Mastering quilting starts with learning the basics. And with perfecting the execution of those basics. Is it difficult to do? No, but it does take practice.

Basic techniques are available everywhere, YouTube, Online Quilting Classes Membership, various blogs, pay per class sites, your neighborhood quilt shop. Karen McTavish tells of coming back from the library with lots of books about quilting techniques. There are videos, books and personal instruction readily available.

Then you have to grab some fabric and start cutting and sewing. Well, maybe not yet. The real first thing to do is to learn about your particular machine. Again, there are lots of resources available to get you started. Go online to the manufacturer. There are probably videos there that will walk you through the various processes involved in running your machine.

Then you have to grab some fabric and start cutting and sewing. And a pattern, grab a pattern. Again, there is no shortage of free, or purchasable patterns available. Look in the same places that you used to find the instructions. In fact, the instructions were probably related to a pattern.

Taking classes at the local quilt shop is my favorite way to learn quilting. I like the face to face interaction and I love sharing tricks. Some of those tricks are obvious and some are more subtle, but quilters love to help. Chains of pieced blocks are an obvious trick, but you would be amazed at the number of ways people make bunches of half square triangles. There are flying geese tricks, some of which involve fancy rulers, and some are just about technique. There are tricks about matching points and how pressing can change the look of your quilt top. Many techniques can be learned online, and from books, but, if you can get into a real class, do it.

Learn and practice basic block patterns. Once you have mastered one block, try a new one. The building blocks for quilt tops are many and varied. And some of the blocks are used over and over again in other, more complicated quilt block designs. Some of the more popular include:

Half Square Triangles

Half Square Triangle Quilt Block

Rail Fence

Rail Fence Quilt Block

Flying Geese

Flying Geese Quilt Block

Pinwheel

Pinwheel Quilt Block

4 Patch

4 Patch Quilt Block

9 Patch

9 Patch Quilt Block

Square in Square

Square in Square Quilt Block

There are many, many more, but we did say that we were starting with the basics.

So…You get a couple (or more) quilt blocks securely in your repertoire and you start thinking about a big, designed it yourself quilt. Let’s talk a bit about color theory. They make it so easy for you. Quilt fabric manufacturers design whole lines of fabrics that all “go together” perfectly. You can start there, but it is only a start.

Don’t let yourself be confined to just their ideas of coordinating fabric. Stretch out, this is your own design, after all. Pick a color that doesn’t dominate in the main, focal fabric. Let it be a color that shows up often in small amounts. Then search the store for a fabric with that same color and a subtle pattern. You don’t want to take away from the main fabric, but you can supplement it. It does all depend on your overall pattern, but different fabrics, different fabric makers, different themes can all be combined into fabulous results.

Now really start sewing! Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Let me assure you that you WILL make plenty of them. And the best news is that these errors will not have any serious consequences at all. It the biggest mistake in your life is that you mess up $50 worth of fabric, you haven’t made enough.

You can always rip out what you didn’t do correctly, and you should, to a point. You should be proud of the product you create. However, I don’t want you to overdo perfectionism. A lot of what you think is catastrophic is not and will never be noticed. Sometimes mistakes are even improvements in the design.

These are the quick steps leading you to strike out in your own direction. Be creative. Draw outside the lines. And let your mistakes become creative expressions. These are your creations; make them express your thoughts, your ideas.

Let us go back to the beginning. What is the intended purpose of your stunning new creation?

I am going to make a baby quilt for a friend’s new grandbaby and I want to make a companion Grandma lap quilt for her.

I want the quilt for the baby boy to have a feel generally in keeping with the nursery theme that new mother choose to register for. It is wonderful that we all get to spy on the tastes and preferences by secretly checking out registries. I do that for wedding gifts and baby gifts that I make.

However, I don’t think that my friend, the new grandma, wants blue elephants. So, I will use some of the same fabrics in a different pattern to create a special remembrance just for her.

That means I need to choose quilt patterns that will work with roughly the same number of fabrics and that will be appropriate for a new baby and a new grandma. These don’t have to be the same patterns. I just want them to be similar enough to be thought of as a special set.

Blues and grays – zoo animals for the baby – soft geometrics for the adult

That is the start. Lets see how this progresses!

There is no better way to learn a skill than to jump right in and start practicing it. Sewing is no different.

Here are some of the steps, which you should be doing right now:

— Choosing designs

Everyone starts a quilt with thinking about the purpose. Is it for a baby shower, a wedding gift, a child’s bed?

That purpose determines the pattern. There are patterns that are more masculine, more contemporary, more juvenile, etc. Knowing what you are doing for whom will help in the pattern selection.

Other considerations involve the difficulty of the pattern, although quilt top piecing is exactly that – piecing small part together to eventually have a large quilt. You would be surprised at how easy it is to create a quilt that appears to be extremely complicated. Stretch yourself and don’t be intimidated. There are many who are willing to encourage and tutor you along the way.

— Choosing fabrics

And the fabric – Oh the fabric!!!

Just pick a theme and you can probably find fabric to match. Or let the fabric talk to you. I let the material that is yelling loudest to be molded into a creation take center stage.

I was recently trying to match a new mother’s layette pattern for a baby quilt. Almost as soon as I entered the fabric store I saw material that seemed to have been taken directly from the bedding manufacturer. I then tried it again with another baby quilt I had to make and the match wasn’t there, but the colors were. I could take them and embellish a more plain piece with embroidery and applique.

There are so many colors and themes and textures and options!!!

WARNING! – This will definitely result in your becoming a fabric hoarder so be prepared with storage options.

— Learning sewing skills

Learning sewing skills is a no-brainer. You have probably already guessed that you basically need to learn sewing skills. But that is so simple to do. There are videos and personal instruction and friends and family and all sorts of resources available to anyone with an interest. And if, in practicing, things don’t work out the first time or two, dog shelters all around the country love donations of bad quilting. The puppies don’t mind if the points don’t match up.

