HOW I MADE MY FIRST QUILT EVER

HOW I MADE MY FIRST QUILT EVER

Made with lots of mistakes and lots of love…

So when I say I don’t sew, I mean I don’t sew! I couldn’t even sew a button.. cook yes, clean yes, can and garden yes.. sew NO! But I had a very real desire to make a quilt. I have always wanted to but now I felt was the time to act. See I have severe Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) a crippling disease that is ravaging my body. My grandmother had it and her hands got to where she could not open them.. I pray that does not ever happen to me. It did motivate me to try things I thought I could never do. I told my husband I wanted to make a quilt and he supported me.. knowing I couldn’t sew a lick he came home with me a brand new sewing machine.. if he had faith in me.. then I would have to have faith in me too. So the journey began.

I asked some friends advice on my recipe group and they all said just start cutting your squares.. it seemed simple enough and so that is what I did.. I used some of my old “skinny dresses and jumpers” and some material I purchased

after trying to cut squares with my old scissors I found the advice of my quilt making friends was much better a mat and rotary cutting tool was much needed for this journey

Since I didn’t know how to sew I though I should practice some on some squares before I actually made my quilt

not bad.. I am ready to try it out now..

So I started…  I laid out some squares on my bed to see how I wanted them to look.. I decided on random pattern because it would not show my mistakes as bad for one.. and for two it would be old country like my room..

So I labeled them into rows starting  from the bottom..

Then I started sewing rows , KEEP the row pinned on the bottom

all my rows were done..

now I started attaching them by order

getting there….

still working on it

Now I laid it back on my bed after all rows were done and I pinned on the side rows that were to hang over..and sewed them on plus my border

Now it was time to sandwich using a bottom part of material bigger than your top… and some batting in the middle for fluff..

it is called basting when you pin all over or stitch

Stretch and smooth as you pin.. sounds easy but not when you have a king size blanket bigger than your floor room space.. ugghhh

Using Yarn and a large needle I then tacked my quilt.. I will try actual quilting on a smaller project like a baby quilt next time… for now.. it is like granny used to do.. goes with my country look anyways

I remove my basting pins as I tack..  I did each four corners.. some do all over randomly or in the middle of squares or whatever..

Sew up all the edges all around and trim off excess

now I need to attach my binding to my border, so I chose red for the binding

Now I have to make Pillow Shams   =/

so you see if I the girl who can’t sew a button can do it.. so can you.. I hope my next one is even better.. I am very proud of myself for just trying and not giving into my low self confidence. Life is too short to set by and wish..