My First Quilt

Hi,

I've been lurking here a bit and have been inspired and intimidated
by the amazing quilts many here have made.

I just made my first quilt and thought I would share the experience.
It was a great learning experience, though it would have been easier
and better if I had come into it with more experience. I put pictures
up at http://www.eskimo.com/~betsy/quilt/

I thought I had volunteered to donate some fabric and help a bit on a
class quilt for a school auction, but didn't hear back, so I thought I
was off the hook.

One day, I suddenly received a phone call that started "Hi, how's the
quilt coming along?" Oops, I had been assigned to make a quilt for a
small class that had no parents able to do it. Somehow there had been a
communication gap and now I needed to make a quilt in a hurry.

The class theme was Angels, the students needed to contribute
artistically. Since this was my first real quilt, I needed something
simple. I had some fabrics that would be meaningful for the school to
use and wanted to put angels on triangles so I googled for free triangle
quilt patterns and found
http://www.freequiltpatterns.info/qu...-triangles.htm
Its size looked perfect since I needed 12 blocks.

The auction book had to be printed before I made the quilt, so I just
passed on the 52" x 60" measurements listed, never thinking about the
fact that 3x4 9" blocks would never come close to 52"x60". This became
a big issue at the end and forced me to put way more effort into borders
than planned.

I drew simple 3 part flying angel pattens and stabilizer patterns so I
could fold over the edges. After cutting and sewing the blocks, I cut
out lots and lots of angels using quilting scraps from a thrift shop.

After sewing the blocks, I took the angel parts and blocks to the school
and set up a line for the children to choose a block, then a body (from
about 50) then a wing and a head. Then each block and angel went in a
large zip-loc bag with the child's name on it.

I used the directions at
http://www.generations-quilt-pattern...-applique.html to
machine applique them. This was time consuming and after making a
practice angel, I found I had to line the heads for them to look nice.

After sewing the blocks together, I suddenly realized I needed to add
12" of border all the way around. Thankfully, I had someone over to
watch my younger kids as I rushed off to the thrift shop where I found
the orange and red fabrics and Joannes where I found the green.

On the day of the auction, I got up very early in the morning to do the
quilting. Luckily, the spray basting I got at Joannes worked and I
didn't have to pin. I adjusted my pressure foot tension until it was
extremely gentle and rushed, just stitching in the ditch except for
going around the angels.

I didn't have the time and experience to deal with binding at this
point, so I just trimmed the batting and back 1" in from the top, ironed
over the top 1/4 inch, then folded it over the back and top stitched,
trimming and hand mitering the corners.

Sadly, I had to wash the quilt because a couple of the squares had
become damp and the angels had shriveled. Since there was no time for
it to dry before the auction, I had to throw it in the dryer. When it
came out, I spread it on a bedspread on the floor, took a few pictures
and rushed it straight to the auction, 20 minutes before the doors
opened. It had been a busy 3 weeks.

I love my Singer 301a which I used for most of it and my Elna Special
which I used for the applique. Even though I don't have a fancy new
machine or fancy feet, I had a great time.

--Betsy

Hi Betsy
Never be intimidated by quilts you see - just aspire (if you want to!)
or remember that everyone likes to make different kinds of quilts. I
love the story of this quilt, and admire the fact that you weren't put
off by the rush. It's a sweet quilt and I really like the way the angels
were chosen by the children. They are a great shape. Good for you. It
was a bit of bad luck about the measurements; but that won't happen with
your next one! Next time you can make sure of things before your first
cut.

Thanks for letting us see your first quilt - always so special.
..
In message , Betsy
writes
Hi,

I've been lurking here a bit and have been inspired and intimidated
by the amazing quilts many here have made.

I just made my first quilt and thought I would share the experience.
It was a great learning experience, though it would have been easier
and better if I had come into it with more experience. I put pictures
up at http://www.eskimo.com/~betsy/quilt/

I thought I had volunteered to donate some fabric and help a bit on a
class quilt for a school auction, but didn't hear back, so I thought I
was off the hook.

One day, I suddenly received a phone call that started "Hi, how's the
quilt coming along?" Oops, I had been assigned to make a quilt for a
small class that had no parents able to do it. Somehow there had been
a communication gap and now I needed to make a quilt in a hurry.

