Pillow love

We're going to visit my friends Lynessa and Steve and I wanted to take a gift for them.  Lynessa is now seeing clients at home, so I thought she could use a new pillow for her couch.  This is a quilt as you go pillow, which was pretty easy and fun to put together.  I haven't gotten the pillow form yet, I'll post a better picture when it's all done.

My lesson this time:  Don't use batting that is stretchy and easily loses it's shape!

First completed quilt!

So, this is my first completed quilt.  I made a lap quilt for my sister-in-law to give her when we stayed with her in Maine.  If you're looking for an easy place to start, this is one of the easiest!  I used a Weeds (by Me and My Sister for Moda) charm pack for the pieced quilt and solid strips from a Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton Solids jelly roll for the borders.

I arranged the fabric on my design board until I was happy with the layout, then pieced them together using 1/4" seam allowance.  I then pulled the solids from the jelly roll that I felt would coordinate and sewed them to make the border.

I found the adorable fabric for the backing at (horrors!) a big box fabric store.  I did the easiest binding I could find a description of, a mock binding, and finished by quilting three slanted horizontal lines across the quilt using a great silver metallic thread.

Here's my takeaway from this project:

Start small.  Precuts are fabulous for beginners.  This was a perfect project to begin on and there was only a few times that I was ready to throw the machine in the floor.

One of the best resource guides I have is 'The Complete Photo Guide to Machine Quilting The Quilting Bible' 3rd Edition

Make it as easy as you can on yourself for your first quilted project, using mock binding and an easy quilting pattern.

Obviously, I didn't stage my pictures very well.  This was before I even thought of sharing my experiences as a newbie quilter and before I discovered all the great quilting blogs with really nice pictures of quilts displayed.  Projects I completed after this are photographed outside with beautiful scenery.

If you have room, a design wall is fantastic!  You can step back and get a different perspective of how the pattern looks laid out.

Finally, NEVER tell a quilt shop owner that you bought (even fabric for backing) from (horrors!) a big box fabric shop!