My Second Quilt

I know what you're thinking... a second quilt?? Well, after I finished my first quilt, I had such a strong desire to make another one, so I decided to just go for it. I did no planning ahead of time and didn't even think about the colors. I just improvised as I went along.

My First Quilt

I did it!!! I have just completed my very first quilt. And I am in love with it! I am so so pleased with how it turned out! I started working on it on July 21st, went on vacation for a week, then came back and finished it on August 17th. All the hard work was so worth it, and makes the finished product all the more special in the end.

This quilt is a treasure that I will have for the rest of my life. That being said, it was made to be used. I'm not going to try to preserve it in any way. I'll bring it outside, I'll let the cat sit on it, I'll let my future kids crawl on it, I'll bring it on roadtrips. It will soak in my life as I live it, and it will be with me all the way through. No matter how worn and ragged it gets, I'll keep it forever.

I absolutely love the colors I chose. It was such a hard decision, but it turned out so nice! And I think the dark blue border around the edge makes it look so professional and finished.

The pattern I used was Elise Joy's triangle quilt. I used 100% cotton fabrics from Joann's and Mountain Mist 100% polyester quilt batting.

At the very end, I used dark blue embroidery thread to add my initials and the year. It was such a fun finishing touch! Right when I pulled my needle through the last bit of my signature, my audiobook ended! It was such a funny coincidence.

I know that this quilt will not be the last one that I make in my life, but it will always be extra special to me because it was my first. Thank you for following along with me on this quilt-making journey!

Quilt Inspiration

This year I made a few of what I decided to call "Bullet Point Resolutions". They are little, random things that I want to make sure to do this year that don't really have anything to do with my main resolution. For example, a few of my bullet point resolutions are drinking more water and reading more and exercising.

Also on that list is starting a quilt! Even though we're already in the fifth month of 2017 and I have yet to get a good start on this one, I still fully intend to do it. And, besides, I have made a little progress. I bought my batting, for example, and practiced quilting techniques with some smaller projects. I'm planning to complete the bulk of my quilt this summer.

The main thing I've done in preparation is search for inspiration. Since making a quilt is going to be a relatively big project in terms of money and time commitment, I want to be sure that I am happy with the result. For me, the hardest part in this process is going to be making the decisions. I'm okay with the cutting and the sewing, but its picking out the fabric and choosing the pattern that are the most daunting steps to me. To help in this process, I have collected a few images of quilts that I like so that I can start to get a feel for what I want mine to look like. I thought I'd share some of my inspiration here. (I've included sources to all of the quilts below!)