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Thursday, December 16, 2010

everybody has a first: part two

i've made lots of progress on my first quilt over the past couple of weeks.
i sewed all the quilt top strips together to form one big cohesive piece.



then the ironing began. it took quite a bit longer than i imagined it would.





i made the quilt back out of muslin and two big scraps of fabric i had left over from my work on the top. i placed them in an opposite direction from the strips on the front of the quilt to keep it interesting.
then... quilt sandwich time!



after the sandwich was pinned, i began quilting. in all my quilt-making research, i've read lots about people who wear gloves, and how to move the fabric through the machine, dropping the feed dogs, freehand patterns, etc. i decided for my first try, i'd keep it simple. i opted to stitch in the ditch-or maybe around the ditch would be a more accurate description. i kept my feed dogs in action, and was surprised at how much effort it actually took to pull the quilt through the machine. what a work out!



taa-daaaah




trimming.



and here's the final product without binding.


i'm so happy with how it's turned out. i am going to give it to my mom for christmas, and HAVE to finish it tomorrow night as i leave town for her place on friday. wish me luck, and i'll post the completed version very soon.

3 comments:

  1. That is your first quilt??? My goodness it is wonderful! Your mom is going to love it. Have a great Christmas.

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  2. hi lisa,

    it is my first quilt! i must say, i've done lots of research and thinking about it, and projects brew in my head for months. i've had a sewing machine since i was in high school and regularly alter my clothes, but nothing too crazy difficult.

    i decided to start quilting after my sister told me she was pregnant. i began looking for baby projects like bibs and little blankets, and surfed into quilting blogs. it soon became clear that quilting was the way i wanted to go. i bought my supplies on ebay, and jumped right in. i kinda think that's how you have to do it. it's pretty intimidating to try to make a quilt, but taking it step-by-step has worked out for me (so far!).
    we'll see how it comes together tonight. i've had a hard time choosing binding fabric, but think i found one that'll work well.

    hope you have a nice christmas as well!
    -kim

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  3. Wow, what a nice piece, Kim! You did a great job of mixing color and value. You must be a natural-born quilter! I tend to make wall-size quilts (and not many of those),so I'm impressed by someone who will tackle a bed-size quilt right off the bat. By the way, a nice gift for a baby is a quilted play mat. You can make it any size you want.

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