Hi there!
My name is Kathy, and I'm a 47 yo "tries to quilt" er...
I seem to have all sorts of problems cutting with a ... pizza cutter (lol) and as I rather impatient, I've just been buying precut 4 and 5 inch blocks, sometimes bags of "leftover" strips, that sort of thing.
It actually helps me, as I tend to "over think" what colors, what patterns, etc. Getting it all this way, I just start sewing!!! I machine piece, and somehow always manage to get "off" somewhere *sigh*
When I'm in "Sew Mode" I have my machine setup in the middle of my den, with an old fashioned typing table to my right, and my trusty ironing board at desk height to my left.
I press a stack of random squares, sew them together using the edge of the presser foot as a guide. When I get to the bottom of the stack, I clip them apart and press the seam to the darker color. (*sigh* as ...OCD as I seem to be about crafting, even THAT is sometimes hard for me to determine- which color is the darker one! LOL
Then using my desktop I use one pin in the center seam to match the two squares. I then start at the top of THAT stack and go until I'm done.
...repeat until I think it's big enough.
SOMEwhere along the way, what starts out as a perfectly square Square gets all "Hunkyjiggered" out of whack. Buuuut I fudge where necessary, and keep going. After all, when you are asleep you're not looking at the pattern, right??? (I've been trying to tell myself that for YEARS)
I've been known to scour Thrift Stores and Yard Sales, Estate Sales and "Clearance Bins" for blankets and sheets.... Blankets for batting and sheets for backing. At times, I've actually used Real Batting and backing materials, but I'm much to ....frugal to spend more than is necessary. I realize that I'll never make a museum quality quilt, so- it's the Love that goes into making a quilt that keeps you so warm while wrapped up in it in my humble opinion!!!!
I have danced with the idea of machine quilting... but inevitably somewhere along the way the backing will get bunched up, or the tension will get messed up on my machine, or the dog will decide to quietly come up and lay on the part that's still on the floor, or it will start raining... yeah, just any excuse to make it flop.
Normally, I use a lap quilting frame that I bought from the dreaded "WallyWorld" commonly referred to as Walmart. It's very forgiving for me. Since I live alone, once I get to the quilting stage, I just put away the machine and the desk and the ironing board so I can spread out my current masterpiece on the floor.
Using an old cake frosting plastic jar full of Safety Pins, I start in the center of the center row and pin each square together. Then using my one Huge safety pin that screams, "I am the center!" I place it all in my hoop. There it remains until the last square is quilted.
Every night, while watching Vanna turn squares, or Hodge and the team catch another criminal, or House cure one more impossible case, I sew. It's usually at this time that I decide who this creation is for. That person is usually the one that's been somewhere in the back of my mind for the whole process, waiting for me to realize it.
The nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters, wives and husbands, children and grandchildren, the coworker that makes me laugh, the patient I've been worrying about, who knows exactly where it will go....
I'm Really the one that gets the gift through a quilt- the relaxing it brings to sew, the warmth of it in my lap as I sew, and most importantly- the big smile I get when they finally get their quilt, and they don't Care that it's not quite square, or from any pattern they've ever seen before!
If only I could four arms to sew faster!!!!
....and that's me- KathyTries2Quilt, from Warrior, Alabama. Happy quilting all!!!! Glad to be here.
[email protected]