To all of you skilled quilters, please help me out!
Hello, everyone :) This is my first ever post... on any forum. I've always been reluctant to join forums, though I like reading their threads. But I came here and joined this forum specifically looking for help and support in my journey to make a quilt for my best friend who was recently diagnosed with cancer.
Let me say firstly, I'm a teenager who has never sewn or quilted in her life! I have a great respect for arts and crafts (I love origami!) and I've always thought quilts were beautiful. But I care so much for this friend, he's like a brother to me, and a quilt is just the homemade gift I've been looking for.
I'm willing to work hard and learn, and take as long as I must to make this quilt for him. I'm even willing to take lessons as soon as I can. Hopefully, I can get lessons as a gift for my upcoming birthday. Until then, I'd like to learn as much as I can online,
so please, please put up with me as I strive to learn!
To start out,
my main question is regarding a quilt block that I would like to enlarge into a full quilt top. No tiles (or are they called blocks? I'm still learning the quilting terms :D)
, just a big, orange awareness ribbon (My friend has chronic myelogenous leukemia)
.
I was thinking of making the quilt be
59.5 inches in length and 49 inches in width (I measured my favorite blanket for the size)
Do you kind ladies have any other size suggestions for a blanket-sized quilt suitable for a 5'7"-ish male?
This video shows quilt block that I would like to enlarge. Please look at it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJeJp-TIAqc
^^ My questions regarding the block in this video are:
1. How big is the block without enlarging it?
2. How much would I have to enlarge it in order for it to fit the whole quilt, with maybe some space left for a border?
3. If I were to make a border, how many inches wide (wide is correct, right? Like... how far it reaches into the quilt top) should it be?
4. Would I be able to custom choose how wide I want the border to be?
Questions #1 and #2 are my biggest concerns, so please help me :)
I know I'm asking a lot, and I hope I was clear enough! I'm still learning, but I'm willing to work hard. Please, if anything I said wasn't clear to you, let me know and I will clarify.
Thank you sooooo much for reading this post. I know it can be tedious to read long posts (it is for me), so thank you for your patience :)
Please help me put a smile on my friend's face!
~Ashle