Learning to Quilt

I'm back from a fun trip to Michigan! I spent some time with my family then headed to my friend's house for a few days of quilting (lessons). I was able to get one quilt completely pieced and another one almost finished. And my friend got her quilt almost completely pieced - she is making the Birthday Cake Quilt but decided to add some borders to make it bigger.

However, most of my time was spent with her niece who got a sewing machine for her 23rd birthday! She's been sewing a few small projects since then but decided to take up quilting when she saw the quilt I made for her aunt. Because of her lack of sewing experience, I decided to start her off with my beginning quilting pattern. I call this "My Parents' Patio" because the blocks remind me of my parents' patio..original, huh? 

This is a great design for a beginner because (1) they can focus on the basics like cutting and the 1/4" seam, (2) it's goes together quickly, (3) there are no points/seams to line up, and (4) it's small enough to quilt with a regular machine.

I had to head back to NY before the binding was on...shucks! But here it is pieced and quilted. It was perfectly plumb! We quilted it with simple straight lines. The scrappy binding is made from the leftover block fabric; we did, however, replace some of the darker fabric with some more yellow so it wouldn't blend in.

Both of them are converts! In fact we had quite a few conversations about the negative connotations associated with quilting. They live in the Detroit metro area and, surprisingly, there are very few quilt shops near them. I find that shocking - within 20 miles of my house, there are four! But I think too many people think of quilting as something that old ladies do with ugly fabric. Sad...but we are working to change that. My friend kept saying, "If only people knew that quilting is so much fun and there are so many beautiful fabrics out there." I concur!