Practicing is the key. The more you try, the better you become. I spoke once to an international superstar in the quilting world who told me that whenever anyone jealously says to her that it is just because she is so talented, she responds that they would be that talented as well if they put in as much time practicing as she did.

For easy to understand instructions go to http://www.onlinequiltingclasses.com and join the free membership for ideas.

The art of quilting is making a comeback. Instead of being something that “my grandma used to do” it is becoming a mainstay in the modern and contemporary art world.

It, of course has always been a necessity in the world of baby cribs and cold winter nights. So, are you up for a challenge?

Do you like working with your hands?

Do you want to offer your children and grandchildren something they can cherish that can outlast you?

Do you love colors and textures?

A yes answer to these questions means that you have the right mindset and that means that you are 75% of the way there. Now on to the nuts and bolts (and bolts and bolts and bolts – of fabric!)

There are tools that you will need. A friend of mine is in to the sewing everything by hand movement that is sweeping the country. If that is your choice, all you need is a needle, thread, fabric and scissors. I am more incline towards the machine version of quilting.

A good, reliable sewing machine is your first priority. There are lots of machines to be had. The general rule of thumb is that you get the best sewing machine that you can afford. That can mean spending $10 to $10,000 on your equipment. If you are truly starting from scratch, I would look at used machines. There are garage sales, estate sales, eBay, sewing forums and groups, local quilt shops, etc.

I can’t stress enough how a good, reliable, well functioning sewing machine will do more than any other single factor to ensure your enjoyment of quilting. Machine frustration is avoidable. All it takes is getting the best. That piece of equipment may be used or new, but get the best you can!

I have the privilege of knowing some really special people and 65 of them are so special that I feel compelled to create something stupendous for them for Christmas. This takes a lot of planning and scheduling.

This year I started in September. I made my list, checked it twice and then determined the gift that I was going to make. I looked at the tasks I needed to complete in order to get all 65 presents done in plenty of time for Christmas.

– Choose the fabric
– Buy the fabric
– Cut the fabric
– Sew the blocks
– Assemble the tops
– Quilt them
– Bind them

Easy enough —– Right?
Of course I procrastinated, not by choice and now it is the end of November and I have 64 quilts to complete. Hurray, I got one completely done. Now I have to adjust my schedule.

Next year I will start sooner and I will schedule for planned procrastination and saving the occupants of my world so that I will breeze into December knowing that I can just relax and enjoy the holidays.

This year was going to be different!!! I would not be finishing up Christmas sewing projects Christmas morning. I would be finished by the end of November. I had a plan. I had a calendar and it had a bunch of days on it until Christmas.

Christmas sewing begins with the ideas, but the physical part starts with a list of recipients. There are generally around 64 of them. These include mothers, sisters and brothers and their children and even grandchildren. The list includes my childrens’ parents-in-laws and neighbors and a few good friends. All in all, it is for too many people, but I can’t help myself.

I figure that if they are just “homemade” things, it doesn’t count as too much. So I make the gifts. I make sure that whatever I am making can be made in bulk but that each gift is individualized to the recipient’s interests. Then I make a schedule in my Christmas book and hopefully I will be able to achieve my goals and my loved ones will have a gift they can cherish forever.

Like every year before, I have been tasked with so many things to do, aside from my Christmas sewing, that I am once again overwhelmed. Wouldn’t life be grand if people would leave us alone to do the thing we love most, SEWING?

For our Christmas sewing challenge, all you need to do is go to

www.onlinequiltingclasses.com/membership

and sign up for your free membership.

If you are already a member, simply log in.

Write in your page, a blurb with your end of the year sewing goals and the major milestones with dates

Then let us all know how you progress is coming along. If you are being challenged, let us know. Maybe someone can solve a seng issue you are having. Maybe you just need some encouragement, or maybe you need to readjust your goals. It’s all good.

This challenge is meant to develop a safe place to work together to accomplish wonderful things. As a supportive community’s, we can achieve much. Sometimes, though, we need a little motivation, problem solving or a good kick in the butt. I would love for all of that to happen for my Christmas goals.

It would be wonderful to see lots of photos of all of our projects. There will be designs that might spark new ideas. So post photos of everything in all of its various stages.

The membership part of Online Quilting Classes is offering a Christmas Sewing Projects Challenge. 



It will consist of 

1. Committing in writing to our Christmas sewing goals

2. Setting out a plan and calendaring our milestones

3. Tracking our progress 

4. Reporting on our progress

5. Supporting and cheerleading the others



What are the rules?

1. No self-flagellation

2. Make preparing for the season fun

3. Encourage others



If you are not doing any Christmas sewing, join in with your UFOs or quilt obligations that have gone unmet for way too long.

 Here is the calendar for the months leading up to December 25th.



100 Days until Christmas!!!

We are starting out 2014 Christmas Sewing challenge. Join us as we get more done, get it done on time and have fun supporting each other in our quest.

If you aren’t a member of Online Quilting Classes, join for free and get started.

Click Here To Come Sew With Us!

Instructions for members for playing the game:

1. Go to My Page in the Navigation bar in our Ning community

To start the Christmas SewingChallenge

2. Create Blog Post
Include the following:
Here is my goal:
Here are the steps needed to accomplish my goal:
What I need to succeed:
Share a picture of where you are at now – perhap your fabric? Your squares? Your empty hands?

3. Publish your post.

4. THEN – review 3-5 other members Christmas Challenge Goals and comment.

5. THEN – check back in weekly or as often as you would like to post updates, share your successes, and cheer each other on!

We LOVE seeing photos and short videos of your project!