In late 2011, I took a beginning quilting class - hoping that quilting would be cathartic after a long day of work, and I was mostly right.
Shortly after I finished my first quilt - a lap sized beauty - I decided I was ready to tackle something, uhm, bigger. With my mom's birthday coming up in January, I decided to try my hand at a queen sized quilt for her bed. I asked her what her favorite colors were, and what colors would look good in her bedroom, and then the tough part started: picking 5 fabrics for the piecing, another fabric for the inner border, another for the outer border, one for the binding and lastly, one for the backing. After spending what felt like hours in the quilting shop, I came home with everything I needed for my project.
I began piecing the quilt during the Christmas holidays - and let me just say: it took MUCH longer than I had ever anticipated! How did Caroline Ingalls make quilts by hand??? I had a new found respect for all pre-machinated (I know, not a real word!) tasks!
The above pic shows the quilt before piecing is completed.
After I finished the piecing, it was time to move on to the actual quilting - again, a queen size is MUCH different than a lap size! (and to think I actually took lessons on how to hand quilt - if i had to handquilt a queen size, I would be working on this quilt for 20 years!)
After quilting, I had to handstitch the binding - which took another 5 months (ok, so I am busy with a lot of other activities and didn't have time to bind every single night!)
I finally finished the project, and was able to get it shipped to my mom - only 12 months after the original goal date!
Shortly after I finished my first quilt - a lap sized beauty - I decided I was ready to tackle something, uhm, bigger. With my mom's birthday coming up in January, I decided to try my hand at a queen sized quilt for her bed. I asked her what her favorite colors were, and what colors would look good in her bedroom, and then the tough part started: picking 5 fabrics for the piecing, another fabric for the inner border, another for the outer border, one for the binding and lastly, one for the backing. After spending what felt like hours in the quilting shop, I came home with everything I needed for my project.
I began piecing the quilt during the Christmas holidays - and let me just say: it took MUCH longer than I had ever anticipated! How did Caroline Ingalls make quilts by hand??? I had a new found respect for all pre-machinated (I know, not a real word!) tasks!
The above pic shows the quilt before piecing is completed.
After I finished the piecing, it was time to move on to the actual quilting - again, a queen size is MUCH different than a lap size! (and to think I actually took lessons on how to hand quilt - if i had to handquilt a queen size, I would be working on this quilt for 20 years!)
After quilting, I had to handstitch the binding - which took another 5 months (ok, so I am busy with a lot of other activities and didn't have time to bind every single night!)
I finally finished the project, and was able to get it shipped to my mom - only 12 months after the original goal date!
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