hopeful

I'm a self-taught quilter, and I'll admit up front that many of my techniques are pretty questionable; I'm sure there are specific ways to do many of the things that I've figured out as I go along, but I don't know them.

That said, I've learned a few tricks over the years and thought I'd share some of that today:

• I always start my quilts with a scale drawing on graph paper. While I am certain that there are higher tech ways of doing this, I stick with paper and colored pencils.

• After the drawing, I figure out how much fabric I need based upon the number and size of the blocks (accounting for seam allowances). It's more geometry than anything, and while I sort of enjoy dorking out in this regard, it also can be a bit mentally exhausting. I always err on the side of too much and donate leftover yardage. I love The I.D.E.A. Store for their willingness to take what I don't need.

• I use a rotary cutter when I can. Sometimes scissors are just easier, though.

• I recently purchased a great big cardboard sewer's mat. It turns my dining room table into a really big sewing table, and the measuring lines are very handy.  Since I don't have a designated sewing space, I like that I can lay out my quilt then move the board if we need to use the table.


• As for the actual piecing, I chain piece as often as I can and keep an ironing board at the ready. The piecing is most often done in batches, because I'm generally working with small chunks of time. It is also often done with my trusty pin assistant at the ready.

• Once I'm pieced and pressed, I buy the batting, backing, and edging. It's a rule of mine, kind of like not purchasing plants until the soil is prepared. Too many times I've purchased everything and not finished the quilt.

• I machine quilt using a walking foot. I like quilting a bazillion times more since I got a machine that is able to do this. And I really like using quilter's safety pins to hold my layers together. I quilted Charlie's quilt with a basic diamond design in keeping with the baseball theme.

•  As for finishing details, I almost always use double fold bias tape to finish the edges. It's so user friendly, and by the time I get to that point, I just want to be done.

And finish I did! It turned out really great, and, as my sister noted in the comments on my previous entry, Charlie loved his "baseball blankie."

So says my sister Sarah shortly after I started this blog last fall.  She then teasingly reminded me that I still hadn't finished the baby quilt promised to her youngest child, Charlie, over a year and a half ago and suggested that I write a blog entry about finishing that. She was just giving me a hard time, but it was in fact a good kick in the pants for me to go back to that long-forgotten project and get stitching.

 Okay, maybe it wasn't quite enough of a kick. That was in October. I finished about half the piecing in January. I finished the rest of it last week...the last week of April. But the point is that I got to it, right?

I have three sisters and among them they have eight children.  With the exception of Charlie, I have made a baby quilt for every single one of them.  I made the first one back in the summer of 1998 and the second one that fall. I made one entirely by hand in Mongolia and one when I was living in Missoula. I have made three more since moving to Illinois. None of my sisters are planning on having more kids, so Charlie's will be the last of the Auntie Hopie quilts.

For Gracie - 2008

For Iona - 1998

For Claire - 2010

For Didi (and with Didi!) - 2002

I should add that I have started Charlie's quilt three times. The original plan was to attempt to match the quilt to the colors in his nursery, but that didn't quite work so I abandoned the effort. The next plan was to do something with a nautical theme, an effort to appease Charlie's dad, but I didn't make it very far with that design. In my third effort, I decided to go with Charlie's interests - at eighteen months, his favorite word was "baseball."  Not surprising, as he lives in a pretty hard core baseball family. I'm a baseball fan myself, and I loved this idea, particularly because I love the way he says "baseball" in his little voice.

Quilting is a far bigger time commitment than knitting, particularly because I cannot multitask nearly as well with a quilting project. There are parts of the quilting process that I absolutely love, namely the planning. I love conceptualizing an idea and shopping for the fabrics. I despise cutting out the pieces but don't mind putting them together. I really don't care for the actual quilting. But I sure love finishing a quilt and presenting it to someone I love.

So stay posted...I'll be back soon with details on the process and pictures of the finished quilt!