My grandmothers and great grandmother left me a treasure in the form of beautiful handmade quilts. I have memories of visiting my great grandmother’s house and seeing ladies sitting around a large wooden frame hand stitching on a beautiful quilt. Most quilts today are stitched by machine, not only putting the blocks together, but the quilting of the layers as well. I am amazed when I look at the treasures I inherited that each block was stitched together and quilted by hand. I have two tops sewn by one of my grandmothers waiting to be quilted. One is full size and the other is a baby quilt. She made (and completed) one for each of my two oldest when they were born, but was not able to continue sewing to finish Melinda’s baby quilt. It was my intention to complete it by the time Melinda had children (maybe I can get it finished for her grandkids!)

Melinda’s baby blanket waiting to be quilted

Oh, the hours Grandma spent hand stitching each little piece of fabric into beautiful quilt blocks!

I’ve made simple quilts with square blocks of fabric sewn with my machine and then hand tied to hold the layers together, but I am fascinated with the many intricate quilt designs I see. Quilt making today has moved from the necessity of keeping the family warm to beautiful works of art.

Through a free online course offered through Craftsy called, 2015 Block of the Month, I am going to learn how to make a different quilt block every month. If you are interested in learning to make quilt blocks, you can sign up for free and each month learn to make a new block. They have a kit available to make a quilt just like in the demonstrations or you can purchase your own fabrics. In the beginning lesson the instructor also teaches how to make color selections for beautiful quilts. My plan at the moment is to use fabrics I have on hand to learn how to make the quilt blocks and then I can use the individual quilt blocks on other projects like pillows, totes, and purses.

The pieces can be sewn together on the sewing machine, but the instructor shared how she sews the pieces together by hand and works on quilt blocks every where she goes. I decided to sew my pieces by hand and think about my grandmas. It really did not take very long.

And here is my completed quilt block.

So are you ready to learn to sew quilt blocks? You don’t even need a sewing machine– just a needle, scissors, thimble, thread, and fabric scraps. The class includes all the instructions and pdf printouts for you. Learn a new creative skill and set a goal to sew one quilt block a month this year. Sign up here.

(Disclaimer: We do not receive any compensation from Crafsty for sharing this with you. We just like to let you know of great opportunities to grow your creative skills!)