My Sister's Birthday Quilt

While I was home for Spring Break, my mom and I purchased new fabric and spent the week making a quilt for my sister's birthday today. When I left on Friday, all that was left to do was sewing the binding to the back of the quilt. My first quilt took me about a month to finish; and my second has taken me less than a week. I am truly addicted :)

Adding the Final Touch: Binding

During my last lesson with Gloria, she taught me how to add my final touch: the binding. We cut two and a half inch strips of a black and white polka-dotted fabric. That night, I spent a few hours of quality time with my TV and a needle and black thread, sewing the binding to my quilt. And finally, around 12:30am this morning, my first quilt was completed. I feel so accomplished and proud of myself that I just want to show the world what I've done.

And I'm already planning for my next projects. In addition to the binding, during my last lesson, Gloria and I also discussed a bag pattern I'm interested in. She took me throughout the store and introduced me to many different types of fabrics that could work. In addition, we also went over the final touches to a pillow I'm sewing for my mom's quilt chest.

As you can tell, quilting has only been the beginning of my sewing experiences. I'm going home next week for Spring Break and I can't wait to spend some more quality time working on new projects. Gloria has opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me and I could not thank her more.

Pinning the Layers

Tonight, I had my first safety-pinning experience with my quilt. Gloria had warned me that I should have a friend assist me with this process, but of course, being Ms. Independent that I am, I didn't listen. It honestly wasn't too bad once I got everything straightened out between the three layers, and this was no easy task with my small dining room table. I had to go along and make sure the backing was placed correctly, matching up with the front and batting as best I could. I'm a little nervous though because it didn't seem as bad as I thought it would be. Of course, I'm expecting the worse because I'm worried about the material slipping so I placed tons of safety pins through the materials. Sorry Gloria in advance if I did this step incorrectly and you'll be helping me remove them all tomorrow :-\

However, like this entire process, it was a nice experience. Within the past week or so, its seemed as the quilt it making itself. Its coming together so quickly. I almost hate to see it end. So that's why I've already started a second one :)

Purchasing the Batting and Backing

I was super eager to come to my lesson today because I knew now that my borders were attached, Gloria and I would move to the new step: the batting. We've been working on making sure my seams were good and strong for the past couple lessons, so today would be something totally new and exciting. Although I was a little nervous at first, I was eager too because this step is officially beginning the quilting process. Quilting is technically the term of putting the multiple layers together, creating the quilt as a whole.

So once we confirmed that my quilt top had passed inspection and was ready to move forward, we went to the batting section of Ragtime Fabrics. Batting is the material that put in between the quilt top and the backing. It is what gives your quilt that little extra "umph". There were three different types of batting: organic, cotton, and loft. Organic follows the same principles as most organic products. Cotton is a little heavier, but much warmer. And loft, which is a high loft and low loft. The high loft is known for creating that "poofy" appearance. Being the cold-natured person that I am, I chose cotton.

Afterwards, I chose my backing (the fabric to go on the back of my quilt) as the same tie-dye fabric that I used as one of my blocks on the front.

Adding Borders

Now that the piecing part is completed, Gloria and I decided to take the quilt-top one step further. Although the pattern didn't call for them in this particular quilt, borders are a common attribute to quilt. You'll often notice them surrounding the main section, sometimes making the quilt significantly larger. By using the left over yellow and green fabric I had, we created strips to surround the outside of the main body of the quilt. This process did require a little more thought and a hint of math to figure out the dimensions of the quilt so that we would know how long each border would need to be.

The only struggle I truly ran into was connecting the corners. It was a little tricky, but after trial and error, I was able to figure out. With Gloria's help, of course :). But because of the borders, it added a good inch or two to the measurement of the quilt. Not a whole lot of difference in measurement, but a huge change in appearance, wouldn't you say?

Completing the Piecing

Now that I have my own machine, I am able to work on the quilt much more from home. I've been able to finish piecing the quilt together. Although I was afraid this process would be difficult, it was simply a matter of laying out my "coupled patches" and sewing two pair of "coupled patches" together. Once that process made one row, I would repeat these steps to create a second row, and then sew one row to the another. I suppose in my mind, I thought I would be sewing one block to another to another until the entire quilt top was completed. This method is MUCH simpler and easier to manage.

It's funny how our minds can make such a simple process complicated just because we choose to see it as complicated. I will be the first to admit that I would have never in a thousand years imagined myself quilting. But look at me now :)

Testing Out the New Machine

Today, Gloria and I tested out my new sewing machine. She was able to explain all the parts and pieces that came along with it and their purposes. I'm very pleased with it, especially now that I understand all that it can do. We even tested out the button hole foot. Its the presser foot that would create a button hole, according to the size of a button. It was interesting to see how intelligent today's sewing machines are. I can't imagine attempting to do such a task years ago before technology was so advanced.

Now that I have my own machine, I'm eager to work at home on my quilt and progress at a quicker pace. I find it very exciting but relaxing at the same time. These lessons with Gloria have truly allowed me to become more comfortable with not only quilting, but sewing as well. In the beginning, it was a little stressful because it was new and unfamiliar. But now, its become my nightly enjoyment. I look forward to it everyday.