cabin quilt

I started this quilt when I was in college in 2002. I lived in Sierra Condos and shared a room with my best friend Allison. Somewhere in between all of my activities I fit in time to start this quilt--keyword: START. Long ago I gave the quilt top to my mom thinking that she could finish it. But she didn't. Then she gave it back to me with fabric for the back. So, I finally finished it this January and gave it to my parents for a late Christmas present. It turned out pretty good. I think they are going to put it at the cabin.

Some things that I learned with this quilt:

• quilting on the diagonal is so much easier than vertical and horizontal (I quilt with my feeder still intact- I should invest in a quilting foot or whatever they use to do free hand quilting).
• When quilting vertically and horizontally one way is easier than the other because the fabric has some stretch in one direction but not the other. When stitching on the not stretchy direction it helped me to pull my fabric to the sides as I pulled it through my sewing machine (it also helped to pin a lot so that it doesn't bunch at the end). When stitching in the stretchy direction, it helped me to pull the fabric towards me and towards the back. (hmmm... maybe I should demonstrate that someday... not today)
• Using scraps for the binding worked pretty well and it was easier on my checkbook than buying binding or buying fabric just for the binding.
• I also pieces together a strip on the back of the quilt because I did not have enough fabric for the back. It looks artsy and it was also cheap!