My quilting project...

I've been working all weekend on my quilt and let me tell you it's been quite the adventure in patience. I have a new favorite tool- it's called the "seam ripper". I've never really given it the credit it deserves. I've had mine for almost as long as I've been married. It's got a seam ripper on one side and tweezers on the other- it's quite the handy tool! The other awesome tool is my little metal ruler. It's got the measurements right to the edge which makes it fantastically easy to use and read. A good quality pair of scissors is a MUST when sewing any kind of project. Make sure that they are hidden well out of sight from your husband/significant other and most of all your children. You will want these extra nice and pricey scissors just for your fabric and knowing the others in whom you share your home with...they will see them as just another pair of scissors.

Another set of tools that is a must have is the "Rotary Cutter". The ones I own are by Olfa (this company was the first to come out with this style of rotary cutting tool) but many brands are available. The middle sized one (the 28 mm) is the first one I ever bought and the one that I pick up first when making any sort of a project that needs a long straight cut. The cutting mats are yet another must have item. The rotary cutting tool just glides across the mat


Rulers...I bought myself the O'Lipfa brand of quilting rulers. I like the over hanging "lip" edge that grabs the edge of the cutting mat. I really like how it gives me control in cutting a very straight edge. These rulers rock! Talk about a tool that makes cutting mass quantities of blocks and strips of fabric a breeze! What a truly time consuming and tedious job it would be to cut out 100 of more squares and rectangular strips of fabric for a simple quilting project. The rotary cutting tools, mats and rulers has eliminated that and has streamlined quilting as being one of the most popular hobbies/crafts of all time.


You need an iron for pressing seams- here's mine, it's Rowenta Professional (it was a gift from my Mother last year). I now own 2 Rowenta irons, I put my old one away since my Mom gave me the heavy duty Professional series iron, this thing is quite heavy and wow does it ever make a sharp crease! The price of these quality irons certainly has come down over the years. When my Mom bought her professional series iron she paid close to $150 for it. Now you can get a professional series iron for $100- I'd say that was a significant price reduction.


Here I am now showing the blocks or pieces that make up the bulk of this quilt. A short view and a wider longer view of what will be the border or edge before I put on the binding.



Now for a view of the quilt while I have it spread out on the carpet and the long boarder pinned and ready for sewing. Cute eh?

Now for the binding - I chose this awesome looking pink and green fabric (I adore pink and green). Here you see my handiwork at making a splice (I have to do this more several times). One handy dandy thing I have at my disposal is a wooden clothes drying rack. I like to hang my fabric over it when working on sewing projects. This is especially nice to drape long strips of fabric after when ironing/pressing them and not wanting them to get all wrinkled up. The green with yellow flowers fabric will be the backing of this lap sized quilt. I had at first thought that this would be a good sized quilt for a crib but alas it's too large. I did by chance purchase another quilt pattern one that can be made in crib size. I actually own a total 4 quilt patterns now and thanks to my daughter Hannah a book with table runner patterns :-)