On The Line: My First Quilt

*Warning: This post is long, but funny I hope, and if you are a new quilter, know you are not alone. Every mistake you have made that you think no one ever has made. I have.*

So far through my blogging journey I haven't said much about who I am and what my background sewing is. I have realized that there may be some chance that people other than my family and friends that will read this. They will find my blog by some google search taking them on a wild goose chase through the internet. So I'm going to put it out on the line and maybe someone will think wow, "I made that same mistake, I thought I was the only one!" Or some may think, "wow, she has no idea what she is doing!" Either way I will probably be making their day. And since this blog post is already so long I will break this up into other posts because I have made many more mistakes and have so many more stories. 

So lets start with the basics. 

I started quilting when I was 19, almost 20, I am now almost 22. I had never sewn before that (other than a few buttons in 7th grade Home Ec.) I was babysitting a couple girls for the summer and their mom is a quilter. She was making her granddaughter a quilt and the fabric had owls on it. I am a complete owl freak and fell in love. Whenever she would come home for lunch we would end up talking about quilting. Needless to say, the first week I ended up not having to watch the girls on Friday, so instead I stayed home all day, computer on my lap. Pinterest at the ready, and I typed in the Youtube search box, "Quilt Tutorials". This is a trick I learned from my fiance who taught himself a lot about golf through the help of Youtube. I found the Missouri Star Quilt Company and watched just about every tutorial they had up at the time. My Pinterest gained over 100 pins that day!

Somehow this is the only picture of my first machine I have. I have upgraded to a little larger Singer machine, but this one lives at my moms house now.

Within a couple weeks I had saved up enough money for a sewing machine. I went with a Singer machine I found on Walmart.com and the day it got delivered to the store was the best day ever! I had my fabric on hand for my first quilt top. I had other fabric ready to test my pattern out on before I started with my expensive fabric. Remember, this was the first time I had ever even used a sewing machine. That weekend my top was nearly complete. I had made a Jelly Roll Race quilt. I loved it! I haven't made one since but am dying to now.

Here she is finished, all crinkled up from its first wash.

I decided that instead of quilting my top I would tie it, because it would remind me of the quilt that my Great Aunt Helen made for my Granny. After my Granny passed away I got that "blanket" and I didn't go anywhere without "Granny's blanket" for a while. It had gotten so worn that I couldn't use it anymore because of all the holes, I was afraid of making it worse. 

Looking back on my decision to tie my quilt wasn't the best idea because I only tied it on the sides, close to the edges. I didn't tie it anywhere in the middle. (You cant see where it is tied in the photo because I used black yarn in the black border. No wonder if fell apart)
 Also remember, I am 19, I am teaching myself with the aid of the internet which is great, but the internet can't always stop you and say, "Uh, you might want to tie it more places or else your going to put too much stress on your seems and they may bust after some use." I had people I could have asked but I wanted to do it on my own. I wanted to teach myself, and teach myself I did. I got a lot of use out of that quilt. It was well loved for the first year. Then the pressure of every mistake weighed on those seems and a couple of them came undone. 

I won't even go into how the the binding is still on that thing, but it is holding on strong. Now that quilt is mainly used for my dog. I still have it and when I see it I shudder to think of all the mistakes in it, but all the knowledge also. Thank you first quit for teaching me so much, and for showing me that I really could do something that I never thought I could. I still make many mistakes but they are typically not a dumb as those I made in you.

Until next time,
--Rachel

Christmas In July

Holy smokes, how is already July?!?

This year has gone by crazy fast, and it's not slowing down any time soon. 

There are now less than 6 months until Christmas which has me freaking out a bit. I plan on making most of the presents I give this year so I better get to work soon! 

To celebrate making it halfway through the year I am offering a 15% discount over at my shop until Saturday the 5th. So if there is a quilt you are dying over, this would be a good time to grab it. 

I added these two new quilts today. 

I hope you go on over a take a look. 

I will be back next week talking about what I have been up to this week. 

Until next time, 

--Rachel

Sewjo: On

Last week I was able to baste and quilt two baby/toddler quilts. One of them I have had finished for a while, the other was only hanging around for a couple weeks before it became a real quilt. 

All that's left to do is the binding which I will work on tomorrow. 

The other night I started cutting up my Color Me Happy layer cake by Vanessa Christenson for Moda Fabrics. I used the pattern Framed by Camille Roskelley from her book Simply Retro. 

