My first quilt/ Your first quilt

Melissa at My Fabric Relish is hosting a fun linky party about first quilts for the next couple of weeks. It’s just in time to help kick off my “Your first quilt” series: 7 tutorials that include all the information needed to make a first quilt!

So here is my first quilt:

Will all its various (charming) flaws.

Despite its flaws, I still view this quilt with pride and affection. And just try getting my 3-year-old to sleep without it! He knows I made it and somehow even at his age that really means something to him.

I’m thinking through a couple of giveaway/promotional ideas to kick off this series later this week so stay tuned for that! And you still have until midnight today (Monday, Sept. 9) to enter my Sunday Funday giveaway.

Sunday funday giveaway/ Sunday stash

What better way to celebrate the beginning of a new week than a giveaway?

Julie over at 627Handworks is doing a series of Sunday giveaways and inviting us along!

Here is what I’m offering today:

A sweet little charm pack from Kate Spain’s brand new line, Sunnyside! I got one for myself and it’s already cut up for my hexi project.

To enter, simply leave a comment. Leave an extra comment if you’re a follower or if you become one today! The giveaway will close Monday at midnight and I’ll announce the winner Tuesday. *Yes, I will ship internationally.*

And since I had to order the charm pack anyway, I threw in a “few extra things” for myself (NOT part of the giveaway, ha ha)…

I’m particularly excited about the design possibilities here:

Today and tomorrow I’ll be frantically trying to catch up on my Penny Sampler blocks and I’ll be back to share those as soon as they’re done!

Linking up with Sunday Stash!

Finish it up friday: hexagon quilt

Just kidding, it’s not really finished. I wish!

But I have (bravely) done the math to see just how long it will actually be until it IS finished. I thought you guys might find this math helpful in case you are considering a 1-inch hexi quilt.

As I mentioned in my hexagon tutorial, hexagons are measured by the length of one side. A 1-inch hexagon is 1 inch per side, but actually measures 2 inches across the long side and 1 3/4 inch across the short side.

I want my quilt to be a throw size so it can live on the back of the couch and be enjoyed by all. I started with an approximate goal of something like 50 x 70. Since I have a pack of 1,200 papers from paperpieces.com I started my math by trying to figure out if that is enough or if I’ll need to reuse some.  After some trial and error I discovered that if I make 38 rows of 32 hexagons that will yield a 56 x 76 finished quilt. I’ll need 1216 papers, so I will need to reuse some. In fact, I’ll need to reuse a fair amount because I’ve given some papers away and I’m sorting out any fabric that’s not low volume enough (you can read about that here).

So far I have a slab of 70 hexagons all sewn together. I also have a stack of 15 rows of 5 (that’s 75 hexagons). Then I have an additional 270 basted hexies. So I’m about 1/3 done with basting. And some very low percentage done with sewing them together.

It’ll be well into 2014 until I even get close to a finish on this one.

But I’m not depressed by that and I’ll tell you why. I consider this a sort of “bonus quilt.” An extra. It has no deadline. The fabric is all either scraps or mini charm packs I’ve picked up here and there so it hasn’t been a big expense. I’ve mostly worked on it at times I would not have otherwise been sewing: outside watching the kids play, in front of the tv, in the car.

Plus, who wouldn’t want these pretty little hexagons stacks all over their house?

Even a bad quilt is still a QUILT

A few weeks ago my mom and I stumbled upon this at an antique store in Holland, MI:

So pretty, right? I liked the colors and design right away but my “quilt budget” is not unlimited and we were going to a quilt shop next so I decided to let it go with the fervent hope that someone else would come along and love it.

After we left my mom couldn’t stop thinking about it and ultimately talked my dad into taking her back to buy it (as he likes to say, “another good deal for Mike”). We knew it had stains but upon closer inspection there are some additional… “challenges.”

Woah! That girl has got some curves. I investigated the back of the quilt top and it appears that someone’s grandma expertly hand pieced all the diamonds and then someone a little less savvy added all the red setting pieces with a machine. Perhaps that person got discouraged and banished the project to the land of forgotten WIPs.

BUT… but but but what that person may have forgotten is this: even a bad quilt is still a quilt, and quilts are really almost 100% of the time a-mazing. To me, that’s the great lesson of this quilt. It’s a message of consolation for those projects that we feel are less successful than others. It’s a message of encouragement to first-time quilters that their quilt will be amazing no matter how flawed. And, of course, it’s an exhortation to keep your eyes open at antique stores!

We backed it in a high quality cream muslin and I outline quilted all the stars. My mom is hand quilting X’s in the red boxes and then we’ll bind it. It’ll probably always have stains and curvy edges and might never feel soft and clean like a new quilt. But it will be absolutely stunning hung over a vintage ladder in my parent’s living room.

What a privilege to finally finish this multi-generational effort.

I missed you/ What I’ve been up to

Guys! I’ve missed you. 🙂 I hope you all had a fantastic holiday weekend. The weather here was a little iffy but we still managed to have a really great visit with friends and family.

We’ve been having trouble with our laptop and I’ve been hesitant to blog from our older computer. I have no idea why- it seems to be working fine! I guess I just get thrown off when something changes my routine (“oh no! I’m going to have to login! What’s my password? Maybe I should wait until the computer gets fixed…”)

But I can’t wait any longer now that I’m ready to show you this:

How cute is this block? I keep thinking each block I make for the Penny Sampler could make a stunning full quilt. But this block has lodged itself deep in my quilt heart and I just know I’ll be getting it back out and doing a full quilt in the future. Maybe in Christmas colors? With a row of mittens on the back?

I’ve been laminating all my templates from this class because I know I will be using them in the future. This quilt is too awesome to do just once.

That’s not all I’ve been up to! My Mom visited last week and we spent a lot of our free time on a rescue mission: a QUILT RESCUE mission. I’m excited to share more about that tomorrow, but here’s a sneak peak:

It’s good to be back. 🙂

Linking with Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story and Sew Cute Tuesday at Better off Thread.