Here is the super honest (I promise) truth about
my first adventure in quilting.
Out of all of the things I have ever made,
this quilt is by far my favorite.
A huge part of my love for it involves that fact that I can't
believe that I actually finished it.
Or that I actually loved every single step.
It didn't hurt that every step was
simply illustrated with pictures here.
I big puffy heart Old Red Barn Co.
With my whole heart, I want you to know, that if I can make this, so can you.
Seriously.
Skill wise I would rank it a 2 out of 10 in the difficulty scale.
I am not kidding.
Not a 2 from a person who is a professional,
Parsons School of Design trained seamstress.
A 2 from a self taught, real person, who only sews simple things.
Who is horrible at following patterns,
has insane A.D.D.
and sneaks in craft time as the critters sleep.
Rotary cutting.
Straight line sewing.
Ironing.
That's it.
Seriously.
It took me less than 10 hours from start to finish.
Just four Monday's worth of nap time.
The only hard parts were choosing the fabrics
and battling my A.D.D. when I was ironing the seams.
What always held me back was the thought of actually "quilting" the quilt.
I know myself.
I know my skill level.
I know my severe lack of patience and detail.
I know my sewing machine.
I know that if I attempted to quilt it,
I would have to break up with my sewing machine.
I also would probably have to go to the ER for a
broken foot from kicking said machine.
I felt like a failure when I decided to send it out for quilting and binding.
But then REAL quilters told me that is what they do as well.
For their quilts that are real works of art.
With curves, patterns, details, things that I could never ever do.
So I got my quilt ready to go to Back Porch Quilters.
I pressed all of the seams,
clipped all of the threads,
made the backing out of pink and white polka dot fabric,
included batting,
one yard for the binding,
(as soon as I found out they did binding too I did a little dance)
folded it all up,
said goodbye and gave it to my mailman.
Within days Mr. Backporch Quilter called me to discuss thread color and quilting pattern.
I told him how clueless I was, and if he could help me pick.
Quickly he put Mrs. Backporch Quilter on the phone.
She advised me on thread color (I used Pinky Pinks)
and when I told her the pattern I was thinking about (Waterworld) she kindly suggested that pattern might be a bit too busy for my already bright and vibrant (read busy) quilt.
Together we chose Alfresco.
A little over a week later my quilt returned to me.
I didn't pre-wash my fabric or binding, so when I did thrown it in the wash it would wrinkle and crinkle. I think that is actually my favorite thing about it.
How it is so new, yet already looks well loved.
This quilt is 5 x 7 feet.
It could have been bigger, but thanks to my lack of details, I mis-measured and didn't pay very close attention while I was cutting the squares.
12 of them came out the wrong size.
But, 5 x 7 is a perfect size for a twin bunk bed.
I am going to make pillows out of the leftover blocks
Halley would much rather play dress up, than be bothered with posing for a photo, but each nap and bed time I tuck her in under her quilt and she looks at me and says:
"Mommy, thank you for making me a beautiful quilt."
While she is off in dream land,
she doesn't notice that many of the blocks do not line up.
Or that it is far from square.
She just cuddles under the warmth and love made for her by her mommy.
I rarely make anything more than once.
It doesn't take much to bore me.
Shockingly, I already have fabric picked out for three more quilts
and I simply cannot wait to carve out time to work on them.
That is how easy this was.
That is how much I loved making it.
So find some yummy fabric.
(All of mine is from Etsy. You can find
Grab a rotary cutter and sew.
You will never know if you can do it unless you try.
Happy quilting.
Posted in quilt along, quilting