My New Hobby

Awhile ago I decided to try out quilting. It's been about seven years since the last time I sewed anything, so I am by no means very experienced with any of this stuff. I'm not really sure how I decided on this. I guess it was because I love quilts but buying them is way out of my budget, so I thought I could just try making them myself. (This was before I knew how much fabric costs. In the end I may not save any money, but at least I might gain a skill.)

I decided my first project would be a pillow. Only one quilt square, no pressure. I found this canoe and kayak print fabric at the Clay County Fair in September and decided I would make the pillow for my dad.

Here's my workshop! We had this folding table in a closet and it turned out to be just the right size for my mom's Olfa cutting mat. The sewing machine, cutting mat, and a bunch of other tools I borrowed from my mom. What if I hated it? I didn't think I should rush out to get my own stuff as long as I could borrow my mom's for awhile. (Thanks, Mom!) Since then, I've received my own for Christmas. (Thanks, parents and in-laws!)

 I will not be posting any tutorials because that would be irresponsible of me since I am just learning myself. I got the instructions for this project from a book called Your First Quilt Book (or it should be!) by Carol Doak. I found it at the library in Avoca and it became clear I wasn't going to work fast enough that I'd be done before it was due, so I bought my own used copy online. Here's a link to it on Amazon.

I was so excited to see this come together. It didn't really take all that long to get it together. I did have trouble sewing the correct sides of the little triangles to the correct sides of the squares but I worked it out.

I added a border.

Here it is with the top, cotton batting, and muslin backing basted together ready for hand quilting.

The back of the pillow is all the blue canoe fabric. I decided to add piping (the book project calls for a ruffle). I had to google instructions for sewing that on, and it wasn't too hard. It's not perfect but it looks pretty nice. Here is the finished product: 

I could have rounded the corners so it wasn't so pointy but I was dealing with enough things I didn't want to. I'm happy with it! In the future I'll remember to choose fabrics with contrasting values because the red triangles don't stand out much and they could be a lot sharper. But I'm definitely following a "learn by doing" philosophy with this. (I don't really enjoy doing a lot of research.)

I have a few more projects in mind. So far I'm liking quilting as my new hobby!