Quick and Easy

Last night I started attempted to take my original log cabin block (see below) and turn it into a hot pad. I cut the backing and batting, pinned the layers together, quilted the areas desired, and then cut and ironed the binding. Pretty good for a quick turn around if you ask me! 

 Below are pictures of the project in action!

Original Log Cabin Block

During Quilting/Binding Process. Added the batting/backing, and pins, this point I had completed the machine quilting. I did the stitch in the ditch which turned out pretty well! 

Quilted Edges using Stitch 23

Quilted Edges Closeup, White thread for the Navy, and Multi-Color for the Red/Green

 All that I had to do today when I arrive home was finish pinning the binding and then sew it on. Even though I knew machine binding is not the cleanest way to go I decided to attempt it again. This time I knew going in that I would want to cut my excess binding and backing down to just a 1/4 inch to ensure I'd have enough room to fold the binding from front to back properly. I rewatched the Missouri Quilts video on how to bind a quilt and stole their trick for making the edges look nice. Funny thing is I had no problem pinning and sewing it on two corners but the other two corners made me totally confused and I eventually got them pinned but when I sew them I accidentally sewed them shut and had to use my seam ripper to release them in the end. Thankfully you can't see those mistakes in the finished product but crazy how you can easily do something and then the next time you try it you can totally mess it up. 

Ta Da: The Finished Hot Pad

If you're wondering why none of my photos of table toppers or hot pads are on my table, its because the table has been taken over by fabric, sewing machine, cutting mat, and so much more! 

Completed Front Side and Completed Back Side of Hot Pad

Closeup of Binding, Quilting, and Top/Back

Matching Hot Pad and Table Runner! 

After finishing these projects I decided to just make a fun block that could potentially be used later or if not I figured maybe it could be a hot pad. Using the Peacock Fabric and the 3 types of pink/mauve that I had I took the Bridle block from week one and made it my own. Here is the result:

Instead of having 4 sets of the outer most corners in the middle nested together I decided to just emphasize the pretty peacock fabric and put it in the middle as an accent.

Completing the Table Runner

I really don't enjoy unfinished works, so as soon as I got home from work I got to working on my binding. After rewatching the video from Ehow.com on Machine Binding, I went to work pinning my binding to the table topper. Pinning the binding was the easy part. Once I had it pinned down I had to attempt to sew it on perfectly with the 1/4 inch seam allowance, the pins really helped me get this correct. There is only one part that you'll find on the finished table topper where I couldn't get the binding in the right place on the top side (Which was annoying but hey it's my first project).

After I got the binding attached by machine, I cut down the excess batting and backing to a half inch, as the youtube video stated. I had to trim it down a bit more in a few places because of a few small inconsistencies in my 1/4 inch seam but overall this was pretty easy with the rotary cutter. 

Once I had it cut down I unpinned the binding and started folding it over to the back side. The goal is to have the binding tuck into the back side so that if you go over your first binding stitch it will attach the back binding in the same place and look almost seamless. In about 45% of the quilt I would say this happened... the other parts--- well let's just say thank goodness this isn't a reversible table topper. Although there were some parts where it didn't go in as well as I would have liked it looks very nice on the top. If I were to do it over I might consider hand stitching as you have more control but this was WAY fast and it made me happy to finally have a finished piece of work! 

Here are photos of the finished product:

Finished Product!

Close up of Backing, binding, and quilt top. 

Split View of Left and Right Side

Completed back and binding 

Now that this project is complete I'm going to go back and make a hot pad out of my 10 inch log cabin block I made. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow! 

Original Log Cabin

Table Runner Project Part Two

I knew the table runner project was going to require some assistance, so I reached out to my great quilting 101 teacher to see about going to her house for help in adding the batting/backing/and binding to my table runner. 

