{My Goddaughter's Quilt} ~ making ends meet

The last post on my goddaughter's quilt,

I had sewing the first two rows for the first two sections.

But the one row in particular was 

off centre ~ some would say 

not on point.

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So what to do?

I asked my quilting instructor.

Basically I needed to stretch the fabric to be 

in line with each other on the seam

and pin it together (pin like crazy as it were)

when it is all lined up.

Then I had my first experience with my machine

doing something wrong ~ 

it kept bunching up and the fabric was going under the metal plate,

by the metal 'feed dogs' that are under the presser foot.

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(The presser foot is that 'thing' that the needle goes through

and that is clamped down on top of the fabric to keep

it from moving;

feed dogs are the sharp things directly under the 

presser foot on the metal plate

that help move the fabric)...

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I called my Quilting Friend for help! 

She had me to

do three simple things:

1. turn the machine off and back on

2. re-thread the bobbin

3. re-thread the needle

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She quickly explained that a lot of problems can be solved by 

doing these three things. :)

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It worked perfectly again after that ~ both the needle and bobbin

needed that re-threading, I could tell once I looked at them!

I was having a hard time getting the seam

above matched up correctly;

one of my friends was over for dinner

and she told me a trick she learned from her Aunt:

sew a bit of thread in the centre of the seam

to keep it there so that it does 

not move when sewing it...

(as you can see I had it pinned already, which

is usually all it needs)

this little trick did the job! 

Three green thread above shows you where I did this;

I hand sewed this loosely so afterwards

I could just pull out the thread.

Now these two sections are perfectly matched up!

{My Goddaughter's Quilt} ~ Sewing the first rows

So. 

I have a quilting class I go to now,

twice a week for two morning hours.

Apparently, quilting guilds lead to many good things.

Two rows to be sewn into two sections.

Two sections, one of 5 squares, one of 6,

so that it is not so long when I am sewing the two

rows together.

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It will be 5 rows of 5 squares

5 rows of 6 squares

Three times to make 

15 rows of 11 squares total.

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When the 6 sections of 5 rows each are done,

then they will be sewn into two sections,

the top section first sewn to the middle,

then the bottom to the middle 

and done again for the other side, 

remembering that there are three sections of 5 rows of 5 blocks/squares

and three sections of 5 rows of 6 blocks/squares.

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Then the two sections of 11 rows of 5 blocks

and 11 rows of 6 blocks

will be sewn together to make

the finished quilt top.

 I labeled what row is the inside row so that

I can easily remember what side to join the next row etc

This is the first two rows, 

in the back is the one of 5 blocks,

the one in front is 6 blocks.

You may see that the block nearest to you in this picture,

the one with the white print with butterflies and red block,

is not centered properly.

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I has been fixed but that will be for another blog post!

I was so excited to do the first ever sewing of two rows

into the two sections to make this quilt top

for my darling goddaughter! 

{My Goddaughter's Quilt} ~ putting the squares in place!

I blogged recently

about preparing all the squares for my 

goddaughter's quilt.

The other day, 

with the help of a white sheet,

I arranged all the squares,

at first using the pattern's map,

and then, when I felt I got the feel of how it is done,

did the rest of the colour map of this quilt

on my own.

This is about the final version;

I had not liked the two white flower squares next to each

other on the end on the right side of the quilt. 

Then I put each row into it's own pile

and pinned each row with a quilting safety pin

and label with what row # it is and

that the right side of the row is on the bottom

of the row, i.e. the top of the row begins

the very left side of the quilt top.

I have some great containers that I store these squares in!

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I have recently found a quilting class that meets twice a week

and am slowly making progress on my

goddaughter's quilt! 

I hope to show you this in the next week or so!

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Are you learning a new skill, making anything or having 

fun being creative?

 I would love to hear!