{first baby quilt 2011}

i've decided to attempt my first quilt for my great friends' first baby. i love tim & jaime and know they'll be fantastic parents! they are not finding out if it's a boy or girl, so had to find patterns and colors that could work for either.

i picked the fabric out at my local JoAnn, coordinating but not matching, as is tradition. i think they're so cute together. tonight i cut the first pieces. it'll be 4'x5' at when it's done, and each piece (according to my calculations, which are always hardly ever reliable) needs to be 6 1/2"x6 1/2", so that when each piece is stitched to another, there's room for a 1/4" seam all-around, leaving each square of the finished quilt at 6"x6". this is also very handy because my ruler thing happens to be 6 1/2" wide!

first piece of fabric, laying down to cut all the edges straight so i don't have to worry about it for the smaller pieces, and all my measurements will be correct the first time i cut

this fabric is pretty thin, i'm cutting 3 pieces at a time with my rotary cutter

all squared up!

a couple hours later i have 20 squares of each fabric cut into 6 1/2"x6 1/2" pieces

this is my FIRST step. it came very naturally, i just realized that before i cut anything i need to know how big the squares need to be, and how many of each i can fit into the quilt size, and how i'm going to arrange them.
i'm basically writing this process out for myself as well as others who may someday be searching for an easy explanation of beginners quilting, that is if this all works out ;) stay tuned!





8.28.11

massive progress today! the whole quilt top is sewn together. here are the steps i took:

went according to my diagram, started laying the right sides of the squares together and sewing them 2 at a time, when i had 2 sets of 2, put those together, then another set of 2 completed a whole row when sewn to the first set

2 sets of 2

one row

i sewed 2 rows together at a time

the quilt layout 2 rows at a time

gotta remember to sew your seams down in the same direction top and bottom of each square! you should actually iron them too, i think i'll do that later

i thought if they go the opposite ways there will be less fabric buildup inside

whole quilt top sewn together!! yayaaa

close-up of adorable coordinating fabrics

next up...going to get backing and attaching the front to the back and the batting on the inside. stay tuned!

9.12.11

quilt batting layed out, can be cut to size, but mine was the correct size when i bought it

quilt basting spray, i guess it was necessary for keeping the 3 layers together as i worked on it, it made my hands sticky though, but it's better than putting 200 pins throughout, so whatever!

back of the quilt after i "stitched in the ditch" for 2 squares to keep everything in place. the white fabric is just muslin, which is actually VERY soft after a washing!

layering!

i pinned all the edges together to keep things in place as i sewed!

hard to see, but to remind myself of where the stitch lines need to be around the boxes

this is a foot you NEED if you're quilting. it's called a "walking foot" and it has feed dogs on the top too, so it pulls each layer of fabric through evenly, not just the bottom one

close up of "stitching in the ditch" if you haven't caught it yet, you sew on the seams you already made

close-up after sewing original boxes

i put together a little sample quilted piece to experiment with the "darning foot" which i used for the freeform quilting, which was SO FUN!

freeform quilting is just moving the fabric around to create the designs as you sew, you are literally drawing on the quilt with your stitches. it was really fun, i loved this part!

close-up of what the quilt top looks like with the freeform design on it!

the back after my first square

close-up of the darning foot; it doesn't hold the fabric down like other feet do, so it takes some getting used to, but it's necessary because you can  move the fabric around any way you want to

progress- one square at a time!

still have the edges pinned

done with that part!

looks fabulous!

after the freeform stitching is done, you gotta trim the edges to make sure they're even and ready to add the binding

this is the quilt binding, you can make your own by making bias tape, but i'm not too concerned with little stuff like that, especially on the first one! this is 1/2" binding and that means when you fold it over the sides, it ends up 1/2" on both sides

i pinned it down over the whole thing before sewing

and naturally, i switched up my thread color! little stuff like that is what i usually forget about, so this was good

TA-DAAAA!!!!

it's beautiful. i can't say there aren't any mistakes or imperfections, there DEFINITELY are, but i think they're things most people wouldn't notice, so i'm not gonna tell you what they are! ;)

i thought the white might be boring, but it really brings out the freeform design, it works! can't wait to start another quilt. i could see bein addicted, at least for awhile :D


THANKS for looking!

if you are a beginning quilter and have any questions, contact me! i can at least tell you what i did and whether it worked or not :)