WIP: My First Quilt…Sorta

Hey strangers! It’s been a while. Last I wrote a post was back in September and A LOT was about to change.

The biggest change was that I left my cushy office job to get back into teaching and tackle my first year. My official title is RtI/ELD teacher. My real title is The Floater. I float from grade level to grade level teaching small groups. It’s been a great experience so far but also very daunting. Half of the time I’m so busy trying to stay afloat that I don’t realize how much time has passed.

Over the weekend it got hot (again!) so we were melting in doors with the air on and finding things to do around the house. Well, just for kicks I pulled out some old projects that had languished too long doing nothing. And for some reason, I randomly grabbed this ol’ project, dusted off my machine, and started sewing.

Just. Like. THAT!

As if I hadn’t taken the last 6 months off, I whirled that machine into a frenzy and starting putting the borders on this disastrous thing. I have no idea what to call it since it’s not really a quilt and it’s actually my first attempt at quilting.

Really it’s just a hodge podge of squares I put together in college that didn’t come together right. None of them are sewn nicely, all of them are a mess, some are too small while others are lopsided. And worst of all, I think all of them have at least one corner that was sewn together wrong. The pattern doesn’t look right.

This is the backstory. In college my machine made the trip from Southern California to San Francisco one year. We used her to make cushion covers for an ugly old couch that had been donated to us for our new living room. I had no clue what I was doing but we managed to make covers for this ratty old couch and made it a little nicer to live with.

It was about then that I got a package from my mom with some fat quarters included and a book It’s Okay If You Sit On My Quilt. I was suddenly fascinated with patterns and quilts and sewing. But I didn’t take the time to really learn HOW to quilt so I just kinda did it on my own.

Years later, while living in my own apartment outside of the city, my friend and I would get together and try to make something from this colorful material that we had purchased and forgotten about. We stressed and sweated over the patterns and then gave up.

This beast is the product of those sessions.

It was from a fat quarter set I bought on one of our many trips to JoAnns. Really I should have been practicing how to sew but instead I was spending my hard earned money on fabric I didn’t know how to use! Using the book my mom had sent me I pieced this thing together (horribly) and tried to make something of it. But I ended up frustrated as it buckled and all the squares came out different sizes. In the end I simply tossed it away to collect dust. And collect dust it did. I didn’t find it for a good 10 or more years.

Now, for some odd reason, I’m determined to make something of it. It’s my first quilt. One that never got finished and it deserves to be completed! I bought all this colorful material to bring the whole thing together and I’m pretty happy with it so far. The black and polka dotted material really frame it well without burdening the overly colorful squares.

After making the borders I had enough for the backing, almost. It was a little short on length. But no other material really fit as well with the pieces so I made it work with a small yellow strip in the middle to give it that extra length it needed. This will also be the yellow I will use for the binding and will tie in well now that I have that strip in there.

The yellow is a little lighter than the other yellows but I think it works well. At least, I hope it does! Crossing my fingers everything comes together.

All I have left to do is to iron out the backing and flatten the top, layer the two together with the batting in between, then quilt it down and add the binding.

Simple really! HA! I can only wish it was as simple to finish as it is to type up. But I do hope to be sharing the finished product with you by Friday for the TGIFF link up!

While I wish I was coming back full time to blogging and quilting, I know I won’t be able to juggle everything yet. But I plan to be a little more active than I have been the last 6 months. The itch to be creative it strong with me right now. Maybe it’s because I spend so much time each day being creative and loud and in front of a small audience constantly that the peace and quiet of quilting is calling me!

Hope you stop by and leave a comment. I plan to hop around the blogosphere this week! See ya!