I LOVE this quilt! It went together so easily. It is much larger than I though it was going to be, but I think that makes me like it even better. I just used the blues and greens in this quilt, colors I don't typically work with but they all look so good together. I will find something to do with the rest of the layer cake squares which are all mostly girly colors. 

But thats enough talk, how about some pictures now?

This seriously went together so easily, and looks so awesome for being so simple!

That top grey square is one of my favorite prints of the collection.

And this bottom aqua, green, and navy rectangle is another of my favorite fabrics. Who knew all those colors worked so well together?

Now just to decide if I put borders on it or leave it as is...

Until next time, 

--Rachel

getting back my sewjo

Well, I lost my sewjo for a little while but it's coming back strong!

Today I will be quilting a top that I finished awhile back. Then I will be working on more quilts that are in that magical land of WIP's. 

But, as promised, here are some pictures of my Swoon mini quilt I finished a couple weeks back. 

Here is a close up of the fabric I used. It is from the line "Do It Yourself" from Dear Stella. 

(That blue mark on the white is from the marking tool I used, I hadn't gotten it all off yet.)

Here is the finished block. I quilted it with diagonal lines, it took a while to do but it turned out so well. It is now hanging in my hall, I see it when I walk through the door and I can see it from the couch, it is just such a happy block, it puts a smile on my face. 

Until next time, 

--Rachel

Finished Quilts

I thought the weather in Kansas was crazy, but the weather in Tennessee is just as strange to me. Maybe it's just this time of year but it goes from sunny to cloudy in 10 minutes. 

I have finally finished binding my last quilt and the other night it was sunny long enough for me to snap a few pictures inside right before dinner was ready. 

Enough talking though, it's time for some eye candy!

All four finishes! 

This quilt is finally finished! I quilted this quilt with natural straight lines right before I moved. It is made with the Moda Bake Shop tutorial called "Jungle Path" and the fabric is Oink-A-Doodle-Moo by Jenn Ski for Moda Fabrics. I love how it turned out.

This quilt is a simple checkerboard layout using the fabric line A is For.. by Myiesha & Katie for Windham Fabrics. This is one of the quilts I sent to Sarah at Crinklelove to quilt for me. 

I just love this fabric on the back. 

This is the other quilt I sent to Sarah for quilting. She did such an amazing job! This one was wayyy too big for me to quilt myself, it is large enough to fit a Double bed! I love the way it turned out. I especially love the way the binding looks with the grey backing fabric. 

This quilt is made from the line Spring House by Stephanie Ryan for Moda Fabrics.

This last quilt was made using the fabric line Zoofari by Doodlebug Designs for Riley Blake. I have had this fabric for over a year and a half so I'm glad this quilt is also finally finished. I quilted this quilt with an overall grid patter with the lines spaced about an inch apart. 

I'll be back later this week with more about my Swoon wall hanging I made and hopefully next week I will have eve more finishes to show you!

--Rachel

Swooning Along

Well, I know I say this often, but this past week really has been a whirlwind. Last Sunday I moved from my home that I have lived in since first grade to an apartment 9 hours away. Lets just say there were a few tears on the drive to Tennessee. 

Since I have gotten all moved in I have finished a few projects. I put the binding on 4 quilts and have finished sewing down 3 of them. I will share those with you soon. 

After I finished those I thought I would treat myself with some sewing just for me. I have wanted to make a Swoon quilt since I started quilting. Someday I will make a full size quilt but I decided to make just one block to hang on my wall for right now. I finished piecing it this afternoon and I'm in love with it! 

Sorry they are just Instagram pictures, I will get a better picture of it next week when its finished!

Until next time, 

--Rachel

Another One Bites the Dust!

I have finished 2 quilts in the past week, I'm feeling pretty accomplished getting these WIP's done!

 The first one I finished is for my friend Megan. She contacted me a couple months ago asking if I could make a baby quilt for her friend who is having a baby soon. I just used scraps from my stash but I think it turned out pretty cute. 

I took it outside to take pictures, it was the perfect day to do so, so bright and sunny, the first day like this in a long time!

The other quilt I finished has been in the works since I started quilting. the top has been hanging around for almost 2 years! It feels so good to finish it. All I had to do this past week was put binding on. I did it by machine and it worked out great. 

This quilt is now listed in my Etsy shop. 

This past week I also finished quilting a quilt, it just needs binding, I have started making the binding for one of the tops I sent out to be quilted and I basted another today. The end of the school year has given me so much time to sew, its great! I feel like a lean, mean, quilting machine. 

Until next time,

--Rachel