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!