I’d love for you to join us! What better way to learn a new skill than surrounded by friends who will be here to encourage and help you with difficulties along the way?
What kind of mini quilt did you start, is it a kit or your own pattern and fabrics?
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Thank you! Yeah, that’s what I thought might help me overcome my anxiety about quilting - the friendly community! 
My unfinished mini quilt was from a published pattern, with my own fabrics. This was as far as I got:
I’m obviously not terribly good at keeping my lines straight and stripe widths consistent. ^^;
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Wow, you’ve gotten really far! It looks like you’ve already done the hard work and now need to square it up, quilt it, and bind it, is that correct?
This quilt has a fun, playful feel to it. I like the bright colors you used!
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roler! I am so happy to see you, friend! I love all your happy pieces!
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Thank you! I actually wasn’t planning on doing any real quilting at all on this one; it’s so small the layers should stay together anyway, and my sewing machine really isn’t built for quilting. The part that actually stumped me was the binding; I was planning to use the black fabric you can see around half of the squares to make the bias tape, but after cutting it on the diagonal, I absolutely could NOT figure out how to sew them together and still make them continue on in the same direction, instead of bending at the seams! Maybe I’ll just use some premade plain black bias tape or something, just to get it done… (Although first I have to find it! I haven’t touched it since August, and my room is a MESS!)
Awww, thanks! It’ll be fun to do a craftalong together if I can stick to it! XD
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So glad you are going to work on it! I love wonky, scrappy quilts and we all start somewhere…I actually got into quilting because I liked the math of trying to figure out what to cut out to make all the blocks fit together…it sure got easier once people started posting tutorials and stuff, but I still like to wing it sometimes!
I rarely make bias binding…I find that straight binding worked fine for me…You can also just skip the binding all together and do sort of like a big old pillowcase, sewing the back and front together wrong sides together and turn it inside out…then just stitch it all around.
Quilting is merely the process of holding the layers together so don’t get too worried about it…you will still get a nice blanket!
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Thanks so much! It’s actually more like placemat size. XD I was planning to use it as a wall hanging… probably still will at some point!
And eeep, the math part and precise cutting is precisely the part that scares me! Even with patterns and explicit pre-set measurements, it’s really hard for me to keep everything neat and precise enough to make them line up properly - probably a good thing I love crazy quilts!! 
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There is something for everything…fabric art…oh goodness…I did not realize it was that small…the blocks must be tiny…wow…well, they are even harder when they are tiny…
Just have fun…and enjoy the process!
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@roler, I am so glad you joined us! I, too, am not super great at piecing, so I celebrate a lot when I get perfect corners, or HSTs that are actually the same size, etc! It’s just practice, practice, practice!
Your quilt is really fun! I like @aimr’s suggestion of just sewing the backing to the front wrong sides together and then then turning inside out. I was actually working on that a bit yesterday with a Christmas panel I was given in an Instagram (I think) swap a few years ago. I had decided to make it a wall hanging, but never really had the gumption to anything else with it besides sewing some fabric borders to it. I decided to be super cheap and not even add batting to that. Hah.
I don’t mess with bias tape anymore either. I just use the trick I was taught at a LQS. Take a (long enough) strip of fabric about 3.5 " (whatever you want the binding to be. There are online calculators out there, I just haven’t found/used them), fold it in half. You will sew the raw edge side first, then flip over the folded side and sew that. I usually hand sew, but some people prefer to machine sew.
Once you get the hang of sewing the binding/bias strips together at an angle, it will get faster and easier.
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Love the small scale of this! I did one tiny log cabin square a million years ago and haven’t attempted that small since. Maybe I should try again…
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So … what would folks use for new ties on this?
Cotton yarn like they use for washcloth crochet…acrylic would be too stretchy, I think…although, it might be hard to punch through fabric…hmmm…not sure now! lol
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I have a great large antique needle that is wicked sharp, useful for things like this! 
Should be no problem to just slip it into the weave & pull yarn through. It helped me put ties through a denim backing!
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And my last WIP: a box of partial Dresden plates that a friend sent me. She gave zero history on them, other than they were gifted to her by a family member and she had zero interest in them. I suspect from her aging mom, who moved into housing a few years ago out of her house. There is a mix of shirting, velvet, flannels, trousers, old neckties, i think a blanket, maybe a blazer, and even I think some upholstery or vintage fancy curtains, etc.
I have been Pinning some ideas, but would love input from pattern mavens here! These are simply not in my color wheelhouse so ideas are not flowing. I think I would be more interested in patterns that break up the plates, rather then whole circles in traditional blocks. I think. Heh.
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I love it! The slightly wonky bits work together as a whole. If one were wonky, then it would look odd, but since it varies, the overall look is fun, bright, and happy. It has a nice dynamic feel to it. Well done, intentional or not.
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The variety and texture of those are wonderful…strange that we often forget that quilting used to be a thrifty way to save precious fabric and make something useful…wonder why this person choose the dresden plate?
I am with you…not sure I would want entire blocks of those…although, with the textures, I sure would do some sort of crazy quilt maybe with half circles scattered throughout…I saw one done with velvet, brocade and embroidery that was stunning…
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@roler I love this quilt! The colors and just gorgeous and I really like the black squares around some of the blocks. It is interesting that you are using this group to help you get past your anxiety over quilting. @JoyfulClover has been encouraging me to do the same thing. I love quilts, but my free spirited crafting style doesn’t meld well with straight lines and precise angles. With that said, LC folks are so kind and encouraging! I bet they will help us both grow our quilting skills this year.
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@Camelama those quilt pieces make my heart go pitter patter! Thet are stunning. I can hardly wait to see what you do with them.
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drool worthy pieces for sure!
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