My First (mini) Quilt

This spring when I started sewing again, I was a bit obsessed. I wanted to sew everyone presents - I would wake up at 7am on a Saturday and want to sew right away - it was a bit over the top really but is how I get when I am excited about my crafts. At the same time this was happening, my mom was doing some major cleaning/sorting of items that had been in the basement since we moved into that house in 1996. Knowing how excited I was about my crafts, she generously gave me a big container full of fabric she'd had since I was a small child (or before I was born!). In the container I found a package of 48 fabric squares in awesome green/yellow/orange - the price tag said $1.99 on the package. My mom says she remembers buying it in about 1975 at Woolworths! I was inspired to use these pre-cut squares and try out my first (mini) quilt! So here is how it went:

I forgot to take a photo of just the squares but first I sewed them together and made them all into triangles. I did this a bit impulsively and didn't really know the pattern would work out so well but once I started to place them I was pleased with the pattern I had unintentionally invented.

Once I had the squares sewn together I put the rows together.

Then assembled the whole thing. The top was done!

I purchased the fabric for the back and luckily since the quilt was so small, I was able to tape the backing fabric to our coffee table so it would be pulled tightly. I lay the batting down, then the top - and pinned it all together. I was worried about it bunching and so I used tons of safety pins.

I used a machine to quilt it all together, and I followed a bit of a starburst pattern from the middle of the quilt out to the edges. None of these photos captures that part particularly well but it was just straight lines.

 Lastly I had to figure out the edging - I bought green bias tape as I have never made it before and learned how easy this was to use. I used a machine to sew it onto the front, and then did the back by hand.

Ta-da! It's complete. I have no idea what I'll do with this little quilt but I can't bring myself to give it away. I am too proud of teaching myself to do this and want to keep it so I'll always remember my first quilt.