The class theme was Angels, the students needed to contribute
artistically. Since this was my first real quilt, I needed something
simple. I had some fabrics that would be meaningful for the school to
use and wanted to put angels on triangles so I googled for free
triangle quilt patterns and found
http://www.freequiltpatterns.info/qu...-jutta-hufnage
l---slanting-triangles.htm Its size looked perfect since I needed 12
blocks.

The auction book had to be printed before I made the quilt, so I just
passed on the 52" x 60" measurements listed, never thinking about the
fact that 3x4 9" blocks would never come close to 52"x60". This became
a big issue at the end and forced me to put way more effort into
borders than planned.

I drew simple 3 part flying angel pattens and stabilizer patterns so I
could fold over the edges. After cutting and sewing the blocks, I cut
out lots and lots of angels using quilting scraps from a thrift shop.

After sewing the blocks, I took the angel parts and blocks to the
school and set up a line for the children to choose a block, then a
body (from about 50) then a wing and a head. Then each block and angel
went in a large zip-loc bag with the child's name on it.

I used the directions at
http://www.generations-quilt-pattern...-applique.html to
machine applique them. This was time consuming and after making a
practice angel, I found I had to line the heads for them to look nice.

After sewing the blocks together, I suddenly realized I needed to add
12" of border all the way around. Thankfully, I had someone over to
watch my younger kids as I rushed off to the thrift shop where I found
the orange and red fabrics and Joannes where I found the green.

On the day of the auction, I got up very early in the morning to do the
quilting. Luckily, the spray basting I got at Joannes worked and I
didn't have to pin. I adjusted my pressure foot tension until it was
extremely gentle and rushed, just stitching in the ditch except for
going around the angels.

I didn't have the time and experience to deal with binding at this
point, so I just trimmed the batting and back 1" in from the top,
ironed over the top 1/4 inch, then folded it over the back and top
stitched, trimming and hand mitering the corners.

Sadly, I had to wash the quilt because a couple of the squares had
become damp and the angels had shriveled. Since there was no time for
it to dry before the auction, I had to throw it in the dryer. When it
came out, I spread it on a bedspread on the floor, took a few pictures
and rushed it straight to the auction, 20 minutes before the doors
opened. It had been a busy 3 weeks.

I love my Singer 301a which I used for most of it and my Elna Special
which I used for the applique. Even though I don't have a fancy new
machine or fancy feet, I had a great time.

--Betsy

--
Best Regards
Pat on the Green

Beautiful! What an adventure for a first quilt!

Julia in MN

On 2/2/2012 4:28 PM, Betsy wrote:
Hi,

I've been lurking here a bit and have been inspired and intimidated by
the amazing quilts many here have made.

I just made my first quilt and thought I would share the experience. It
was a great learning experience, though it would have been easier and
better if I had come into it with more experience. I put pictures up at
http://www.eskimo.com/~betsy/quilt/

I thought I had volunteered to donate some fabric and help a bit on a
class quilt for a school auction, but didn't hear back, so I thought I
was off the hook.

One day, I suddenly received a phone call that started "Hi, how's the
quilt coming along?" Oops, I had been assigned to make a quilt for a
small class that had no parents able to do it. Somehow there had been a
communication gap and now I needed to make a quilt in a hurry.

The class theme was Angels, the students needed to contribute
artistically. Since this was my first real quilt, I needed something
simple. I had some fabrics that would be meaningful for the school to
use and wanted to put angels on triangles so I googled for free triangle
quilt patterns and found
http://www.freequiltpatterns.info/qu...-triangles.htm
Its size looked perfect since I needed 12 blocks.

The auction book had to be printed before I made the quilt, so I just
passed on the 52" x 60" measurements listed, never thinking about the
fact that 3x4 9" blocks would never come close to 52"x60". This became a
big issue at the end and forced me to put way more effort into borders
than planned.

I drew simple 3 part flying angel pattens and stabilizer patterns so I
could fold over the edges. After cutting and sewing the blocks, I cut
out lots and lots of angels using quilting scraps from a thrift shop.

After sewing the blocks, I took the angel parts and blocks to the school
and set up a line for the children to choose a block, then a body (from
about 50) then a wing and a head. Then each block and angel went in a
large zip-loc bag with the child's name on it.

I used the directions at
http://www.generations-quilt-pattern...-applique.html to
machine applique them. This was time consuming and after making a
practice angel, I found I had to line the heads for them to look nice.

