I Taught Myself to Quilt and You Can, Too

You can teach yourself to quilt. I want to share my experiences with beginner quilting with you and I sincerely hope that it will inspire someone to begin this fascinating search for unlimited beauty through an art that began thousands of years ago. Whether you are led to explore fabric art or the retro fabrics and designs and crazy quilts, it won't matter.

The history of quilting is fascinating. Epic stories were told through the simple bed quilt. Especially in the South, in the United States, during the time of bondage for slaves, quilts were used to pass messages as well as spiritual songs to those seeking freedom through the underground railroad, which was neither a railroad nor underground. It was, however, highly secret.

I didn't start really quilting until about four years after I retired. I simply decided that I wanted to make something for one of my granddaughters. She had a castle bed, complete with ladder and slide. The youth bed was on the upper deck.

So the journey began. I had been sewing most of my life mostly making clothes for my girls while they were growing up. Curtains, tablecloths, decorations, and costumes had gotten me acquainted with the skill. I thought to myself, "How hard can quilting be?"

I quickly found that it isn't hard, but it is different. I allowed myself to become intimidated by all the seemingly incomprehensible and complicated patterns that make up a quilt.

I began by reading books, watching YouTube videos, joining quilting forums, and opting in to newsletters from well-known quilting magazines. I haunted places like Hobby Lobby, Hancock's, Jo Ann's, and other local quilt shops.

I could not at the time afford private lessons so I joined an online membership for one year. For a monthly fee I received patterns, cds, dvds, and other printed materials. I invested in books by the best-selling authors. The public library helped with that. I asked questions, I used trial and error on cheap fabric, and slowly collected the essential (and some just nice to have) tools for my art. I collected coupons and watched for sales to build my arsenal of tools and a good sewing machine.

I don't hand quilt, although I do know how. I do it all on my Janome Décor 3050. I saved money until I could afford the machine I wanted. I also have a Janome Embroidery machine. I'm not advertising for sewing machines. That just happens to be the brand that I own and I am happy with them. I still use my little Kenmore Junior for piecing and straight stitching.

My first quilt was a one block youth size quilt for a granddaughter. I design my quilts ahead of time, on paper, and not once in the last few years has a quilt turned out like planned. They were better. The pink tractor quilt in the picture is the first quilt I made. Some fancy stitching (with the machine's built in stitches) made a little girl very happy.

I hope you will enjoy my journey into the quilting world. This is my passion, the one thing that I never tire of, that I am always excited about. I can lose myself in any aspect of quilting for hours at a time.

It is my quiet time, my relaxation, my frustration smoother, my stress-buster. It's an art form. It is creativity at it's best for me. Please join me as I share this part of me with you.

Back in 2004 I moved to Austin, Texas to live with my daughter and son-in-law at their request. I had sold off all my furniture already, so it wasn't much of a chore. I had been there for awhile when my son-in-law asked me if I could do some mending for him. The pockets of his pants were worn out and needed to be replaced.

I agreed and we went to Sears and bought the Kenmore Junior, a 3/4 machine with straight, zigzag, and buttonhole stitches. Little did I know that this would soon become one of my favorites.

This unassuming little machine makes beautiful stitches and is perfect for piecing quilt blocks, although I hadn't discovered this yet. I did the repair work and put the machine away until we moved away to Arkansas in 2007.

When I decided I wanted to quilt, the Kenmore Junior was the only machine I had. I began. I needed no book to make the John Deere youth bed quilt pictured here. It's simply one piece of fabric cut to the desired size with a backing and binding.

I went to About.com and YouTube to get specifics about the techniques to use and the best batting. Quilts are usually made of 100% cotton. I use Warm Company's Warm and White or Warm and Natural all cotton batting for almost all my quilts. There are more expensive and newer ones, like Bamboo, 80/20 (80% cotton and 20% polyester.) There are other websites and books that I will mention further down.

T-Shirt Quilt

My younger daughter volunteered me to make her friend and co-worker (another RN) a T-shirt quilt. The friend was threatening to throw away all her husband's college shirts. They were worn out and she was ready to do something (anything) with them.

While they were talking on the phone one day, my daughter told her that I had started quilting and could probably make a quilt from the shirts. I almost had a panic attack when she called me. It wasn't that I didn't want to, I simply didn't know how.

Of course, I could always refuse. That was understood from the beginning. I could say "no." And, it was made clear from both that it was really OK if I didn't want to do this.

Wow. What a spot. Of course I wanted to. I was just so afraid I'd ruin the shirts and he wouldn't have a quilt or any shirts.

