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Sew into Quilting

Well, that didn't take long. I started working at MSQC last December, and I've already completed my very first quilt project, a quilt-as-you-go hexagon tree skirt! 


While I was waiting for more border/backing fabric for my quarantine quilt (which is also a quilt-as-you-go hexagon project), I decided to use all of the fabrics left over from making holiday masks last year by pairing them with a bright red solid fabric for the backing/border to make the hexagon tree skirt from BLOCK magazine (volume 7, issue 3 2020 for anyone who's interested). BLOCK is a Missouri Star publication, and when I started they gave me a few issues to page through to get a sense of what they were like. Right away, the tree skirt project jumped out to me, but I was hesitant to give it a try since I've never quilted anything, and my sewing skills are limited. 

With the help of the tutorial video below, I started sewing hexies with leftover fabric and precut hexagon batting...which ended up being really addictive! 

I decided to machine sew all of the hexies for the tree skirt using a zigzag stitch, but I think I will do a combination of machine sewing and hand sewing for the quarantine quilt. It's very easy to sew  all of the hexies into strips, but once you start attaching 1 set of strips to another, things get pretty dicey if you're using a regular sewing machine. 

So for a first-time quilting project, I am quite pleased with the results, and I can't wait to put it under our tree this holiday season!

As for the quarantine quilt, the rest of the backing fabrics arrived (I ordered more of the same dark grey color, plus a few yards of black and light grey) and I've been sewing more hexies. Still not sure how big this quilt will become - it might be nice to have a good sharing-sized lap quilt for the couch, but then again, something for the bed would also be useful.

 I do have the itch to make a regular-style quilt (i.e. not a quilt-as-you-go project), but I figured I should walk before I run, so I decided to try making a patchwork pillow first. If you look closely, you'll probably notice that some of the squares don't perfectly line up BUT again, I think it's pretty good for a newbie. I mixed precut 5x5 fabric squares (they're called charm packs in the quilt world) with squares of the same size which I cut myself from all of the new Mandalorian fabrics that just came out. 

What's cool about this project is you just sew one giant square...

...and then fold all the points in towards the center of one side to make the pattern on the bias. Such a neat trick!

It's magic! Here's a link to the pattern I used. I can't wait to share more sewing and quilting projects with you!

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