Friday, February 23, 2018

My real first quilt....sort of

I have always said that my first quilt was this one.....http://chrissquiltinguniverse.blogspot.com/2008/09/waiting-for-hanna.html?m=0

And in many ways I do consider it my first quilt. It is the quilt where I took quilting seriously and it launched my interest in quilting. But I must admit that it was not really my actual first quilt. I had forgotten that I had made this Amish quilt for my mom before the burgundy and white one shown in the blog link above.  I can't seem to get a photo with really true colors. It is about 36 in by 36 in.

What was your first quilt like?


I used fat batting in this quilt and my stitches are pretty big. I did not use a rotary cutter. I had no idea what that was. I think I got the instructions for this in something like Good Housekeeping Magazine or Women's Day. And how about that wide binding? Man I hate wide binding!


Now is this really my first quilt? I did make one before this from squares of fabrics that I made clothing from over the years. I think the squares were about 8 inches by 8 inches. I think I cut strips of batting and did a flip and sew method of attaching the squares to each other. So then I had long strips of squares and then sewed the strips together. It was double bed size. Then I backed it with a sheet. It was awful and I do not have a photo nor do I have the quilt. It got used so much that it fell apart.

All I can say is that I have come a long way!

Linking to Nina-Marie
http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading. 

Chris

3 comments:

  1. Isn’t it fun to look back and see how far we come? Thanks for sharing this and Denise’s quilt.

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  2. What a beautiful story in that first post on your blog. I try to have my radar out to notice when someone is showing a lot of interest in a quilt of mine. That way if I decide to give it away, I KNOW it is going to someone who will appreciate it and take good care of it. I love hearing about your other "first" quilts and how they were made, not unlike my own quilting history, except for the fact that my first quilt was just tied. I remember using templates to mark the pieces on the fabric and then cutting them out with scissors - in 1975 no one had heard of rotary cutters yet! Hand quilting was still a long way into my future.

    I made it for my dad during my first year of marriage, when we had moved several states away from where I grew up and I was appreciating the part my dad played in my formative years. I think I also used a pattern from a magazine (shoo fly), and I know I used leftovers from my clothing construction - mostly cotton or cotton blends. I used an old mattress pad for the batting and purchased a chambray-type cotton poly solid for the backing which I left big enough to turn to the front to create a border - mitered no less! I was so proud of it and embroidered on the back "Sheila's First Quilt".

    Dad took his afternoon naps on the couch under it for years. One of his little dogs chewed a hole in it which I could tell upset him, but he still used it, right until the day he died, at which point it came back to me, well worn, faded in spots but full of memories.

    I think the next quilt was made from leftover wools and wool blends from my sewing, had no batting, sported a textured and firm polyester knit for sashing and backing and was machine stitched along the sashing to hold it all together. Still have that one. I also remember trying my hand at log cabin blocks done by machine but on a foundation and they went into a baby quilt. I truly can't remember if that one had batting or if there was any hand quilting on it. But eventually, I made quilts that were hand quilted and realized this was the kind of handwork I wanted to devote my time to. Yup, I've come a long way too!

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  3. You definitely have one a long way. You've made your mark in your wonderful art quilts. But we all have to start somewhere. I remember buying (or sending for ) a miniature pattern from a magazine probably before I really tried quilting. It had lots of little tiny squares and half triangle squares. I tried but ... it just didn't work for me. Eventually I took a class a local quilt store from Eleanor Burns. Her book was Log Cabin in a Day and had only been out a couple of years. We tore the strips, tied the quilt way too little and it just about fell apart from so much use and washing. I looked for it recently and I don't know where it is. I'm wondering if I gave it to my daughter since it was made for her when she was 2 and a half. So that quilt is about 35 years old! We know Eleanor Burns became famous. But the owner of the quilt shop, Carolyn, started the Road to California quilt show. Good memories.

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