Quilting 101

I tried my hand at quilting for the first time some 18+ years ago. I jumped right in with an intermediate pattern that I had no business attempting. It turned out "okay" and my husband at the time had the not-so-wonderful suggestion (yes, I'm divorced) that I give this king-sized kaleidoscope hand-quilted wonder to his sister for her wedding gift. Within a month of so doing, I was no longer on speaking terms with her (with good reason). No love lost there. I have no idea the whereabouts or condition of this first project and deeply regret having handed it off to someone with no understanding of the value of quilts. The last I'd heard the quilt had been given to her son, who was 12. Right.

Okay, so, moving on to something more enjoyable.

I decided I wanted to try quilting again after my Sewing 101 class. The class I wanted was full so I stumbled upon a quilt store down the road, The Quilt Store. I think I had a fabric orgasm when I walked into that place. It is simply incredible. So much fabric. So many colors. Oh my!

So I asked about the quilting class and got the last opening for that class. The instructor is extremely knowledgeable. The classroom accommodations are simple amazing. Everyone gets their own over-sized work table that fits your sewing machine, your full size cutting mat, your notes and your project. Very nice indeed.

The first week we learned how to machine piece the block chosen for us for this class which was a modified 9-block patch that looks like a pinwheel. We were to go home and complete the rest of the blocks for the size quilt we chose (wall hanging, baby quilt, lap quilt, twin, queen, king).

The 2nd week (which I missed most of because I was taking a weaving class, stay tuned!) we learned out to put sashing around each block, and we picked out of border fabrics. We were to go home, finish our blocks if not done already and put sashing on blocks.

The 3rd week we learned how to make to sew a mitered corner and she showed up examples of different batting and quilting (there was not a demonstration of hand or machine quilting though). We were to go home, finish the sashing on our blocks if not already done, and put the borders on.

That's it so far. I'll update this post when I've completed my sashing...but with the viking knitting class I've been asked to teach, I'm busy making class samples, and with my new passion for weaving, well, there is less and less time these days. I'm surprised I'm blogging actually, but well, writing is a passion not to be neglected either!