Let’s say you’d like to give a quilt as a gift, but you don’t have time to crank out a pieced masterpiece. This post is for you.
Or maybe you have just finished a huge, beautiful quilt. No matter how much you love quilting, you don’t have the energy to plunge into another big project. This post is for you.
Maybe you have thought about quilting but are intimidated by the thought of all the stuff you need to try it. This post is for you.
The answer to all these situations is a “cheater.” Keep it simple; go with the flow.
First stop: Craigslist.
I check Craigslist once a week or so. A fair amount of the time, the seller no longer has the items and has just failed to take down the post or there is no interest but the seller keeps hoping.
It’s easy to give up when nothing seems to change for months. Then there’s a single post with the proverbial “mother lode” of an attic cleaning or moving sale.
Earlier this year, I came across the postings of a lady across the river in Council Bluffs. She is active in her guild and attends several workshops a year. Then she sells her projects to get money for the next round. I bought three bundles of her handiwork.
Frames and Triangles
Colorful Strip Squares
Quilter’s Puzzle Kit
I actually set out originally to get the Frames and Triangles, but I ended up working with the Strip Squares first. In fact, I liked the one above that I made it the backdrop of our site, www.ForeverQuilt.com Other strip blocks were made of reproduction fabrics, and I used 9 of those to make bedspread and pillow for the popular history dolls.
The idea in this workshop was to sew the fabric together at angles and see what happens. Some of the fabrics did not go together. Some of the colors and “mood” of the fabrics matched. In this case, I edited the stips, eliminating some while borrowing from other blocks. After putting them together, I sent a picture of the completed project to the seller. She did not recognize her own work! What it really amounted to was a fresh pair of eyes and some distance from our own preconceived notions. We can all learn that lesson. Self-binding. So easy.
The Quilter’s Puzzle was not at all what I expected. To me, the colors did not go together well enough to justify putting them together. Not that my seller did a bad job, it just didn’t suit me after all.
However, I grouped them by fabric, as you can see, and figured they would tell me what they wanted me to do with them. Not long afterward, I attended a talk by Donna Lynn Thomas from Kansas City. She had a two-tone method that intrigues me. No doubt the Quilter’s Puzzle fabrics will be dispersed to several projects over the next year.
So we come to the Frames and Triangles workshop. I love the homey, rustic vibe of these blocks. I had some Thomas Kinkaid fabric on the shelf; it and the blocks want to be in a casual setting. A family room or cabin I would say. There is not enough there for even a twin, but a large lap robe/mini comforter to curl up in will be easy to finish.
This would be a terrific jumping off place for someone wanting to try quilting. Putting sashing between completed blocks is easy to learn. So is adding a border. Hand it off to a finish quilter, like ForeverQuilt, and it’s done.
If that was enough to satisfy your curiosity, you can quit. If you have been “bitten by the bug”, you can start buying rulers, mats, and all the rest of it. You’re one of us!
Next stop: eBay.
No piecing at all. Get a great piece of fabric that makes a statement. Another great beginner project. Self-binding makes it super easy to “get ‘r done.”
Add batting and backing and quilt it together. I found this print on eBay and couldn’t resist. My son was a skateboarder in middle- and high school. So the Route 66 fabric got a skateboard quilting pattern. It looks great on their family room couch.
Skate boarding stitched in. See designs for your quilts here.
Then there is the best “no-brainer” of all: Kits.
Fun and easy. Anyone can do it.
This “Welcome New Baby” kit came from a gift exchange last Christmas. I discovered that a certain fabric was missing, but it was used only in small squares. Before heading off to try to replace it, I looked through my fabric drawers and found a terrific replacement. Instead of a dark background with a green leaf, I came across a pink polka dot on brown fabric. Right colors, right vibe. No one knows what it is replacing unless they have also made the kit, so why stress out?
Keep it easy. Make it fun. Instead of days, weeks, or months making a quilt, look for some shortcuts and make it a weekend or evening project you can enjoy right away.
Now all we need is a new little girl in the family.
ForeverQuilt 