Number 19... Learn to sew and make a rag quilt

I have been in love with rag quilts... for years... and years...  Last year I looked into purchasing one online - until Mr SHTYTF (still has 3 years til forty) says 'you should just make your own'...

Now lets digress for just a moment - I don't sew.  I have not sewn since doing it in high school. In like year 8... so we are talking a LOT of years here since I have touched a sewing machine.  And i'm sure those machines back then are now antiques and sitting in some little store somewhere collecting dust. 

But the idea was planted and not one to back down from a challenge a sewing machine went on the Christmas wish list and Santa delivered...

Machine arrives.  Got it out of the box Christmas Day.  Looked it over.  Put it back in the box (and the too hard basket). 

Really really keen to make this rag quilt tho, so on the 40before40 list it goes. 

Next up once its on the list is to buy fabric.  Now this was exciting.   I reckon i've been to Spotlight a million times (an exaggeration i'm sure, but hey at least it sounds good) and always bypassed the rolls and rolls of material, feeling sad that all the creative people get to visit that section and I miss out... So I rock up to Spotlight one Sunday arvo and enter the 'forbidden zone'... no idea how much I need of anything but manage to make some purchases that day... Assistant asks what i'm making... replied 'oh just some rag quilts' with such bravado I'm sure I sounded like one of those creative people who have been in the forbidden zone forever, not a first timer... thinking now I could really get a part on Home and Away...

Go to cotton reel area next... stand... stare... read...stand... look around nervously...wonder who I could text to ask who wouldn't laugh... decide they would think i'm a loony... stand... stare some more... OMG!  I dont even know what cotton to get.  I just want white cotton dammit.  Find a 3 pack... decide we'll give that one a go...

Leave Spotlight with a spring in my step.  I am awesome.  I have fabric and cotton.  The world is my oyster.

So 2 nights ago I get brand new spanky swanky machine out of its box...  and manual... thread bobbin according to manual... (ok, ok, I may have also had some help from Mr 13 who just happened to have had some type of sewing class at high school this year)... thread cotton on machine... have cut pieces of material and wadding... and i'm ready... Go me...

Mr SHTYTF wanders on by... looks at me and states 'aren't you going to watch some youtube tutorials first'... Hey buddy, i've got this - i've been into the forbidden zone at Spotlight... and besides ain't nobody got time for that...

And we're away... just like riding a bike... Year 8 comes flooding back... I am doing this... Like i'm really sewing... and being creative...

So I've cut it all out, i've sewn it all together and I have clipped all the seams to make the 'rag' look.  My thumb is numb from the clipping, but its my war wound and I don't care because I did it! 

Now professional, semi-professional and anyone who has ever sewn in the past look away now... Because here she is... My 'strawberry shortcake' inspired rag quilt:

 

 The front:

 

And the back:

 

(bad lighting because I am too impatient to wait until tomorrow to take pics)

I'm impressed.  She's perfectly imperfect.  I see where improvements are needed.  But I love her.  Because she is number 1 completed on my list.  Because I love the colours.  And because I did it all on my own!!! My very first rag quilt!!!

Number 1 on the list...to record and share everything I complete on the list

Next year I turn 40... and i'm excited about it! Generally I think most people dread turning 40, but not me...  Sometimes I sit back and go wow, 40... but I don't feel 40, nor do I intend to... Psychologically I think i'm looking foward to 40 as the beginning of a new era... My 20s I was young and carefree, busy working and keeping house, having babies and thinking I had this whole life thing worked out... my 30's have been a rollercoaster of heartbreak, being lost, soul searching and rebuilding... So as for my 40's, well I welcome them happily... and I look forward to the countdown to the big 4-0 too...

So one afternoon not too long ago I decided to create a list of 40 things I would like to do before i'm 40... Some are simple, some are expensive, some will be quick to do, some will take time, some are personal goals and some are just things I want out of life.

Number 1 on the list was to record and share everything I complete on the list... which brings us to this first post... a short introduction to my new blog page...  I intend to share things as I complete them between now and December 15, 2014... but until they are done the list remains a secret...