In a stitch

So…this quilting stuff is tricky business! I have not yet attempted to actually free motion ON my niece’s quilt yet. I’m trying to practice on scraps, but I’m not very confident. I’m thinking I might just go for a straight stitch this time until I can get more practice in. My problem is that I love all my fabric, so I need to go to Joann’s and by some cheap fat quarters in ugly prints to use. I hate wasting beautiful fabric. My thought is that I’ll just use my walking foot to straight stitch the whole thing and then go back over the smaller sections with a free motion pattern – if I can practice enough to feel confident. I only have a few days to get this part done and then I need to get my binding all pieced and sewn together. Making a quilt is a lot of work! And this one is only approximately 40” x 40”! I can’t imagine how long a bed-sized quilt is going to take me! A year?! I plan to sew myself one next (for both the practice and just because I want one). It’s going to be big. I’m thinking finished…60” x 72” or so. Something big enough that I can use to snuggle up on the couch with a book. Or share with my man when we’re laying down and watching a movie. And it’s going to be more detailed than my niece’s. I made up my own pattern already. I couldn’t find one I liked, so I just drew it out. I have to transfer it to graph paper so I can get it to scale. And then select my fabrics. I just ordered 1 yard of 6 different fabrics (for a total of 6 yards) out of the Authentic Collection from The Quilted B. And I’ve already got a couple more fabrics at home I can use. I’m not sure if it will be enough though. I think I need some bolder fabrics so it’s not so cream colored. Both the fabrics I have at home are that same natural colored background. I might incorporate some of what I’m using for the niece’s quilt too. It’ll just be a big mishmash of fabrics. It won’t match anything in my house, but I don’t really care. As long as I like the way it looks. :) I’ll be sure to post some pictures here pretty soon of my progress with my niece’s quilt. I plan to [hopefully] get my quilting done tonight and begin on the binding.  

Sorry, I don’t mean to ramble about quilting. I just love it. My new hobby. Unfortunately, nobody my age shares in my enthusiasm. Everyone I know that quilts and can offer me tips/advice is at least twice my age. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It would just be fun to have someone close to my age to do it with. I’ll have to do some blog searching, I think!  

In other news…I am really ready for the weekend! I think getting through the week has been especially hard since I know I’m getting an amazing spa manicure/pedicure with my sister (in-law) on Saturday, and I am so looking forward to it!! It’s Wednesday, so it’s all downhill from here (I hope).  

I know most of my posts lately have been about sewing projects, but I wanted to leave you with some pictures from my “inspiration quilts” folder. Are these not amazing??  

[caption id="attachment_445" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="LOVE this quilt and the colors"][/caption]