I was able to join her and another quilter (who was getting help designing a really neat animal themed quilt for her son) after work today. I set up my sewing machine and took out the table runner top, both ladies were jealous that my fabrics thus far had all been from Goodwill :) 

To get started on adding the backing and batting to the table runner I ironed my backing fabric, cut to the desired length and width with a bit extra on each side to make sure there is enough, and then laid it flat on a large piece of cardboard and pinned it down taunt. Next we laid out the batting, just a bit smaller piece than the backing, and then on top of that, Right Side up, we added the table topper. From here we pinned the outer most sides of the table topper to the other layers to get everything tight. Then we discussed what parts I wanted to "quilt". We decided since it was my first go at machine quilting I would outline each of the satin silver squares and the large snowman square in the middle. We pinned along the outsides of all of the silver squares to ensure the fabric wouldn't move to much while quilting.   Then my quilting instructor asked me about what type of thread I was planning on using... I said white most likely because the only other color I have right now is navy blue. She laughed and brought back a really fun rayon thread that was multiple colors and quite shiny. We tested it along with a few of the fancy stitches on my machine on a test "sandwich" (fabric, batting,fabric). I decided to go with selection 51 on my machine for the stitch. After getting half way through quilting the table topper it was time for me to head back home. 

When I got home I finished quilting the table topper and then spent about 30 minutes surfing the internet trying to find out how to add the binding to the quilt-- as we hadn't got that far before I left class. Eventually I found two videos, one from Ehow.com and another from the wonderful Missouri Quilt Co. . While the quilt company gave me the best instructions for determining the length needed for my binding, the ehow gave instruction on how to machine finish-- which is what I wanted to do as I'm not super patient sewing and it's been forever since I've sewn by hand. 

I used the info from Missouri's video to cut out my binding and iron it out so it would be ready for me when I got home from work on Thursday. 

Here are the photos of where my table topper ended today: 

View of table topper pinned to all three layers (sorry for poor photo quality) 

Stitching on the back, could have done navy but figured might as well have some pattern. 

Closeup so you can see what stitch 51 looks like :)

Multi colored thread and close up of pinning pattern.

Binding for tomorrow!

Shopping for Materials

Today I spent the morning organizing my quilting area and researching what type of finishing items I'd need to buy to complete my table runner. While on my lunch break at work I headed to Joann Fabric to pick up a dark blue fabric to use as backing for my table runner and then some batting. While there I felt a bit overwhelmed in trying to find a matching backing, so I just chose a plain dark blue instead of trying to match any of the patterns already in the table runner. The nice thing about this was the fabric was $3.99 a yard, and I had a 50% off coupon via the Joann's Iphone App (a must have!). With the help of the cutting station service attendant I was able to find some insul-bright batting which is made for going in "hot-pads and oven mitts". This was on sale for $6.99 a yard from $7.99 (Wish it had been normal price because I would have been able to use my 50% coupon on it if it was regular price!).  I picked up a spool of thread there too as I have already gone through one spool with all my practicing!

1 Yard Backing, 1 Yard Batting, 1 Spool Thread ($11.69)

After I gathered all these goods I watched two very quick youtube videos about how to add batting/backing to a table runner but I didn't feel confident I could do it on my own on my first try. So I reached out to my great Quilting 101 instructor, she host classes at her house Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights where you can bring your projects and she'll assist you in completing them. What a great deal right?! I sent a photo of the runner thus far and she said she could help, so I'm excited to get this finished tomorrow :) Can't wait to show the results.

Day One, Week Two: Table Runner Project

Wow! I've made it one week, seven whole days since I have begun quilting and I feel like I'm getting the hang of this! 

Today I decided to see if I could find a Christmas Tree Skirt Quilt project, I found a really cute one from the Missouri Quilt Company, which they have YouTube Video for how to make. I watched the video and thought I can make this, so I headed to their site and found they were still having a great Cyber Monday sale, in addition their always $5 flat shipping. For the skirt you need to have 2 Charm Packs (a pack that comes with about 40-42 5" squares of different fabrics bundled for you!) and a border and backing fabric. I purchased all three of those items plus the deal of the day (a charm pack of fruits/veggies prints for 75 cents!), and a marking pin that erases with the heat of the iron all for $35. That order should be here by next week, so I think it will be my week 3 project. 

For my week two project I settled on a Holiday Table Runner pattern I found on McCall's website. Now sure the pattern says it's for Halloween and you need 9 types of fabric, but I knew I could do it with 5 fabrics and in a Christmas/Winter motif. For the table runner instead of each border being different I alternated the outer 4 borders, and had a unique border in the middle surrounding the center square. The challenge with the table runner was it got large fast and was not the easiest to sew. 

