Just #Quilt It!

I made my first quilt about 8 years ago. I was working in a great little local store that sold clothes and boots and had the largest selection of fabric that I had ever seen. Every day that I went in and the beautiful colors and designs would call to me. I wanted to make something, I wanted to make a quilt. But the word quilt was intimidating. That's for people with skill. Replacing a button or sewing on the occasional arm or leg of a teddy bear didn't say "skill" to me. I had done a little cross stitch, but only from the kits. So, I tried to ignore it. I almost gave in once, but standing in the sewing section at Walmart and looking at all the tools you needed, I walked out with a couple bottles of paint instead. I had a yard gnome that could use some touching up. I finally couldn't take it anymore when some fabric I had been looking at went on sale. I bought a couple yards. 2 print and 2 solid. When I got home I laid the blanket off the bed on the floor and measured it (with the Big Guys' tape measure). I got out my sewing kit which included a couple needles, scissors and a spool of white thread. Squares seemed like a sensible starter pattern. I worked on it every day. I cut the fabric into strips and then into squares. Thought I had planned a pattern out on paper, but as you can see it got a little hap hazard. I sewed the squares together and then strips of squares to the next strip.. Didn't take long til I added a thimble to my kit! When I got the top to the point that I was satisfied I bought the pre-rolled batting and a piece of material for the backing.

I used my largest cross-stitch hoop and stitched around all the shapes and flowers on the white squares. For the binding I studied on an old quilt that I had of my great-grandmothers. Cut a 3 inch strip. Fold in half, fold halves in half, sew around the outer edge of quilt then attach fold this over and sew as the 'finished edge'. 

I sold this first quilt to an Americans Veteran Organization for a raffle. Although sometimes I wish I had it back, I know that it raised money for a good cause and whoever has it has something with soul in every stitch.

From there began my obsession and since then I have made several more.

My daughter at Heritage Days.

I haven't yet gotten the patience to get into the amazing patterns that there are, I just work with squares, triangle and rectangles. And Yes, that is a chick in the lower left of the pic. lol

The moral of the story is that it can turn into something amazing if you find an idea and run with it.