My First Year Quilting

It was a year ago I dusted of my basic Brother Sewing Machine from the garage. 

It hadn't been used for at least 3 years and was hardly used before that. 

I had learned to wind a bobbin and sew a straight line in Home-Ec class in school. 

I had even sewn a couple blanked but nothing to brag about. They weren't even quilted or tied together. And as for binding, the edges had just been folded over & sewn down. I knew nothing about quilting and binding. In fact, I had never even heard of the term "basting" before! 

I was clueless but determined to learn all there was to know about sewing and quilting. I actually had to Google what it meant to baste a quilt and even had to learn what quilting a quilt really meant.

So even though I knew how to run a sewing machine, I still felt as though I was starting from scratch when it came to quilting. So you're probably wondering why I became so interested in quilting? 

I've always been fascinated with quilts and growing up my home was always filled with quilts passed down from my grandmothers. Even my mother had made a couple quilts, but I was too young to remember. I decided to pull out my sewing machine again when I discovered the magical land of Pinterest! Which also led to falling in love with crafting blogs! A blog that inspired me and made me want  NEED to learn to sew was Maureen Cracknell Handmade. Seriously, she makes the most beautiful things! She's my sewing idol. As well as Mommy by Day Crafter by Night, Stitchery Dickory Dock, and Nana Company. I could go on and on with all the inspiration I got from these blogs as well as countless others. I knew I just HAD to learn to quilt and sew right away!

I already knew how to sew 2 squares together, I wanted to branch out from that. 

The first quilt block I ever pieced together was this Square in Square block (I believe it's also called Economy Block).

I remember the moment I finished this block I was hooked. 

And my obsession began...

50 blocks later I had a quilt top!!

And the most unfortunate thing about this is, it is still a quilt top! 

It's so sad I know! It is on my WIP list to finish this year.

The moment I finished this top, I could hardly wait to start another!

I was antsy to learn another quilt block so I started finding tutorials and trying my hand at different patterns. 

I loved learning new techniques and patterns! So much so, I have a handful of random quilt blocks lying around just waiting to become something! I was too anxious to learn another new quilt block that I never finished and turned my past blocks into something! Oh well. 

Having WIPS is part of being a quilter, right??

While I do have countless WIPS, I also have many finishes I'm quite proud of considering I hardly knew anything about sewing. 

Here are a few projects I love from the past year:

Seeing how far I've come the past year only makes me more excited thinking about how much more I will learn in 2014 and how much better my skills will become! 

I'm far from perfect, and may never be classified as "professional" but we all have to start somewhere right?!

So here's to a great new year! 

A year full of fun, new, and exciting projects!

...and crossing off wips from the list ;)