One of my New Year's Resolutions (and probably the one I'm most excited about) is to make a quilt. Before this year, I had never quilted before. I've been sewing for a couple years, but quilting is new territory. My family and I have a few quilts that have been passed down to us as family keepsakes. They are so beautiful and we treasure them so much! Quilts take so much time and love to make. It's so cool to hold a quilt and think about the person who made it and all the hours they spent on it, cutting, ironing, sewing, washing, etc.
I'm not planning to preserve my quilt so it can be a family heirloom or anything. I want to use it. But wear doesn't necessarily make something less valuable. You can tell that when something is worn, whether that thing is a book or a kid's stuffed animal, it has been loved. It will be so special to keep this quilt for my whole life.
But before all that, I actually have to make the quilt! The fact that quilts take so long to sew makes them so much more valuable and special. But that doesn't mean I'll say no to a few tools that will help speed things up. I got this rotary cutter for Christmas and it has made cutting fabric ten times easier! It cuts straighter, easier, and faster than scissors do. It will be so helpful when I start on my quilt and has definitely been helpful with these smaller projects.
I'm planning to start my quilt this summer after I finish with the school year. So until then, I've been practicing with smaller projects. The first was this big quilted pillow.
It was my very first experience with quilting, so I think it went pretty well. Not all my lines are straight and the triangles aren't perfectly aligned, but that just makes it feel more handmade, which, in my opinion, is a good thing.
I bought this big pillow at a thrift store, but I didn't like the cover and had been meaning to sew a new cover for it. To help with my resolution, I got a quilting eCourse from Elise Joy and as part of the class she included a pattern to make a quilted pillowcase. I used her pattern as a foundation for this project, but adjusted the size to make it fit my pillow.
My second "practice" quilting project was this quilted potholder. I used this pattern and I think it turned out super cute! Bias binding is so hard to work with, but it always make sewing projects look polished and professional. So this little project was good practice for both quilting and bias binding.
Again, some of my sewing is a little wonky, but I did want it to look a little imperfect and handmade rather than super polished and store-bought.
That's it for today! I just wanted to share the progress I've made towards my resolution to sew a quilt. It's been really helpful for me to practice on smaller-scale quilting projects before attempting to sew a full quilt. I've also been preparing for my quilt by searching Pinterest for inspiration. I may go with Elise Joy's quilt pattern, but I also really liked this one from Etsy.
Needless to say, I'm having a lot of fun with this resolution!
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