My first 2 Quilts!

Hi friends! I took a few days off last week (I’m not sure if you could tell since what I do for work is what I do for fun LOL!) and decided to try a new hobby. The day after Christmas is my favorite day. We don’t have to go anywhere and the kids are busy with all their new goodies, my hubby has the day off and we all just chill out at home after a busy Christmas and Christmas eve. I dragged my “good” sewing machine down to my studio and set to work on my first quilt:

I took the DIY Quilt Along course from Curious.com (they are have a 50% off every class through January 4th BTW!) and it was so much easier than I thought it would be. I loved that you jump right in and sew and you learn about the tools you need and techniques as you go because I learn by doing, not watching. I did not have all the tools the instructor had but I was still able to make a quilt, I honestly did not think I had it in me:

I enjoyed the first quilt so much that I set to work on another one too! I decided to make a crazy quilt (much more my style) with the scraps. Also both of my girls wanted one so it was perfect!

I happened to have a beautiful batik fabric that I picked up in Boston a year and a half ago in my stash. I used it as a backing, I had just enough excess that I simply pressed the leftover to the front and bound it with that. It came out much better then the binding on the first quilt but to be fair I did not do it exactly as the instructor told me to…I also learn very well from mistakes LOL!

I also experimented with free motion quilting with my regular machine. I put the freed dogs down and lifted the pressure foot and sewed random loops and swirls over some portions of the quilt. I was a bit afraid that I might damage my machine so that was all I did. Then I asked the folks on the Frugal Crafter Community how I should do it and they said I could take the pressure foot off and lower it so the top tension would engage but it was OK the way I did it too. I figured it was better to make a mistake on a small beginner quilt that one I spent weeks on.

If you are interested in learning to quilt and have some basic machine sewing experience I encourage you to check out the DIY Quilt Along course from Curious.com. they also have thousands of other classes to help you with your new years resolutions and they are 50% off now though January 4th! This post is a partnership with Curious.com. I was compensated for my time to take the course but my thoughts and opinions are my own. Happy crafting!