Better Together Quilt Along

 How often do you quilt just for yourself?  I'm guessing for a lot of quilters, myself included, it doesn't happen that often.  We love to share our craft with other people by making quilts for our kids, our parents, nieces and nephews, and even sometimes friends who don't quilt themselves.  Making a quilt for someone else is a beautiful thing...and brings so much joy for both the receiver and the giver.  There is nothing that brings me more joy than tucking my kids in at night wrapped up in a quilt that I made for them.  Or seeing them drag their handmade quilts all over the house, building forts with them and using them to cuddle up on the couch.  However, I think it's equally important to make an effort to sew projects only for yourself, not with the intent to gift it to someone else.  This might seem selfish, but in giving to ourselves we are actually contributing to the greater good because we are allowing ourselves to fully express our creative potential, which inevitably will inspire others to more fully express their creative abilities as well. 

When I was scrolling through Instagram and came across the Better Together Quilt Along hosted by Quilters Candy, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to quilt something for myself!  This was the first quilt along I've participated in, and if you've never joined one before I highly encourage you to give it a try.  It was so fun to see what other quilters were creating and to encourage and inspire each other as we posted progress pictures each week.  

Another motivation for participating in this quilt along is I wanted to challenge myself to make half square triangles.  Before this quilt along I shied away from quilts that included a lot of half square triangles because I didn't feel confident making them.  What better way to conquer this fear than making a quilt that consists of ONLY half square triangles?!  And almost 400 half square triangles at that?!  

I definitely gained a lot of confidence throughout this quilt along.  I learned a lot about squaring up half square triangles...it is really important that they are all trimmed to the exact same size to ensure that all of your points will match up when you sew your blocks together.  I think I tried about every triangle square up ruler out there, but in the end found that I like using my regular 6 1/2 inch square ruler best. 

I was worried about all of my points matching up when I sewed my rows together, and while it's not perfect, for the most part the rows went together smoothly.  Using a scant 1/4 inch seam allowance also helped avoid losing my triangle points as I sewed the rows together. 

 

I really love the soft, muted fall tones in this quilt.  I used a fat quarter bundle from Coley Quilts and just switched out a few of the prints...the bundle mostly contained prints from Sharon Holland's Kismet line, which I love.  And I absolutely love the Robert Kaufman chambrays...they add so much texture to the quilt and the Indigo Chambray Union (the blue dotted fabric) is so soft!  

I'm so glad I did this quilt along and made a quilt all for myself!  An extra bonus is I really didn't anticipate how much I would enjoy sharing my work and connecting with other quilters on Instagram...it really is an amazing quilting community and everyone is so supportive of each other and more than willing to share tips and tricks.   

I'll continue to quilt for my kids because I really do love making quilts for them that I know they will love and use.  But I'm also going to try to make more of an effort to seek out and engage in projects that I want to do for myself.  Which is why I've already joined my next quilt along!  Next up is the Stars and Stripes quilt along...bring on all the reds, whites, and blues!