Two things that came in handy though: 
1.) The extended table on my sewing machine. I added the extra legs and that helped keep the part of the fabric I wasn't sewing up and out of the way. 
2.) Pinning the strips. Everyone who I watch in YouTube Videos who have been quilting for a while say pinning isn't always necessary and they hate it. Thankfully my quilting instructor had agreed with this sentiment but still made me learn to pin anyways. I used those pinning skills to make sure all my patches lined up properly. 

Here is what the completely sewn together table runner looked like just off the sewing machine:

Top View, notice there are triangles at the end of each row. We take care of those in the next step.

Closeup so you can see the fabrics and hopefully my decent sewing efforts :)

Once all my strips were sewn (ps if I'm using the wrong kind of "sewn" please let me know!) on I  had to cut the table runner down to the right size. Scary! So the cutting instructions said to leave 7.25 inches from the middle of the silver squares, the problem is my table runner is twice the length of my cutting pad so I had to do it in 4 cuts. Thankfully math again came into save the day and I was able to keep everything straight.  Here is where I left off at the end of the night with the table runner. 

Cut to Size! Full Length View. (Would have put it on the table but that's where all my quilting stuff resides.)

Cute Fabrics Right? Who Needs 9 Different patterns!

After I finished sewing the last strips and cutting I had to retire for the evening, but there is definitely more to come on this as I plan to make this my first finished project. Meaning, I better find a video on how to add batting, a border, and "stitch in the ditch!" 

Who needs Black Friday when you have Goodwill!

Today I returned from Northern Arizona back to my house and had a few hours to work on quilting and getting laundry done. Before I decided what I wanted to work on I decided I would check out Goodwill to see if they had more fabric in. When I was there on Tuesday, the cashier said they get fabric and patterns all the time... and surely enough that was the truth! 

When I got to the area they sell fabric in there were many bags of mismatched fabrics. There are a few down falls with shopping this way: 1.) You can't touch the fabric 2.) You don't know how much of each fabric you're getting and 3.) If it's an ugly fabric they have a lot of they put it in multiple bags hoping to get rid of it! The good thing is, the positives outweigh the negatives. I picked up six bags of fabric ranging in price from 69 cents to 99 cents and when I rang up I only paid $4.84 (some bags were on sale!). Below is a picture of all the fabrics I got: 

Starting from Upper Left: Purple Hat Society Fabric, Paisley Flowers, Mauve, Light Pink, Red with Colorful Hearts (A LOT of this), Yellow and White Moon and Stars, 1/2 a purple bandanna,  about 20 10"x10" silver squares that once ironed and trimmed are beautiful. From Bottom Left: Small Blue/White Flower print, Medium Blue/Green Flower Print, Light Blue Solid, Pink Solid, and then two dark blue solids and a silver solid. (Dark blues and silvers are not cotton so I won't be using, but I'll get them to someone who can use them.)

After sorting and ironing this lot of fabric I decided to give the Simplified Lover's Knot pattern from the old quilting book a shot. The directions were not the most simple to me because they gave you the information on how to make the blocks as if you were making an entire quilt. So instead of saying for block one you need two strips of this and one of this, it told me I needed 16 strips of this and 24 of another. After doing some math I was able to break down the pattern and put it together. The nice thing about this is it is like the Split Rail or the 9 Square Block, you take two fabrics and alternate the colors and sew together so you have a light, dark, light panel, and then a dark, light, dark panel. Once you have those done you just cut strips to size, match seams, and begin to sew again. 

Lover's Knot Block

As you can tell I used a very light blue and a semi-light blue for this block. The very light blue is pretty sheer so I may not use it again unless it's in small doses. Not everything ended up matching up and I think this is partly due to the fact that both fabrics like to stretch a little. Overall not my favorite, but would like to try again with different fabric because a completed quilt with this as all of the blocks would be lovely. 

After making this block I decided to practice sewing the 9 square patches again and matching corners so I cut up one of the silver 10 by 10 squares, and took some scrap peacock fabric  and some of the new bright pink to put the mini-blocks below together. Since the size was kind of weird I couldn't figure out how to put them all together where they would look good, so for now they're just 4 separate mini-blocks.

Day Off From Practice

Every good athlete knows you must take a day of rest every now and again to ensure you stay strong, but on those days off you should cross train. 

