Ammoman Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 I’ve seen a lot of first quilts being posted lately and this has inspired me to write. Every time I see a new post, I’m both happy and sad for the proud owner. Happy, because it’s an accomplishment worth showing off and sad, because the owner will never make a first quilt again. Do you remember making your first quilt? Do you remember your mistakes? Sometimes I wish I could go back and revisit the first day I sat down to a sewing machine. My mindset was that of a man completely unaware. A child if you will. A child let loose without training wheels on a busy street. I was completely oblivious to the dangers of quilting. Nobody told me I was flirting with a drug. Nobody said there would be a quest for that perfect stitch, that perfect pattern or that perfect seam pressed hard and flat. I would love to hear from each and every one of you. I want to see more pictures. I want to know what inspired you to make that first quilt. How did you feel when you were making it and how did it affect you when it was done? It does not matter how ugly you think it is or how bad you feel the piecing was. What matters, is you did it. You finished something you started and there was passion in the process. You picked out your fabric. You had an idea in your head, and you made that idea come to life. Pure and simple; there was magic being performed the day you made your first quilt and you were the magician. I’ll start by telling you about mine. When I made my first quilt, I knew what I wanted to do and I just did it. No measuring, no pressing, no pattern planned on paper; just sewing fabric with fervor and disregarding my wife’s pleas to teach me the proper methods of quilting. As the devil guided my insanity, a fifteen-dollar workhorse (in dire need of oil) screamed for relief. I say the devil because of the sins I committed. My needle was dull, rusty, and unchanged. If I had pricked myself, I am sure I would have succumbed to lock jaw within minutes. My seams were three quarters of an inch and ruthlessly pounded into old unwashed fabric. Like waves in a meandering river, nothing was even. No four corners came together and the word square was nowhere to be found. That said, everything was perfect (in my mind). Yes, I created my first masterpiece in under 12 hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
appr216 Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 WOW, sounds like you were in heaven!!! Would love to see the pic. First quilt I made was left over material from clothes I had made for my three daughters when they were little (25 years ago!!!) Oldest daughter owns the "prize" which is safely tucked away in north Texas!!! Judi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 My first quilt was a small sized lap quilt that I gave to my Mother for Christmas. Her Mother had been quite a quilter...hand quilter, but my Mother mainly sewed clothing, not quilts. A friend of mine/a co-worker quilted and she showed me several quilts she had made. They looked more like comforters, big and puffy, and were tied. I thought they were beautiful. She gave me a copy of an old magazine article with directions for a quilt. It was similar to a rail fence, but with only two wide rectangles, which when sew together measured 4 inches square. The quilt was to be sewn right sides together and turned through the small opening, then tied. Well, I started reading up on quilting a bit and decided I wanted to bind my quilt. After it was bound, I went to the intersections and started to tie them. Humm, I was using very flat cotton batting and my tied corners didn\'t look right to me. Then I went back and decided to SID and leave the ties in the quilt. So, that was my finished product, tied and SID. It is two shades of blue flowered print, a medium and a dark, sort of Civil war Era style. My intersections all met perfectly. I was so proud of this quilt! My Mother got teary eyed when she received it and I told her it was my very first one. I never took a picture of it, but one of these days I will. She usually has it folded up on the bottom of her bed. BTW, my Mother is 90 year old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
appr216 Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 Ammoman, I love it. Thanks for the pic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 My first quilt belongs to my niece Veaya, who is now six. With the help and guidance of my dear MIL, Ingrid, she and I made it prior to my neice\'s birth in November 2001 (probably made it in Sept. or October 2001). It was a small baby quilt made with the rail fence block and had four little appliqued lambs on it. Ingrid showed me how to piece the rail fence block (I chose pink, purple and white fabrics) and Ingrid satin stitched the cute little lambs and I tied it with pink embroidery floss. Veaya still has that little quilt (she recently moved to Seattle area), but I think one of the seams has come undone. I need to get that quilt back and fix it. I used my old White sewing machine and after that first quilt I knew I was in love with quilting, so I bought a Bernina and started taking many quilt classes in 2002. Here I am today with a longarm and lord knows what the future holds! PS: Since that first quilt I made for Veaya, she probably has four or five more quilts made by Auntie Shana...some big bed quilts, some smaller. I even made her a small log cabin quilt for her little dolly to sleep under. Here is an OLD photo of Veaya and her dolly with the little dolly quilt. This was taken several years ago, so of course, Veaya is much more grown up now. She\'s not a little girly any more!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anita Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 My first quilt was in 1973. A Texas Star in traditional 70\'s colors....green, orange and brown on a white background. Every piece by hand. I have no clue what inspired me to try to make a quilt or where the pattern came from. Didn\'t know anyone that quilted and didn\'t have any of my own...it was the 70\'s after all. But a passion was born and I\'ve been quilting (well mostly patchwork until recently) on and off since then...off when I didn\'t have the money and/or time. Have no clue where that quilt is today. So when did you make your first quilt Ammoman? