hello!

this is my very first blog post!  exciting!  i decided to start this blog to talk about my new favorite hobby — quilting!  i’ve been into the idea of quilting for a few years now.  about three years ago i decided i was going to make my first quilt.  i planned to embroider all of the squares.  after cutting eighteen 6 x 6 inch squares — with a rotary cutter with no self-healing mat on my floor — and then spending months embroidering two of those squares, i quit.  several lessons were learned.  1. the mat is required, 2. start small, and 3. graduate from law school before beginning a new hobby.

this past summer i decided to have another go at quilting.  and i love it!  my first attempt was a very simple block quilt with a solid border.  i quilted it with a stitch-in-the-ditch method.  i didn’t want to bite off more than i could chew again and i was glad that i actually finished the quilt!  i definitely made some mistakes.  my thread tension was too tight when i was quilting so the brown thread i used in the bobbin came through to my top.  i also totally did not understand how to make the corners on the binding so they are a little strange.  but i think the end result was not too shabby!  i decided to give it to wallace since it has poodles on it!  i think he loves it!

right now i am working on a quilt for some of my favorites, megan and kyle!  it is bigger than wallace’s quilt and the piecing was much more complicated (for me, though still considered “easy”).  the top is done and the quilt sandwich is made and basted, but i am scared to death to quilt the thing!  i don’t want to do stitch-in-the-ditch again because i’m afraid it’s too boring.  plus, the piecing is certainly not perfect and stitch-in-the-ditch would make those mistakes more obvious.  i would like to take a stab at stippling but i’m afraid that since this is only my second quilt i’m jumping into free-motion quilting way too soon!  i think i need to make some mini quilt sandwiches and do some practice stippling.  maybe my next post will be about how that goes!