I’ve mentioned before that I’m a newbie to quilting. I haven’t done a blanket before and I thought I’d make my first one for me. I had an easy pattern to follow that I’d found in a catalog I’d gotten from Keepsake Quilting. All I needed to do was pick my fabrics. I turned again to that catalog and was drawn to a set of music-related fat quarters Keepsake sells. I hopped on their website to look closer at the fabrics. When I saw they had French horns on some of them (I play French horn) I was hooked. I ordered the pattern, the fabric, and some new needles.
When the fabric arrived I was very, very happy. It’s really pretty, several have French Horns on them, and I couldn’t wait to start using it. But, alas, I had already developed the habit of washing my fabrics first so I had to wait. Luckily it wasn’t long before they were out of the dryer. It was the fastest anything had gone through the laundry in a while. 🙂
The first step was to start cutting the pieces out to piece together. I made the mistake of not squaring up my fabric, but I think it won’t ruin anything. I managed to get all my strips cut out and I’ve pieced the first set of strips together. I’ve even cut those into the smaller sections as per the pattern instructions.
I’m currently working on the second group of strip sets. I’ve found that I’m getting quicker and quicker at hand piecing. I’m still reading through Quiltmaking by Hand by Jinny Beyer for tips on doing the hand piecing correctly. I have to admit I’ve been tempted to finish the piecing by machine, but since I still have that set up for our oldest daughter’s PJs it wasn’t worth the effort of changing out the thread and bobbin. I also have to remember to press the fabrics before cutting them. It would be easier if my ironing board didn’t keep becoming a junk table.
I’m really excited about getting through the piecing so I can try out quilting. I only have a quilting hoop at the moment, which should make things interesting. At least this is only a smaller lap blanket and not the larger twin size blankets I’m going to be making for our kids next.
As an aside, I heartily recommend Keepsake for fabrics. In the comments for my music fat quarter order I put “I really, really, REALLY, would appreciate it if you could include French horn fabric in my order” since their website says the fabric choices can vary. They sent me not one, not two, but three fabrics with French horns on them. Needless to say they made this horn player happy. I liked them so much I joined their affiliate program. My affiliate link for them is here. Note: I do get paid if someone clicks through my Keepsake link, but otherwise I’ve not been sponsored or officially endorsed by Keepsake. My opinions are only swayed by their great customer service. 🙂
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