I’ve been contemplating taking up quilting for a long time.  I’ve also generally been wanting to branch out from knitting and try some new things.  However, especially since L was born, a couple things have been holding me back.  First, time.  Do I have time to take up quilting?  Of course not.  Second, space.  The only place in the house I can really set up a sewing machine is our very small kitchen table.  This means I’ll have to set everything up and then take it all down every time I want to sew.  Despite these issues, I finally took the plunge.  Over the last few weeks, I purchased a sewing machine, rotary cutter, pad and ruler and a few other gidgets and gadgets as well as fabric for my first project.  Total start-up costs were probably around $250, which is really not too bad, I think.  Recurring costs should be fairly low.

I didn’t really do much research into buying a sewing machine.  I just bought one of the first ones that popped up on Amazon.  It’s a Singer, and my Mom always used a Singer, so I had some sentimental attachment to the brand.  (Silly, I know.)  Also, it’s the #1 most popular sewing machine on Amazon, had 4.5 stars, and was in the middle of the price range for “starter” sewing machines.  I didn’t really investigate what features it has.  I figure if I get sufficiently into sewing that I need fancy features, I can always invest in a new machine.  I don’t expect that I’ll need anything fancy for now.

I used to sew in high school on my Mom’s machine.  It was a big green metal sewing machine built into its own sewing table.  Since it kept working for 30 years, I guess it was fairly good quality.  Anyway, I used to mainly make clothing from those horrible Simplicity and Butterick patterns.  Anybody remember them?  Line drawings of women and girls on the front with Barbie-like physiques?  I made several skirts and one dress.  They came out sufficiently well that I used to wear them to school and church, but they were nothing to write home about.  They always had a bit of a home-made look and they didn’t hold up all that well.  I was pretty proud of my handiwork at the time, but after I went to college, I never really missed sewing, and I honestly have no desire to ever sew another Simplicity dress or skirt pattern again.

However, quilts and quilted objects are another thing entirely.  I’ve been inspired by lots of quilts – the ones friends, like Sarah, have made, quilts I’ve seen on the internet, the stunning quilt on display in Denali.  I particularly like baby quilts.  I’m very hopeful that making a baby quilt will be quicker than knitting a baby blanket.  Knitting a baby blanket is a long slog if you use standard size needles.  It can easily take several months of regular knitting.  I love knitting, but it’s hard on my hands, and I’d like to find a craft that’s a little quicker.

I’ve had the sewing machine for a couple weeks, but between B being out of town, my MIL visiting before that and trying to wrap up a couple of knitting projects, I haven’t had time to look at it until this weekend.  I finally dug it out yesterday.  My goal for the day was to sew a single seam.  If you sew, you know this is harder than it sounds because it entailed winding the bobbin, threading the bobbin and threading the needle.  It’s complicated to load thread on a sewing machine because there is a bunch of tensioning.  It’s no big deal once you figure out how to do it, but I hadn’t done it in more than 15 years.  Anyway, I managed to achieve my objective and even start sewing a few of my quilt pieces together.

Laying out the pieces for the quilt:

My first seam: