A NEWBIE QUILTER'S DREAM

Image by qusic via Flickr

I started yesterday with no plan in mind, to make a runner for my dining room table.  As a crafter it is not new to me to begin a project without thinking first about what I need.  It seems that I just form the thought and everything I need shows up.  We are all more prepared for things than we realize.  Like I said, "as a crafter."  I had a conversation last week at a church bazaar with a woman who was describing her craft space to me, it sounded like a dream, but then I realized she was much more comfortable with quilting than I was because I am fairly new to it, although when I started yesterday I found everything I neededuntil it came to putting the runner together.  I have still not put a quilt or any quilting together yet.  So I went about the internet did a search and found "Free Patterns " through a quilt site I visit.  I then went through all of my material and collected the necessary pieces to make the project. I cut it all out and was up until 3:00 a.m. last night putting the quilt top together. When I woke this morning, I took a lot of it apart and re-did it because the pattern wasn't right. It still isn't perfect but neither am I, so I continued. The next thing that happened was I realized I did not know how to add the batting or the back to it, so I searched again on the internet and found e-how.com and a series of videos on how to complete the project. The videos are by Gretchen Soares and they are very good. They gave me all the information I needed except the binding, which, when I get there tomorrow, I'm sure I'll find it on another site. You should check out Gretchen's videos if you are a newbie to quilting; and a table runner is a great beginner project. Another is a wall hanging or even placemats to start small. Check out Gretchen's videos if you need help. I have a couple of videos on cutting quilt square into triangles in the archives of this blog. I hope this helps you quilters.

The Christmas Bazaar

I worked a local Christmas Bazaar today and met so many crafters. Such an eclectic mix of women and men, with talents like collecting sports memorabilia, handmade jewlery, quilting, crocheting, knitting, grapevine wreath designs, and the woman next to me that was so resourceful she recycled everything into an article of clothing. She made a purse from a wool sweater that she accidentally shrunk. Her apron was made from a pair of jeans.  She made beautiful quilted sweatshirt jackets, quilted table runners, wall hangings.  Her work was beautiful and it was lovely to spend the day next to her and some of the other crafters.
This is a big stretch for me to go out and do this alone.  I have suffered from Agoraphobia for so long, I had stopped doing anything that took me away from home for long, but I really enjoyed today and hope to do many more.
It was funny, the woman in the picture was on my right and her name was Judy and the woman on my left was named Martha, both are the names of my two sisters, and yet...there are no coincidences.
Martha made beautiful wreaths, and small portable decorated Christmas trees.  She had adorable little pins she made of out of fake fur of Elmo"s face.  The young kids loved them.  She gave me a little tree to hang my angel ornaments on, which made the display more appealing.  I learned something form both women and thoroughly enjoyed spending the day next to them.
The picture of the apron above and the woman that makes the jackets can be reached at memerenum1@comcast.net and her business is called Fun Designs by Judy.
It was a great day and I will be happy to put what I learned to use for my next fair or bazaar.

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