This month I want to share with you more quilts of my own making. If you have been reading my articles you know that I am an OLD quilter, not professional by any means, keep lots of books at hand to solve any problems, and have a passion for quilts and quilting.
My first quilt was a whole cloth embroidered top with blue quilting lines (which, incidently, never washed out). My mother, my sister and I struggled getting it embroidered. I worked on it for months, then my sister took pity on me and took it to her house and she slaved over it, then our mother took it in hand at her house and we finally got the embroidery done. Now the quilting was up to me and I knew nothing, nothing about it. What do I use for the back, and what about batting? Also, what thread, and the knots, how can I hide the knots? Finally it was done and I did use it.
Then I took a class on beginning quilting where we made a quilted pillow top which included some nine-patch blocks and an appliqued bee - several basics there. After the pillow experience I saw a Grandmother's Flower Garden in a magazine. I traced the hexagon pattern on sandpaper for a template (learned that in the class) and started on the Flower Garden.
Five years later, I finished it. Five Years! I had worked on it often but it was a terribly slow process putting those little pieces together by hand, and also hand quilted.
A quilt every five years? There must be a better way. I enrolled in another class on beginning quilting and this time it was on rotary cutting and strip piecing by machine. I found this to be a much better approach to quilt making. Handquilting is still a slow process so for my own quilts, I often machine quilt following the blocks outlines.
- Amish couch throw with matching pillows
The applique learned in the early class was applied in this butterfly quilt below. At the time I made it, I wasn't pleased with the result. I though it looked tacky. I had designed the butterflies and I am no artist. A friend wanted it for her mother-in-law so I SOLD it! How I wish I had that quilt back. In the photo it doesn't look at all as tacky as I thought back then.
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