Today, I had to take a day off from practicing quilting because I was out of town enjoying the Grand Canyon! To keep my quilting mind sharp and learning though I borrowed a few quilting books which allowed me to find 2 new patterns I wanted to try when I got home. The first one was a simplified Lovers Knot (see tomorrows post for a photo), and the other one was a Split Rail, essentially the split rail uses at least 4 colors, but up to 8, going from light to dark. So each block looks something like this: 

The block in the book had the vertical lines being shades of purple and the horizontal lines being shades of pink, so it utilized 8 colors/patterns all together. I figured this would be a good one to try soon as it should be a quick pattern. Sew 4 seems together from long strips of each color and then cut down to size! 

Day Five

This morning I decided to wake up at a decent hour (about 9am) and pick out a block to quilt and try to complete it by the afternoon. The reason for this is I know I won't have a chance to quilt tomorrow, so I wanted to be sure to get at least a little practice in before I started the day. 

I went to McCall's website and found the Chinese Coin Block. I decided do try my hand at this because it was similar to the Bridle Block (day 3), but it had a fun outside border, and only used three colors which was a perfect way to start using my peacock fabric! 

Because the pattern called for me to cut squares and strips I had to start with my large pieces of fabric and get them broken down into something I could cut on my 18 by 24" cutting mat. Once I had the fabrics broken down and ironed I set to cutting my squares out. There were quite a few smaller pieces for this one so I ended doing a lot of sewing. I've really gotten much better at matching my seams when adding rows together, makes me happy! The only part I struggled with on this one was my Half Square Triangles (HST). The HST in the pattern were 3 7/8" by 3 7/8", I knew from my 101 class that I should give myself that extra 1/8th inch and just go 4 by 4. This was helpful but I didn't cut my material as straight as I thought because when I was squaring up (cutting the HST's down to the required 3.5" size post sew), my edges weren't straight. This meant that when I finally combined everything together my 1/4" seam allowance on the HST triangle that connects to the Pastel in Row 2 on the Left side, the fabrics meet but aren't actually sown together for about 1/2 an inch. Oops! I didn't want to make a new HST, so I just went with it. If I decide someday to use this in a quilt or make something out of it I will rip the seams and fix it, but until that day-- this is practice. :) 

Completed Chinese Coin-- What do you think of the Peacock Fabric? I love it!!

Christmas Quilting on Thanksgiving!

Day Four:

On Thanksgiving Morning I had a few hours of quiet to work on some quilting. I spent the first 20 minute of the morning ripping out the seam the last row of the Bridle Block I created on Day 3 at 2am :) I finally came to my sense and realized that even though the snowmen would be upside down, they'd look a whole lot better with the blue and white fabric going in the same direction as the rest of the block. It took me about 40 minutes all together to remove the seam between the 2nd and 3rd row, and between the end squares and blue/white blocks, but I was able to piece the block back together with much prettier results.

Ok, Day Four Means Perfection instead of Practice.

After feeling I had a successful block with the Bridle pattern I went back to McCall's website and picked out the Log Cabin Block. Part of the reason I chose this block was because I really wanted to let my snowmen get their featured role, since they all got cut in half in the Bridle block!  This block took about an hour and a half from cutting, sewing, and pressing but it was very easy to follow along and turned out beautifully. I even did a great job of ironing to the dark (which helps the block lay flat and look super nice)! 

My plan is to add batting and a backing and make it a table topper.. when I learn to do those things of course.

After this block was completed it was time to get the Thanksgiving Festivities started. When I returned home about 8pm I chose another square to try. This time I picked one with just two fabrics, it is a Shoo-Fly Block. Partly I choose this because I've really only been using the fun Christmas fabrics and I need to go out and get more variety to play with.  I cut out all of the pieces, ironed them and then arranged them and then took them to the sewing machine. I really enjoyed this block because it didn't need me to pin any of the squares as I fed them through the machine :) I think it turned out really nicely, but my husband informed me it reminds him of a Ninja Star with Christmas Fabric so he wouldn't encourage me to use it in an actual quilt.

What are you thoughts? Ninja star or Great Block Pattern?

Trying Out New Blocks

Day Three:

Today started with work and a family get together so when I got home I didn't think I'd spend too much time working on quilting. Let's just say I was wrong--- I realized once I start something I enjoy I do not want to stop. I got home about 8pm and ended up working on a few blocks until 2am. 

