Yay - My quilt is done!

I finished my first quilt last night, sewing on the binding while I watched Up In the Air. My opinion of the movie is that it was just ok, but I LOVE MY QUILT!
I am calling it my Sea Grass quilt because I think the wavy quilting lines look like sea grass. I was inspired by a quilt Ashley on her website Film on the Fridge. She used this style quilting and I love it.

Since I have never free motion quilted before, I did a few practice runs and decided, with this quilt, there was way too much white to make it my first go at free motion. Since I loved the sea grass look, I decided it would look perfect in the white sections bordering the coin stacks. There were several comments on how long it would take, but it really didn't take me much time at all to quilt it. I have nothing to compare it to though, so that might not be completely accurate. The quilt is 39 x 49 - a good baby quilt size or small throw. I don't know what I am going to do with it yet. I am guessing I should keep my first quilt :)

What is it they say about idle hands???...

So, I knew I had the girls all by myself tonight so what did I do?.... I let them play while I quilted. I was really going to take several days off while I waited for the backing fabric to arrive, but I just plain ole got bored. I dug out all the scraps I had from the first quilt top I did and started playing around. Before I knew it, I had cut a gazillion 2.5" x 5" strips. I thought I might make a border around the other quilt top so it would be larger, but that didn't really look good. I then had the bright idea to just start a new quilt top. What the heck, right? I sewed all the strips together and, tada! I had a stacked coin quilt top. So, I have to stay away now - for real, this time. I don't even really know how to quilt the whole thing together yet, let alone do the binding. This is learn as I go... I have to say thanks again to Sherry for all her help. She has made some beautiful quilts. I appreciate all her patience and email correspondence.

Thanks also to Crystal. I don't think I would have even considered having enough time to start this new hobby if I hadn't seen her do it.

First full day of quilting

I worked for several hours, like a woman possessed on my first quilt. I got all but the first six squares done today and put it together. I am so proud. I am still waiting on my backing material to arrive so I guess I will take the day off tomorrow. I am so psyched to get it done. I wish it was a little bit bigger. I might add a border around it to make it bigger. We'll see. Onward and upward!

beyond fun...

I started my first quilt tonight. I can't tell you how much fun it is so far. I am making a throw size quilt out of 8" squares. I am starting with something very easy. Anyway, I don't have much time. I had to stop myself at six squares tonight because I told Mark we would catch up on a TV show. I already passed out during it once this week. Duty calls...

I will keep posting my updates to the quilt. I know I have a long way to go. Sherry is telling me to cut my other fabric on a bias - I have NO CLUE what that means. I will have to rely on my new bestie, www.youtube.com for that one. I learn much better when I can see it than read it.

Ta ta for now.

New adventures in quilting...

So I am getting my foot in the door with quilting now. I was going to take a class but between the class, the supplies and getting a sitter; we figured that would be close to $800 over the next 12 weeks. Since that isn't really an option, I have decided to request the assistance of my friend Sherry. She was more than willing to send me lots of information on how to get started. In fact, she taught herself online as well.

Sherry warned me that this hobby can be addictive. Well, I should have really taken that statement to heart because IT IS!!! I spent the night before last on the computer just browsing fabrics. Before I knew it, 2 hours had breezed right by me. I ordered my "charm packs" and "jelly rolls" and was on my way. I have so much terminology to learn. Thank goodness Sherry is there to tell me what is going on, or I would be completely lost. I have a new respect for all of those users I used to speak to when I worked at the help desk. I always took it for granted that I knew what Gigs and RAM and IP Addresses were. Now I am in a foreign land and can appreciate how difficult it is to communicate about a subject matter of which you know zilch.

Well, I go to the store to get my measuring and cutting supplies this Friday - once the big sale at Hancock's starts. I will keep my progress posted on here. No pictures yet, hopefully, soon.