After sewing the blocks together, I suddenly realized I needed to add
12" of border all the way around. Thankfully, I had someone over to
watch my younger kids as I rushed off to the thrift shop where I found
the orange and red fabrics and Joannes where I found the green.

On the day of the auction, I got up very early in the morning to do the
quilting. Luckily, the spray basting I got at Joannes worked and I
didn't have to pin. I adjusted my pressure foot tension until it was
extremely gentle and rushed, just stitching in the ditch except for
going around the angels.

I didn't have the time and experience to deal with binding at this
point, so I just trimmed the batting and back 1" in from the top, ironed
over the top 1/4 inch, then folded it over the back and top stitched,
trimming and hand mitering the corners.

Sadly, I had to wash the quilt because a couple of the squares had
become damp and the angels had shriveled. Since there was no time for it
to dry before the auction, I had to throw it in the dryer. When it came
out, I spread it on a bedspread on the floor, took a few pictures and
rushed it straight to the auction, 20 minutes before the doors opened.
It had been a busy 3 weeks.

I love my Singer 301a which I used for most of it and my Elna Special
which I used for the applique. Even though I don't have a fancy new
machine or fancy feet, I had a great time.

--Betsy


--
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This message has been scanned for viruses by Norton Anti-Virus
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On 2/2/2012 3:04 PM, Julia in MN wrote:
Beautiful! What an adventure for a first quilt!

Julia in MN

Thank you, it is probably a good thing I had a deadline, or it could
have taken forever.

--Betsy

On Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:28:53 -0800, Betsy wrote:

Hi,

I've been lurking here a bit and have been inspired and intimidated
by the amazing quilts many here have made.

I just made my first quilt and thought I would share the experience.
It was a great learning experience, though it would have been easier
and better if I had come into it with more experience. I put pictures
up at http://www.eskimo.com/~betsy/quilt/

I thought I had volunteered to donate some fabric and help a bit on a
class quilt for a school auction, but didn't hear back, so I thought I
was off the hook.

One day, I suddenly received a phone call that started "Hi, how's the
quilt coming along?" Oops, I had been assigned to make a quilt for a
small class that had no parents able to do it. Somehow there had been a
communication gap and now I needed to make a quilt in a hurry.

The class theme was Angels, the students needed to contribute
artistically. Since this was my first real quilt, I needed something
simple. I had some fabrics that would be meaningful for the school to
use and wanted to put angels on triangles so I googled for free triangle
quilt patterns and found
http://www.freequiltpatterns.info/qu...-triangles.htm
Its size looked perfect since I needed 12 blocks.

The auction book had to be printed before I made the quilt, so I just
passed on the 52" x 60" measurements listed, never thinking about the
fact that 3x4 9" blocks would never come close to 52"x60". This became
a big issue at the end and forced me to put way more effort into borders
than planned.

I drew simple 3 part flying angel pattens and stabilizer patterns so I
could fold over the edges. After cutting and sewing the blocks, I cut
out lots and lots of angels using quilting scraps from a thrift shop.

After sewing the blocks, I took the angel parts and blocks to the school
and set up a line for the children to choose a block, then a body (from
about 50) then a wing and a head. Then each block and angel went in a
large zip-loc bag with the child's name on it.

I used the directions at
http://www.generations-quilt-pattern...-applique.html to
machine applique them. This was time consuming and after making a
practice angel, I found I had to line the heads for them to look nice.

After sewing the blocks together, I suddenly realized I needed to add
12" of border all the way around. Thankfully, I had someone over to
watch my younger kids as I rushed off to the thrift shop where I found
the orange and red fabrics and Joannes where I found the green.

On the day of the auction, I got up very early in the morning to do the
quilting. Luckily, the spray basting I got at Joannes worked and I
didn't have to pin. I adjusted my pressure foot tension until it was
extremely gentle and rushed, just stitching in the ditch except for
going around the angels.

I didn't have the time and experience to deal with binding at this
point, so I just trimmed the batting and back 1" in from the top, ironed
over the top 1/4 inch, then folded it over the back and top stitched,
trimming and hand mitering the corners.

Sadly, I had to wash the quilt because a couple of the squares had
become damp and the angels had shriveled. Since there was no time for
it to dry before the auction, I had to throw it in the dryer. When it
came out, I spread it on a bedspread on the floor, took a few pictures
and rushed it straight to the auction, 20 minutes before the doors
opened. It had been a busy 3 weeks.

