Times Have Changed.......

I took my first (actually, my only) quilting class back in the early 1980's.  At that time, quilting was just making a comeback and we carefully created templates out of plastic and traced our pattern out on the fabric.  In fact, I still have a baby blanket I made in the class which still needs to be finished hand quilting.  I don't know what I am going to use for the binding, since it has long been separated from the project.  And the actual double bed sized quilt for the class....never did it.  I guess since it is now about 30 years old, I really should finish up the baby quilt, you think?  An antique before it's ever finished.

I have made a handful of baby blankets out of flannel, quick and easy, since then.  And for Savvy, I made a cross stitched name for her and set it into a quilt (won 2nd place at the State Fair with it too!)  But that has basically been the extent of my quilting for the past 30 years.  I have some of the new 'tools' for quilting today which I used for other projects and have kept a semi-watchful eye on the trends.  But needlework, knitting, cosplay sewing and an old, cranky sewing machine have kept me from really delving into quilting.

Fast forward to now........

This is my fourth quilt in the past 2-3 months.  I have done a couple of baby quilts, one to give and the other for my new granddaughter-to-be.  I have Savvy a quilt top finished, just need to get the backing.  And this is a lap quilt I am making, probably for me.

I used a charm packet from Moda, called Serenade by Kate Spain. The plain cream is muslin I had in my limited stash (for quilting) that I have a ton of.  The  pattern is the Disappearing Four Patch and I used the YouTube video by Missouri Star Quilt Company.  (As it turns out, my center, small square I didn't rotate correctly, but it works for me.)

So this is my finished top.  I have used a huge piece of flannel for a log cabin quilt I made years ago (and still haven't finished....the sewing on it is terrible) to make a planning board.  Actually, since I am now an empty nester, the flannel is on my wall beside my front door and I can see it from my desk.  It seems to work really well there as I can look over at it and decide whether or not I like the placement of the squares before sewing the blocks together.

My plan is to do a small and wide border, probably in one of the oranges and one in the blue.  My backing will probably be one of the blues too.

But the things that have changed over the past 30 years!

1.  Fabrics are being made just for quilting.  Charm packs, layer cakes, jelly rolls, entire collections coordinated together.  You don't have to go to the fabric store and hunt for fabric any longer!

2.  Rotary cutters, rulers and mats, oh, my!

3.  Instructional videos online at your finger tips.

4.  TONS of patterns for quick and easy and beautiful quilts.

5.  Machine quilting....almost unheard on in 'my day'....and probably my first quilting class I want to take.

So now, not only have I got 2 new quilts to finish up, but in the process of all of this delving back into sewing, I unearthed another flannel quilting project from several years ago.  And enough squares for at least 2 good sized lap quilts for the girls (or me).

Let the quilting begin (before school starts and I have to set it aside again).