To start the evening I knew I needed to work on my rotary cutting skills as I had a few pieces of fabric I've had to set aside for later already because for one reason or another I didn't cut it to the proper size. To practice I cut small squares some 2.5" by 2.5" and others 2" by 2" and then made this 9 Square block. I think it turned out pretty well. I'm certainly getting better at watching my 1/4 inch seam allowance. And that maybe because I did get my new 1/4 inch quilting foot for the sewing machine and have been using it as my guide. 

Quick and Easy Xmas Nine-Square Block

Once I had this block down and felt better about cutting I decided to make another panel of fabric that I could use to make a 9-Square block later on. I chose the pastel fabric I got from Goodwill as the base, and then the White Fabric Fat Square from Joann's as the middle strip. I did 2" strips. Which is why the white looks like 1.5" in comparison to both pastels (that lovely 1/4 inch seam allowance!). Once I got the fabric cut this was very quick to put together.

Loving the colors just need to find something to use for opposites on block.

The first real block for the evening that I attempted was from a website called Craftsy which has great quilting patterns and tutorials. I subscribed to the Block of the Month class, which teaches you two new blocks that you can do each month of the year and then at the end of the year you'll have created a full quilt. I had watched the January block video over the weekend, and thought it seemed easy enough. So I choose two fabrics, one red Christmas fabric from Savers, and the the white Fat Quarter from Joann's. The block I was being taught to make as a Slash and Strip, where you start with a large red square of fabric, and then cut it in half on the diagonal, then sew in a white strip. After that is complete you slash the square again in the opposite direction and add in another stripping, doing this two more times down the diagonals. In the end you should have a 12.5" by 12.5" square. Because my white fabric strips weren't long enough I ended up squaring up my fabric and making the block a 9.5" by 9.5" so if in the future I decided to use it I could. While this block didn't come out the size I was planning it was fun to make and present a bit of a challenge which was nice. 

Slash and Strip Block Completed

After creating all of those I wanted to find a pattern to follow. I figured out the McCall's has an amazing list of FREE Quilt Block Patterns  from there I used the Bridle Path Block Pattern. I didn't have enough types of fabric that would work together to create the center the way the pattern showed so I decided to just use my variety of Christmas patterns and then adjust the middle of the block to match the outside squares. When I was finishing up this block it was 2am, so as I was determining the layout of the final two blue/white blocks in the last row (see below) you'll see that I chose to have the 1/2 snow men facing upward.. when I showed this block as the completed project to my husband he pointed out it looked a little wonky with the blocks being placed that way instead of matching the other three blue/white blocks. I told him he was being picky and it was fine and decided to go to bed. (Flash forward to 9 a.m. on Day 4--- I look at the photo I took of the block and realize I need to go downstairs and use my seam ripper to fix the last row). 

I am not going for perfect, just practice!

Setting Up For Quilting At Home

Quilting Day Two:

After finishing my quilting 101 class I knew that I'd need more fabric to practice with and to pick up the sewing machine from Costco. Since I work later in the day on Tuesdays I had a 2.25 hour time block before work where I could run around town picking up fabric and my sewing machine, and then see how far I could get at getting my quilting area at home set up. My wonderful husband agreed that the dining room would be a great place for me to set up for quilting since we don't use the room too often and it has a large table and plenty of light. 

So at 9:00 a.m. I set out to accomplish my task. I first went to Goodwill where I was able to pick up three bags of fabrics for a total cost of $2.97 :) (1 with three types of holiday fabric, 1 with some pastel and red/white fabric, and another with a large about of light blue fabric). Next I went to Savers where they sell fabric individually but it's usually at least a yard of fabric or more. There I got a great red Christmas print fabric, a beautiful pastel pink and orange fabric with birds for $2.50 total. By 9:40 I had made it to Costco, got gas in my car, and at 9:45 they started letting people in early. I had my sewing machine in my cart and was through the checkout line by 9:50am and left with a Diet Coke in my hand and a smile on my face!  

By 10:00 a.m. I had made it back to my house. As I mentioned before I knew that the Brother sewing machine was the one I would get so of course even before purchasing I had watched the informational set up video for the machine on YouTube. This was helpful because when I arrived home I knew I'd have 1 hour and 20 minutes before I needed to leave to work, and I realized the set up video was about 20 minutes long-- so that would mean I should be able to have the machine up and going pretty quickly and have time to run a few test stitches before needing to leave for work. 