I love my Singer 301a which I used for most of it and my Elna Special
which I used for the applique. Even though I don't have a fancy new
machine or fancy feet, I had a great time.

--Betsy

Love the colors and love the little angels. If this is your first
attempt I can't wait to see your creations a year from now, this one
is gorgeous.

-Irene

On 2/2/2012 4:00 PM, IMS wrote:

Love the colors and love the little angels. If this is your first
attempt I can't wait to see your creations a year from now, this one
is gorgeous.

-Irene

Thank you, I have all sorts of ideas and have been thinking about a
design for a different quilt to use the leftover angel parts.

Realistically though, my children range from 3 to 13 and the little
time I have for sewing is mostly spent on repairs. I hope that at some
point I will catch up on everything I dropped while working on the quilt
and be able to start on another.

I had so much fun with the quilting part, that I am thinking of
starting by making a simple baby comforter to quilt in a more
adventurous way.

--Betsy

On 2/2/2012 6:38 PM, Kate in MI wrote:
Betsy -- it turned out just GREAT! I love the angels! I'm sure the kids
had fun selecting the fabric for their own angel!


Thanks, my younger children are a bit jealous of the class and can't
wait until I make another quilt so they can build their own angels.

--Betsy

On 2/2/2012 2:54 PM, Pat S wrote:
Hi Betsy
Never be intimidated by quilts you see - just aspire (if you want to!)
or remember that everyone likes to make different kinds of quilts.

I aspire, but I'm not sure that I really would stick to working on a
quilt over a long enough period of time to create a masterpiece.

I
love the story of this quilt, and admire the fact that you weren't put
off by the rush.

I think I live my life in a rush and most of my sewing is done in a rush
for some reason or other.


It
was a bit of bad luck about the measurements; but that won't happen with
your next one! Next time you can make sure of things before your first cut.

I can't believe I was so silly as to not even think to do the math. I
read the online reviews and no one mentioned it.

Although I like math, one of the reasons I chose to use a pattern
instead of making my own was to save time. Instead, I had to do math
for the border. If I usually did quilts, I'd probably be quicker at
quilt math. It took me a while to go through the geometry to calculate
how big to cut the triangles for the border.

--Betsy

I'm a lurker too, for a lot longer time than you I think. You did really
well, nobody would guess that was a first quilt. Congratulations. You will
discove that quilting is addictive and therefore you will find time to make
many more. I'm sure a masterpiece is not that far in the future.
Hannah
"Betsy" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I've been lurking here a bit and have been inspired and intimidated by
the amazing quilts many here have made.

I just made my first quilt and thought I would share the experience. It
was a great learning experience, though it would have been easier and
better if I had come into it with more experience. I put pictures up at
http://www.eskimo.com/~betsy/quilt/

I thought I had volunteered to donate some fabric and help a bit on a
class quilt for a school auction, but didn't hear back, so I thought I was
off the hook.

One day, I suddenly received a phone call that started "Hi, how's the
quilt coming along?" Oops, I had been assigned to make a quilt for a
small class that had no parents able to do it. Somehow there had been a
communication gap and now I needed to make a quilt in a hurry.

The class theme was Angels, the students needed to contribute
artistically. Since this was my first real quilt, I needed something
simple. I had some fabrics that would be meaningful for the school to use
and wanted to put angels on triangles so I googled for free triangle quilt
patterns and found
http://www.freequiltpatterns.info/qu...-triangles.htm
Its size looked perfect since I needed 12 blocks.

The auction book had to be printed before I made the quilt, so I just
passed on the 52" x 60" measurements listed, never thinking about the fact
that 3x4 9" blocks would never come close to 52"x60". This became a big
issue at the end and forced me to put way more effort into borders than
planned.

I drew simple 3 part flying angel pattens and stabilizer patterns so I
could fold over the edges. After cutting and sewing the blocks, I cut out
lots and lots of angels using quilting scraps from a thrift shop.

After sewing the blocks, I took the angel parts and blocks to the school
and set up a line for the children to choose a block, then a body (from
about 50) then a wing and a head. Then each block and angel went in a
large zip-loc bag with the child's name on it.

I used the directions at
http://www.generations-quilt-pattern...-applique.html to machine
applique them. This was time consuming and after making a practice angel,
I found I had to line the heads for them to look nice.

After sewing the blocks together, I suddenly realized I needed to add 12"
of border all the way around. Thankfully, I had someone over to watch my
younger kids as I rushed off to the thrift shop where I found the orange
and red fabrics and Joannes where I found the green.

