Saturday, November 26, 2011

My first quilt

What constitutes a first quilt? Is it the first project pieced or completed?  Does it have to be a full sized one?

Here is my first little wall hanging.  I started it the year after I graduated from college.  I had my little studio apartment and wanted to fill it with Christmas decorations that were hand made.  So I ordered a huge box of projects from a catalogue.  (That was before internet and computers were part of our lives).  In that box of projects were a pillow and wall hanging kit. The pillow was finished in a timely manner.  The wall hanging was a different story.  I was not pleased that the tops of the trees were flattened out when I actually put the pieces together.  So in a box it went and moved from Gainesville to Tampa to another house in Tampa to a temporary condo to Lutz, FL to Frisco, TX.  So about 20 years after I started it I found it in the attic and decided to finish it.  That's a long time for a small about 8 x 12 inch project, but it is no longer a UFO (unfinished object).

Sunny Days unfinished quilt
Sunburst quilting done by hand

In between that time, somewhere around 2002, I gathered a quilt block of the month set from one of the big fabric and craft stores.  It is called Sunny Days. These consist of precut pieces that just need to be sewn together. You can collect 12 blocks and the finishing kit, add batting, and backing and you have an entire quilt.  At the time I didn't really know anything about making a quilt and this seemed like a place to start.  I managed to get the entire thing pieced and sandwiched and even started to quilt it.  Again, not knowing anything about quilting, I bought a walking foot for my meager machine.  But I wasn't trying to sew straight lines, I was doing star bursts.  Needless to say, I broke several needles trying to turn the quilt in the machine to create these designs.  I got so frustrated I just balled it all up and threw it in the attic.  Did I mention that I didn't know anything about anything and did not prewash my backing or anything else.  The backing is a deep blue that turned my machine blue too.

So that brings us to around 2009, I have just completed the little Christmas tree quilt by hand and have decided to hand quilt the Sunny Days quilt.  If I just do one block every week or two it will be done in no time, right?  And that brings us to today... I am still plugging along on the Sunny Days and am determined to finish it, some day.  It is my "in bewteen" project, when I don't have anything else going and want to grab a hand project to work on.

CG's quilt made to coordinate with an existing quilt, Turning Twenty
I HAVE completed a quilt using Turning Twenty pattern that I sent out to be quilted.  My youngest son is the owner of that.  So is Turning Twenty my first quilt or the little Christmas tree,or the Sunny Days?

This post was inspired by Bonnie K. Hunter of Quiltville.  Go visit her First Quilt post here:  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2011/11/first-quilts.html

She is also the author of the Mystery Quilt I am doing. That project is up to date, much to the dismay of my other UFO's waiting for me.

(By the way, one of those projects from the big box is still unfinished. It is a latch hook rug tree skirt that is about to make another move to yet another house.  When should I give up on it?  I'm pretty sure latch hook will come back in style, won't it?)

1 comment:

  1. oops, i accidentally removed all the comments from my blog. ugh!

    ReplyDelete