The first thing I did was go online and seek out companies that make T-shirt quilts. Some are quite expensive, but well worth it. I sent the specs from several companies, professionals, to Lane (not her real name) and told her what my fears and limitations were, giving her the opportunity to take a different route.

She emailed me and said that the sentimental value of the shirts (to her husband) deserved the sentimental, loving touch that having a friend (me) do the work. No matter how amateurish, no matter how many mistakes, he wanted me to do the quilt if I would.

What could I do? Make a T-shirt quilt for my friends, of course.

I began to study. Back to the public library and back to Google, YouTube, About.com, and a forum that I had joined, www.Quiltingboard.com.

"The Glory Days" is the name of the T-shirt quilt that I made for Dave. He had worn those shirts out in the decade that he had been out of college. I was able to cut out the logos, pictures, and dialog from four years worth of shirts.

Each piece of the shirt had to be fused to another piece of fabric. I chose black squares for the foundation squares, 13 inches square which included the seam allowances. The finished squares were 12 inches with a two inch "border" of black to separate the T-shirts.I then joined the black squares with a tan sashing for contrast.

The center square is black with white embroidery denoting his name and that of his fraternity.

When my daughter and I delivered the quilt to Dallas, there was an entire wall prepared for hanging Dave's memories in the 'man-cave'. I knew that it was done by an amateur, although well made, but he loved it. I did finish it in time for his birthday. His wife commissioned the quilt without his knowledge. He was thrilled.

I was thrilled, also, that I would be trusted with something as memorable as this. It did not hurt my reputation as a quilter and designer at all. I take pictures and put them in my portfolio.

I do work slowly. And I am interrupted often. For instance, I have been working on my older daughter's quilt for a year now.

And, once again, it's on hold. These great-grand-babies keep coming along and of course they must have quilts and security blankets.

Then, there is my favorite charity, Downy's Quilts for Kids.

This is a wonderful technique that I have used over and over. From Design Originals, Suzanne shows us the most interesting tips and tricks to make quilt making a really fun activity.

I have used this ten minute block in baby quilts a lot. I'll show you a security blanket I made after I show you the video.

This is a close up of the ten minute block. I chose not to sew the edges down. It makes a tiny pocket for little hands to explore.

These are a few of my favorite quilting tools. The only really "must have" list is very short, but the following are the ones I can't do without since discovering them.

It is really difficult to choose just one product to place on center stage. It will have to be a book of course. I have purchased many quilting books from Amazon on quilting by more than one author. And, I must say here and now that I don't favor one author over another.

Each author has her own distinct style, her own unique approach, and it all depends on what my needs are at any given moment as to what my favorite would be.

While I don't have a favorite author, per se, I do have a favorite book.

My prize quilt is the King quilt made for my granddaughter for her high-school graduation. The pattern came from the book that I am spotlighting today.

This quilt is made from the pattern in Joen Wolfrom's book, "Visual Coloring". She used fall colors and I used jewel toned Batik fabrics.

My granddaughter, in the band since sixth grade, won a band scholarship to college for trumpet. She played second chair. This was supposed to be a twin quilt to take to college, but I fell in love with the pattern and the fabric. With more than 20 different fabrics, the design is made by the placement of the fabrics and colors.

What a fun project this was and it will become an heirloom quilt. I made it to be used and loved, and it's constructed to last many years.

The fabrics were auditioned and purchased from a tiny quilt shop in Bentonville, Arkansas. I took the quilt in during different stages of construction. Sometimes a class was going on and the owner would stop and show the quilt to the people just learning to quilt. It soon became a "community" project. I listened to recommendations from several quilters and the owners of the shop. It took me one year to make this quilt.

I was interrupted by moving to another city during this time and had to set up another quilt area.

Since I began working on this lens, I have joined So Crafty and I'm sad to say that I am falling behind. They don't rush, you, however. And, you don't have to buy anything unless you want to.

I joined the Block of the Month challenge and I must catch up. I wanted you to know that you have an option of joining several online groups if you choose to, or forums that are free.

McCalls has an excellent site with tons of tips and I have many more at my fingertips. All you have to do, though, is Google the term you want and you will get more information than you know what to do with.

I go to Hobby Lobby frequently and look through the magazines. I find that more economical than paying for a subscription to something that I may use once. That's just me. If I find a new pattern I want, I buy the magazine.

I hope you have enjoyed this lens as much as I have enjoyed writing it. I have so much more, but not for this one. That's it for today.

How many of you quilt? I'm thinking quite a few people here do quilt or at least participate in some kind of craft. I'd be interested in hearing about your craft ideas.