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.
That is your first quilt??? My goodness it is wonderful! Your mom is going to love it. Have a great Christmas.
ReplyDeletehi lisa,
ReplyDeleteit 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
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.
ReplyDelete