Learning a new skill...

I finally got around to it!  My previous 2 forays into the sewing world were post #1 where I tried to clean and make peace with a 20 year old machine with a little whiskey for courage, and #2 where I did my first project of Christmas gift bags.  Other than that, I knew nothing other than the basic how-to on sewing a straight line.  I've put this off until I could have an organized area to learn in, and knocked out a few other things on my "to-do" list that had more priority.  Yesterday was my chance...

Why quilting?  Why not? I have always loved the look of the 30's & 40's style quilts but do not decorate that way in my house.  I am a huge fan of mid-century modern and scandinavian style and it occurred to me (lightbulb!) that a quilt can by any style I want, not just country or folk.  (Which I do love, by the way!)  The creativity here is the hook!  

I am normally a fan of getting used or library books, but for my first foray into this world, I used a gift card and splurged on a new, nice spiral bound "Quilting 101" type book.  It has the latest basic techniques and takes you step-by-step through 4 basic beginner style quilts.  I tend to want to "do it all" right away, but I know with my low patience level I needed to start small and figure out the basics.

The biggest challenge was figuring out what to do with all this "stuff" I had purchased, meaning all the cutting and measuring, oops probably not in that order :)  By the 2nd set of squares I was getting the hang of it.  For those of you put off by the "random and abstract" concept of knitting, this is the complete opposite I've found.  It's all math and geometry and it's easy to visualize the final product during the process.  Loch my little math whiz was pretty interested in this part of it.  I want to thank Mama Pea & APG for telling me the basic sizes of cutting mat and grid ruler I would need, you were exactly right - they worked for everything I needed without having to spend extra $$ on stuff I wasn't familiar with yet, and for any newbies, these supplies aren't cheap - use coupons and use the sales for everything, they usually go on sale every other week at a fabric store, and if you have a local Craigslist, check there since this seems like one of those things where people with lots of $$ buy everything and never do it so they sell it, kind of like a treadmill, hahaha!

For my first quilt, I channeled my inner Marsha Brady and went for a nice retro floral print and peach, and the border and binding chose a dark fabric to hide my beginner stitchery!

 Here's the blocks after cutting, just laid out into the pattern that will be the quilt top.  This is a basic style called a "single patch" quilt.  Already at this stage my head was spinning with possibilities of adding other colors and shapes, I had to remind myself to slow down and start easy with something I won't end up in tears over.  If you want to see tears and have a laugh at my expense, see the post of my first time learning to knit :)

This was the not-fun part, but only because of my machine.  Hubby saw that I was ready to sew on that thing and disappeared to a buddy's house to go build "an obstacle course" for their mountain bikes.  Even the kids disappeared into their room!  I had to disassemble the shuttle 15 times to dig thread out, had to completely remove the stop-motion knob in order to wind a bobbin, and Mama Pea, check out your pink duct tape!  I had to use that as a 1/4" guide since my machine has no markings smaller than 5/8"!  But all in all, the machine DID sew the quilt top, and my sanity is still intact.

Above, after sewing the squares into strips... so that's how they do it, I didn't even know that!  Below, the finished quilt top:

Today I will move on to the next lessons on the actual border, quilting, backing and binding...


The reason I was able to get this all done yesterday is that I finally got my seed order put in Friday evening and was able to tackle and do our taxes yesterday morning, the two big things that have been weighing on my mind.


Taxes already, you say?  You betcha, thanks to hubby being deployed for the past year in a combat zone, our taxable income according to the government indicates we should be living in a cardboard box under the freeway - so that means refund time!  I don't waste time when it comes to getting money, and after some bills are paid, I'm hoping to stimulate the economy by getting a new sewing machine!