My Tidbits on Quilting

So I learned to sew from my grandma back when I was still little. She sewed literally everything in that house. Most of it was some strange 1970s fabric and design that just wants stylish even in the 90s. It didn't help that their walls had fabric wall paper also to just set the mood. Also she had a thing for Norman Rockwell and hummingbirds. Basically it was a weird house. 

Back to my point... I guess I just assumed that my little sewing lesson where i learned to sew a bunny pillow that was completely adorable as a 7-year-old was just enough to make me a pro-sewer 15 years later. 

This stupid arrogance led me to be super ambitious when it comes to quilts.

Moral of the story: don't be a pompous fool.


I made some elaborate plans for quilting on an average machine that were just not possible. I would get frustrated and quit the machine and hand sew the freakin' thing. (Which now I don't regret because hand sewn quilts are awesome.)

I just started googling quilting themes and realized, "Hey you don't have to come up with the absolute most elaborate pattern for a quilt to look awesome." 

I fumbled through a few blogs on free motion quilting and found that Oh, Fransson! has the best instructions. 

Check her out, she is super descriptive and just makes sewing fun!

So I started making a new quilt. This will be my third official quilt. I have also repaired one but I may go into that later on...


My mother kept mentioning wanting a star quilt. From the pictures I showed her, she seemed to be more interested in the lone star type quilt. So not knowing how to do such a quilt, I turned to trusty ole' google.

I searched that shit til I found a good tutorial for a lone star queen sized quilt. I came across this fabulous tutorial ( it's in 2 parts because it is so wonderfully detailed :)):

http://parkersnowefiberartblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/watch-for-lone-star-quilt-tutorial.html

http://parkersnowefiberartblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/star-quilt-tutorial-part-2.html



So I am not that skilled of a sewer and I just kept getting frustrated with the sewing aspect of the quilt.


I managed to get all my strips sewed and my star complete ( some how, I don't understand )

Now it would be time to quilt this shit....

So I roll it up and get all ready...

I am choosing to use the quilting hook things because I know last time I was super irritated with the bulk of the quilt and I said screw dealing with that and I will use these clampy things....


I get the quilt on to the machine and much to my dismay...... terrible nothingness. I can't get the damn machine to quilt for shit. I try and try everything. Adjust tension, clean it all out, rethread, and re-bobbin. NOTHING!!!!!


NOTHING!

NOTHING!


I get so frustrated I decide to hand quilt. Mind you, I already have tried this route before...

...took me nearly a year to finish...

Also, mind you, I want to get this done before Christmas. It's 3 weeks till and I have no other option but to bite the massive, leady, nasty bullet of hand quilting.


I know from past quilts that hand quilting is beautiful and more meaningful and this that and the third.

I also know that it takes away part of your soul. Especially if you have a job, a husband, a dog, and a life....

 But stubborn ole' me decides it's my best and only (?) option...

So here it goes, all queen sized quilt on my lap hand quilting like a mad man to make my deadline.


Long story short, I finished it. Not in time for Christmas, but in time enough by the time I saw my momma and could present her with the massiveness of this quilt.


I do not have a finished picture unfortunately at this moment because I am lazy. And the quilt is already over 300 miles away... So until I can see it again this is it.


But seriously if you want to do a lone star type quilt, follow the given tutorial... it's perfect!