I'm Not Really Sure What's Going On Here

I have decided to start blogging (AGAIN) haha. So, I log in, make sure I haven't missed any good posts from one of my besties and check my usually non-existent stats. I had TWENTY-TWO page views this Sunday. What?? Every day before and after was a big fat 0. Not to mention that 21 of the 22 were from Germany. I'm really at a loss. Danke für den Besuch?

In other news. I attended a family reunion at which I knew no family. This is a strange phenomenon that may occur when one does not generally conversate with certain biological contributors to one's existence. Ok, so basically, I decided that just because my biological father and I do not tend to be in touch doesn't meant that I shouldn't get to know the rest of the family! For some reason, I was intrigued, and wanted to investigate. I'm so glad that I did! 

But, before I tell you all about that, let me side-track you with a little tutorial! You see, the family reunion has this system of paying for itself that involves a family auction of family heirlooms or handmade items. The family bids and purchases everything and the money goes towards the food/location for the next reunion. I decided not to be lame and to participate! 

Ella and I chose to sew a quilt together.

I recently learned a so very quick method of quilt-top making: the strip quilt. I cut up a bunch of table runners that my mom made for my wedding (don't worry - plenty more where those came from for a keepsake quilt for myself! What else can I do with 30 table runners??). Cutting with a board and rotary cutter is so. fast. If you can justify it, it's worth the money! Cut the strips to varying lengths, ranging from about 7" to 24" and anything in between. The more variety, the prettier I believe your quilt will turn out!

There isn't much science in how much to cut. The more you cut, the bigger your quilt. Duh? Ok, I used close to 1/3 yard of 4 different patterns. Once you're done cutting, head on over to the sewing machine with that strip pile!

Here's the part that I failed to get a good picture of: you will start with 2 strips, right sides together. Sew the ends together on one side with a 1/4" allowance. This is the cool part!! Stop at your last stitch. Don't cut the thread! Don't do anything! Take the end of the top strip (of the piece you just sewed) and hold up a new strip, right sides together (always!) and move them under the sewing machine. Continue sewing these strips' ends together. Continue until your entire strip pile is gone gone gone. It will feel like you have been doing it forever. Then you will pull it across your floor and it will look like this:

And you will say, "how is this a quilt??"

Here is where you bust out that iron and iron all the hems in the same direction. Just pick one. :) Now comes fun! Stretch out your string of pretty little fabrics and hold both ends in your hand. Marry up those right sides of your strips and begin to sew the LENGTH together (to make your long strip twice as wide). As always, use a 1/4" allowance.

It will start to feel like you've been going on for days, and you will be telling yourself, "don't look back... don't look back... ok surely I'm almost to the end!" and you look back to see you have a long way to go. The good news is that, in reality, this "forever" lasted about 5 minutes.

Yup, not even close to the end yet.

 Rinse, repeat. Literally. When you have successfully made your strip twice as wide - and half as long - you will get to the very end and cut it with some handy scissors. It's ok if you had a twist at the very end. It will go away when you cut it. The important thing is that all right sides of the fabrics were always facing each other while you were sewing.

Now, it's time to lay out your long strip as before, picking up the 2 ends and facing the pretty sides together. Repeat sewing the length together. Every time you do this takes half as long, yay!

Pretty belongs with pretty. Face these babies together and sew!

This is what you will get after your second length is sewn.

The Cutting of the End.

After the 3rd pass - starting to look more like a quilt!!

This quilt took 4 passes before it was an acceptable shape/size.

 The cool thing about this kind of quilt is that you never really know what shape/size you end up with. It's a great design for making use of scraps (or wedding fabric). Mine ended up close to a 52" x 52" square. The last one I made was a rectangle. Go figure.

Now iron your hems in whatever way is your favorite. As long as the wrinkles are out and this thing lies flat!

Ella and I got some cream colored muslin for the back of the quilt. Tape the 4 corners to a clean floor to make sure the fabric is taught. If you are using a pattern, make sure the pretty side is face down on the floor. Lay your batting flat on the muslin. Lastly, lay your quilt top over the batting. Take some pins and pin all 3 layers together. You can cut rough edges around the quilt, but you'll make it pretty later. Leave a little extra space. Your layer may move a little while quilting.

Put your free motion quilting foot on the sewing machine and drop your feed dogs to make some swirly loops and squiggles! I used a plain cream thread, but this design is gorgeous with a variegated thread.

Aaaaaand this is where I cheated. 

I am by no means a real quilting pro. Heck, I've only made 3 and I've never kept any. Nor am I keeping this one. Or the next one I plan to make. One of these days I will keep one!!

I do cheat. I did not make my own binding out of fabric (because how tedious does that sound?). I also did not hand-sew it on. And y'all, it saved me hours. So just buy the bias tape at Wal-Mart, HobLob, whatever your fancy, and sew it on.

Word to the wise, though. Put your sewing foot back on the machine AND raise the feed dogs. Unless you want to whine about why your stitches look insanely small and ridiculous and the machine is not pulling your quilt through. Not that I did that or anything. ;)

Get creative with folding in at the corners. Whatever makes it pretty!

Mama says to tag every piece you make! I start now!

My sewing machine has a character stitch. Less like embroidery, it really is just a stitch on the machine. My initials are apparently 8, backwards 3, H. I found the tag tutorial here.

The keepsake quilt was a big hit. It went home with my "new" 8 y/o cousin. I'm told she slept under it all the way home from South Carolina to Maryland. 

I realize my tutorial has a lot of holes, and may or may not be follow-able. The more I post them, the better I might get one day! ha!