My First Quilt

     My oldest child was about six years old when I decided to make my first quilt. I pulled out the one quilting book I owned, America's Best Quilting Projects. I had purchased it from my book club a few years before.  Flipping through the pages I considered my options. I wanted it to be beautiful but not overwhelming. After all, my goal was to finish the twin size quilt and give it to my son. I decided on this simple, yet striking star pattern. 

     I had a cheap Singer sewing machine my mum had purchased on sale before I married. She passed it on to me when she realized she was never going to sew. I had, when recently married, threw the darn thing across my dinning room table when I failed to figure out the thread tension. The machine did survive the unfortunate event intact but I knew my first order of business would be to have it serviced.  Amazingly, after being serviced, thread tension was no longer an issue. Knowing that my past failure to understand my sewing machine had not been entirely my fault my confidence was boosted.

     I attacked my new project with passion. I enjoyed picking out the fabric. I puzzled over the directions. I painstakingly cut all the squares and triangles.  Then I sewed and ironed and I sewed and ironed some more. Eventually, across my living room floor lay a quilt top that resembled the picture in the book. I was beaming! I had taught my self to quilt...or had I?    
     One thing was for sure, I was hooked!  I also learned a lot from trial and error.  I'm here to share my experience with you.  My hope is that you will find a love for quilting but skip a lot of the frustration I experienced from teaching myself.