Give Pieces a Chance

I've been wanting to start a *real* quilt for a long time now. It's a very daunting undertaking, even if you've tried the basics, as I did in this child's quilt over a year ago. I obviously wasn't in any hurry to start another! After coming across this bookmarked tutorial, I was inspired all over again. I present to you, the beginnings of my Paper-Pieced String Quilt:

The "stash pile!" (Something new to me, since I've begun sewing in earnest this month.)



All sewn together on a 6" square of phone book paper. Looks crazy, now, I know....



After the strips are joined and trimmed, you simply tear away the paper along the "perforations." (Wait, American Bee Control? Damn, I might need that number someday!)



Looking better all cleaned up...



...and even better when four squares are joined!



I like this style for many reasons: it's not fussy with measurements, how the pieces match up, or even the colors you use; the bohemian, mismatch style will match anything; and it's quick to stitch up once you have all your strips cut. Now the question is, how many of these do I have to do???

Bandana Quilt

Kiddie Quilt, originally uploaded by melissa.coats.

I'm so excited -- I made my first quilt, thanks to this easy online tutorial from i have to say! It was intended as a project for younger girls, but I have no shame. It's for my little girl, does that count? Kennedy liked watching me sew and mimicked the machine's noise. That's the crafting stage she is currently at.

My quilt consists of 6 bandanas from the craft store (the tutorial uses 4, but I wanted this one longer - tall girl and all), a twin sheet for backing, and batting. I've never bought or used batting before, but luckily it comes precut in bags. Who knew? I started it this evening, took a break for bath and bedtime, and finished in time to blog about it. How easy!

Here are some tips, should you try it:

* Make sure all your bandanas are the same size. Mine weren't, and I didn't know this until I started sewing them all together. It just means some extra cutting before the final stages.
* Pre-wash and iron everything, except the batting of course.
* If you don't have a disappearing ink fabric pen, use chalk to mark lines for the 8" opening for turning.
* When she writes that the turning inside out stage is like wrestling, she was right. In fact, it was sort of like birthing a baby....

Now I've got to sneak into her room and cover her up with it. She'll be so surprised when she wakes up in the morning!