My first quilt was made of hand cut 2 " squares, but machine stitched together on my mother's featherweight which she had given me. It was pretty wonky and the wonderful ladies who hand quilted it never said a word. Bless them for that-any criticism and I might have been turned off of sewing forever, but I did sew clothing for the family for years. That was 50 years ago and I still have the quilt and I see my awful cutting and sewing and their wonderful stitching. I really wanted to quilt, but couldn't handle the scissors well-my hands just became double jointed after a few minutes.

Cyn, cute quilt in your avatar.

Absolutely! My first quilt was made in the early '70's from a pattern (probably Simplicity) that required squares and triangles cut from cardboard templates. Then I started a Dresden plate in the late '70's that was a QAYG style. Never finished it. Then a sampler from a real class taken at a real quilt shop. The rest is history. I love the new methods and techniques but I can rest in peace - if all my toys suddenly disappear I could continue with just the rudimentary supplies.

I cut and completed three bed quilts. If I had to do it today, it would never happen. LOL

I did . My first 4 were hand pieced and hand quilted, scissors and templates. A full size sampler, a twin size grandmothers fan , a sampler lap quilt, and a full size I made for my dad and stepmom. And for the life Of me I cannot rememember what it was right now. There was also an ocean waves that I cut out with templates and scissors but machine stitched.

I remember cardboard templates and drawing around them with a pencil. Ugh. Give me a rotary cutter.

December, 09: found partially finished quilt blocks of my mom's. Should I throw them out? Mmmm, maybe I'll try to make something out of them. Two months later I had made a king size quilt, sewn on my ancient Singer and hand quilted. Isn't pretty but my son loves it! Decided this was fun and maybe I should take a quilting class. You mean there are things to measure and cut with? Wow! Rotary cutters, rulers, cutting mats, baby irons, fabric! I thought I'd found Aladdin's treasure when I first walked into JoAnn's. A dozen quilts and a thousand dollars later, I'm obsessed. This from a non-button-sewer-on who thought quilts came from the department store.

I started in 1975 with an appliqued dog quilt for a friend who was pregnant. Then an 8 pointed star in red, white, and blue. Followed by a Dresden Plate, 2 appliqued sea shell quilts, queen sized, and a sampler. I had teen agers and I needed something to keep me sane! The 2 sea shells were wedding presents for DD and DS. They were married a week apart. I made DD's wedding gown and veil during that time also. And moved from Pensacola to Memphis. I was a true blue Navy Wife! O for a little of that energy now! All those were done with scissors and a yard stick.

Worst "experience" .. at least to date. I cut each and every one of the little
diamonds for a king size Broken Star quilt with a metal template ...(before
discovering the easy method in Blanche Young's book) and subsequently
finished it with hand-quilting of Feathered Wreaths in all plain areas, and
a Cable design in the outer border. I think it was outstanding when
finished, and only charged my customer/friend $200.
Guess I qualify for the Funny Farm after that one.

I also started quilting pre rotery cutter. I remember working on a Log Cabin, & had so much trouble getting the seams to match up. Then I also did an applique quilt, no fusing , just machine zig zag. I enjoyed doing them, but find this so much more fun.