"Run Dottie Run" - Quilt for Alex

This project was made as part of a Craftsy course:
Craftsy Block of the Month 2012 »

Materials

Cotton quilt fabrics, including "Sherbet Pips" by Aneela Hoey; Wool quilt batting, Isocord thread.

What was your inspiration?

<3 My young nephew-- I wanted to make him a quilt... something simple. I chose the Modern Frame Log Cabin block from Amy Gibson's 2012 BOM class (the May block) -- it was lots of fun to sew together.

I had seen, and hunted down the cute Aneela Hoey "Sherbert Pips" fabric.... those little running pups are the spitting image of our dog, Dottie... who adores playing with 7-yr-old Alex.

There was a tremendous amount of inspiration from the other Craftsy quilting classes, also!!

What are you most proud of?

This is the FIRST quilt I have completed, on my own, start-to-finish! There are tons of boo-boo's, but in a quilt that is for a 7-yr-old, I'm not going to worry about perfection. It turned out better than I expected. It is soft and cuddly! :)

I am LEARNING so much!!
- from Elizabeth Hartman -- a little modern quilt fun, in the border... sometimes simpler looks better.
-from Cindy Neeham -- I stitched ESS, in every single ditch!, and the borders were straight basted, and smooth!
- from Leah Day -- I learned that it is not at all difficult to bury those little thread tails in the quilt!
-from Ann Petersen -- spray basting works great! I tried the safety pins, too (in the border) and did not like trying to sew around them...
-from Wendy Butler Burns -- I learned how to line up the echo quilting going around the corners in my border... by marking a diagonal line to pivot on... so many simple and helpful ideas!!

I have gained an incredible amount of knowledge from some excellant quilters! What an awsome experience! I think I've gotten off on the right foot! Just need to work on my skills, and practice, practice, practice!

What advice would you give someone starting this project?

There are a lot of beginning quilters, here on Craftsy, and like me, some have never even used a walking foot before. Mine was in a box for months-- I think I was afraid to try it out!! Same with my free-motion foot! I watched several videos (love the Craftsy format!) and decided it was "now or never"... I had to practice every technique, stitch-in-the-ditch, and then free-motion! Follow instructions carefully that came with your quilting feet. Truly, once I got started, it was fine! and Fun! I made a large stack of practice "sandwiches" and just kept adjusting my tension and speed. Practiced starting and stopping, and pulling that bobbin thread up to the top. I actually wrote notes on the practice pieces with a fine-tipped marker, so I could have a record of stitch settings! I really learned a lot. The quilting process took MUCH longer than I expected! Be patient with yourself.