In late January, I started teaching myself to sew. Following the traditions of my grandma, a noted quilter, and my mom, who sewed like many moms of the 60s, it’s something I’ve wanted to do for at least 20 years.
I say 20 years, because that’s when we bought the machine shown below. A nice Bernina 153QE that we basically never used. The good news is that it was kept clean and survived the move to Kansas so well that it just simply works, no adjustments needed!
As part of learning both the basics of sewing and the details of this fairly advanced machine, I programmed the 30 character memory with a short message: “I heart Jerry.”
Next, I moved on to hot pads. I’m using two that I made and have given two away. These early, learning projects look rough, but are effective.
Having made a few hot pads, as well as a few catnip stuffed cat toys, I decided to make a simple quilt. You can buy charm packs, 42 5″ squares, and assemble them in a pleasing order to make a small quilt top.
But first I thought I should practice my basic sewing skills. So I pieced together various pieces of scrap fabric I had lying about. I did this 3 times before attempting a charm quilt; the first is shown below.
Finally, it was time to stitch together my charm pack. It’s got a spring-like feel to it, and while not perfect, it served as a great training vehicle.
And then my attention turned to creating quilt blocks from smaller pieces. Subject of a different post, I started using the Accuquilt fabric cutting system and so far have created 3 blocks, with a few more in progress. The first is a basic quilt block, and the 2nd is one called Wonky Heart.
My third quilt block. The blue over yellow purposely recalls the Ukraine flag.
