Hello! New Quilter Here!
01-30-2020, 12:14 PM
#1
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 5
Hello! New Quilter Here!
Hi everyone,
I'm a new quilter - I've made one queen sized quilt and am working on my second. I used charm squares for my first and kept it really basic and didn't use a pattern - I just picked colors I liked and set them up in a design I liked. I decided that the quilt was too big and took way too long, so I've decided to make crib sized quilts next.
I'm working on my second and third quilt right now - the second quilt is a cotton nine patch quilt using natural dyed fabrics. I'm kind of dying and cutting at the same time and when everything is sorted I'll start piecing. I'm also going to be making a Royal Star quilt that I'm making out of indigo dyed linen - I've dipped each section of fabric different amounts of times so the quilt will be various shades of blue. This one will also be a crib sized quilt and I'm very excited about this one because we are expecting a baby boy in July and I'm hoping this one can be his "blankie" and we can use it for tummy time and wrap him up in it.
Besides working on these two quilts, I'm also trying to find an old fashioned hand quilting frame! I prefer hand quilting but I hate having the quilt on my lap and would love to have a frame and don't like hoops. I figure if I can't find one I'll probably just end up making one in my woodworking workshop but that seems like an awful lot of fiddling around when they are for sale at a reasonable price occasionally!
Outside of quilting, I sew a lot of clothes for myself, I knit, have a robust flower garden, and I love decorating my house (but not cleaning it!).
I'm a new quilter - I've made one queen sized quilt and am working on my second. I used charm squares for my first and kept it really basic and didn't use a pattern - I just picked colors I liked and set them up in a design I liked. I decided that the quilt was too big and took way too long, so I've decided to make crib sized quilts next.
I'm working on my second and third quilt right now - the second quilt is a cotton nine patch quilt using natural dyed fabrics. I'm kind of dying and cutting at the same time and when everything is sorted I'll start piecing. I'm also going to be making a Royal Star quilt that I'm making out of indigo dyed linen - I've dipped each section of fabric different amounts of times so the quilt will be various shades of blue. This one will also be a crib sized quilt and I'm very excited about this one because we are expecting a baby boy in July and I'm hoping this one can be his "blankie" and we can use it for tummy time and wrap him up in it.
Besides working on these two quilts, I'm also trying to find an old fashioned hand quilting frame! I prefer hand quilting but I hate having the quilt on my lap and would love to have a frame and don't like hoops. I figure if I can't find one I'll probably just end up making one in my woodworking workshop but that seems like an awful lot of fiddling around when they are for sale at a reasonable price occasionally!
Outside of quilting, I sew a lot of clothes for myself, I knit, have a robust flower garden, and I love decorating my house (but not cleaning it!).
01-30-2020, 01:17 PM
#2
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Clarksville, In
Posts: 1,840
Ha! I'm with you on the house cleaning bit....anyway, welcome to the quilting board! You sound as though you are off to a running start, but we would love to see some pictures! (We old people are like children...we love pictures!)
01-30-2020, 01:47 PM
#3
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Texas
Posts: 5,546
Howdy from Texas & welcome to the Quilting Board. I'm totally impressed with anyone who dyes their own fabric. For a new quilter it sounds like you already know what you are doing. This is a great board with lots of helpful people here so ask as many questions as you need answers to & someone will come along to help you.
01-30-2020, 03:21 PM
#4
Power Poster
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 41,535
Welcome from Ontario, Canada. My big hand quilting frame back in the day, was 4 1X3 sanded boards held together with C clamps in each corner and it sat on 4 chair backs. In the old days, they sometimes used the board frames and suspended the corners from the ceiling. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.“
01-30-2020, 03:37 PM
#5
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Waterford Michigan
Posts: 7,241
Family first, quilting next and just as important, cleaning.... somewhere down the line. Welcome to the QB from SE Michigan! Glad to have you here. Jump right in and discover the world of friendly quilter here that love to share. You indigo quilt sounds ambitious and beautiful. I for one would love to see pictures of what you have done and are doing. Looking forward to seeing you in these parts of the QB.
01-31-2020, 07:39 AM
#8
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Greater Peoria, IL -- just moved!
Posts: 6,164
Hello and well met! Sounds like you are having fun and being busy and about to get even busier!
I started quilting as a teenager because it was something I wanted to do, 40 years later and through my own son and such and I'm still quilting -- and my house keeping can still wait until tomorrow, because I'm quilting today. I'm largely self taught and have often just jumped into stuff, sometimes with success and sometimes with more knowledge than results.
Hats off to you with the indigo dying, all sorts of things you can do inspired from all over the world!
I did a bunch of dyeing a few years ago, I like natural dyes the best but I like what happens with wool and silk better than what happens with cottons, and I work in cotton. Last year I bought a huge bag of someone's home dye binge for super cheap but it turns out the dyer had never properly fixed the dyes. I think the fabrics are a mix of rayons and cotton, I think basic Rit dye was used, I think inks were used, and pretty sure stuff that wasn't around so much 20-30 years ago when I was doing it was used. In the good news/bad news sort of thing, my car was in the shop for a couple of weeks and I was housebound and so I started boiling those fabrics and stabilizing them. Fixing dye isn't bad if you know what was used, it's a lot less fun when you are basically just heat setting a stain and discharging the excess dye. But now I have a beautiful bag of fabric to use!
I started quilting as a teenager because it was something I wanted to do, 40 years later and through my own son and such and I'm still quilting -- and my house keeping can still wait until tomorrow, because I'm quilting today. I'm largely self taught and have often just jumped into stuff, sometimes with success and sometimes with more knowledge than results.
Hats off to you with the indigo dying, all sorts of things you can do inspired from all over the world!
I did a bunch of dyeing a few years ago, I like natural dyes the best but I like what happens with wool and silk better than what happens with cottons, and I work in cotton. Last year I bought a huge bag of someone's home dye binge for super cheap but it turns out the dyer had never properly fixed the dyes. I think the fabrics are a mix of rayons and cotton, I think basic Rit dye was used, I think inks were used, and pretty sure stuff that wasn't around so much 20-30 years ago when I was doing it was used. In the good news/bad news sort of thing, my car was in the shop for a couple of weeks and I was housebound and so I started boiling those fabrics and stabilizing them. Fixing dye isn't bad if you know what was used, it's a lot less fun when you are basically just heat setting a stain and discharging the excess dye. But now I have a beautiful bag of fabric to use!
