First Quilt Project

I started dreaming of something to do with my spare time as my house Reno's began to slow. I knew I needed to keep my hands busy, as always, so I was on the hunt for a new adventure. After spending time scouring Pinterest I discovered my lasted dream skill acquisition quest.

Please note this isn't the first nor the last time I venture to try something brand new. And as much as I love the end product of trying and creating something brand new, to me, it can be daunting and I do have to fight a bit of procrastination. But once I start there’s no stopping. To be fair however, I do hit glitches and times when I need to take a deep breath and problem solve my way out of it. That whole process of trying something new, struggling, problem solving, acceptance and reset, I have gotten pretty good at. And times when whatever I was trying to accomplish utterly missed the mark, I will throw out and chalk it up to the learning curve.

First, I had to buy a sewing machine. After researching the best sewing machine for beginners and enthusiasts that would let me do quilting, I settled on the Brother cs6000i. I read quite a few reviews and I have to say I am not disappointed. And wow, sewing machines have come a very long way since I used my mothers and not at an awful price point. So if you're in the market for a new sewing machine I definitely recommend.

want to know about my collapsible sewing Ikea hack table, leave me a comment and I can blog about what I did

My goal was to get to those beautiful and detailed landscape pictorial quilts which can be seen on my Pinterest board under quilting along with all kinds of goodies. Now I've said it so I guess now I'm a bit accountable. Oh well.

With my goals firmly in my minds eye I ventured off into the research world that is quilting. After already collecting pins out the whazoo in Pinterest and dipping my toe into the my fellow etsy sellers, I set of to our local quilt shop. Little did I know how in luck I was as we have one of the best local shop right here, so much so that a fellow quilters (if I can count myself a part of that group at this point), come from a fair ways away to get their supplies. Check them out here

The staff suggested I start with an easy project of using a square collection (precut and hand chosen to match) and an easy table runner pattern. This project allowed me to learn my machine (yes I read the manual), understanding some of the basics of piecing and quilting, and ultimately the the precision needed to accomplish a nice end product that is block quilting. I learned very quickly that I'm not sure I will be a regular block quilter and gained new respect to those thousands of fellow quilters who manage to put together mesmerizing block quilt patterns on spec. Wow the precision needed. I made mistakes, dozens, but stayed committed and patiently ripped out stitches, resewed piecing and carried on. Its far from perfect I know but it did what I intended because I definitely learned.