Did you love the movie "How to Make an American Quilt"?

I sure did. I loved the way that the construction of a wedding quilt for the reluctant Wynona Ryder revealed the life stories of her grandmother's quilting circle. You just think they're a bunch of old ladies who like quilts, but you find out that some of them were pretty wild in their heydey.

Making a quilt seems painstaking, but the results are beautiful. I've had it on my bucket list for some time. I figure if I want to be good at it by the time I'm an old lady, I had better start now!

To be clear, it's not an "old lady hobby" anymore. The quilting class instructor tells me that it's usually half younger and half older women these days (but no men, I gather). And fabric choice (of course) can influence the style of a quilt, making it "act its age."

I love the fabrics I chose:

Bicycles, polka dots and flowers - love, love love them!

I'm heading into my fifth week of beginner quilting, and things are really starting to come together. We're almost done making our squares and supposedly by next week, we'll be putting the top together. I say "supposedly" because I'm always skeptical about beginner classes actually delivering on what they promise.

Here's a recap.

Week Two:

Rail fence block

Nine patch block

 Week Three:

Friendship star block

Eccentric star block

Double X block

Shoo fly block

Aren't these names great?

Week Four:

Jacob's ladder block

Double nine patch variation (so fun!)

I've got a wee bit of homework to do, finishing up a last block before we sew the final two in class. This will be called a sampler quilt because we sample a number of different styles.

I will call it my living room quilt for snuggling and watching movies during Christmas holidays!