Steps of Quilting

Quilting is my way of expressing myself.  I try to design or chose patterns that match the person I'm making the quilt for taking into account the use of the quilt etc.  I love it when I work with someone (like a granddaughter) and manage to draw out the information I need to create a quilt that they will love and USE!

In my opinon, there are a few distinct stages to quilting:

1. Getting to know what the receipient wants! This is usually where I begin.  Sometimes the person has no clue, and other times they are definite about their wants. For instance, Grandaughter #2, who is 6 year old told me, "I want it pretty, I want lots of white and B-R-I-G-H-T colors"  Okay I can work with that (I will be posting this quilt in a series of blogs which should begin sometime this fall).
2. Or step 3 depending - Pattern choice. This is usually my second step as it will set the tone for the fabric I chose.  If you look at my blog "RED QUILT" you'll see an example of a quilt that was made with this step being #3 - yet it still turned out looking great! 
3. Or step 2 depending - Fabric choice.  This is usually my third step and I base it on the pattern choice.  As I say this, I can say that probably 1/4 of the quilts I've made were this as step 2 with the pattern following.  But I find it is usually easier to do pattern and then fabric.
4. Piecing the top.  This is where the parts are cut and then sewen together.  I machine piece.  Some people will hand piece their tops, and that is a personal choice.  Personally I love to machine piece as it allows some speed in the process but I also think the seams are more sturdy.
5. Quilting the top.  This is the second to the last step.  If the quilt is small or the seams are straight (see RED QUILT) I will do this on my Bernina.  If I want a pattern to the quilting or if the quilt is large, I will finish it on a LAQ (Long Arm Quilter).  Lucky for me, there is a machine at my LQS (Local Quilt Store) where I've taken lessons and can rent time on their machine.
6. Finishing the quilt.  I like to hand sew the binding on the edge.  If I have a quilt label I attach it during the binding process.

So that is a quick list of the steps to making a quilt.  There is more indepth discussions and other considerations, but I'll save that for another blog posting.