One of my fondest memories of my Maternal Grandmother was the vision of her working away at beautiful quilts on a big wooden frame hanging from the ceiling in her den!
I was just amazed at the beautiful fabrics and intricate stitching that went into those creations and I never dreamed that one day I would attempt one myself!
But...that is exactly what I did!
Last year in April and May, Two of my favorite bloggers, Jill from Create Craft Love and Sarah from Becoming Martha hosted a "Quilt-Along" online and when I heard about it...I just had to join in as I felt like it was the perfect opportunity for me to learn this craft while having a "support" group around me to help!
At almost exactly the same time, I discovered an old friend of mine (Debbie) who I used to work with was on Facebook and she was an experienced quilter, so I would have local "hands-on" help as well.
How lucky for me!
This quilt-along was "self-paced" and even though the goal was to try and complete a quilt in a month, most in the group didn't finish in a month, so I didn't feel so bad when mine was no where near being finished after 30 days!
There was no real "deadline" but Jill and Sarah did provide a "link-up" party at the end of May to show off our creations when we completed them.
I must admit...making my first quilt was truly a "labor" of love...(if I may use a play on words here)...it took me 9 months to complete...like giving birth! Not quite as painful though...thankfully!
Here is the fruit of my labor:
I made the quilt as a gift for my precious Grandson Adrian and I was hoping to have it done by Christmas, but alas that didn't happen, so it will get to him in time for his birthday for sure!
The first week consisted of gathering supplies and tools for the project:
When I was planning my quilt, I knew that my Grandson loved cars, but I wanted to be sure the quilt would be something he'd want to use when he was older also
(he is only 2 now...almost 3).
For that reason, I picked a car design that was a bit more sophisticated rather than a nursery type design.
The main fabric was from Timeless Treasures and the design was called "Michael #C9865"
Rather than make this post unbearably long...I just made a quick collage of some of the steps I did in making this quilt:
So...on the recommendation of my good friend Debbie, I took it to a local long-arm quilter in the area, Michael Schultz, Samish Quilting, who is known for his quality work and he did an amazing job!
I am not a great photographer, but I tried to capture some close-up's of his beautiful work.
He used a stitch pattern that had race cars and racing flags and it was just perfect for this project!
I made a personalized tag for the quilt and it was the first time I had tried applique and embroidering on my machine (Singer Superb 2010) so it didn't turn out perfect by any means and even though I practiced before I made the final tag...I messed up the alignment on my name!
Of course "Grandma" and "Lisa" should have been on the same line, but at that point I was at the very end and did not want to try and make another tag as this one took me forever, so I let it go as I'm sure my sweet Grandboy won't know the difference or care for that matter.
He will just be happy about the cars!
If you need details on how to make this quilt or a similar one, you can go to the original blog posts from the quilt along by starting here or here.
Also, the pattern that was used for this project was from All People Quilt and can be found here along with directions.
I want to say a very big "Thank-you" to my good friend Debbie for being such a tremendous help on this project and letting me use her awesome Janome sewing machine!
Hope you enjoyed seeing my first quilt and I would love for you to visit my blog again soon!
Thanks!