Now that the label is on, it is truly finished and so I thought today I would share with you the adventure of my very first quilt and some of the pictures I took the other night.
It’s very blue and quite crooked but I’m really happy with it and just love it.
I don’t remember what sparked this obsession but one day I decided I would like to make a quilt ( however as my mum would say- unlike any other normal person I decided to leap into making a full size quilt after having only done a small wonky pinwheel block! haha)
I really had no idea what I was doing and it was very much “a learn as you go” experience but I needed the challenge and loved it. I found a very basic Kids craft and sewing book that taught me the basics like how to sew triangles and squares together and I did a lot of googling ( if that’s a word?) on quilting basics and used up all the printer ink on quilt pictures.
I came across The Owl fabric and absolutely adored it and I think it was the start of my slight owl obsession. I wanted to make it the feature/ main fabric but unfortunately I had very little of it and could only just get 18 smallish squares out of it. I thought it needed to be in a square otherwise I would end up losing the owls so I chose a simple four patch, which meant I could have two squares of wonderful owl fabric per block!
I had a rough idea of what I wanted the quilt to look like so I drew a picture and decided I wanted the quilt to be mainly blue because it's my favourite colour and so it would match my feature wall. My mum also thought I was completely crazy and doubted that I would actually make one so she refused to buy anymore fabric and all I had was various shades of blue so lucky I love blue!
For a while I was a bit upset with its unevenness and my inability to cut a straight line and I don’t think using a normal ruler and scissors/rotary cutter was really helping. Eventually I discovered quilting rulers and that certainly made life easier! But I accepted the fact that perhaps I just cant cut a completely accurate line and in the end I decided that it wasn’t perfect but neither was I so that’s ok.
I think it took me about 5 or 6 months- I couldn’t find the right backing/ binding fabric for a while but that gave me time to research how to finish it, especially the quilting part. Having a lot of study and exams in the second half of the year also meant I didn’t have a lot of time.
The backing and binding fabric I got from my favourite shop Patchwork House which a friend at my Dads work introduced me to. They people there were so friendly and helpful. They suggested I go with a red binding, which I was a bit unsure about at the time because I hadn’t thought of using red, I just knew it couldn’t be blue. In the end I think I’m glad I chose red because it makes the owl fabric stand out more.
The backing fabric my dad and the lovely people at Patchwork House, helped me choose and I just adore the fabric, I love the colour and the little birds.
The quilting was a bit of an adventure in itself and I did struggle at times with stitching (in) the ditch. It was like a war with the quilt and me at some points because it kept wanting to go left!
I also had a bit of a tension issue on the 2nd half of the quilt, which I couldn’t seem to fix entirely but oh well.
I finished it on the 2nd of October 2009! My Grandma was coming to visit us from Perth the next day and she had given me the sewing machine for my birthday so I really wanted to finish the quilt in time. I think I stayed up until two in the morning sewing on the binding, so I was quite tired and had very sore fingers in the morning but I had finished it! and my Grandma was so happy to be able to see it. I was also wanted to finish it before my exams started otherwise I was worried I might not for a long time when I was so close.
Surprisingly I think it actually helped me going into exam time and I ended up doing really well in my exams so I think it gave me the confidence I needed and put me in the right mindset. It’s a bit difficult to explain and probably sounds a bit funny but I thought to myself that if I can make a quilt and not really know what I am doing then really anything is possible and I can do anything if I set my mind to it.
Here are some more of the pictures I took the other night : )
I’m sorry this post is a bit long winded but I hope you enjoyed reading about the adventure of my first quilt and hopefully I might inspire other people out there to give quilting a go and that really anyone of any age with a love of fabric and sewing and a bit of patience can make a quilt : )
Hope your having a great day,
Miranda & Charlie
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