Sunday, June 19, 2011

My first quilt...

... almost. It's just not quite done yet. Here it is at 4 strips wide.

Anyway, I mentioned on my last post that I'm trying to use up leftover scraps of fabric in an effort to avoid spending money.

Those odd paper squares you see here are just post-it notes that let me know where the heck I am in this whole quilting block process!

I cut out one hundred and forty six (146) 5 1/2 inch squares of fabric, which I then stitched one hundred and forty six (146) 2 1/2 inch squares atop of. Does that make sense?

What I'm trying to say is that I sewed one 2 1/2 inch square on top of one 5 1/2 inch square. Very tedious yet a sixth grader could do it.


Like this.

The 2 1/2 inch square is sewn (with 1/4 inch seam allowances) onto the 5 1/2 inch square with the raw edges of the smaller square completely exposed. This means that when the finished quilt is laundered, the raw edges of the smaller square will ravel, thus giving it a scruffy, or 'scrappy' look.

Aha! A pirate! How appropriate.







A wash tub from my house cleaning days!











And of course, Wilbur. How can I possibly make anything without his approval?













And here it is, a finished quilt top.

All twelve rows.

Do all my squares meet up perfectly?

No.

Do I really care?

No.

Do I now appreciate all the work that people put into real quilts?

I most certainly do!

At the Salvation Army the other day I lucked onto a 4 yard piece of fabric for five bucks, and it will become the backing for this quilt, so all I need to buy is the batting.

Hopefully my next post will be that of my very first (and possibly last) finished quilt!

5 comments:

Cyndi said...

Wow, Laura, you got that together quickly! I think it looks really cool, too. I like your idea of the "raggy" finish. Do you know how you're going to quilt it? I'm working on a quilt for my sister right now and believe me, all of my blocks don't line up exactly either, but what the heck? If it was perfect, she wouldn't believe that I had made it! LOL! I think the important thing is to just have fun with it. Can't wait to see it quilted!

XOXO,

Cyndi

Two Pitties in the City said...

I missed that you're back! Does this mean no more boat? It must be a huge adjustment. Though we would love, to have you post your adventures for "Tourist with Your Dog" Series.

laura said...

Cyndi, I think I'll just stitch in the ditch (manchine not hand, I have no patience!) around the big squares. Your comment about your sister is too funny!

Two Pitties, the boat was hauled out in FL and we're back here for a few months. We hope to hit the water again in October. And I do have an almost finished post to send you about our travels!!

the Liveaboard Wife said...

How do you do your basting when you put the layers of the quilt together? Do you have enough space to place everything on the floor?

Alison
www.liveaboardwife.blogspot.com

laura said...

Alison, I made this while we were in our apartment. I have no idea how I could do this on our boat as there's just not enough flat unbroken space and we don't have a community room.