Showing posts with label first quilt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label first quilt. Show all posts

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Quilt Festival!

This post is for the quilt festival that is happening on Amy's blog: Park City Girl. 
She has organized an online quilt festival where quilters from all over have blogged about a special quilt and linked back to her blog. Take some time to check it out. If you are coming here from the quilt festival ~ 

Welcome!

This is the quilt that I consider my most special. It is actually the very first quilt that I made. When I first moved up to the Adirondacks about 6 years ago, I decided that it was time to learn how to quilt. I had always been fascinated by quilts and living in a more rural area inspired me. I asked my mom for a sewing machine for Christmas and of course she came through. 

I immediately started sewing (I hadn't touched a machine since Home Ec in junior high (and that was way long ago).
I tried out a few things but had it in my mind to make a real quilt. A lovely,  scrappy, colorful,  beauty. 

Without a fabric stash how is one to make a scrappy quilt? My solution was bidding on 4" squares on ebay of course! I bid and bid and sewed and sewed! 

I used 2 contrasting 4" squares to make 2 of the diamond in a square blocks. After I made up many I decided I wanted some organization in the layout. I arranged them by diamond colors and sewed them into 9 patches. 

I was substitute teaching at the time and after I finished the top I showed it to a teacher who I knew quilted for some advice (like what do I do next!). She was a bit surprised when I told her this was my first quilt. She was also taken back by the weight. Apparently there is an easier, more efficient way to make these blocks and the way I made them uses a lot more thread!

She sent me to a proper quilt shop to pick out the backing material and then I had to decide how to finish it. I could have gotten someone to long arm quilt it for me but I wanted complete ownership over its making. Unsure of my experience with quilting the top I decided to tie it. I did sew the binding on and hand finished that. 

This quilt measures 68 x 82. The inside is warm & natural cotton batting.  It is exactly what I love about quilts ~ Color, simple shapes, a feast for the eyes, and warmth! 

This is my treasure, not in my etsy store, definitely not for sale!