My blocks are done...

So, what's next???

Two Tuesday's ago, I went to a fellow paddler's house to help with the "cutting party" for the quilts we are making. WOW...what a production! She had pre-cut enough fabric to make 23 quilts. All we had to do was finish the cutting process. There were three cutting stations. I was assigned to the kitchen station. We were given stacks of fabric...9 stacks of 4 16x8 coordinating pieces of fabric. We had to follow a cutting pattern (by we, I mean Linda, who knew what she was doing) to make 8 small squares, 8 small triangles, 8 medium triangles and 8 large triangles. The pieces were then divided in half and we (meaning me) put them in to 2 sets of plastic bags. When we were done, we had 2 sets of 9 bags with enough squares and triangles to make 2 sets of 9 blocks. (WHEW! Did you follow all that???) Our station alone did this THREE TIMES!!

After the cutting marathon, we were all pulled in to the dining room for sewing 101. Now, when the email came out about this project, it said BASIC SEWING SKILLS...what they REALLY meant was BASICALLY YOU KNOW HOW TO SEW SKILLS. (right, Elizabeth!!!) The meeting went something like this. 1) don't touch the fabric more than you have too. 2) don't screw up because there isn't extra fabric 3) a hair off on just one seam is too much....but no pressure. Oh, and you have until the end of March to get your blocks done.

I went home in a little bit of a panic. Now, you might remember that my beautiful, talented, fabulous Sister-In-Law, Becky, gave me quilting/piecing lessons for Christmas. (Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Becky!!) I had been feeling confident, but after the warnings, I was a little nervous about working with THE SACRED fabric. I took some of my own fabric and cut it exactly like I had seen and practiced. I did two blocks. I thought they came out pretty good. Most of the corners lined up exactly...some where off by a hair (literally) but it IS my FIRST quilt EVER. So, I felt confident enough to sew all the little squares, though not confident enough to make the first cut with out authorization.

This past Tuesday, I took my 2 practice blocks and all the little squares with me to our quilting bee (isn't that what they call a group of ladies getting together to quilt!?!). My blocks got a B+. Apparently my tension is a little tight and it made the fabric a little puckery. (???) Though, I did get permission to cut my little squares and proceed with the rest of the steps.

Today I finished all my blocks. My plan was to finish step 3 and get permission to cut again, but most of the other ladies are done with all their blocks already. I was feeling a little bit of pressure. This Tuesday, we are laying out our quilts and possibly SWAPPING BLOCKS, if need be. (Oh, the pressure to be perfect!) The next Tuesday, we will be going shopping for the binding and backing fabrics. Pretty much, I'm along for the ride.


This is such a learning process. I am really glad I got on board and am making a quilt from start to finish. Good thing this quilt is going on MY WALL! (we wouldn't want a puckery quilt on someone else's wall, now would we???)

Oh, and thanks again for the sewing machine, Nana and Papa!