I started quilting about a year ago. I'd tried my hand at it several years back but it just didn't stick. Sometimes you have to start and quit and start again before something takes hold. I'm happy to say that quilting took hold this time around.
My first quilts were a few versions of the Charm Squares Baby Quilt from Oh, Fransson! They were quick and satisfying to piece and quilt. Plus they were small enough to allow me to quilt with my home sewing machine.
Pre-cuts and straight lines are fun. They're quick to pull together and they give you a sense of accomplishment. On the other hand, once they become quick to pull together, I sort of wanted to move on to something a little more intricate.
I picked up a little quilt block template book at a local church bazaar for $.25, Templates for 171 Four-Patch Quilt Blocks. I thought, "That should keep me busy!" I didn't even have to open the booklet and immediately started to duplicate the Constellation block on the front cover (thank you, half-square triangles!) Most of my creativity hits me in bursts and I rummaged through a bag of scraps where I knew I'd dumped a bunch of 5" squares I cut out of some cheap fat quarters awhile back and just got to playing around. The block is sewn in four patches (the lower right patch is four HSTs sewn together.)
You can see that I had a little trouble matching up the seams and points and I'll probably pick out the stitches and sew it again. I love the way it will look, though. This is a test run before I cut and piece the same block from a less traditional fabric.
Speaking of non-traditional, I'm hoping to attend my first meeting of the Austin Modern Quilt Guild in September. Not one to want to come empty hand, I found some fabric in my scrap bag to finish two versions of the guild's block of the month, the Texas Puzzle. I'm quite pleased with them!
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