My first quilt
Several quilt designers posted a challenge to show your first and most recent quilts. I'm late for the party, unfortunately (too late to enter with a chance to win a prize), but I thought I'd play along anyhow.
As I referenced in my last post, quilting runs in my family. As a child, I can remember sitting next to my mom's sewing machine, looking thru the trash for scraps to sew together. Frequently, those were scraps from clothing, though later (as my mom got more time to quilt) they'd be scraps of her latest quilting project. Most of my early projects were made almost entirely out of scraps. There's a small bag I still use in my quilt closet that was actually the result of sewing scraps together.
Around 7th grade, we decided I'd make my first real quilt. I chose a pattern from a Georgia Bonesteel book, called Slanted Stars (the pattern is sometimes called X-quisite, also). It was a project specifically designed for kids. The book showed happy children with small doll-or baby sized quilts. Those were too small for me - I wound up doing a full-sized quilt.
Over Christmas vacation spent in the Phoenix area (visiting my grandparents), we visited several fabric/quilt stores where I started to pick out fabrics. The cactus fabrics (green, blue & pink) in the finished quilt came from there. Other fabrics were leftovers from mom's projects, tiny amounts purchased at other stores, and even a few were leftover from clothing.
I think my mom cut most of the pieces for me, though I don't totally remember. I do remember labeling every white square with a piece of masking tape & a number. A corresponding chart indicated exactly which fabrics should go on which numbered square. (Without a chart like that, a slated stars quilt becomes jumbled, and you can't really see the stars.)
I sat in the small front bedroom of our old house in Madison and sewed each block, referring to my chart. I'm certain my mom helped a lot. My points aren't perfect, but they're not entirely bad, either (they're not supposed to meet up along the sides).
As I referenced in my last post, quilting runs in my family. As a child, I can remember sitting next to my mom's sewing machine, looking thru the trash for scraps to sew together. Frequently, those were scraps from clothing, though later (as my mom got more time to quilt) they'd be scraps of her latest quilting project. Most of my early projects were made almost entirely out of scraps. There's a small bag I still use in my quilt closet that was actually the result of sewing scraps together.
Around 7th grade, we decided I'd make my first real quilt. I chose a pattern from a Georgia Bonesteel book, called Slanted Stars (the pattern is sometimes called X-quisite, also). It was a project specifically designed for kids. The book showed happy children with small doll-or baby sized quilts. Those were too small for me - I wound up doing a full-sized quilt.
Over Christmas vacation spent in the Phoenix area (visiting my grandparents), we visited several fabric/quilt stores where I started to pick out fabrics. The cactus fabrics (green, blue & pink) in the finished quilt came from there. Other fabrics were leftovers from mom's projects, tiny amounts purchased at other stores, and even a few were leftover from clothing.
I think my mom cut most of the pieces for me, though I don't totally remember. I do remember labeling every white square with a piece of masking tape & a number. A corresponding chart indicated exactly which fabrics should go on which numbered square. (Without a chart like that, a slated stars quilt becomes jumbled, and you can't really see the stars.)
I sat in the small front bedroom of our old house in Madison and sewed each block, referring to my chart. I'm certain my mom helped a lot. My points aren't perfect, but they're not entirely bad, either (they're not supposed to meet up along the sides).
In the end, we sent the quilt to be machine quilted. I'm pretty sure this (and the Irish Chain my mom was doing around the same time) were the first quilts we had machine quilted (my mom could do much better today!). My quilt got a squiggle design alternating with a star-and-moon design. We finished the edge with prairie points.
This label was added probably in 1998 or 1999 (when the quilt was displayed at a trunk show). But, the dates listed are accurate - counting quilting & binding, this quilt took 3 years. By the time it was finished, I think I had a different sized bed, so I'm not sure I even slept under it much!
The fabrics show their age, definitely. But, I think being a scrappy quilt with lots of white helps it stay looking somewhat classic. Considering that I did most of the design work in 1992 & 1993 (15+ years ago), I think it holds up pretty well.
Labels: quilting
posted by Becky Laswell at
8:16 AM
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