Now there is more to this story. I began the quilt class September 24, 1994 and finished this quilt July 25, 2010. I’ll do the math for you—yes, that is nearly 16 years—15 years, 10 months, and 1 day to be exact. As a first quilt, I made every mistake in the book and probably some that are not in any book.
First, the class was great. That is one thing I did right. I found beautiful fabric I loved that it matched my bedroom.
MISTAKES -
(Mistake 1) I made it the size to fit my Cal-king sized waterbed. No starting small for me. I have since sold the waterbed and purchased a regular king sized bed.
(Mistake 2) I chose cream fabric to fill in the huge star but then chose navy for the backing. Why? I liked the navy and thought it might not show dirt as fast. But then why the cream fill in on the front? It would show off the huge star well.
(Mistake 3) I went to Wal-Mart to buy a batting and picked up the only king size bat they had. When I was sandwiching the quilt together I realized it was a high loft batting. Oh, well, that will make it look soft and fluffy.
(Mistake 4) I got the quilt all put together in the large quilting frame from my grandmother. I did this alone and had to work and work and work to get it all pinned in and stretched and squared. Why did I not ask for some help instead of being so independent?
(Mistake 5) Once in the frame, it is time to quilt. I decided to outline quilt each diamond in the center star and around the small inner border. I purchased a quilting template that fit perfectly in the big fill in squares. I marked the template in the cream with a fine point mechanical pencil with regular lead. I marked a partial of the template in the fill in triangles making a judgment call as to how much to put in there. I used a white chalk pencil to mark the navy print borders with a part of the template and then with 2” wide lines going towards the center of each side of the border. I did not want to do a cross hatch design. Did I really think that chalk would stay on the entire border until the last border was quilted?
(Mistake 6) I wanted to do my first quilt right - just like Grandma would have done it. I really wanted to hand quilt this but I have never hand quilted before. I chose cream thread to match the top. Now what about the navy bottom? Every stitch shows. Being in the frame so tightly, I could not get small, even stitches. Actually, I could not even make a stitch that was not the entire length of the needle and then I had trouble getting the needle pulled through the quilt.
(Mistake 7) Quilting in a frame was not going to work for me, so I decided to quilt in a lap hoop. This means that the quilt needed to be basted together before being taken out of the frame. I thread basted all around the edges and decided I was not going to hand baste the entire quilt and then hand quilt it again. I decided to pin baste it instead. I used large safety pins that were the size of diaper pins (if anyone remembers using diaper pins) placing them every 12-15 inches apart because that is how many were in the package I bought.
(Mistake 8) I used an oval hoop that measured 12” x 20” and then later a 14” round hoop to quilt in. This is so that the quilt would be portable. Who wants to haul around a king sized quilt with them to work on. Well, I did it. I would put it in a suitcase and take with me to church to work on while watching General Conference. I took it with me when I traveled to visit my sister and even when I went camping. Because of the pin basting at the distance apart the pins were, I had to really watch the backing each time I set the quilt in the hoop to make sure there were no lumps, folds, or tucks. There were a lot of hoop movements in quilting this quilt!
(Mistake 9) I only worked on it when I was sick or when my house was completely cleaned and only in winter. Why, you might ask. The quilt was so heavy because of its size and the high loft batting that I only worked on it during the winter when it was not too hot to have it on my lap as I worked on it. I worked many hours at my job and never had a lot of time at home. I felt guilty if I worked on it when my house was such a mess and needed cleaning. I only had any length of time to focus on the quilt was when I was sick. Now being sick, I usually felt too awful to quilt and spent the time in bed. Obviously it did not get worked on very much. It never was a UFO (un-finished object) because it was left out in the living room all winter and in the bedroom all summer so I could work on it a little at a time.
(Mistake 10) I quilted with whatever needles I had on hand which was a multi-purpose pack of all sized and types left from home ec class in high school. They were hard to weave through the fabric and even harder to pull through. I had to use pliers or else take only a stitch or two at a time. I did graduate to a little rubber disc to pull the needle with. I finally found some fine appliqué needles that worked well and then later bought actual quilting needles.
I'm sure there are many more mistakes. I have made many other quilts during this journey and have learned so much.
Things I Did Right -
1. Learned the love of quilting from my Grandmother and Mother
2. Took a class for my first quilt
3. Finished the project even though it took a long time
Things I Learned -
1. Do not give up
2. Do not hand quilt with high loft batting
3. Blend your quilt back color with your quilt front color and use an appropriate color of quilting thread
4. Baste well
5. Use fine needles even if you break them along the way
6. Quilt every chance possible
7. No matter what size the quilt, it is wonderful to lay it on the bed or hang it on the wall
8. I love to make quilts
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