Learn To Quilt!

14 Apr 2007 11:11 PM

Have you ever had the desire to quilt, but were afraid that the "hobby" was too hard for you?

If your answer is, "No", then this is your lucky day: The day you begin to learn. If the answer is, "YES", then, well, get over it!!!!

Quilting is much easier to learn than you would ever imagine. In fact, it is so easy that I learned how to quilt! And believe me, that is quite remarkable because I hate to sew! I fell into quilting literally by accident. You can see how I began by reading my profile on Quilting By Design.

There is a beginning tutorial available for you if you are serious about learning. I try to be very careful when writing tutorials so that the audience that is reading/learning/studying the tutorial is able to understand. In this case, the tutorial is pretty much based upon the premise that you know very little (or nothing) about quilting. This tutorial should be enough to get you on the road to quilting, where you can join the millions of us that already addicted!

There are quite a few reasons to learn how to quilt:

	Quilting is fun! It cannot get much simpler than that!
	Quilting is utilitarian. By "utilitarian", I mean that it is a very practical hobby. There is not a single household in the world that does not have some type of cover/quilt/blanket in it. In fact, your first quilt could be made just for yourself, so that you can practice your newly-found hobby and also so that you have a hand-made quilt.
	Quilting can serve as a source of relaxation. Yes, it is true. Quilting is an excellent way to relieve stress!
	Quilting is an excellent hobby to begin because it gives you a unique way to give gifts to those you care about. Not just a plain, little gift, either. This is a hand-made gift that the recipient (and his/her heirs) will cherish for decades. It does not matter if it is not perfect, either. In fact, 99.9999999999% of quilts are NOT perfect. Each quilt has its very own flaws, which is one aspect that makes the quilts so unique to each individual. You will learn to embrace your uniqueness in quilting and accept it for what it is: Typical and normal.
	Quilting enables you to form friendships with people that you would never have had the honor of meeting, had you not taken up the hobby. Once you begin to quilt, join a local quilting guild or an online quilting forum. You will make new friends, quite a few of which will be in the same boat you are in: A new quilter. Guilds and forums give you many different activities to practice your newly found hobby and to also broaden your horizon and help you figure out what you really love best about quilting. If you had told me years ago that my favorite method of putting a quilt together involved appliqué, I would have laughed. On the other hand, I have found my least favorite method, too: Paper-piecing!
	Quilting can be profitable. You may be thinking, "What?? You have got to be kidding! I'm sitting here thinking, just thinking mind you, about learning to quilt, and this author is already talking about me using my skills (that I haven't even learned yet) to make money??? Is she nuts?". Well, am I close to what you might be thinking? If you would have told me 14 years ago that I would be taking orders for commissioned, personally designed quilts, I'd have told you that YOU were nuts. The old adage, "Practice makes perfect", is really true.

So, what are you waiting for? Learn to quilt today! You will enjoy it immensely for the rest of your life... and so will all those that receive quilts from you!

Comments are appreciated and may be left regarding this article on Quilting By Design.