A very good place to start

Having described how I became interested  in my last post, this piece is focused on how I have gone about learning to quilt.

Where to start?

Having attended the class I mentioned in my last post, I became addicted to watching YouTube videos on quilting.  This is where I had picked up tips on crochet technique.  I don't think I realised before how amazing You Tube is for tutorials.  My main experience of YouTube had been as a bit of a conversation killer and I wasn't really interested in it.

However, watching tutorials has changed my mind.  I quickly found the Missouri Star Quilt Company and their hundreds of excellent tutorials on how to quilt.  These have been invaluable to me and have meant I could fit learning to quilt around my schedule. There are hundreds of great tutorials on technique and interesting blocks, but I have chosen to share this one because it was this block I chose for my first quilt.

Having been taught how to cut strips for the log cabin block at my class, I decided this would be a good block to start with.  I had also seen some lovely quilts on Etsy using this block using solid colours (which I really like) so decided I could replicate the look.

The first quilt was for a baby boy, due February 2013, so I purchased a pile of blue material and got working on the top.  It was so exciting to see it coming together, which it did very quickly!

The actual quilting bit was a little slower, as I had to a) learn how to do it b) practice.  Basting the quilt was the trickiest bit but I got there.  I have since discovered basting spray which just made the whole experience so much easier and produced better results.  I'm not sure why, but I get the feeling it is cheating a little bit, and I really should persevere with safety pins.

I had decided I wanted to quilt on my sewing machine, rather than hand stitch it, to achieve a more professional look.  However, having spent so long on my top I was a little scared to take the plunge and start sewing all over the top of it.  In the end I sewed "in the ditch" around all the blocks.  I have since started to get a bit more confident and am working on learning how to be more adventurous.  More on that in another post.

I also spent a great deal of time learning to bind the quilt.  I chose one of the darker colours from the quilt for this so it would show up against the lighter blue border I added to make it a little bigger.

And here it is!

I had made a quilt and was very proud of myself for the achievement.  I also instantly thought - What next?