WMUTeach

Janice, you HST quilt looks a lot like on of my hospice donation quilts. I really like the versatility of HSTs.

Enjoying the First Quilt Stories everyone. More than one of us are book taught or self taught. I still need to take a photo of mine but I just pulled it out of the cupboard that holds my nearest and dearest quilts. Boy or boy is it faded. I did not know about the danger of sunlight on quilts. Anyway, more later when I have a photo.

BTW, I mailed my package for our May birthday gal yesterday, April 21. Now off to take a walk before it rains or gets dark.

Thank you, Gemm. I did take a peek at the free quilt pattern(s) . The squares used are 2" but 2.5's can be made into 2". Right? It would be HUGE if 2.5's were used. but it sure looks terrific.

WMUTeach

Well it is time to share my first proper quilt. I did make some quilted pillow covers before this and I still have one of those, bu this is my first true quilt.

I made it for my office that was filled with traditional office equipment and lots of junk. The previous person who used the office was a hoarder or at least very messy. I cleaned out so much stuff that it seemed empty and sterile. This was a preschool director's office and I wanted to create a warm cozy place to talk with parents, children, staff and to interview new employees. So, I made the quilt to soften the painted cinder block walls. It worked and hung in place for 10 years.

Before this quilt effort I was a garment maker, so I knew my way around a sewing machine but not the process of quilt making. I could follow directions and I did, using a cardboard template and scissors! Yes, I have the paper template tucked away for posterity or for fire lighting after I am gone. I machine pieced and hand quilted around the cats and open spaces of each block, then hand quilted whiskers and the hump of the back leg and tail, although those are difficult to see. It is a little wonky possibly made worse from hanging but for #1 not too bad. What I certainly did not know was the impact of sunlight on the colors of the fabric. Some faded so much I have gray cats while others as just a little grayed out. All were at one time shades of green. Why green cats? That is what I had on hand I guess from making little girls dresses.

That is my story, my quilty friends and I cherish this first quilt for it's kitties and example of what I could do when I was determined.

LAF2019

May birthday candies went out yesterday.

Gemm

Or... you could choose your favourite 12 blocks and make a 3x4 with candies... :-)

pamelor

Here is my first quilt, from about 4 years ago. I've not made that many. My boyfriend bought a sewing machine during covid to make masks, which we tried to do but weren't too good at. Then I found a book by Boo Davis "Dare to be Square" at a Little Free library and she made quilting seem doable. I thought her color choices and designs could use improvement, but the concepts seemed simple enough and she laid out all the steps from piecing to quilting on a home machine. I then did a Youtube search and found Donna Jordan's videos and that was it! My first quilt was a Donna Jordan design. I watched so many of her videos over and over again to learn the basics.

Janice McC

Pamelor, great first quilt. Love the pattern and the back is so much better than one solid fabric.

pamelor

Thank you Janice! All my backs are pieced to a certain extent now. It's more fun, I have lots of scraps, and extra-wide backing fabrics seem to never be to my liking. I think the back to the Merry Mayhem quilt turned out better than the front.
I've really enjoyed seeing everyone's first quilts.
Candies should go out in the mail tomorrow.

WMUTeach

I agree with Pamelor, I am so enjoying the quilt show-and-tell of your first quilts. Hope to have more join us but we have time. I am impressed with the number of quilters that did not learn at "our mother's knee" but from books and YouTube. I learned much from this site and comments made by seasoned quilters as they helped newbies solve a problem. Jenny Doan also contributed to with comments like "press to the dark side" and "set your seams first then press". It is those little hints and cues that make quilting so much more than stitching pieces of fabric together.

Thanks for the notices of packages sent. I appreciate it and so will our birthday swapper.

redpurselady

Well I finally remembered today is the 25th to post some quilts I have made. I mostly sew for charity, all of these tops and tote have been donated.

pamelor

Wow, redpurselady, I love these! The one with the black on the end is my favorite.