On the day of the auction, I got up very early in the morning to do the
quilting. Luckily, the spray basting I got at Joannes worked and I didn't
have to pin. I adjusted my pressure foot tension until it was extremely
gentle and rushed, just stitching in the ditch except for going around the
angels.

I didn't have the time and experience to deal with binding at this point,
so I just trimmed the batting and back 1" in from the top, ironed over the
top 1/4 inch, then folded it over the back and top stitched, trimming and
hand mitering the corners.

Sadly, I had to wash the quilt because a couple of the squares had become
damp and the angels had shriveled. Since there was no time for it to dry
before the auction, I had to throw it in the dryer. When it came out, I
spread it on a bedspread on the floor, took a few pictures and rushed it
straight to the auction, 20 minutes before the doors opened. It had been
a busy 3 weeks.

I love my Singer 301a which I used for most of it and my Elna Special
which I used for the applique. Even though I don't have a fancy new
machine or fancy feet, I had a great time.

--Betsy

Wow, what a story! (It really made me laugh :-) You are fearless! I
love the quilt, hope it raised lots of money. You have great color
sense. Bet you're looking forward to the next one, with no pressure.
Roberta in D

On Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:28:53 -0800, Betsy wrote:

Hi,

I've been lurking here a bit and have been inspired and intimidated
by the amazing quilts many here have made.

I just made my first quilt and thought I would share the experience.
It was a great learning experience, though it would have been easier
and better if I had come into it with more experience. I put pictures
up at http://www.eskimo.com/~betsy/quilt/

I thought I had volunteered to donate some fabric and help a bit on a
class quilt for a school auction, but didn't hear back, so I thought I
was off the hook.

One day, I suddenly received a phone call that started "Hi, how's the
quilt coming along?" Oops, I had been assigned to make a quilt for a
small class that had no parents able to do it. Somehow there had been a
communication gap and now I needed to make a quilt in a hurry.

The class theme was Angels, the students needed to contribute
artistically. Since this was my first real quilt, I needed something
simple. I had some fabrics that would be meaningful for the school to
use and wanted to put angels on triangles so I googled for free triangle
quilt patterns and found
http://www.freequiltpatterns.info/qu...-triangles.htm
Its size looked perfect since I needed 12 blocks.

The auction book had to be printed before I made the quilt, so I just
passed on the 52" x 60" measurements listed, never thinking about the
fact that 3x4 9" blocks would never come close to 52"x60". This became
a big issue at the end and forced me to put way more effort into borders
than planned.

I drew simple 3 part flying angel pattens and stabilizer patterns so I
could fold over the edges. After cutting and sewing the blocks, I cut
out lots and lots of angels using quilting scraps from a thrift shop.

After sewing the blocks, I took the angel parts and blocks to the school
and set up a line for the children to choose a block, then a body (from
about 50) then a wing and a head. Then each block and angel went in a
large zip-loc bag with the child's name on it.

I used the directions at
http://www.generations-quilt-pattern...-applique.html to
machine applique them. This was time consuming and after making a
practice angel, I found I had to line the heads for them to look nice.

After sewing the blocks together, I suddenly realized I needed to add
12" of border all the way around. Thankfully, I had someone over to
watch my younger kids as I rushed off to the thrift shop where I found
the orange and red fabrics and Joannes where I found the green.

On the day of the auction, I got up very early in the morning to do the
quilting. Luckily, the spray basting I got at Joannes worked and I
didn't have to pin. I adjusted my pressure foot tension until it was
extremely gentle and rushed, just stitching in the ditch except for
going around the angels.

I didn't have the time and experience to deal with binding at this
point, so I just trimmed the batting and back 1" in from the top, ironed
over the top 1/4 inch, then folded it over the back and top stitched,
trimming and hand mitering the corners.

Sadly, I had to wash the quilt because a couple of the squares had
become damp and the angels had shriveled. Since there was no time for
it to dry before the auction, I had to throw it in the dryer. When it
came out, I spread it on a bedspread on the floor, took a few pictures
and rushed it straight to the auction, 20 minutes before the doors
opened. It had been a busy 3 weeks.

I love my Singer 301a which I used for most of it and my Elna Special
which I used for the applique. Even though I don't have a fancy new
machine or fancy feet, I had a great time.

--Betsy