Finished--my very first (real) quilt!!!

(Note: When I say real, I mean that it goes in the traditional order, making a quilt top, then quilting together with backing and batting, then binding the edges--I've made a rag quilt prior to this.)

 

I did it!!!

 

 

My first official quilt is finally finished.

 

I started this quilt back in March over my spring break. I actually finished the top in a day--it's small and the piecing was relatively easy. Then... it sat. And sat. And sat. I didn't know how to back it, how to quilt it, I was clueless. I did eventually pick out a backing fabric I was happy with (First Impressions by Anna Maria Horner, from the Innocent Crush collection), but still, I knew I couldn't quilt it on my old machine, so it sat for a while, and I was still unsure about binding fabric. Then, I got a new machine, complete with walking foot, my mom came and visited me and looked through my fabric and found a binding fabric that would work (also a backing fabric for the Supernova, too, more on that later), and I got motivated again... and here it is!

 

 

 

 

 

(This one is post-quilting, pre-binding.)

 

I love this pattern and would like to make the full-size quilt. This one is baby-sized--full-sized would involve 4 of these being sewn together in a square.

 

What did I learn from this process? Tons!

1. Seam allowance is important if you want your pieces to line up right--something I've relearned repeatedly...
2. It is a good idea to mark your quilting lines, even if you're doing echo quilting--I have a couple of wonky corners in there.
3. Sew the binding to the front of the quilt BEFORE you trim the backing and batting. Instead of doing that, I sewed 1/4" from the edge of the top, all the way around, but then when I sewed on my binding, that first line of stitching showed up.
4. Try to sew in a straight line when sewing on the binding.... I had to go back and handstitch it on to the front in some places because it wasn't actually attached to the quilt top, just the backing and batting.
5. Words can't express how much I need a 1/4" piecing foot for my machine...
6. If you sew too far on a mitered corner, or backstitch too much, then you won't be able to fit the binding over the corner. Learned that one from experience.
7. (on a related note) Use 2.5" wide binding strips, NOT 2.25"--I feel like that would have made my life ever so slightly easier.
8. Handsewing takes a REALLY long time. But it looks really nice. I need to decide which is better--quick and dirty, or beautiful and slow?

 

This quilt is most likely destined to be part of the 100 Quilts for Kids project, since there are no babies in my immediate future and I don't know of anyone having a girl baby that would like these colors. They are very, very me--meaning lots of brights and very bold. (The girls at my knitting group joke that they can always predict what colorway of any yarn I'm going to pick out... it's the one with the most pink and the brightest colors!) And not many people I know share my taste in colors. So off to charity it is--specific charity to be determined later (I think our NICU unit might want blankets? Not sure.)

 

Stats:

Pattern: Sunkissed Squares, from Moda Bake Shop

Fabric for top: off-white background, jelly roll from Joann Fabrics (I really wish I'd bought like 5 of these when I first found it, I love these fabrics)

Backing: First Impression from Innocent Crush by Anna Maria Horner

Binding: some stuff from Hobby Lobby that I got for 3 bucks a yard

Size: 32" by 32"

Quilting: echo quilting around inside and outside of each square, done by me on machine

 

This is my entry for the Gen X Quilters Summer Fair, and I'm also linking up to {Sew} Modern Monday and Fresh Sewing Day at Lily's Quilts.

 

 

 

Go link up your summer quilts (and recipes) too!