Tuesday, July 07, 2009

My First Quilt

Camille and Carrie are hosting a Parade of Quilts! Here is my first quilt:

Sorry, it's not the best picture, but hopefully you can get a sense of the wonderful polyester double knit goodness that is this quilt. My grandma helped me make this quilt when I was 13. Now, this wasn't what I had in mind when she asked me if I'd like to make a quilt with her. I don't know exactly what I had in mind, but it wasn't double knit polyester. And I have to confess my heart sank a little when Grandma brought out the neat stacks of already cut poly squares. But I went ahead with it, and it turned out ok. The main skills I learned from Grandma while making this quilt were chain piecing, and how to piece batting, when we made this quilt. We put it up on quilt frames in her living room and she helped me tie it. (When I was growing up that's how I thought all quilts were finished--tied with acrylic yarn.)

After it was off the frames, I wasn't in love with the quilt, and I just put it away with unfinished edges, for a long time. My grandma passed away about 5 years after we made this quilt, and soon after her death I got the quilt out and finished up the edges by just folding them in and zigzagging close to the edge. I like the quilt a lot, because of the memories of my sweet Grandma that it holds. I call it my "ugly quilt" and I tell everyone about it, and about my grandma. I still use it on my bed every winter.

And... here is my most recent quilt:

My kids' handprints for my mom, for mother's day.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is one very special quilt! a gift from your Grandma to you. I love your hand print quilt gift too.

Leslie said...

double knit polyester may not be the best fabric but you sure have a wonderful story. i love the hands quilt..and the parade of quilts is such a fun idea..

RosaMarĂ­a said...

that quilt with the handsprint is so cute!!

Carrie said...

I love the quilt you made with your grandmother ~ polyester and all! I admit it, it's the story behind the making of the quilt that I particularly love.

I am sure that the beautiful little handprint quilt you've made for your mother will be as much of a treasure.

Thank you for sharing your quilts and for playing along! :)

Mommyof2girlz/StephD said...

Those are great! Love the little hand prints!!

Audrie said...

Such a great memory and story behind your first quilt :) The handprints are just too cute!

Betsy said...

The colors on your first quilt are marvalous!

Dena said...

I think our first quilt is always our most treasured one, especially when they hold such precious memories. Now that you're a more experienced quilter, you probably realize how challenging it was for you to use double knit polyester for your first quilting project.

JC said...

Great job for your first quilt. I hope to get some private lessons soon, and as someone said, nice colors.

Julie @ Jaybird Quilts said...

great story! i wish i had a story like that... but i learned to quilt from simple quilts! and your recent one.. with the hands!! priceless!

Mary on Lake Pulaski said...

Great story - thank you for sharing! I'm already enjoying the parade.

Dotty said...

Awe what a lovely quilt, to look at as well as the love story about how you made it.

Camille said...

Love the story behind your first quilt- what a treasure. I'm a sucker for handprints too, I love to stitch or stamp them. Its too bad they grow so fast! Grandma is going to love it!

Thanks for sharing!

Leisel said...

How cute! I did one similar with my grandma when I was about 13. We made mine out of gingham in about 7 different colors. And we used the quilt frames to tie it all up. Great memories! And your latest is very cute! Great idea for Mom's Day!

Katie B said...

I love your handprints! What a great gift.

Peanut Blossom said...

I love the handprints! What a fantastic idea. My mom would love something like this, did you embroider the print outlines??

Gigi's Thimble said...

I love both of them! The first one is beautiful - great colors and design. I have an "ugly" quilt too, LOL! The hand print quilt is darling. What a great idea to do the hand prints in embroidery. Colors are great too.

Nanette Merrill said...

Aw love the quilts. So sweet.

Erica said...

That is wonderful, my grandmother is a quilter, though she's not quilted in awhile. I made a tie quilt with my Mom as a teenager ( I got to pick the fabric), but it feel apart years later, I wonder if I have any pictures of it, I loved it! I've not made another quilt on my own, but am wanting to give it a try.