The Long Awaited: Part Two – It Begins

The first cuts have been made.

Sometimes I wish I would pick hobbies that I could do away from home. Like knitting. Knitters know whats up. Waiting in a doctor’s office? Knit. Long car ride? Knit. Sitting on a cruise ship relaxing? Knit. You can’t do this with quilting.

I’ve spent the majority of the past week on a cruise ship, thanks to the amazing generosity of my boyfriend’s parents who booked us on the family cruise to the Bahamas this year. I’ll be honest, the first day and a half were ROUGH for me, but the remainder of the trip seriously made up for it. I mean, look.

But now I’m back and my vow to have all my pieces cut by the end of March has failed. But, I have at least gotten a little practice in and have made my first cuts! So there is progress happening. And as promised, I’m revealing the feed sacks I’m using for the quilt! But you have to keep reading to get to that.

First, I want to show what I’ve learned from the internet. A few months ago I posted a picture of a test block I had started to get a feel for the process and for the look of the block. At the time, my thoughts on it were that I was going to need a good seam ripper, because, oooph… it was rough looking. If you need a refresher, this was my original test block:

But then I happened across this nice little tutorial on Pinterest, which to be honest has been my greatest resource for quilting instructions, tutorials, tips and patterns. I was scared making the quilting jump without my mother for endless answers but it would have been impossible without her if I didn’t have an internet connection. Anyway, this post had PERFECT seams. And you saw that test block above. Yikes!

So needless to say, I referenced the tips in Michele’s blog post and put them to the test and look at this beautiful second test block I made last week!

I ironed. I pinned. I ironed and pinned some more. The beauty! The precision!

…I’m getting carried away. But I’m tickled with how well it’s lined up. So lesson learned is being a lazy quilter will not work with this quilt. Pins required. (Virtual and physical)

So with my second block looking so good, I’m feeling more ready to tackle this quilt and really make it the best quilt to date. I’ve just got to get booking to make my deadline!

Oh! One more thing! I had promised a sneak peak at my fabric, so without further adieu:

To be honest, the blue ruffle print is mostly blue polka dots and that’s what will mostly be used in the blocks, but I’m determined to use the little bit of ruffle print some how, because the color is so vibrant and the pattern is so adorable. I just want to make sure its used in a way that does it justice.

So the first cuts of many have been made, and soon the first stitches will follow, and there will be updates to document these as they come! I’ll be trying to to get as much done before the blueberry harvest takes over my life for two months as possible. So check back regularly!