Complete beginner here
 

Ready to learn all the ways of quilting!

My mom quilts some (she's a big crafter, sews, crochets, knits...) and it's one thing I've always wanted to learn, but hadn't yet. I'm lucky to get to use her as one of my sources of information (she also works at the fabric store, so she's my source of sale information as well).

I went to facebook in search of a local quilting group, and that led me to an awesome group of women who get together once (or more) a week, and have been very welcoming. One of them is a member here, and if I knew if I could tag her, I would (Hi Francie, it's Teresa!) She's been teaching me a lot, how to piece, quilt, bast, what type of needle to use, etc. She also told me about this place.

I'm in the middle of my first project, hand stitching and quilting a baby blanket with a piece of printed fabric I found at Salvation Army, with remnants from the fabric store. It's taking me a lot of hours, but I thoroughly enjoy the process. Once I feel confident, I have a quilt top my great-grampa put together (1 3/4" squares, scrap quilt top) that I want to sandwich and hand quilt.

The baby quilt:


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Some detail:
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Welcome! You're off to a great start. This is adorable. So much to learn and have fun. Also many free videos and tutorials to check out.

The Great-Grampa quilt top:

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I will need to talk to my mom to find out when he likely made it (he died in the 70's). He used to make a bunch of quilt tops and then drop them off with "the church ladies" and they would finish the quilts and donate them. I just love it :)

He did great work.

Welcome from South Louisiana. Sounds like you are already a quilt addict like the rest of us.

We all had to start somewhere - probably complete beginner - unless we had previously made clothing as I had. Your first quilt is lovely, and how wonderful to have something your granddad made. Both my grandmothers quilted, but I have nothing either ever made, although I would love to have received something. And welcome from the beautiful mountains of western NC.

Welcome from Maryland! Your quilt in progress is adorable! So glad you've made a personal connection to help you get started, and how fortunate (???) your mom works in a fabric store. Yikes, I'd go broke.

Your gr-grampa's quilt is such a treasure. I love looking at all those old scraps.

Thanks for the welcomes :)

I've absolutely become addicted already, and have so many quilts I want to make.

I'm getting together with my sister and sister-in-law in a couple months, and we're going to work on quilts for my mom and dad, trying to make blocks according to their interests. Sister is a beginner like me, SIL has made a few quilts already. Should be a fun time, and it's nice that we share an interest (after those quilts are done, we'll include my mom, but we don't want her to know about the quilts beforehand).

Welcome from Southern California. Looks like you are off to a great start! :)

Welcome from western NY and happy quilting :)
nice job on the cute quilt

Welcome from Michigan!:)

Welcome from alabama.

Welcome from francie( your quilt buddy).

Nice even stitching on your quilting - I think you are already beyond "beginner" stage.

Welcome from New Hampshire! I just love all the different fabrics in your grandpa's quilt top. Your baby quilt is going to be adorable!

Welcome from Arizona

Welcome from Kentucky !

Howdy from Texas. You are doing soooo well for a beginner & I love the baby quilt you are making. Oh my, when I sas your great-grandpa's quilt I couldn't believe my eyes! I made one just like that in the early 1960's from scraps from dresses that I made all through school. Mine finished out at 2" squares but I knew nothing about quilting at that time & we certainly didn't have computers to go to for information. My quilt is literally falling apart now. I knew nothing about 1/4" seams & made mine way too small. It has been well used but I'm still hanging on to it. :)

Post often & show us what you are doing. Ask questions...any & all questions...we all can learn from the answers.

Welcome! Welcome! Your hand stitching is so even! Look forward to seeing more of your projects.

:) welcome from se TX --so glad you are enjoying your new hobby and have lots of resources and support!!

Thanks again :) For the baby quilt I've been using a lap hoop stand and an "Aunt Becky". I learned lap quilting with the group, and watched youtube videos to teach myself how to use the Aunt Becky (trying to reduce finger pricks as my job can expose me to icky stuff sometimes (like sewage...). I think it's helped me keep my stitches even--I was told even stitches were more important than size of stitches, so working on that before I work on making them smaller.

Something that makes me happy... My interest in quilting has inspired my mom to pull out and finish a quilt she started years ago. It's contagious!

Your baby quilt is so cute. And I love your grandpa's sentimental quilt. I have one my aunt made from remnants of my dresses, my mom's as well as my aunt's. It is double knit scraps, so that dates it, but it still means something to me - seeing different scraps and remembering what was made in that fabric.

Welcome!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]554995[/ATTACH]Welcome from Manitoba-Canada, came up with this project while fiddling in my scrap pile of lesser quality fabrics.. Loved it so much now working on an adult size for me..

Welcome from New Mexico! I, too, am a kind of Newbie. I had always wanted to quilt, but didn't know where to begin. I admire your cute baby blanket. What a fun place to start. It's really cute. Once you get going, it becomes an addiction. The members are so good about sharing and helping everyone. You are lucky to have your Mom as a resource. Maybe someday you can be a resource for a new quilter, too! Have fun!

their are many styles of quilting enjoy and welcome from MB

Hi from Central Texas!! The baby quilt is super cute, love the hand stitches outlining things! I'm not a hand stitcher at all, the patience involved amazes me :) you should be very proud! I also have a special place in my heart for the simple square quilts like your granddads. I have one on my bed and I love it, every square has a special meaning to me and I remember what every fabric was originally purchased for, it was a simple quilt to make but it means so much.

Thanks again, everyone, for the welcome! I just wanted to update this thread with a big "I finished!" (well, kind of...)

I just finished the binding on the baby quilt. It all "only" took 105.5 hours, lol. I learned a lot with it though, and really enjoyed the whole process. I've had a second baby quilt started for a while (also a panel), and making good progress on that.

Two other machine-quilted quilts happened in the meantime as well (a Grinch quilt for myself, and a black and batik-blue quilt for my son, as well as a Weird Al concert quilt--really thick batting to make it softer to sit on the ground at outdoor concerts.)

As for why it's kind of finished... I used Warm and Natural for the batting, and need to go back and add a little more quilting to the areas that have over 8" between stitches. So, as I have short amounts of time, I'll add little flowers, rocks, dandelion fluffs, something, to make sure I have my distances all good.

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The panel was found at Salvation Army, and the ends and backing were in the remnant bin at JAF. The binding I had to buy from the bolts, but there was a great sale + coupon. Now it just needs a special little kid to love it.