Quilting

So, as most of you probably know, I like to do pretty much any kind of arts and crafts, but one of my biggest hobbies is quilting. I learned from my mom and Grandma Simpson, who quilted a lot while I was growing up (and still do by the way!) We all do it the old-fashioned way, meaning all hand-stitched and hand-quilted. No machines involved! It's a nice stress release for me to do in front of the TV in the evenings after Alayna goes to bed. Here is a photo of the very first quilt I ever worked on when I was in middle school. It was a combined effort done between myself, my mom, my grandma, and my grandma's sister Great Aunt Celia. Needless to say, it is very special to me. It's a Christmas sampler quilt and we each did several blocks and I quilted it.

When I was little my grandma told me that she had made a dozen quilts by the time she got married, so I made that a goal for myself. When I was ready to get married, I only had six quilts, but I thought that was pretty good in this day and age so I gave myself a pass. Then, almost miraculously, I received six more quilts for my college graduation and wedding, making an even dozen! Here is a picture of the quilt my mom made us for our wedding. It is a Double Wedding Ring pattern.

I did a sampler quilt with Asian-inspired fabrics for our new master bedroom when I was pregnant with Alayna. It was nice because I was in Tennessee when I started it and Mom helped cut out all of the pieces for me - which is my absolute least favorite part. Well, maybe besides basting it together... Anyway, I really like how it turned out. Actually, I think it's probably my favorite quilt that I have ever made. Here is a picture.


I actually haven't made any quilts for Alayna yet because she got so many nice blankets from other people. Here are her baby quilts made by my Grandma Simpson and mom, respectively.

So now I am working on a new quilt. For some reason, I wanted a challenge, so I decided to do the Kaleidoscope pattern. It is a challenge, but I'm actually not having too much difficulty getting the points to match up. The thing I'm not sure about are the colors/fabrics I'm using. Picking out fabrics is usually my favorite part of the process and I thought all of these different fabrics would work well together, but I'm not sure if they work well with this pattern. It just seems a little too busy or something... It definitely looks better from a distance than up close. Let me know what you think. I have the top almost done now and will probably put a border around it. Here's a picture of what I have so far. I do really like this pattern and will probably have to try it again with some different fabrics.