~Welcome to Quilt Sandwhich~

Hello All,

I am new to quilting and this will be my record of all things quilty and sewy.

I started to get into quilting around late February/March 2019 time when a friend came over needing help with a star-wars inspired quilt she had gotten the idea from off of Pinterest. It wasn't actually piecing it was just sewing the lines into the fabric to make it Poofy and wrinkly. She used extra thick wadding, not batting and a double duvet cover to get it into place. And then I had to shove it under my domestic machine which was cumbersome none the less. we weren't making a top, we weren't doing any math (which the best part of quilting in my opinion) we were just sticking it in my machine to quilt lines in it. My friend wanted my help because I had a sewing machine that was computerized and not mechanic like hers. It did through me back into sewing with force though and even though what we created in hindsight was terrible, I'm glad she needed my help with it.

It didn't look brilliant. I'll tell you that.

A few YouTube Videos later and I stumbled upon MidnightQuiltShow and Melanie Ham which I binge watched 100's of videos before I googled a shop near me (which is freaking awesome) to go and get some supplies. And I set about making my first quilt.

YouTubers I recommend to first get into quilting are:

Melanie Ham over at iHeartStitching.

The playlist that helped me was  This Playlist. Using a single Charm Square pack.

She goes through everything in this mini series it's a must watch if you want to make your first quilt.

Angela Walters over at Midnight Quilt Show

The first video I watched was this video. I had caught the bug from that. It suggests in this pattern that there is no "nesting" which was brilliant as I didn't want my first quilt to have loads of technicalities.

The thing I like about Angela is she is really adult about it, she calls her wine "piecing potion" she isn't that arsed about it being perfect and she genuinley has fun with it, even when you can tell she's not really that into it and she wants to get it OVER WITH. She takes the piss out of her husband and kids and her daughter who's her double is just as sassy, sarcastic and cheeky as she is. 

Wonder where she gets it hmmm?

Quilting groups, online forums and Facebook groups are amazing for inspiration. 

Pinterest can send you in a thought spiral so I tend to stay away from it to keep my design CO-HERENT. As I'll end up making something totally different to what I intended, maybe I'm not using Pinterest properly.

So far into my Quilting Journey I have made two complete quilt tops, I'm in the middle of completing my third quilt top and made the sandwich for my second which will be slightly machine quilted in the ditch and maybe hand quilted and gifted to a beautiful one year old called Isabella. She turns one in August.She is my friends first and I wanted to do something cute for her that no-one else will be doing. 

I believe the Amazon advert where the woman buys her friends baby a bunny and she sees that she has already got it so she sends it back and makes her a quilt instead with bunny ears is about me 100%. And it's tattered but the thought counts totally. Amazon has been listening to me on the phone, reading my texts and seeing I'm quilting and has just made that advert for me. 

When Isabella turns one and I'm invited to the do I can't wait for the oooohs and aaaahs over my time, effort and money. I want Isabella to have this quilt until she's my age now, 28, and remember that I made it for her because I love her mother to bits.

It's true that you quilt to gift, not to keep.