Quilt number 1

I had never tried my hand at actual "fancy" quilting. I had grown up tying baby blankets, but I had never pieced or followed a pattern or long armed or hand quilted.

Well, in 2013 my youngest brother in law got married, kind of last minute. We threw everything together rather quickly. They had fabric that they used as their center pieces and when the reception was over I made sure to snatch it up. I wasn't about to let good fabric go to waste. I decided right then and there that I wanted to make them a quilt with this fabric. I couldn't imagine any better use for it or any better keepsake for them. Well, I set out to get started. Little did I know what kind of a task I had given myself.

I tried to just simply square the pieces and then to sew them together. That did NOT work. It looked horrible. I called mom to ask her opinion since she had been doing this for a year or so. She said to try 5 inch squares. Ok, sounds easy enough. I bought some fabric to compliment the fabric from the wedding and set out. The only problem, I had no idea how I was going to put them together. I didn't have a pattern.

My husband is a problem solver and also a man that would rather make something himself or fix what he already has instead of buying it. He sat down at the computer, opened excel and proceeded to make up his own pattern. It was for his little brother after all, so he had him in mind the entire time. Not many people can say they have a quilt that was made ENTIRELY for them, but they do. The pattern was perfect for them.

I broke it into 9 patches and started sewing. I HATED this quilt. I wanted to quit so many times, but I never did. I chose this crazy pattern and made it a queen sized quilt for my first ever quilt, what was I thinking?!?! Two years later (Feb of 2015) the crazy thing was finished. It wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. I had professionals tell me how impressed they were with it, so that made me feel good.

I was surprised how hard it was to give away, even though I had never intended to keep it. I had an emotional attachment to it, but it was just what they needed.  My brother in law and his wife LOVE it and immediately went home and put it on their bed.