I finished my first quilt top last week. The pattern is charmed by Keera Job and best of all, it’s free! I decided to jump in feet first and I ordered 3 charm packs – Voyage by Kate Spain, Wild Nectar by Crystal Manning and Laurel Canyon by Studio RK. For the background I decided to use Kona Snow, a little bit softer than a bright white.
The first thing I did was sit down and look at all my pretty fabrics. Ooh. Aaah.
Voyage and Wild Nectar had fairly similar color pathways – light teal, peachy pink and dark bluish purple. I added some of the more vibrant colors from Laurel Canyon to jazz it up and break up the matchy-matchy-ness. I removed some of the Laurel Canyon ones I didn’t want to use, too – blacks, browns, greens, nah.
I matched up pairs of charms (and spent way too long agonizing over it, oh boy) and sewed 2 edges together, then cut across the middle both ways to make 4 mini-charms. I learned about the wonders of chain piecing and sewed those charm pairs in long chains like a pro. The Laurel Canyon charms were sliiiiightly larger than the other two charms, so I just did my best guesstimating on my 1/4″ seams (hello, brand new quilter here!).
After I had my 2-block mini-charms I agonized over piecing them together into 4 piece mini-charms, and once I had all of those done, I agonized over matching up pieces, and once I had that done, I agonized over how to put the blocks together. Oh, the agony! The agony and the ecstasy! Mostly ecstasy, I live for this stuff. I’m like a kid in a candy store, or a quilter in a fabric store…
Back and forth and back and forth. Iron, sew, sew, iron, sew. Cut, trim, iron, sew. I kind of loved it all. I’m a serious dabbler. I love to start a new project, a new hobby, get into it just long enough to spend too much money, and then leave it for the next shiny thing. Knitting? Oh yeah. Couldn’t get enough. But with knitting I liked the product but not the process. Quilting? I actually really enjoy the process. The planning, the precision, the repitition, the pretty colors, the soft fabric. It’s kind of amazing. But it’s still my new infatuation, so we’ll see if things work out.
At some point I must have measured and cut all my white pieces. And then all of a sudden it all came together in an afternoon! It was glorious! Glorious, I say!
Bam! There it is, in all its glorious beauty! I made it a row smaller than the pattern called for, because I like rectangular blankets more than square ones. I am so excited to get the batting and backing fabric and quilt this bad mamma-jamma!
PS: Actually, now I am terrified of quilting this bad mamma-jamma. Please send me good quilting karma.
PPS: Sorry the photos are kind of awful. My phone is cheap and old and I’d rather spend money on fabric than on a new phone.
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