7.08.2009

My First Quilt


So ... the powers that be over at Carrie's and Camille's have suggested to the rest of us that it would be fun to show off our first quilt and our latest quilt. Having perused the offerings so far, I was a tad hesitant to show off my first quilt. Just keep in mind that I made this sometime in the early to mid 90's. Also keep in mind that this was the first quilt I made after having actually taken some classes. There were some others but I no longer have them.

Please ... be kind.

My favorite thing about this quilt is that I hand quilted it and I didn't do a half bad job for a first-timer. Okay, so the very first quilt (which is basically one block and one of my daughters has it to hang as a vintage oddity) was hand quilted also and those stitches were basically hand basting.

My least favorite part (other than the fading, which occurred because I let it hang with some serious sun on it for several years) is the binding. I didn't know how to do mitered corners so I just ... avoided them. The tacking down of the binding on the other side is done with huge, slanted stitches. I purposely chose not to post a picture of them. I did have a huge grin on my face yesterday when I got the quilt down off the closet shelf and studied it. This was just after I returned my bag to the closet which contained my supplies/samples/handouts for the class I taught yesterday morning, here, called ... Better Bindings.

You may have already seen this, my latest quilt. I've called it "sum, sum, summertime". I'm thinking that I have learned a few things in 15 years. Good to know.

Thanks Carrie and Camille. Now I'll go and continute salivating over all the others.

Posted by Picasa

10 comments:

Carrie said...

Mary ~ Just be glad you didn't start quilting in the early 1980s when the fabric and color selections were quite a bit more "limited"!

I love your quilts ~ old and new! And if it makes you feel better, I did the same thing on the corners of my early quilts! I didn't know how to do a miter and I didn't like the box-corner thing. So rounded corners were the only option. Sum, Sum, Summertime is wonderful ~ bright, happy, and very, very cheery!

Mrs. Dub said...

You've come a long way baby -- although, I still feel such nostalgia for that first quilt.

As for my first quilt, I'm still waiting on that one until I can get private lessons (daily) from my favorite quilter.

Sherri said...

I love both of your quilts...and I also think it's wonderful that you hand quilted your first one!

Camille said...

Sum Sum Summertime has me singing in my head now. Gee, thanks! ;-) Perfect name for your quilt though- it's great! Love the colors you used.

Kelley Bochman Smith said...

in awe as usual at your quilting/sewing skills! miss you my friend...kiss those Dubb babies for me, inside and out!

Lynette Anderson said...

I am loving visiting all the first and recent quilts on everyones blog. The colours in your sum sum summer quilts re so pretty.

Katie B said...

I love how you said you didn't know how to do the mitered corners so you just avoided them. Sounds familiar...

Lovely quilts!

Anonymous said...

The house quilt is just adorable!

cathleen said...

I LOVE your first quilt. And I also really adore your summertime quilt. Sorry your suffering with such unbearably hot weather, Mary.

Lucy said...

It's so amazing that you hand quilted your first quilt. Heck I have not even done that yet. I know the feeling about "early" binding problems... I so much want to redo the one I did for my brother. But how cool is it that you are now teaching how to do bindings. That's great!!

I love the scallop stitching on the Summertime quilt -- the perfect accent. Thanks for sharing.