I've been quilting for two days and I'm hooked
 

I've been around quilts all my life. My grandma is a very skilled quilter and I grew up going to quilt shows, looking at quilt books and magazines, sleeping with fancy quilts (my wedding quilt that I sleep with most nights took second place viewers choice in a local quilt show), and occasionally helping with fabric layout, but I never actually quilted. I was intimidated by all those straight lines! In college and high school I studied art and quickly learned that straight lines and neat clean precise style didn't work well for me. . . . . But when I was visiting this week my 10 year old niece had a quilting lesson and I joined in. While she was quilting I laid out some squares of my own and when she got board I started stitching . . . And stayed until I had the whole top together. (7x10 6 inch squares because that's the size that fit on the dining room table easy) The next day I went back to finish (envelope style and tied). There are some waves in the lines where I quilted the edge but its straighter than I thought it would be!

Now I'm eagerly planning how to work on a new project when I'm back home in Portland and away from grandmas sewing room and fabric stash. I've decided to try twin size with smaller 5 inch squares. Im interested in playing with color blends. If my math is correct I can to the top with 7 - 1/2 yard fabric pieces, which should be doable without being too $$$, but this will be my first time cutting the fabric myself so that's the first challenge.

It will be an adventure!

I realized that I skipped all of the typical intro stuff after reading a few other ones. I'm 35 and I am a floral designer living in Portland, OR with my boyfriend and two cats. My background is in design. I studied graphic design and interior design before dropping out of college and going to the Floral Design Institute.

Welcome from Michigan! You have landed in the right spot! This board is an amazing extensive collection of information. Jump in with both feet!

Welcome from Texas

Welcome from Michigan!:)

:) welcome from se TX

Welcome from Wisconsin! You sure did a nice job matching up your squares and your quilt looks great! Sorry, I don't know the answer to your question. But I'm sure someone will come along that does. Lots of nice helpful folks here.

Welcome from the Adirondack Mountains of northern NY state!

Oh I can see an addict in the future!!! Welcome from NW Tennessee from a misplaced Michigander.

Welcome from Wisconsin!

Welcome to the board! Quilting does become addicting. I started 4 yrs ago with a sewing machine on a card table. Now I have turned a bedroom into my sewing/quilting room, have 4 sewing machines (one of them is a Juki on a frame), quilting tools & more fabric that I can use, but I'm addicted...lol. And I dream of having a longarm!

Welcome from SC Texas. We have a lot of the same interest. I have studied interior design and have studied flower arranging in Japan. This really comes in handy in quilting when you start choosing fabric colors for quilts and with your background you will very likely want to design your own patterns. So happy you joined us, I think you will enjoy it here.

good luck as you will do many more and grow with each one.. go to "quilt blocks galore" and check out the 60+ pages of FREE pattens and see all the quilts others have made and get tons of ideas.. welcome to the rest of us crazy quilters... it's going to be a lot of fun...

Hello and welcome from northern California!

Hello, welcome from Nevada.

Welcome to the board! Your quilt looks great. On the lighter end of your quilt if it weren't for the border it would blend in with the tile on the floor.

Welcome from OHIO! It sounds like you have the quilting bug! This is a great place to learn.

I've wanted to design my own patterns for years! Every so often something will catch my eye like a landscape or slab of marble or a pixelated image and I'll wonder if it can translate to a quilt, but a lot of these ideas will have to wait until I until I understand piecing triangles and curves. Right now I'm just going to focus on squares since I know how to sew them straight. There's plenty of potential there to start.

The floor matching is funny. I took the photo in my parent's kitchen after finishing the quilt at grandma's. The tile matching was completely coincidental, but the whole thing was started by "what goes with this pretty beige batique" so the color was important.

Welcome from western NY and happy quilting :)

Hi from Ohio!

How wonderful for quilting to continue ! Love the colers..must be your design skill coming through. Good luck on huge project coming up.
I started with wall hangings with differant designs. Love youtubes to find out abuot how to do and cut corners to achieve half square corners, pinwheels ect. The squares are always a great start. There are precut squares called charms. Qoogle for those too. Enjot you past down skill !

Welcome from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Here is a tip : Go to your closet then a thrift store and purchase all cotton dresses. Take it home, wash it iron it, and cut off the buttons and zipper and then you have usable fabric. It gives you many scraps for your stash. hugs and happy shopping in your closet !!!

Welcome from Arizona - thanks for sharing.

Isn't it sad how we can let something keep us from doing something wonderful that turns out to be much easier than we thought? I am happy that you found quilting. With your artistic background you can make some outstanding quilts. Welcome and waving from Colorado! :wave:

Welcome from TX. Be sure to check out you tube and the tutorial section here for lots of great help!

Welcome from Madrid Spain. Charm squares are very versatile and certainly quilting is addictive!