My First Quilt that isn't a wall hanging :-)

I have been keeping this quilt a secret because I was making it for my brother, Steve (for his birthday), and I didn't want him to know. It was so hard to not blog about the progress but well worth it for the surprise factor. :-) This is my first quilt that is larger than a wall hanging and I'm so excited that it turned out looking like a quilt! My mom helped me a great deal (and Dad too- thanks for the help with taping it to the floor) and my parents were so nice to let me take over their living room with all the quilting debris and accouterments. I learned a lot while making this one and now I'm itching to start another. This one might have to be secret too though... hmm. :-) Also, thanks to my wonderful husband Chad for helping me pick "manly" colors for the quilt, and for putting up with my late night sewing and all the threads scattered throughout the apartment. He supports me so much in my new quilting hobby. :-) (And everything I do for that matter.)

I'm a Quilter!

I am so excited because I started and finished my first quilt yesterday!  It is a small quilt- only 21"x21" so it was a good one to start with. It took me about 9 hours to finish the whole thing.  I had a great time sewing it and even enjoyed the hand finishing part of putting the binding on the edges. I did prick my hands about a dozen times during that process though. :-) Here are some pictures of the finished quilt and the walking foot that I used to do the final quilting (stitching all the layers together)

A kid in a sewing machine shop

The final piece of my quilting puzzle arrived in my hands yesterday. A brand new Viking Emerald 118. The Viking brand comes highly recommended by several quilting and sewing friends and there just happened to be a Viking Dealer 2 blocks from my office. The dealer is called the Sewing Arts Center and everyone there sews on Vikings. They also offer a free class to learn the machine, and an extended warranty. It didn't take long for them to show me several in my price range, and I decided on the 118 because of the extra stitch features, needle threader (which is awesome by the way), and the height that the foot lifts up to (to fit quilts under it). The sales person gave me a discount so I paid the price that the 116 (one step down) would normally go for. The box had been opened at the factory so that's why I got the discount. But the salesperson explained that it was probably to teach someone how to thread the machine.

Anyway, I am so excited to start sewing on it and spent the evening learning the machine, threading it, and experimenting with stitch length and tension. I can't wait to work on my project!

A New Adventure

In a quest to find a new hobby that I can do in the evenings, I decided to embark on some uncharted territory for me and learn to quilt.  eeek! :-)  I'm very excited about the prospect of being able to make functional artistic items for my family and friends, and I hope that I'm able to produce some fun things.  I picked up "Quilting For Dummies" and read that yesterday and today and found it to be very informative.  It describes everything in a simple way that non-sewing people like myself can understand.   The extent of my sewing is two sets of curtains and some shoe bags in Jr High. :-)  After reading that I headed for Joann's to get supplies and fabric. I had picked out a design from the dummies book called "Pastel Nine-Patch Wall Hanging". Doesn't sound so exciting but it's pretty and small enough for my first try at quilting. I've included some pictures of the fabric I picked out after I had washed and ironed it like a good quilter.