First I have to say “sorry” for being away for a bit but there was a reorganization of my studio that simply could not wait any longer.  But, now I am back and in full swing again.

I have been working on a few projects while my space was being redesigned and I will bring those to you over the next couple of days.  My biggest hurdle that I have been jumping is learning how to quilt.  This, my friends, may look easy to the unknowing eye but my “jump in” mentality needed to have a talking to as I ventured into this world.  There are things to consider first before you even take a blade to your material.

Such things are:

• Size:  How big do you want the finished project to be?
• Weight:  How thick will you want your quilt.  This will be determined by the batting that you choose.
• Scheme:  will you stick with one color family or venture out into a realm of the unknown color coordinates?
• Pattern:  Before you even purchase your fabric, you will need to know the number of colors in the pattern you choose plus how much material you will need of each color.
• Quilting?  Will you hand quilt or machine quilt the piece?  Will you hand bind or machine bind?  Or will you send your finished top off to a long arm company that will finish it for you?  On the machine quilting question, will you free motion quilt or stitch in the ditch?

See what I mean?   So many things to consider and calculations to make before even beginning to sew.  Don’t overwhelm yourself by going out half cocked and not really understanding all of the general terms and techniques because you will end up with yet another UFO (unfinished object) sitting in your stash.  I want you to be able to use UP your stash and not add to the growing pile, feeling defeated before you even get close to finishing.

I am going to show you below what I have been doing and the progress that I have made so far.

Front of Quilt

Back of Quilt

Close up of Back Stripes

As you can see from the pictures, my quilt is now to the point where I will complete the binding and then it will be finished.  Over the next couple of days,  I am going to go step by step and show you how I got to this point and little tips and  useful references that I have found along the way.  If I mention something that you have found am easier method to do, please send me a message because I. like you, am a beginner and welcome all the help that I can get.

Until Tomorrow,

Mamalou