Duvet Cover Preparation

My sister recently requested a duvet cover for her spare bedroom.  So, we went to the fabric store to find some options.  She fell in love with a bright floral fabric, but the fabric was an old line that was no longer in production.  They only had 3 fat quarters of the fabric left, but we thought we could make it work.  After looking around awhile, we found some coordinating fabrics that she really liked.  We decided to do a patchwork pattern due to the limited amount of floral fabric.

As I was trying to design the layout of the duvet cover, I was very intimidated by my small supply of the floral fabric.  I was afraid that if I just started cutting, I would mess up.  So, I decided to do a lot of measuring and math (all in a day's work) in order to get the layout just right.  I made a diagram to go by that was scaled down enough to fit on paper.  (By the way, I am not usually this prepared when sewing, I just didn't want one incorrect cut to cause me to run out of the most important fabric my sister picked.)

Etsy Shop

After making some microwavable neck warmers for my sister and my father (who recently had knee surgery), I decided I would put a few similar items up for sale on Etsy.  I also created some throw pillows out of some fabric I loved.  It is very "beachy".  There is a link to my Etsy shop on the right if you would like to purchase one of the items.

Quilting for Christmas

After I finished my first "Sampler" quilt, I wanted to make a quilt for my parents to give to them at Christmas.  However, I only had about a week to complete it in time.  I worked furiously up until Christmas Eve, and I was even finishing up hand-sewing the binding just hours before we exchanged gifts.  I have since learned that I do not wish to complete a quilt this quickly again!  Quilts are more fun when you can work on them little by little without any pressure.

I used two charm packs made by Moda Fabrics in this quilt.  They are very easy to use and can help speed up a project.  They are pre-cut into 5" squares and come from similar fabric lines so they coordinate well together.  I also chose to use an inexpensive flat sheet for the backing of the quilt.

Sampler Quilt

Over the past few months, I have been getting more familiar with the sewing process.  One of the first things I wanted to learn how to make was a quilt.  Since I didn't really have any sewing experience, I decided I would take a quilting class to learn the basics.  On the first meeting, I realized that this was a class for way more than just the basics.  I was overwhelmed.  But, I stuck with it, and was soon on my way to creating my first quilt.

The quilt layout we used consisted of many different block patterns.  The instructor referred to it as a "sampler quilt".  She said that any of the individual blocks could be used to make an entire quilt, so we could get some good ideas to use in the future.  Each block became increasingly more difficult.  By the end, I was spending several hours on one block.  One of the things I learned most about sewing/quilting from the class is that the preparation process (measuring, cutting, pinning, etc.) takes up the majority of the time you spend on the project.  I easily spend over 3/4 of the time preparing quilt blocks for sewing.

Throughout the quilting process there was a lot of trial and error, but I feel pretty satisfied with my first quilt.