This quilting addiction started in July 2014 when my husband asked if I would like to go with him on one of his flying events – they would be camping in a field. The only facility would be a portaloo!
At first this did not seem very appealing and I thought I needed to take something to occupy me for a (very) long weekend with no electricity available, in the middle of nowhere in a field full of men. I have always sewed as I am of the generation where it was taught at school and my mother used to make all our clothes (I still have nightmares about those crimpalene dresses) and I had an old hand crank machine. So I thought I could do some sewing – but what could I make? I happened to see on you-tube a video on a jelly roll race quilt so off I trotted to the local quilt shop and bought some material. I then had to buy a cutting mat, rotary cutter, ruler – this was starting to get expensive….little did I know where it would lead.
So off we went to his flying event and I sat outside the tent, in the sunshine, joining never ending strips of material together, then cutting them in half, and joining them together, then cutting in half – I am sure that you get the picture. Eventually I had a piece long enough to cover 2 beds but not quite wide enough to cover 1. Still you live and learn on getting sizing correct, and my first quilt was made, and I was hooked. If only I had known then how much this quilting hobby would cost me.
I then used my domestic machine to make tops and then quilt them (Leah Day has some very good videos) and then I had heard whispers about quilting with mention of machines I had never heard of and I thought “long arm” was someone who had mystical long arms that could quilt magnificently. That was until I saw one at one of the shows. I love choosing patterns and colours and quilting – joining the bits together is the boring part for me so it seemed obvious to me that I needed a long arm quilting machine. It took a long time to decide, and save up for the one I wanted, and luckily for me all the children have moved out and I can put sewing stuff in what were their bedrooms as a long arm machine takes up a lot of space.
Since getting the machine last summer I have quilted 20+ quilts for Maggie Lloyd-Jones and her charity “Quilts for Care Leavers” together with quilts of my own. The latest one in progress is the Labyrinth Quilt done with rulers and free machine quilting:
I still sew in a field at his flying events but my husband has wired up a solar panel and inverter so I can now use an electric sewing machine. I now just have to work out how to make an iron work without blowing the inverter – maybe next year!
Great blog Andrea
This quilting thing sneaks up on you before you know it! Love your Labyrinth Quilt. Thank so much for all your volunteer work for “Quilts for Care Leavers”