner. Best to start with something easy and which doesn't require a lot of measuring and cutting (my most hated part about sewing). Pre-cuts! I decided on charm squares. I'm hopeless at reading patterns and following directions, so I'm winging it as I go along.
I'm using this
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| Moda Tranquility charm pack |
I got two of these for US$8 last year at
Some Art Fabric! They sometimes have 2-for1 offers and I got some really great deals there. I did some math (I hate math) and figured I could get a sort of twin-sized quilt out of 20 blocks of 4 charms (I will soon find out how crazy I go trying to manoeuver the whole quilt around my sewing machine!).
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| jigsaw puzzling... |
That's me trying to decide what goes where. I didn't have enough floor space so I did one charm pack first, then the other blocks (that lone square in the bottom right corner was an extra in the first pack I opened :) I spent quite a bit of time on my knees, I had fun moving those squares around, visualizing what my finished quilt would look like. Imagine if I hadn't used a charm pack. I would never have gotten to the sewing stage!
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| organized ... so very un-me! |
All arranged, organized and ready to go. I took a lot of photos of this stack from different angles, I just love looking at fabric and the pinked edges are so cute!
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They look like pennants!
Maybe I should make a
fabric pennant banner
just for the fun of it... |
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| quilt blocks sewn! |
The block on top is my first ever quilt block!! I sewed pretty straight this time! I can't put into words how excited I was when I finished that block. And when I finished all 20, wow. Satisfaction! I poured myself a drink ... heheh.
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| back to the floor... |
I moved some furniture around so I had enough space to audition fabric for the sashing. This took me forever. I tried more than five solids but didn't find anything that really struck me immediately as IT but since I want to use only fabric from my stash, I settled on a green. I would have liked a yellow sashing and green border but I don't have any yellow solids. I think I'll use the pink in the photo above for the border (? any thoughts on this?) but I have no idea what fabric I'll be using for the binding and the back, though I'll probably sew the remaining squares into one long strip. I haven't counted to see if they'll run down the length of the quilt. I probably should have chosen all my fabrics and done all the math right at the start but I'm not very organized! If you're a quilter and you're appalled at how I'm going about this...sorry!
Dealing with the project in stages makes it less intimidating for me. When I try reading patterns, I give up before I get to the end or figure out how everything would come together. I also like to improvise as I go along, it allows me room to manoeuver. But it can get me in trouble. I had already cut into my green sashing fabric before I realized that I wouldn't have enough to cut the side strips in one complete length. Oops.
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| time to rip it up! |
And I spoke too soon, I didn't sew quite straight!
Should I, should I not? I knew I should take it apart but I'm very lazy and I hate ripping seams although I seem to do it a lot. OK, I gave in, turned on the TV and started ripping. I'd sewed in very small stitches so that took a long time too. I took 2 sections apart. The resewing was fast, but I had to rip one up again because it just wasn't right.
One other thing I hate: ironing. I really did iron after piecing each part; I don't know why it doesn't look it though... Sewing has reintroduced me to ironing. I've ironed my clothes maybe twice a year in the last 3 years!
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| i think this needs better pressing... |
Finally! My quilt top! It's a bit dark as I finished sewing late at night. I got around the fabric problem for the sides by making the lengths of the two middle horizontal strips the width of the quilt top. I got to this stage over 2 weekends. I was motivate by
Next week: border and charm square strip for the back?
Meanwhile, I'm watching some
quilting videos at YouTube for inspiration. Free motion quilting is amazing, maybe I'll get there one day. I'm aiming for just straight line quilting for now. If you haven't seen the works of Judi Madsen, check out the incredible eye candy at
Green Fairy Quilts. Her quilting is exquisite, I'm a big fan. You can also get Moda pre-cuts at nice prices at her
store.
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