Tinkerpro: First Quilt

It has been a lot of years since I sewed anything.  I even pay to have my pants hemmed because I just can't be bothered.  I learned to sew when I was young, did quite well. My mom taught me when I was about 7, I was in 4-H and won a few ribbons, made a lot of my clothes though my early 20s.   Then made the kids clothes, pretty dresses for TinkerDaughter, Halloween costumes, and stuff.   Then it wasn't fund anymore.   Life got in the way, and I found that when I sat at the machine for very long, I got a knot in my neck that took days to release.   So I put the machines away, donated the fabric after a few years, and though I was done.

Right.    TinkerDaughter is going to produce our first TinkerGrandbaby this summer, and she needs maternity clothes.   Mostly scrubs which apparently they DON'T make as maternity wear, they just suggest you buy a larger size.   Well, that is just great.    I couldn't find any scrub patterns either, so just bought the largest one they had, and we have modified it to suit our needs.    Well, we got some xxxlg tops and pants from a friend who went through this last summer, and this weekend will be the weekend to alter the pants and finish the scrubs.

While at the fabric store, TinkerDaughter got a little carried away with baby related material.   I'll admit the fleece she saw that she said would make a great blanket was cute, and I could bind it easily enough, she said no, the other side needed to be a quilt, and then she went around picking out fabric she liked that would go with the fleece.    I didn't have the heart to tell her I'm not a quilter and I haven't used the sewing machine in about 20 years, I merely said of course I can do that!

Then I dug the machines (regular and serger) out of the storage trunk and took them to the repair shop for some TLC.    The shop was a little skeptical since they had sat for so long, but I told them to give it a shot.  $300 later they are working just fine, and while the embroidery machine is certainly old and I could get a fancier one, they actually said the serger was a great workhorse serger that should serve me well.   So will be continuing to use he Viking I spent so much money on when it first came out and my serger with joy.

I thought since I can knit, embroider, needlepoint and even have dabbled in bobbin lace, surely I could make a simple patchwork quilt. I took my time, thought about if for a few days, had to go replace a lot of sewing notions I no longer had, and then took that first cut.   I spent three days laying out the squares and while maybe not original, they worked (we were a little short on one fabric).   Away I stitched.