My First Pieced Quilt

I did it! I accomplished a pieced quilt! I know, I know... the pieces are big. A girl's got to start somewhere. Maybe learning the intricate ways of putting together a pieced quilt is best started with large cuts of fabric. At any rate, it looks balanced... meaning the squares seem to fit together nicely and flatter each other. I was not following an actual purchased pattern, which was probably not the best way to go. I did research on line of the various types of old pattern styles and decided a log cabin variation would be a good place to start because of the colonial flags, which were cut from a fat quarter. There were six usable flags, so that dictated the number and size of the squares. I cut 1.5" strips to go around the flags a total of two times. From there I began to "play" with my remaining fabrics to come up with another design. I kept it simple with three fabrics and used a crazy quilt cutting method.

I want to talk a little about free-motion quilting... My skills stink! I feel like I've done a good job of learning how to thread sketch when I do my art quilts... But, I have got a lot of practicing to do with free-motion quilting. Leah Day at The Free-Motion Quilting Project seems to have the best blog, in my opinion, for teaching free- motion. There are videos, pictures... everything you need to know to help you improve your quilting skills.

Now, back to the quilt.... As I look at the finished quilt, I'm pleased with what I see. There is only one little thing that I would have done differently... Look at the blue border and rows... I wish I would have put that same blue strip on both sides of the center squares to form columns... Yep, I can see you agreeing with me. Darn! I didn't even think of it until I really looked at the quilt; analyzing it to write this blog. Oh well... learn something new everyday.

Keep on sewing friends