It's about time......

It's about time......

I was able to turn my garden soil over!  

I'm too sexy for my garden, too sexy for my garden, so please do pardon! LOL

Trust me, I'm not complaining about all of the moisture we have been receiving in the Midwest.......WE NEED IT!  So, my garden is going in a little later than usual!  At least I did get some lettuce and potatoes planted!

I have some VERY exciting (well, at least to me) projects going on that I can't share with you just yet, so I hope you will stay tuned in for another month or two?  I KNOW!  I wish I could show you some photos, but, I can't........just yet.........stop trying to twist my arm!

OK, OK, OK, but, this is it for now! 

I was recently able to share in a first time quilting adventure with my best friend, Jamie.  You can read about the quilt I made Jamie and her husband Ted here.  Jamie and I go way back, and share a lot of similar interests such as cooking, eating, sewing, pageantry, browsing antique malls, and now........

QUILTING!!!!!!!

IT'S ABOUT TIME JAMIE!!!!!!

Jamie was in need of a gift for her friend's baby shower.  After discussing various ideas, she settled on making the baby girl a quilt.  Interestingly, her friend Abbie has chosen the name Betty Mae, which happens to be my beautiful mother's name!  BE-STILL MY HEART!  I recommended she research the "Quilt As You Go" (QAYG) technique for her first quilt making endeavor.  

I am sure most readers of my blog already know the basics of the QAYG method, or perhaps you have already made a quilt this way?  If you haven't, look it up on your preferred search engine or on youtube.  There is a plethora of items pertaining to QAYG on the internet.  None the less, please enjoy the following photos and commentary of Jamie's first quilting adventure!

 Cutting the batting while having a light snack of acrylic rulers.....

Spray basting the backing......

Attaching the first strip.....

Jamie demonstrated her mad sewing skills by appliqueing little Betty Mae's name on her quilt!  ADORABLE! 

Quilting right along.....

Some one's getting the quilting bug!!!!!

Jamie finished this quilt in roughly 2 days!

 Jamie thoughtfully made a card from extra fabric as well as......

 this country chic bow!

I would say this is a HAPPY mommy to be!

CONGRATULATIONS ABBIE (AND HUBBY)!!!!!!!!

Since Jamie is a novice quilt maker, I asked her to share some of her thoughts about the QAYG technique:

"Overall, I found the quilt as you go process to be pretty easy to understand and I think my quilt turned out pretty nice. 

 Recommendations to other beginners:

- Have plenty of room to spread out your stuff.  Working at Kevin's was a treat because of the designated and separate cutting, ironing, and sewing areas.  When I finished the quilt at home, I took over the entire dining room table (which is quite large!) and some of the living room. 

- Start with a thin batting.  I used a moderately thick (not high loft, but it had some body to it) batting, and I found myself getting really frustrated with the process of getting all the fabric to fit under the arm of the sewing machine.  Thinner batting would have provided better scrunching/rolling possibilities.  Also, I don't have a walking presser foot (yet!), and I found myself really having to push and coax all that thickness through--especially at the beginning.  I think the thinner batting would have alleviated that frustration quite a bit. 

- Use the basting spray to attach the back to the batting.  What a time saver!

- I did not use pins while sewing.  When stitching one particular row that was wider and longer than most of the others, it shifted quite a bit, kind of twisting my logs in a clockwise pattern around my centerpiece.  If you're attaching wider squares or blocks, pin it in place to prevent the twisting/shifting.  I didn't try it, but next time I might try using the basting spray on some of the bigger sections?  Maybe, we'll see--it only takes a few pins to keep it from shifting too much.

- Have fun with the fabrics.  When purchasing my fabrics, I narrowed it down to 7 different fabrics, one of which was the backing.  I originally thought I would use the backing fabric sparingly on the front.  I ended up adding an 8th fabric, 9 if you count the second type of pink and white gingham that Kevin donated when I said that I wished I had more gingham.  There were a couple of other fabrics that I didn't purchase because I was afraid it would get too busy and confusing if there were too many fabrics in the mix, but hindsight is 20/20, and I wished I bought a 1/4 yard of each of those fabrics to throw into the mix, too.

- One last thing regarding QAYG specifically.  Make sure to start with plenty of extra batting and backing as a base.  I started with an extra 2" width and 2" length.  With the twisting and shifting that occurred, that wasn't enough extra.  I had intended to have a 36" x 54" quilt, but after cutting it, I ended up with 33 1/2" x 56".  I did have a center piece that I clearly wanted to be centered from left to right, so I ended up cutting a little more off of the width than I would have had to if I hadn't had that center piece.  Oh well!"  

Jamie, thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of your first (of many) quilting endeavors!  Where's Dionne Warwick when you need her?  That's what friends are for!

Is everyone ready to go to the AQS Quilt Show in Paducah, Kentucky?  I AM!  Let me know if and when you will be there?  I would love to meet you there?

Thanks for all of the encouragement!
Kevin the Quilter