While in the past I have made lots of patchwork and backed it with fleece or soft fabric for blankets for my family or friends and I have even sewn a few 'quilts' with batting but just backed them and turned them right way out like a cushion cover with a bit of top stitching to close the gap I have never actually quilted before. Until now.
On Monday I had the crazy idea it would be good to sew a quilt for my father who has been a bit under the weather and needing to rest. I thought a lap quilt for the living room would be a nice gift to take home when we visit later today. I found a picture on Pinterest that I quite liked, raided the stash with the help of my three year old and cut 5" squares until the sight of my rotary cutter made me shudder. The white was no problem as I could just cut strips and then cut them up. After that to my daughters confusion I cut all the squares into triangles and proceeded to sew them back together again. And press all the seams. When the little people were in bed I laid them all out on the floor to make my design and carefully pinned them row by row in neat piles to tackle later. I managed to get all the rows sewn and the seams pressed and then three of the rows attached by the end of the first day. On Tuesday I completed sewing the rows then I had a date with my eight year old to spend his birthday money so I had to take a break. After our successful escapade I added a surround to the top and pressed it all. I found a piece of fabric big enough to back it and my batting and discovered my batting was three inches too small. Hubby insisted I didn't botch it by sewing an extra cut off on and took me over to Hobbycraft to get some new batting. We left with some FQ's my five year old bought for me, some play doh my oldest the eight year old bought for his sister and a glitter pen on top of the batting. Not too bad for a quick trip out, we also drove around looking for grey grout for my kitchen floor only to find it had been discontinued and our floor will be two shades of grout.
I spent what felt like forever pinning the three layers together and trying to ensure both sides were fairly smooth, the only place big enough while renovating was our bed so it wasn't perfect but I managed. So glad I always keep safety pins. ;) I wish I had taken a photo at this point but I didn't.
After putting the small people to bed I dug out the walking foot I had been gifted and started to play. Wow I can see why people use long arm quilting machines. My little Brother has guts and it managed but it was a tight squeeze at times. By the time I had finished I had gone off the idea of adding my own bias and luckily had some wide ish in my drawer, (it was getting late and I needed to get it finished) which I was able to use on this occasion. I had meant to make a label and I forgot. It is full of little flaws but it's my first attempt and I am pretty pleased with it.
