Showing posts with label beginner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beginner. Show all posts

Saturday, August 25, 2012

The Birthday Quilt

Look at what I'm working on now!



My awesome friends and I started this quilt when I turned 30.  In six weeks I will be 32...so....I thought maybe I'd try and finish it before I turn 35.

I never had a plan to begin with when I started this project, which is why it is taking me so long to finish.  I had my friends draw pictures for me with crayons on sandpaper then I iron transferred the pictures onto fabric.  My intention was to then make each picture into a quilt block, then quilt it together for a cute little wall hanging.  

A few problems occurred.

I was a BEGINNER in regards to quilting, so I planned on just framing each square with a single fabric to make each block 10 x 10 inches.  I was trying to make them all the same size but I didn't calculate the piece sizes correctly and I used a layer cake so I had a limited amount of fabric... each time I messed it up I got more and more frustrated...yada yada yada....basically I ended up with 8.5 x 8.5 inch squares and 9 x 10 inch rectangles.  Nice, right?  I tested out of math in college and had to teach myself basic calculus last year but I could not figure out how to cut fabric with seam allowances.  

So the blocks sat unfinished as I took on other quilting projects and learned a lot about piecing together quilts.  

This week I sat down with the blocks every day and just kind of stared at them for a while and let my brain boil it over in the back of my mind while I did other things (like, you know, work at my job).   When that "aha!" moment I was waiting for didn't happen, I pulled out a block and just started putting pieces together.  Amazingly, it worked out, so I took on a whole new attitude about the birthday quilt.



     (most fantastic rendition of Red Rocks ever)


Each drawing is different and special just like each of my friends, so I am going to make each quilt block different and special......whatever it takes to make each block 9 x 10 inches. 



Looks like it's going to be pretty awesome.