My Patchwork and Quilting

My Patchwork Journey. 

 I guess you could say I am a late starter when it comes to patchwork. it is one of those things that I have wanted to learn but kept putting it off. Now finally I have taken the plunge and started. At first I read some magazines and started to teach myself. 

My first attempt.

The more I read to more confused I became, it was like learning a different language, what the heck are charm squares, fat quarters, layer cakes and jelly rolls? I had a lot to learn so I decided to take myself off to some classes. 

Charm Squares

Jelly Rolls

The next question was where I should go to learn. After ringing several patchwork shops in my local area I found one that fitted in with my work. 

My First lesson

So all enthusiastic I went off to my first class, or should I say private lesson as I was the only one there. At first I thought this was great, but after a little while I wasn’t so sure I had picked the right class. The lady teaching was lovely and had made some lovely quilts, but the classroom was just an area in the back of the shop and it was very messy. It was hard to find a clear space to put my sewing machine and start work. I keep going as she said the first project I would learn would only take a couple of lessons. 

She was right, it only took a couple of week to complete my first quilt top, it was a stack and slash pattern (more on that in a later blog). I was however I bit disappointed in her teaching as nothing was really explained properly, for example when I was doing the borders she worked out how much material I needed but didn’t explain how to work it out myself. More to come in future blogs.