8 thoughts on “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas”
karmaNovember 13, 2008 / 4:49 pm
What’s the crazy part? Have you not made a quilt before? Nae and I are quilters – feel free to ask questions if you need to. Or is the crazy part that you are starting this close to Christmas? If you’re not planning to make something super-sized, its not that crazy.
Hey karma! 🙂
Well, here’s the thing. I don’t sew. Zan teases when he loses a button that I need to buy him a new shirt. I have a sewing machine which I have used (after never having touched one, and learning from the owner’s manual) with varying degrees of success. I thought I’d be really creative several years back, and teach myself how to quilt. Enter “Quilting for Dummies.” So me, my book, and my machine managed to put together a doll quilt. I was so proud of myself, that I decided to make Little Girl’s Kindergarten quilt. My machine kept eating my material (turns out, I realized a year later that I was threading the damn machine wrong, and here I thought it was broken! lol) so I pieced it together by hand and wound up finishing her Kindergarten quilt…*wait for it*…TODAY! She’s in second grade for crying out loud!!!
So the crazy part is that I, Little Miss Clueless Sewer, am attempting to make a quilt for my niece for Christmas in six weeks…
Wish me luck! LOL
Oh, and I’m SO excited that I have quilters in my midst!! 🙂 I already have a question…how the heck do you do the binding so it doesn’t get all twisted and puckered?! Is there a secret? Or am I just a loser? 😉
I have quilted before and it was fun. Wish i had more time to make beautiful things. Someday i will have more time.
You choose some really nice fabrics.
HOLY CRAPOLY. I applaud you giving yourself this kind of challenge. But wow. Why couldn’t you try to fix a motor or learn how to play guitar or build a deck. Something I can help you with. I hope your online buddies have some magic quilting fairy dust that they can email you. I do not look forward to arriving home when mid project you had to rip out the last 2 hours work.. THAT WILL NOT BE A GOOD DAY … and it WILL happen. But when we are in the woods in that small cabin we want your home made quilts will keep us warm!! Good luck my darling. Please Please dont kill anyone…. Especially me. Check these out.. they will help. I really like “Asking a quilter to mend is like asking Picasso to paint your garage.” Hell that fits you like a glove baby.
MGF…I don’t know how you find time to shower, let alone quilt! And you are making beautiful things…they’re called “little humans.” 😉 I have to remind myself of the same thing now and again.
Zan, I promise not to kill you, but you might want to lie low for awhile. 😉 And did you send a link? It didn’t come through. XO
karmaNovember 14, 2008 / 3:43 pm
I’m a relative newbie to quilting – I’ve made about a dozen or so over the course of 3 – 4 years now, I guess. I make the same binding every time I make a quilt. I learned it from my “Beginner’s Luck” Thimbleberries quilt book. Its a double binding that starts out 2 3/4″ wide, but produces a 1/2″ wide binding on the finished piece. Diagonally piecing the strips of fabric for binding make it strong. Machine sewing the front and hand sewing the back of the binding has resulted in nice looking bindings for me. I also recommend using “warm ‘n’ natural” batting – its 100% cotton, thin and easy to work with.
Thanks so much for the helpful hints karma! I just might have to pick up that book….
🙂
renaeNovember 19, 2008 / 3:57 pm
Woah, you ambitious crazy woman! Never sewn before? Hey!, let’s make a quilt!!
It will all be OK. Quilting is not that difficult. Lots of straight lines, you’ll be fine. Email me with any questions if you’d like.
Just remember: “measure twice, cut once”
A Half Hour a Day 
What’s the crazy part? Have you not made a quilt before? Nae and I are quilters – feel free to ask questions if you need to. Or is the crazy part that you are starting this close to Christmas? If you’re not planning to make something super-sized, its not that crazy.
Hey karma! 🙂
Well, here’s the thing. I don’t sew. Zan teases when he loses a button that I need to buy him a new shirt. I have a sewing machine which I have used (after never having touched one, and learning from the owner’s manual) with varying degrees of success. I thought I’d be really creative several years back, and teach myself how to quilt. Enter “Quilting for Dummies.” So me, my book, and my machine managed to put together a doll quilt. I was so proud of myself, that I decided to make Little Girl’s Kindergarten quilt. My machine kept eating my material (turns out, I realized a year later that I was threading the damn machine wrong, and here I thought it was broken! lol) so I pieced it together by hand and wound up finishing her Kindergarten quilt…*wait for it*…TODAY! She’s in second grade for crying out loud!!!
So the crazy part is that I, Little Miss Clueless Sewer, am attempting to make a quilt for my niece for Christmas in six weeks…
Wish me luck! LOL
Oh, and I’m SO excited that I have quilters in my midst!! 🙂 I already have a question…how the heck do you do the binding so it doesn’t get all twisted and puckered?! Is there a secret? Or am I just a loser? 😉
I have quilted before and it was fun. Wish i had more time to make beautiful things. Someday i will have more time.
You choose some really nice fabrics.
HOLY CRAPOLY. I applaud you giving yourself this kind of challenge. But wow. Why couldn’t you try to fix a motor or learn how to play guitar or build a deck. Something I can help you with. I hope your online buddies have some magic quilting fairy dust that they can email you. I do not look forward to arriving home when mid project you had to rip out the last 2 hours work.. THAT WILL NOT BE A GOOD DAY … and it WILL happen. But when we are in the woods in that small cabin we want your home made quilts will keep us warm!! Good luck my darling. Please Please dont kill anyone…. Especially me. Check these out.. they will help. I really like “Asking a quilter to mend is like asking Picasso to paint your garage.” Hell that fits you like a glove baby.
MGF…I don’t know how you find time to shower, let alone quilt! And you are making beautiful things…they’re called “little humans.” 😉 I have to remind myself of the same thing now and again.
Zan, I promise not to kill you, but you might want to lie low for awhile. 😉 And did you send a link? It didn’t come through. XO
I’m a relative newbie to quilting – I’ve made about a dozen or so over the course of 3 – 4 years now, I guess. I make the same binding every time I make a quilt. I learned it from my “Beginner’s Luck” Thimbleberries quilt book. Its a double binding that starts out 2 3/4″ wide, but produces a 1/2″ wide binding on the finished piece. Diagonally piecing the strips of fabric for binding make it strong. Machine sewing the front and hand sewing the back of the binding has resulted in nice looking bindings for me. I also recommend using “warm ‘n’ natural” batting – its 100% cotton, thin and easy to work with.
Thanks so much for the helpful hints karma! I just might have to pick up that book….
🙂
Woah, you ambitious crazy woman! Never sewn before? Hey!, let’s make a quilt!!
It will all be OK. Quilting is not that difficult. Lots of straight lines, you’ll be fine. Email me with any questions if you’d like.
Just remember: “measure twice, cut once”