Quilt Making

If you can sew a straight ¼” seam you can make an entire quilt. It doesn’t matter how complicated the pattern you choose to make or how easy, if you want it bad enough you will take the time to get it done and it will be beautiful. There is nothing more satisfying than curling up with or wrapping a loved one in a quilt made by your own hands.

The first quilt I made was a baby quilt, sounds simple huh? This was THE hardest quilt I have ever made. It had nine bunny blocks with 72 pieces in each block and six heart blocks with 20 pieces each as well as various other squares and triangles. The quilt was only 50” x 50” so you can imagine how small the triangles and squares were that made these bunnies and hearts.

I don’t recommend that anybody start out making a quilt that difficult the first time. It took me almost a year to complete and by the time I was done I had no desire to give it away. I was so attached to that quilt that I cried when I put it in a box to ship and I insured it for $500.00 even though in my mind and heart it was priceless.

I got to see my bunny quilt some years and four baby boys later. I was amazed and proud that it was still in one piece and that the fifth baby boy packed it around and snuggled with it the whole time I was there. My first thought was to ask if I could have it back when he was done with it, they probably wouldn’t be having anymore children, but I didn’t want to seem rude or maybe a little obsessive.

The second quilt I made was a Lover’s Knot. This was a much easier quilt pattern than the Bunny quilt. This quilt is a strip quilt pattern and though it was more difficult than a Log Cabin or a Winning Hand it was well worth the effort. It is so satisfying to see a quilt top come together at the end and lay it out on your bed.

At this point I am still learning on my own and have very limited tools but I am definitely addicted to making quilts. Once you decide you enjoy quilting and want to make it a permanent hobby/craft in your life it is time to upgrade your tools.

Below is a link to my hub "How to make a winning quilt." It lists all the tools you will need to get started.

Once I had made a few quilts on my own, with very expert help in the pattern books I had chosen, I took a quilting class at a local quilt shop. The quilt class cost about $45.00 and was taught by world class quilter Trinity Boss at 2 Sisters Quilt Shop in Meridian Idaho. I fully recommend taking a quilt class as it was one of the most enriching things I have ever done.

Each class lasted around three or four hours one night a week for twelve weeks. There were ten other women in the class; some had made quilts before some were new to the craft and just learning. I can’t stress the sisterhood that grows between twelve women laughing, sewing and just enjoying a stress free fun evening of creating, making mistakes and magic. It’s something you will never forget for as long as you live, that feeling of belonging to a special breed of women, quilters. Women, who buy perfectly good fabrics, cut it up into pieces and sew it back together again.

In the class Trinity taught us to make a Log Cabin Quilt. This is one of the most traditional and versatile patterns as well as easy to cut and piece.

Eleanor Burns, Quilt In A Day Log Cabin seems to be the easiest pattern to start with. There are many different Log Cabin pattern books out there that are a little more complicated and less traditional.

There is even a Quilt As You Go Log Cabin pattern, as you sew you’re your strips together you are sewing them onto your batting and backing squares. After you finish your squares in this manner you have to put them together with strip binding. It’s kind of fun though I’ve only done a couple of blocks I will put a demonstration on this hub.

You can even fussy cut your center square, meaning, you can choose a flower or an eagle or tigers, whatever you want for your center square and then build your strips around it. You can make your center square as large or small as you like, keeping your outside strips around 2 1/2" to 3 1/2". Your imagination is the limitation of your quilts.

From Winning Hand to Log Cabins to Landscape Quilts, you will never run out of ways to use your new found hobby. There is a Doctor from Haiti who makes portrait quilts that are fascinating. From geometric quilts to curves and circles you will never go wrong.

You can make a king size quilt or a lap size, baby quilts or quilts for kids in hospitals. There are ladies who get together in different locations each year just to sew quilt blocks for give away quilts they take to hospitals and nursing homes. A quilt brings love, comfort and warmth to whomever receives one.

I've made Christmas stockings, tree skirts and table runners as well as wall hangings for gifts. You can do this too. All you need is a sewing machine and a pattern, the book will tell you all you need to know to complete whatever quilt you choose to tackle, from fabric choices to tools you need to succeed.