23 February 2009

Quilting love

Quilts to me are so amazing. The coolest part about them, to me, is the story that most likely lives in each piece of fabric. Quilting takes time, patience, creativity and extreme love for the person to whom you are making it for. When I was in middle school I made a quilt out of fabric that I found in my grandma's basement. It was an activity that I took on to help pass the dog days of summer. I even put in a lot of plain white squares that I ended up sewing really cool patches on (ha! Brittish flag, Greatful Dead, my dad's army patch with our last name, and a My Little Pony Patch. I also sewed sequins on to some patches making flowers and rainbows. Finally, on the left over white squares I used the iron-on printer paper to print out a picture of James Dean and one of the lead singer of Goo Goo Dolls! Sooooo funny!! My grandma's church quilting group sewed my quilt top to it's back and quilted it all together. I love it. It is the gaudiest thing on earth and I still use daily. Well, ever since then I have been in love <3 with quilts. My very soon to be Mother-in-law is a quilter and her work is amazing. She actually made me a crazy quilt that I feel so blessed to have :) So, now that Mrs Denbow has inspired me to bust our the old sewing machine, I am determined to make a quilt. Which kind? What fabric? Where do I begin? Will it be as easy as the blanket I made? So many questions!!!!
Tonight I went to Flickr, typed in quilts, and let the inspiration begin. Here are some beautiful quilts that I fell in love with. I hope that these pictures will be as inspiring to you all as you continue to create beautiful things as well!!













Absolutely breathtaking! I am thinking that for right now I will start with somethings super simple. Are there any "must-have" tools that I should be looking into or sites with tips that I should read before I start this adventure with my sewing machine??
Love you!

4 comments:

  1. Preeetttty! Too bad your wedding shower guests didn't each make you a quilt square!!! Then you could have quilted them all together!!! But it's not tooo late.... ;)

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  2. i am TOTALLY loving your blog Janel; it makes me smile EACH AND EVERY day :) LOVE you xoxox

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  3. Thanks for the props for my quilting! :) I'm so excited that you share my love for colors, fabrics, textures and that you want to sew!! I have a bag that I LOVE that says "Keep America Sewing".

    Just so happens that I have some tips for you on "must have" sewing tools. You definately want a rotary cutter, mat and ruler (specially made to use with the rotary cutter). This will save you LOADS of time. Any sewing store will carry these and they are not very expensive.

    An important thing to keep in mind is to wash all your fabrics BEFORE you sew with them or cut them. This will get all of the starch out and to take care of any shrinkage that might happen. So later you can feel free to wash your quilt and not worry about that.

    There a TON of quilting sites that I frequent for inspiration. I'll make a list and email it you.

    Loved your blog entries!!

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  4. I love all those quilting pictures! So beautiful.
    I am just learning quilting, but out of all the different types of craft I try and do, nothing feels as special to me, as quilting.
    I have finished 3 quilts so far. I made a quilt for my two children for christmas and I felt so proud of myself when I finished them, wrapped them and put them under the tree. They are wonky, my squares don't line up properly and they are lumpy....but that's ok. They are made with a ton of love.

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Thank you so much for commenting!! xo