Hi,
Hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day Holiday yesterday!

Let's continue on my quilting journey. After I made 2 quick strip-pieced Irish Chain quilts I was interested in learning more. My mom had a book that promised I could teach myself quilting through making a sampler quilt. A sampler quilt is one in which all the blocks are different. The very first pattern in the book was the "fence rail". Now if you have ever quilted you know this is one of the all time easiest quilt blocks ever to make because there is little or no room to make a mistake. HA! The block was made with 4 strips of fabric made into 4 squares. Now theoretically each section should have been 6 1/2". Nope they weren't. Now you should at this point be thinking hmmm 6" finished blocks divided evenly by 4 will be 1 1/4", add 1/4" seam allowance on each piece and you should be cutting 1 3/4" strips, right? Easy so far unless......you have not mastered the 1/4" seam part. Well right off the bat we have disaster. Let's try another block. I made an applique block with 4 hearts that formed a "flower". Good. Made it into a pillow. Then I decided to try a pieced basket. Now we're talking. This particular block used templates and came out pretty good. Now its 1997. I have just had a beautiful baby girl and I'm thinking a basket quilt would be perfect for her.

(Date stamp on the photos is when I finally decided to journal my quilts)

I machine quilted most of the quilt, but I added hand quilted feather wreaths in the open squares. I finished it when she was two. This quilt remains one of my favorite quilts. I should mention at this point however, that I have not been "taught" how to properly do bindings. (More on that later, hehe)

Hope you have enjoyed this next step in my quilting journey and you will check back for the next 'exciting' chapter.

Happy Quilting!

Hi! Welcome to Quilting By Marie.

I will be using this blog to share my love of quilting with you. I am a fourth generation quilter in my family. I took home economics in high school where I learned the basics of sewing. I never learned to like making clothes. I have done cross-stitching and made lots of curtains and cloth bears, covered baskets and lots of other crafts.

My mothers mother taught me how to cut out my first squares with a cardboard template in 1978. My first quilt top was made of scrappy squares of fabric, prints alternating with solid color fabrics. I spent the summer with my grandmother at the end of my senior year of high school and by the end of the summer I had only partially completed the quilt top. She lived 500 miles away and was not near enough to help me finish the top. In 1983 the unfinished top became a pad for my son's playpen. It wasn't quilted properly, and due to lots of love it is mostly a frayed mess, but I still have it!

By 1990 my best friend and I had done a lot of crafting together. She got a book with a maple leaf quilt pattern in it and she said "I think we can do this!" My mom had been reading a lot of quilt books and had purchased a rotary cutter and a mat and showed us how to use it. We made our own plexiglass templates and proceeded to wear out the blades and mat cutting our many half-square pieces. (No, we didn't know we could cut squares, and then cut them in half!) We didn't know 1/4" seams were critical, we cut off the corners of our triangles and our "stems" frayed. When we started to despair about our chopped off corners my friends grandmother took a look at our work and said "don't worry too much about it or you will take all the fun out of it". That was the best advice I have ever gotten and while I have grown alot and make every effort to do the best I can, I live by it to this day. It took us two summers to handquilt them. We finished those quilts in 1992 and we proudly display them in our homes to this day!

In 1994 I read a book about how to strip piece a quilt. I made a blue and white double irish chain from some left over plaid cotton kitchen curtains I had made for a previous home. I made the top and machine quilted it in two weeks! When I showed my friend she and I were hooked! She made three of them and I made a red, white and green one for Christmas.

(Notice by the date stamp how long it too for me to get around to photographing my quilts!)

In 1997 I joined my local quilt guild.  I began taking workshops offered by the guild, and classes at a local quilt shop. I have gone on state guild retreats and retreats with my local guild. I have served as president, vice-president, and am currently quilt show coordinator with my local guild.

I have made a lot of quilts and have been enjoying quilting ever since. It has become who I am, and what I do. I have taught a few beginners how to get started and I have taught a few specific pattern classes.  I love the community of quilters. I love quilts.

                                      I LOVE QUILTING!

Todate I have made many more quilts which I will be posting pictures of from time to time.  Come along with me on this journey of quilting. I hope you find some encouragement here on my blog to create some quilts of your own if you haven't already done so, or maybe get some encouragement to enjoy the process if you've already begun the journey on your own.

                                       HAPPY QUILTING!

Also check out my Facebook Page: Quilts By Marie and visit my Etsy Shop- QuiltsByMarie at www.etsy.com/quiltsbymarie