Finished my FIRST quilt.
10-08-2011, 11:11 AM
#25
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Grants Pass, Oregon
Posts: 2,179
You did a Fantastic job on this quilt! Quilting is a great way to distract from pain; but can also cause more pain. At least with me, I tend to get so involved I forget to move around and then the pain is unbelievable. Thanks for sharing and have a great time quilting many more projects/quilts.
10-08-2011, 12:16 PM
#29
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Mesquite, TX
Posts: 14
Thank you all. Yes Martina it feels so good!!! What is so shocking for me is how naturally it feels to do this for me. Before 2 months ago I had never TOUCHED a sewing machine except to make a pillow in Home Ec at high school and man was mine ugly! lol. So honestly I didnt expect to have it feel this easy for me. But it does. My paternal grandmother made beautiful quilts by hand of course. My maternal grandmother (who died a few months before I was born) was a master seamstress. She would actually go to Neiman Marcus in Downtown Dallas (this is the MAIN one) and find the formals and other designer dresses and go home and make them just from looking at them the one time.
The thing is I never felt the desire really. Then I decided I wanted to learn and make window treatments for my new home. I wanted to make roman shades but I want to make them from pieced shades. My plan is to make them look like stained glass using batik squares on point with thin black borders. I want to make the batiks pieced to look like a landscape scene. Anyway, I thought to do this I need to learn how to quilt. Then I started and thought I need to make something for my kids and family as a keepsake. I have Lupus and it is rapidly progressing. I want to make sure that if something should happen they have something from me that I made from my heart. So I started reading and watching tutorials and soaked in all I could. I had a good friend come over and show me how to operate the sewing machine a friend loaned me that had been sitting up forever. I had a really hard time with it. My mom then bought me a refurbished Singer 7426 which has really been a great machine.
I saw a video on the dresden plate and thought it looked pretty and I could do it. I figured I should make something first for myself. That way if it turned out really bad it wouldnt be for someone else! lol. It feels very natural for me. Dont get me wrong though. One stitch I have down very very well is the "frog stitch"! I can rip out a seam in record time! lol.
But I LOVE quilting. I just love it! My next project is are memory quilts for my family. My first for my mom. I am making it for her Christmas present. It will be large for sure. She has 5 kids and 15 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren. I am trying to find pictures that have as many of us together as possible.
My brother is a photographer both professional as well as for his own enjoyment. He has a website and has sold some of his photos. He wants me to make a quilt using some and also he will show one or two of the memory quilts I make and offer them for sale as well. So that is cool and a bit scary too. I am hoping that by then I will have quite a few under my belt and feel comfortable selling one. It is one thing to make them for someone as a gift and another to do it for a sale.
I am SO glad I found this board! You all are so supportive an have so much help as well to offer. It is also nice to find others that enjoy this like I have found I do. It feels like I have found something that fits me like a glove as well as relaxes me. It also helps me feel good and useful again. I am disabled and have worked my whole life. It took an intervention from my dr's, employer and family to get me to stop. Finding this has helped me feel alive and .....useful again I guess. I have a direction again.
But yes....this first one feel WONDERFUL!!!!!
The thing is I never felt the desire really. Then I decided I wanted to learn and make window treatments for my new home. I wanted to make roman shades but I want to make them from pieced shades. My plan is to make them look like stained glass using batik squares on point with thin black borders. I want to make the batiks pieced to look like a landscape scene. Anyway, I thought to do this I need to learn how to quilt. Then I started and thought I need to make something for my kids and family as a keepsake. I have Lupus and it is rapidly progressing. I want to make sure that if something should happen they have something from me that I made from my heart. So I started reading and watching tutorials and soaked in all I could. I had a good friend come over and show me how to operate the sewing machine a friend loaned me that had been sitting up forever. I had a really hard time with it. My mom then bought me a refurbished Singer 7426 which has really been a great machine.
I saw a video on the dresden plate and thought it looked pretty and I could do it. I figured I should make something first for myself. That way if it turned out really bad it wouldnt be for someone else! lol. It feels very natural for me. Dont get me wrong though. One stitch I have down very very well is the "frog stitch"! I can rip out a seam in record time! lol.
But I LOVE quilting. I just love it! My next project is are memory quilts for my family. My first for my mom. I am making it for her Christmas present. It will be large for sure. She has 5 kids and 15 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren. I am trying to find pictures that have as many of us together as possible.
My brother is a photographer both professional as well as for his own enjoyment. He has a website and has sold some of his photos. He wants me to make a quilt using some and also he will show one or two of the memory quilts I make and offer them for sale as well. So that is cool and a bit scary too. I am hoping that by then I will have quite a few under my belt and feel comfortable selling one. It is one thing to make them for someone as a gift and another to do it for a sale.
I am SO glad I found this board! You all are so supportive an have so much help as well to offer. It is also nice to find others that enjoy this like I have found I do. It feels like I have found something that fits me like a glove as well as relaxes me. It also helps me feel good and useful again. I am disabled and have worked my whole life. It took an intervention from my dr's, employer and family to get me to stop. Finding this has helped me feel alive and .....useful again I guess. I have a direction again.
But yes....this first one feel WONDERFUL!!!!!
10-08-2011, 12:27 PM
#30
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Mesquite, TX
Posts: 14
Originally Posted by yolanda
That's a tough block for a first isn't it? Nice work!
Quilting it was the hardest part. Since FMQ wasnt an option the only thing I could do was SID and then I used the blades as a guide to do the lines in the background fabric. The border is made from a jelly roll and I just pieced it in random sizes. I wanted to keep it all where the plate and the border were uniform. I felt that made the plate match up and flow. It looks so great on my wall in the living room. My husband is the one that is in shock. I dont think he expected me to make something that pretty. lol. Not sure what he had in mind but it is nice he likes it. Him and my family have been so supportive in giving me a work space that is so great. I have a huge area to work on and my sewing room is awesome. Considering the fact that most of it was found for free on craigs list.
I think when things come together so easily and it all feels so right...it is meant to be.
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