Sure enough the machine was pretty easy to set up, just follow the video. **Note to all people who buy a sewing machine--- the machines do not come with spools of thread, you'll want to buy at least one before bringing yours home and trying to set it up or you'll be spending 20 minutes of your 1 hour and 20 minutes driving to the closes Albertson's to get thread so you can complete set up like I did** The only struggle I had in setting the machine up was the automatic threader for the upper thread. I felt like it would just not catch-- after watching the video on a ten-second repeat about 5 times I realized I just was releasing the lever to fast and it couldn't catch. Once I figured this out I go the upper and lower thread set. 

To practice sewing I just cut a few strips of fabric and ran lines through. I knew I'd need to figure out where my 1/4 inch marker was before I started to make any sort of quilting blocks. The machine I purchased came with 8 different feet... however the only one it didn't come with was the 1/4 inch quilting foot which I immediately purchased on Amazon for $12.00 and paid to have it shipped over night (I <3 Amazon Prime). Once I figured out the seam allowance issue I cut a few strips of fabric and made another 9 Square block, by the time it was complete I had to head out the door to get to work, but I was super happy to see that I retained my knowledge from the night before and the sewing machine didn't get the best of me. 

The Block on the left was made in the 101 class, the block on the right I made at home in about 15 minutes!

Quilting 101

I figured not everyone on Facebook would want a daily update on my adventures in learning how to quilt, so I decided to create a blog. 

After receiving a gorgeous and beautifully crafted quilt for our wedding last year, from the very talented Michelle L. I thought about how great it would be to learn to quilt and be able to make super useful items for my friends and family members. When that thought crossed my mind I knew I couldn't commit to learning how to quilt just yet because I was still finishing up my MBA. Well, this past September I completed my last class, and as it so happens by the time I decided to take a quilting 101 class it occurred on the same day I finally received my diploma in the mail!

For my introduction into quilting I knew a book wouldn't be enough so I signed up for a class at Joann Fabrics, they offer different levels of quilting classes through-out each month. For the class I had to bring three fabric Fat Quarter, and a whole mess of tools- which thanks to coupons ended up costing just about $65.00. When I arrived at the class I was the only student, my instructor was Sherry a wonderful woman who has been quilting for about 15 years and loves to teach. 

Fat Quarters from Joann's-- Dark, Medium and Light

During the class she took me to the fabric section to show me ho to choose fabrics, and which ones are best for quilting or why a fabric would not be ideal for quilting. She also shared with me a lot of personal insight as to what types of tools she feels a beginner needs vs just might want to have. We talked sewing machines because I didn't own one and hadn't used one probably since sixth grade home-ec class. After getting me familiarized with the sewing machine we went into cutting strips of fabric with our rotary blades to specific widths so that we could sew them together and create a panel of fabric with three rows. After these panels were created, we cut 3 1/2" strips them and then combined the strips using the sewing machine to create a 9-square block. 

Fabric Panels

Nine Square or Checkerboard Block

Once I had the sewing machine figured out (the hardest part for me was keeping the 1/4 inch seam allowance, which ensures everything is matched correctly) Sherry showed me how to take a two squares of opposite fabric and combine them and cut them in half to create two new squares composed of 1/2 of each fabric. These are technically called half square triangles (HST). The challenge for me with the HST is getting the fabric cuts to be perfect, I found that it can be done but it takes practice! 

My two sets of HST's combined in a Ribbon Block

The cool thing about HST's is that you draw lines on the back of the fabric (actually know as the Wrong Side (WS) of the fabric in quilting) and you stitch right on those lines. I was way better at this than keeping the 1/4 inch seam allowance. Sherry recognized that right away and showed me a quilt that was hanging in the classroom, she had created it using paper piecing-- something I'd saw mentioned on quilting boards but not read about yet. She shared that with paper piecing you are actually drawing out your lines and sewing your fabric to a thin piece of material or paper and building your block that way, with this you get to stitch right on the lines. Since we had about a half hour left she showed me how to do some, it was really fun and I think I would enjoy it so I will likely be going back to take another class with her to learn more about how to do it. 

In the end after I had finished the class I decided that I was going to go all in, and take up quilting (at least for a year and see where that takes me). In order to make the commitment to learning to quilt I knew I would need to get a sewing machine. Luckily, I already had my research done and knew that I would purchase a Brotherfrom Costco if in fact I decided to start quilting.