Thursday, January 31, 2013

First Quilts and Unfinished Class Projects

This little wall hanging (15 by 18inches) was a class project at a local quilt shop–my first adventure in hand appliqué. Around the same time, I'd learned to hand quilt and so I hand-quilted it.

  Made by Hand

There were some problems in the borders and so it languished unfinished for years. Last week, when my machine was dead, I pulled it out and decided to look past the warts and just finish it. It's a sweet little reminder of just how much my appliqué technique has improved and how surprisingly OK my first attempt at hand quilting was. Since I have a plan to hand quilt this winter, it is somehow reassuring. 

Do you save/display your first quilts?  All of my early pieced quilts (throws and bed-sized) were given away as gifts or donated to charity quilt efforts. But I still have a few, mostly workshop projects, some of which are in the UFO trunk, like this one was. 

It's one of four projects finished in January, including the table topper that was my designated Lovely Finish for this month. If I can keep up this kind of mix of new and old projects in 2013, I'll be a happy quilter.

January 2013 Finishes 

1. April-December Romance, 2. Johnny Be Good, 3. Table Topper and the Rug/Color Inspiration, 4. Bloom where you are planted, 5. Detail from Bloom, 6. Back of Bloom - Quilting Detail, 7. Detail of first hand appliqué and hand quilting, 8. Made by Hand, 9. Quilting Detail - Large 9-patch blocks, 10. Small Comfort - A Scrap Quilt, 11. Quilting Detail Large Star Block, 12. Scrappy green binding

I'm updating this post to join the Weekend Update on the Block Lotto and Fresh Sewing Day on Lily's Quilts.

7 comments:

Quilting Babcia said...

What a lovely first quilt! It's so much fun to revisit those first creations isn't it! My first "real" quilt was also an applique project for a quilting class taken way back in 1983! It's hiding out on my blog on an 'early quilts' page, and is now tucked safely away in a drawer after hanging in the guest room for many years.

Gail in Vegas said...

The first quilt I made in the late 70s, I gave to my mother. When she died about 6 years ago, I found it when cleaning out her house and have it back! My second quilt, which I kept, got a lot of use and is stored so that the holes won't get any bigger!

Christine Thresh said...

Such a sweet first quilt.

Béa said...

Lovely first quilt !
Congrats on your january's finishes, all beautiful.

Anonymous said...

Great first applique. It's as cute as can be, and I'm glad you finished it. My first quilt, and first finished quilt, was a huge one for my son. He still has it, and I'm not going to say how long that's been! But its decades. =)

Siouxzq64@gmail.com said...

That is a great finish. I too have one of those in progress a 30 year old UFO that I pulled out and am going to rework.

Pattilou said...

Love seeing your first project! I wish I still had my first project--well I do have the very first quilt I did with my grandmother. It's about the size of a large greeting card. My first one though I sort of knew what I wanted in my head--no pattern and I just started cutting and sewing. I've learned so much since then. I now wish I still had it, but like you, I've given many away through the years. That one went to some lucky garage sale purchaser for I think $20. Oh well, we were moving and needed the space! My MIL still has one that I hand quilted for her 50th wedding anniversary. Hand quilted on tricot. It was a passing fad back in the 80's around these parts. It is still quite nice on her bed in her assisted living small apartment.

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