Quilting, or rather piecing

When I was looking through all the fabulous online tutorials, I found the name Amy Gibson teaching a class on Craftsy.  She instructed one of the BOM quilts, and I enjoyed her style and clear explanations so I went searching online for her.  Finding her blog, Stitchery Dickory Dock, I read this one and then this one and was especially intrigued by the Disappearing Nine-Patch tutorial.  She only explained how to make the block, but I started thinking that would be a good entry-level quilt.

So I've started with fabric in my stash.  My mother sewed and taught me to sew and sewers generally collect fabric.  I certainly have!

I cut lots of 5" squares.  Eight fabrics of 40 squares and one of 80 if I remember correctly.  I'm hoping that's enough.  Doing it my usual way, I simply plunged in without deciding how big I want the quilt to be or even how big the squares will be.  I think they are turning out to be about 14" square, but I still haven't measured.  I really like the 9-patch because it is basic, giving lots of practice cutting and sewing 1/4" seams.  At this point, I'm thinking I'm going to make a full-size quilt--big enough for a blanket or to wrap up on the couch.  I'm guessing around 27 squares???

I hate it when people leave out sizes so let me measure.  

The tape measure slid a little when I put it down so it's actually slightly over 14".  Still working on my scant 1/4" seam so it isn't quite so scanty!

I made 13 squares yesterday plus another really cute block with the same fabrics:

Since this was the first block I made, I followed the instructions on it for a 12 1/2" block so I'll have to put some sashing around it.  Jennifer Bosworth is obviously a better quilter than I am, but she has probably been at it a LOT longer too.   I remembered to use the walking foot after I finished quilting the tree so it wouldn't push the fabric in front of the foot too.

By the way, I fell in love with all the designers that contributed designs to the Quilting Gallery for the Christmas quilt-along!  There's a Tree Toppers design from Twiddletails that I want to try next.

In my Internet ramblings, I stumbled across this from Jenny at Missouri Star Quilt Company and bought the layer cake.   Craftsy carries it too.  Both websites are having 12 days of Christmas sales right now so hop on over!  I think it is gorgeous!  I'm not ready to make that quilt yet, but I will next year.  That's not so far away as it sounds, either.

Speaking of Craftsy, I highly recommend taking Gail Kessler's Piece, Patch, and Quilt class on Craftsy.  It's free, and it really helped me understand how to begin.  Amy Gibson recommended it highly too.

Warning:  Seaching the internet for quilting tutorials can be dangerous and highly addicting!

Humor:  I had to laugh when I saw that Shabby Fabrics is offering an Oops! kit for their BOM quilt.  THAT is something every BOM maker should offer!!!