I finally finished my Halloween Quilt! FInally! Oh my goodness, it took forever to find the time, but now I kind of have the quilting bug. Ha! Next project is already started. Back to this one, though.
I think I can count this as my 3rd Quarter Challenge because I was inspired by a mock up I found on Pinterest. It showed the Dear Stella Boo! collection done with the Happy Child pattern.
I never would have given that pattern a second glance. Truth be told, I hate the fabric they used. I love it in this collection! Does that work for this prompt?
Finishing this completed two of my Person Goals as well.
Finish Quilting my Halloween Quilt
Bind Halloween Quilt
I am not really sure how to āquiltā. There are very few tutorials I could find for that. I did a LOT of starting and stopping to get the design I wanted from the actual quilting. I am not sure if your supposed to do that. There were a lot of stray strings to cut and lots of time back stitching.
This was my first time using a pattern too. They are much different that bag patterns!
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(Linda -In the year 2025, I am happy to be alive! :us:)
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So nice!! It is a very different kind of Halloween quilt with those fabricsā¦one that can be used all year around!
You did a fine job of teaching yourself how to do all the āquiltingā things!
My Nana made quilts all the time. After she passed, my Dad made the comment that he wouldnāt get another quilt. That year, I made my first quilt for him for Christmas. It took about 7 years before I made another one, last year.
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(Linda -In the year 2025, I am happy to be alive! :us:)
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I spent many summers with my great grandmother on her farm in Indiana. They didnāt have TV so we did chores like shell peas, clean green beans, feed chickens, etc. She also taught me to do some patchwork.
I started sewing doll clothes and then clothes when I was about 11. I got my first sewing machine when I was 15 and only wanted to do clothes. I rarely sewed anything else except maybe made some curtains and things for the houses we lived in. I told myself I never wanted to make quilts because I knew I would be addicted!
I made my first real quilt top in 2000. I just made up a bunch of blocks and sewed them together. Everyone who saw it said I had a good eye for color, so I kept making quilt tops. My first quilt was made for a swap on LC. It got lost in the mail on the way to California but that was probably a good thing. I had no idea what I was doing and I even used nylon invisible thread to quilt it! It was so ugly. I never even took a picture of it. (I do have some leftover fabrics and yes, still ugly!)
After that, I just bought a bunch of books, watched videos, and actually used patterns and nice quilting fabric. I learned from Jenny from Missouri Quilt Company the most. The rest is history!
When I was a little girl I was obsessed with the Little House-books. In those books, Laura and Mary learn to make quilts from scraps from their mother. My mother sewed all our clothes and had plenty of scraps. I was already rifling through her waste fabric bin for scraps to make doll dresses all the time, so the idea of a quilt wasnāt a big leap in my 7 or 8 year old brain. When my mum found out, she learned me how to sew on the machine. My mum was an experienced seamstress but never made a quilt in her life, so I had no idea what I was doing and she couldnāt really help me figure it out either. It wasnāt until the days of youtube and craftster that I picked up most of the tricks, and Iām still learning! I still have that first quilt and itās become very dear to me precisely because it was made from scraps. I can tell you where 90% of the fabrics came from - my favourite dresses, grandmaās apron, my siblingsā clothes ā¦
Looking back as an adult, there are certainly problematic parts in the Little House books. No wonder as they were written almost a century ago, by a lady born a few years after the Civil War. But the story itself is still remarkable. Over the past couple of years, a few good books have come out that put the author and stories in a historical perspective. I can highly recommend the annotated version of Pioneer Girl, Laura Ingalls Wilderās autobiography written for an adult audience, and Prairie Fires - The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser.
My quilting journey started over 30+ years ago. In high school I would wear holes in the knees of my jeans, decided throwing the legs out when i turned them into shorts was wasteful, so i started cutting them into 5" squares (i made a template from a cereal box, traced in pen, cut with scissors). Maaaany years of collecting later I decided I had enough to make a quilt. (I did not). I then made a whole cloth quiltā¦ just a flat flannel sheet, batting, and a solid fabric i liked for the top. I kneeled on the floor and hand tied it together. The binding was satin binding from Joannās. I loved that quilt. Then I bought enough used denim to cut up for my denim rag quilt. I āraggedā 3 blocks then said that sucked and will never do another rag quilt. It was a nice heavy blanket though.
I donāt actually remember how I really got into quilting. Like officially. I went to a quilt guild meeting. Joined. Started learning. Started volunteering.
Nobody in my family quilts. One of my great grandmas did I believe - mom came by her hatred of patchwork quilts from her quilts.
I have been wanting to make a 2nd denim quilt. Just have to find what happened to the pattern I want to use (or decide on something different) then sit and start cutting the bins of denim people have donated to me
Hint: if you want to make denim quilts, mens tie quilts, or scrap quiltsā¦ let people know. Next thing you know people youāve never met will come up to you āare you the person needingā¦? Here are 3 bins!ā
Iāve made two denim quilts so far and thatās absolutely true! I need to start more denim projects to get space in my room Denim is a nice material to work with, as long as you use a simple pattern and donāt mind if the quil ends up slightly wonky.
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(Linda -In the year 2025, I am happy to be alive! :us:)
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Love your story! I thought when I moved that I got rid of most of my denim pieces and scraps. Well, somehow, they seemed to have jumped on the truck and I still have loads. You and @Immaculata have inspired me to take another look at my partially finished denim quilt. I quit after I made about 20 squares.
My next one Iām planning to just butt the edges together and sew a small strip over each side. Almost like the quilt as you go edges except only the top. I want to do a solid backing and special quilting in eack block.
@AudiobookLover I got this pattern last year for my birthday. Crinkle Dreams Elemental Coat
My mom always asks me what I want. I always try to ask for something a little challenging for myself because if she buys it for me and I donāt do it, I will feel guilty. Extra motivation!
So far, I have created the fabric for the back and half the front panel. I intend to finish the front panel this evening and start the other side. Then I am back to cutting and working on the sleeves. After that, quilting and actual construction. My Mom is helping me with fabric placement. She thinks I am much faster of a sewer than I actually am.
Hereās another nice idea for a denim quilt! What kind of blocks did you make? Do you need to make more blocks or could you make something out of the 20 blocks you have?
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(Linda -In the year 2025, I am happy to be alive! :us:)
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I need to revisit all those blocks. I was going for a scrappy quilt and used a pattern with fabric on one side and denim on the back. It is meant to fray after washings, but I got bored so maybe I can do something else with them. I like the pattern you posted with the mix. Iāll see if I can get a picture to show what I have so far.
Denim is a nice material to work with, as long as you use a simple pattern and donāt mind if the quil ends up slightly wonky.
