I made a quilt for my little nephew (he's 36 now) when he graduated middle school. I hadn't been quilting long and didn't have any mentors-and this was before rotary cutters and cool rulers, back in the day when you traced your pattern on the back from templates made from cereal boxes or milk jugs.

I remember I was so proud of how it turned out. It looked fabulous, the colors were good and the kid liked it.

So 25 + years later, I visited my nephew and family and find they are using the quilt as a head board at the lake house. Cool, they are still using it. It still looks good, then I start to really look and see all the obvious mistakes. OMG.... I can't believe I actually gave this away and was proud of it. Well, for a first try it's not bad really.

I"m just happy that I've improved dramatically.

The important thing is that they love it and use it. Kudos to you. Thank you for sharing.

My DD has the first quilt I made, a baby quilt that was for her. I used it and now she is going to use it for her first daughter (3rd child). She says it's still in great shape. I made that quilt before I knew a single thing about quilting. Winged it the whole way, gosh, I'd sure love to be able to inspect it now, LOL!

I can relate with you. It just proves how much love is in a quilt and how much it is treasured.

I think it looks pretty good for a first quilt. Can't say mine looked any better. Heck I still can't figure alot of things out, but I keep plugging away. :D If I had made that quilt I would have been proud too. I think you did a nice job. :thumbup:

Your nephew sees only the love in the quilt.

I think this was the very first quilt I actually finished and gave to someone.

I was very fortunate when I was growing up, my Aunt was a longer armer. She could fix a bunch of my problems. The only problem was she did it without telling me because she didn't want to hurt my feelings.

Which was nice, but it would have been nice to learn from my mistakes.

She lived a long way from me, so I mailed her the top and backing material and she quilted it for me for $20. Now, that tells you how long ago it was.

sounds like a wonderfully loved quilt! i have seen a couple i made years ago too- i've repaired a couple- and love seeing them being used...in what ever way they are used.

Great first quilt! Neat that they are still using it! :)

What a cool story, and love the pics.

What good "stories" your making for your life. They love your quilt. It is part of their lives...how neat.

Isn't funny to look back, I too just recently laid eyes on my 1st quilt. I made it for my sister as a wedding present. Now 27 years later they still have it and use it, oh what a mess lol, but she can always say she had the 1st one when I'm dead and famous!!! Your story and quilt are precious.!

I was called in the year after I made it to make repairs.

In the beginning I wasn't very good about keeping the fabric edges even, and I'd have a 1/4" seam on one side and barely sewn on the other. So after it was washed it was in pretty bad shape.

I'd also use cardboard templates and not replace them so the blocks slowly got smaller as I made them because the cardboard would wear down. Remember those problems?


I'm very happy that we have such an active quilting community now to learn from each other. Learn for each other's mistakes.

:thumbup: We all started some where. My first was destroied in a house fire

It is still looking well taken care of, which is a compliment to the quilter!

I have the first quilt I ever made -- it was for my son -- he was 15. It is a tree of life -- it went to college with him -- he slept wrapped up like a mummy in it. Many washings later, it even went in his backpack to Russia and Albania where he was teaching the Red Guard camp boys how to play baseball. It was a swap arranged by the YMCA.

He brought it back to me when he got married and asked if I could repair it. One of the fabrics was shredded. -- probably it was a used piece cut from a shirt. It is still in a chest waiting for me to do it. So many memories go into making a quilt..He was in a body cast and I was in a walking cast that summer as I hand quikted it.

He is 54 now
\Mim

lol, yes. I have given my family and friends life long mending promises ;-)

yep, just finished mending two of them - one for gs was 15 yrs old, one for son was 22 yrs old. both well loved and used. Can't believe how many mistakes there were LOL

Isn't that funny? I always tell people if it has a problem let me know and I'll see how to fix it. I used to try to keep some scraps of each fabric, but then I forget why I've kept them and wind up using them.

Once I got the 1/4" seam down pat-with all fabrics even, a lot of my mending problems disappeared.

Now my mending consists of applique. Yes, a little something cute strategically placed over a hole works wonders.

