Quiltingboard Forums - Hello from Louisiana,

Most of my sewing time is devoted to sewing clothes for myself and my daughter. She has a hard time finding professional clothes that fit because she is so petite. I would rather start from scratch than take apart a tailored jacket! But, I have to say that the artistic side of me keeps getting pulled into quilts. I have quite a collection of sketches.

Two years ago the hand quilted double wedding ring quilt that my parents commissioned for me finally began to wear out. Thirty years ago, I had asked the quilter to incorporate several pieces of Liberty of London prints that I had found while I was taking a college course over there. Guess what wore out first from years of washings? --- those expensive bits of Liberty fabrics!

So, I scurried around collecting quilting books, fabrics, and a few supplies that I didn't have. A split nine patch pattern from a book, American Beauty, called out to me. Collecting the "light" fabrics was the most difficult. The reds and blues weren't so hard. I thought I was fast in cutting and sewing ~1000 pieces, but I am amazed at how fast many experienced quilters work. Of course, I made a mistake with ironing the seams the wrong way when I failed to account for rotating the blocks when I joined them. So I had to spend some RIPPIT time.

A local long arm quilter finished quilting just in time for my old quilt, which couldn't stand up to another washing, to be put away. I was supposed to bind it myself, so I serged it "temporarily" so I could grab some time here and there to hand sew. I'm still sleeping under a beautiful quilt with serged edges!

I have an old Bernina 830 and would like to try my hand at machine quilting when I can "earn" some quilting time. I used my last vacation from dressmaking to piece and applique 24 Dresden Plates and scrappy borders from Depression prints. In January, my plans are to use Marni Mitchell's quilting in sections methods to make my queen sized quilt top more managable.

Elizabeth