Hi Louis,

Ah, Cedar Rapids. I went to school in Des Moines - lots of years ago, before you were born! Yikes. Anyway, blue goes jut fine with brown. One of my sister's favorite color combos. Did you get good help at JoAnn's? I'm so excited to see what you decide to do. Another thing you might want to do is see if there is a quilt guild near you. You might get some good help from the people in a guild. I'm sure they would love to take you under their wings and help you. Keep us posted. :)

Louis- congratulations on your project for your mom! I agree with Carolyn but please find a quilting store and ask them how to reinforce the thin fabric. not all employees at Joans quilt, Id hate to have you get bad advicunintentionally and it ruin the top. take them both in maybe they have ideas for both that you can use now and later! Keep us posted

What a thoughtful and special gift this will be!
As the fabrics are quite thin, either a framed quilt in glass or a wall hanging will protect the fabrics from extra 'use' that could limit the original quilt's life. Even with stabilizer I'd be somewhat concerned about using the quilt or needing to wash it very often.
It'll be great to see the outcome!

Please note that if any of the fabrics are polyester, they will melt if you use the cotton setting on an iron, so be very careful if you plan to use a fusible to stablize the blocks.

Well, I walked into Joanne’s today and walked right back out after 10 minutes looking for an associate with no luck.:( I went to another shop called Pine Needles Quit Shop off of Collins Road here in Cedar Rapids Iowa. I received the advice I needed, and gained some valuable insight into quilting that I did not have before. I was informed by two separate quilters that I may not necessarily need to reinforce the top because they thought the fabric was in pretty good condition and coupled with a stitch in the ditch on every seam, it would reinforce the patchwork nicely. I am going to take this advice and run with it.
I also picked up the fabric I’d like to use to finish out the top, a 60x60 throw size Wool batting, some black thread, some nice blue fabric for the border(forget the actual term for the 2inch fold-over bit), and then some nice brown fabric for the backing.
Thank you! I will look for it once I get around to putting the layers together. Are there any good blog posts you know of that go into detail about finishing the edges with the border? I’m still a little cloudy on the process.

I am fully documenting the construction with pictures and will post once finished for everyone’s enjoyment :thumbup: It’s the least I can do for all the help everyone here has given me. A big THANK YOU thus far everyone, I really appreciate it.

I think once this project for my mother is finished, I am going to sort through some of my great-grandmothers partly finished tops and take them to a nearby quilting guild if I can find one. I am sure there is one nearby. I wouldn’t actually mind continuing a tradition and at least teach my future kids the basics of quilting, seeing as all generations through my mother were taught.

Ohhh the benefits of ironing my business casual clothes everyday :)I am proud to say I have at least mastered the iron, I am more concerned about the sewing machine at this point and ensuring my stitching is straight.

I don’t want to be a bother asking too many questions, but would anyone have a useful blog posting or guide about stitch settings on the machine for a quilt like the one I'm making? I’m not sure if there is such I thing, but guide describing appropriate straight stitch settings/tension/etc.? That would be extremely useful.

Well everyone, until tomorrow afternoon! I begin the pinning of my top.

Your machine manual should give you stitch settings. Often it is preference with each quilter.

In the six months I've been piecing and quilting, I have found this forum to be a great place. And you can't beat YouTube for the myriad of fabulous tutorials such as:

https://www.youtube.com/user/GourmetQuilter

and

https://www.youtube.com/user/MissouriQuiltCo

There are many others but those two are my favourites. It would have taken me forever to get to even my current beginner's level without them.

Louis, do you know anyone who is a quilter?? If you need further advice ask at the quilt shop where they helped you and you may find a delighted tutor who will be your able assistant. Most of the quilters I know would be so happy to be asked for help. You will need to put binding on the outer edge to cover the raw edges of the fabric. There is a really good binding tutorial on the Missouri Star Quilt Company website and she also has a ton of free tutorials for other aspects of quilting as well as many free and easy quilt patterns. I hope this project will be the start of a long and happy career as a quilter. It is a wonderful creative hobby that provides a lifetime of enjoyment and productive projects. Come back to the board as often as you wish for help or just to give us an update. Do browse the internet for free tutorials and you will learn a ton of new things.

There are many sources of good information and it appears that you have found 'good help' at your local quilt shop. My experience is that they generally enjoy helping people with problems and they like to encourage new quilters. Sometimes some of the other quilter-customers jump in as well. Your project sounds wonderful and caring so be sure to seek out as much advice, step by step, if need be to have success. Some Youtube things are just great and some are not but are worthy of consideration. You might consider looking for on-line classes like Craftsy (there are others). and do them. One suggestion I would make is to be sure to thread baste your quilt in the area of the old part of the quilt just to protect it. Then, if you like, baste the rest in some other way such as pins. I love to use Elmer's school glue to baste but would not do it with this project because it has to be washed to get the glue out and you probably should not do that since you are including older, fragile textiles.

Looks like you have lots of advise above just wanted to say hello from one former Airman to a current one!! Thank you so so much for your selfless service to our country!!

This board is wonderful for quilting advise!!