Learning How to Quilt

I bit the bullet this week and enrolled in a quilting class and I'm scared to death because I literally haven't touched my sewing class in years!  And it's probably been 30 years since I helped my grandmother with one of her quilts.   The first class met on Tuesday and all the ladies have been doing the class with the same instructor FOR YEARS.  And they all welcomed this newbie with open arms, so I think this is going to be alot of fun.  Oh, and ny new quilting friends ordered 5 dozen eggs from me, so there's another benefit to boot!  One of the ladies, Helene, is going to use them to make pound cake so I'm hoping we can talk her into bringing some in for us.

Our first assignment was to go shopping for fabric and there were only two requirements:

• 100% cotton
• 12 dark colors and 11 light colors in 1/4 yard pieces

If you count the different fabrics above, you'll see that I have one too many because I couldn't decide in the store.  :-)  And I'm two light fabrics short.  I'll have to look at Hancock or another fabric store, because I just couldn't find anything else that I like.

I think deciding on the fabric is more difficult than putting the quilt together.  Maybe I'm too much of a perfectionist.  Luckily, I ran into some quilters at Joann's and they helped me out with some tips.  I finally decided on a cream\black\burgundy theme because this is going to be a throw quilt for watching TV on the sofa and our parlor has a cream and burgundy theme. 

I'm absolutely in love with the french chicken print on the end.  Here's a closeup:

That goes pretty well with the chicken wire (or beeswax) print.  I'm also in love with the cream and black fleur de lis, because that's another theme that you'll find throughout our house (and look at those little fleur de lis on the chicken fabric!).  

For you experienced quilters out there, what do you think of my choices?  Think they will work?

Now's let talk cost.  I initially thought the cost of making a quilt would be well over $100.  I've spent just under $25.00 on fabric, but I still need the 2 light colored fabrics as well as the fabric for the setting points, the outside border and the back (about 4 1/2 yards).  So, the total for the fabric will be somewhere around $60.  You can spend that much on a blanket from big box stores nowadays, so I consider that a bargain - plus I will have made it myself.  I also had to buy some supplies:  a clear, straight 23.5" x 6.5" ruler, self-healing cutting mat, rotary cutter, new fabric scissors and a seam ripper.  Luckily, all the quilting supplies were 50% off plus I had a 20% off total purchase coupon.  Total additional cost for supplies:  $51.46.

I can't find a pic of the pattern we're using, so I'll post that in my next update.  As the quilt progresses, I'll keep you posted so you can read about all the trials and tribulations of a fledgling quiltmaker.  Like I told J., though.....no giggling!

This post is part of the Rural Thursday and Farm Girl Friday blog hops. Check out what everyone else is doing there!