Sarah

What a great story!!!
I didn't realize they made LA's back then! When I looked at the pics I was surprised it was machine quilted.
Thanks for sharing- I still love your nephew's quilt!! Warts and all :)

At the time I didn't know it had a name, it was just a big sewing machine on a frame with templates you moved the stylus over to get the design you wanted. It was so cool.

I can't even imagine how much it cost her. My dad built a room off the side of her house to hold it. Back in the day when you could do that without building permits and HOA restrictions.

My 1st quilts wouldn't look too hot after 25yrs.....so yours had to be well made to make it & still be a well loved quilt.

A few years ago, a young mom in our church asked me if I recognized this quilt. It was the first baby quilt that I had made and it was for her first child. She was using it for her fourth! I didn't look at it real close but I did remark that I was happy that it held together so I must have done something right! The first child is about 9 or 10 now.

If he's still using it after 25 years, he obviously saw something in it that you missed (other than your mistakes) Perhaps it was the love.
Just as obviously, 25 years ago, you saw love rather than mistakes. Try looking at it again and try to recapture the old feelings OR get the H--- out of nephew's room before you contaminate the quilt with you aged cynicism. Shame on you, here's 40 lashes with a wet noodle LOL
I've looked at your pics carefully and considered your story - ALL I SEE IS LOVE

Obviously it has been well loved and used all these years. Not such a bad job after all!

That's a pretty quilt, just think of all the great use it's had over the years. The only ones who criticize our works of love is us, we all expect or at least hope they all turn out perfect, but remember each "mistake" just adds to the uniqueness(? is that a word?) of our gift.

My first big quilt was for my second grdaughter,she had it for years adn dragged it around every place she lived.When she brought it to me the first time for mending,I was so shocked about the little I knew about quilting.I mended it several times and finally she knew she had to let it go.Asked me what I could do to save some of it,a pillow was made and she still has that. i doubt she even lets her family breathe on it.She is very sentimental about items made for her.

:lol: It's the guest room. They put a couple twin beds in and then strung a rope between the 2 lights and hung the quilt to make a psuedo headboard. I thought it was quite ingenious. You get to do stuff like that at a lake house. :lol:

Actually when I first saw it did remember how proud I was of it. It was after I sat on the bed and noticed the details...but honestly it didn't really detract from how happy I was to see he was still using it. I know most people don't know the finer points of quilting. They aren't the quilt police-yeah. Most people just see the time and work you've put in for them and appreciate the love involved. :thumbup:

Been there, done that! Same scenario.

We all had to start some were , just think how far you have come , I would die if anyone saw my first quilt , I gave it to my MIL she love it.

Absolutely! and so big! my first quilt was a 40x40 red/white quilt (of just 5 inch squares) for my last daughter. before that I only crocheted.

first quilts last quilts does not matter our mistakes is not what count the love in it is very special

I didn't much like the first quilts I made. I gave one to my sister and she still uses it on her bed and loves it. The others I gave to Goodwill. This was in the early 70's. Just last fall I was thumbing through some quilting books on old quilts at the bookstore and there was one of my poorly made quilts in the book as "an example of quilts made in the 70's" The author said she found the quilt at a Goodwill store and thought it was unique. It was my quilt because I embroidered my daughter's name on it and sure enough there was her name. I wish I had bought the book now but I just didn't have the money at the time.

my first quilt is at my DD and has been used and washed many times faded from sunlight also and that is a blessing the colors were way to strong so it has greatly improved with age !

I still have the first quilt I made in 1968.....a Dresden Plate from bright calicoes on white muslin. Every piece was cut with scissors. The petals were stitched by machine and every plate was hand appliqued. I laugh every time I look at it.

What a nice tribute to you!!! It is truely a gift from the heart and the recipient knew it!!! It is BEAUTIFUL

Love your story and the fact that it is still loved and in use. You've come a long way, baby!!

It is very cute and how neat is it that they still use it. They obviously like it too.

I've only been quilting since 2008, but I kept my first quilt specifically so I could see my progress. The woman who taught me to quilt showed the class her first quilt, and I thought it was great that she still had it. A first quilt is a masterpiece, if for no other reason than being finished!

After 25 yrs of loving use, it deserves to be a little unravelled. LOL