Hi! I'm new to posting here, although I've been reading posts for several months and absorbing tips and encouragement enough that I finally finished my first quilt. It was hand pieced and hand quilted and I enjoyed all phases of putting it together. But now I want to learn how to machine piece, at least, and possibly machine quilt (my machine has a quilting foot) because I want to put some quilts together more quickly in order to give them to first-time chemo patients. I'm wondering if you could give me your opinion of an "easy" first-time machine-pieced quilt. I was thinking trip around the world? I'll probably do either machine stitch in the ditch or else tie them.

Being a lurker here and now active has really inspired me and awakened my long dormant creative side! I have so many ideas in my mind I hardly know where to start.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts/input/ideas!

Sharon

Sharon,
Welcome to the board. I would think a simple 4 or 9 patch or maybe a logcabin would be good quilts to do a first machine quilt.

Thanks, Leota. The quilt I completed (hand not machine) was a nine patch and I thought it was a lot of fun. I may try that. Thanks for the suggestion.

Welcome Sharon.

I might suggest the Rail Fence. It's easy to cut, piece and layout. There are a few different variations.

Quilting is so much fun. And, this is a great group of quilters here with much knowledge and help shared with each other.

Hi and Welcome from Northern Indiana ! You will love machine piecing and quilting :wink:

What about a warm wishes ? Or for a twist a disappearing 9 patch ?

I agree, warm wishes is so much easier than it looks. Easy peasy.......

Snowballs or Square in a Square are fun and easy too :D:D:D

I also recommend rail fence. It's simple sewing (straight strips and cut) and the resulting pattern is very effective.

Hi,from bernadette-sorry no advice just a question -why are "feed dogs" so important?

Wow, thank you for all of the suggestions. I have looked up the patterns, and I really liked the rail fence and thought that looked doable, then I saw pics of the warm wishes and I think that's the winner! I really like the combination of the plain squares with the rail fence. I am going to give it a try. I'll post pictures as I get going.

I'm going to go look through my fabrics now. When my mom down-sized her house and moved she was going to get rid of 35 years worth of fabrics from sewing she'd done ... and I couldn't stand the thought of her getting rid of them so I took them all, even though at the time I'd never quilted or sewn. Now I have three boxes of fabrics to go through to get some fabrics for this project. I think a lot of it is going to be polyester from the 70s, but I'm pretty sure there's probably some cotton in there, too.

Thanks again! 8-)

I love the log cabin quilts and a double Irish chain is nice too.

Good luck on your venture Sharon. What size are you planning to make for cancer patients?

Hi .. thanks. I'm planning on making roughly 52 x 52 - something small enough to carry to chemo with them, but big enough to wrap up in the lab, where it's always cold. Even in June and July when I was having chemo there, I asked for the "blankets" the hospital had - but they weren't much more than thick sheets. I haven't finished planning my first quilt yet because I'm not sure what I'm doing, but that's the plan. Thanks for asking 8-)

Sorry, Bernadette - I have no clue why feed dogs are important. Not even sure what they are. I'm very new to all this.

Warm wishes is quick and easy! Just finished one for a baby quilt. Very good suggestion, SharonB!!

Hugs and Kisses is an easy beginner pattern as is the Roman Stripe.

Glad you are letting your inner artist out to play.