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoriasews Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 Being a flower child of the 70\'s, my first quilt was psychodelic in colors and made from clothes, not just any clothes, bright clothes and poly knit plus cotton pieces. Oh, it was so hideous! Where is it now? It probably jumped out a window in an attemp to destroy itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 Shana...my first few quilts were also made on my old White machine; then I got a Bernina, too. My old White is a workhorse; it\'s now at my daughter\'s for mending. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewingsue Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 My first quilt was finding an unfinished quilt my mother had started before she died. I found it very healing to complete the work she started. I then started quilting with our church group that donates the money for hand quilting to charity. My husband became involved when he was diagnosed with an incurable lung industrial disease because he has physical limitations. I have been a domestic sewer, then bought a long arm last year. I am an oncology nurse, and know we all need to pursue creative outlets. Not everything is perfect, as we all are. Just continue to grow and learn. I learn new sewing skills daily, my patients teach me life lessions daily as does my husband. We donated over $3000 last year to charity. Our quilters range in age from 90 to 53. It is the connection with others. thanks, sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phyllis Posted January 25, 2008 Report Share Posted January 25, 2008 My first quilt is now loaded on my machine. It has taken me about four and a half years to do this. I started quilting in 2003 after being hounded by a friend for quite awhile to start.(quilting) I kept telling her that I didn\'t have time to quilt as I already had too many hobbies. I finally gave in and seriously got bitten by the bug. I love my first quilt and it is MINE. When I\'m gone, then my kids can decide who gets it next. It is a fan quilt pattern that was in some magazine and both Audria(friend) and I made one. I chose oriental fabrics. I was truly amazed how it turned out. Yes, it does have mistakes in it but not too bad considering it was my first one. See, you can teach an old dog new tricks. I spend lots of time on the internet studying quilting. I take classes at MQS. I got my long-arm in 2004 because I wanted to do the whole process myself. I\'m still learning and hope I continue to do so all of my life. I\'m so glad that you brought up this subject, Ammoman. It will be so interesting to see what everybody has to say. If I can, I will try to post pictures later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbi Posted January 26, 2008 Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 Wow! I LOVE these stories! My first quilt(s) were for my boys in their first big boy beds. They were 7" squares of their clothes and I used a heavy muslin for the back and I tied them. I had a hard time figuring out why they weren\'t as cozy and warm as the ones Grandma made. I FORGOT the batting! Silly me... And by then (the late \'60\'s) we were rich, big guy was making a wopping $200 a week, a substantial increase from our college income of $75/week. AHHHHH the good ol days! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted January 26, 2008 Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 Bobette, You were rich...in 1967 I was making $68.50 a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phyllis Posted January 26, 2008 Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 Let\'s see if I can get these pictures posted of my first quilt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phyllis Posted January 26, 2008 Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 Full quilt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michelleslongarm Posted January 26, 2008 Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 I started my first quilt in the late 70\'s and just tied it together a few years ago. With the only scissors I could find in the house, I cut out 4 inch squares and laid them out on the floor into a pattern. I had no clue on how to make a quilt. I have no idea what size the seams are, probably 5/8 as that was all I remembered from Home Economics (which I almost failed). It has all those wonderful gold, orange, brown, green (for those of you that remember the green & gold kitchen appliances YUK). My second quilt was for my 13yr old. She picked out all these wild, funky fabrics and I made a log cabin. Spent a fortune on the fabric and the longarm quilting. When it was finished, she informed me that she preferred my quilt from the 70s and never used that funky quilt. The dog sleeps on it now. I am now an addicted quilter that is constantly needing "a fabric fix". I just can\'t stop buying that stuff. I hope I never "kick the habit". Just love it. Smiling.........Michelle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsbishwit Posted January 26, 2008 Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 This is a great topic..my first quilt started with a 2004 New Years resolution. I always told myself that I would learn how to quilt when my kids got older, grown out of the house etc... but on 1/1/2004 I decided that no time was ever going to be the right time and that I might as well just go for it. So being a fan of Simply Quilts I purchased one of Alex Anderson\'s beginner quilting books, decided to do a rail fence wall quilt since it was small and easy. I stuck to 3 colors a light a medium and a dark fabric and followed directions (pretty boring I know, but I was determined to go slow and follow directions) that is until I got to the borders! Everything looked pretty good so I figured I didn\'t need to read any more directions so I just added the borders by measuring the outer edges and not through the centers like you are suppose to, it still looked ok, so I put my walking foot on my sewing machine and started to stitch in the ditch (this was before I got my Liberty). It was only after I had my binding on and then tried to hang it on the wall did my heart just sank! The borders were so wavy that I couldn\'t stand to look at it anymore, lol so what did I do? I ripped all of the quilting out and started taking the quilt top apart to find where I went wrong. Fixed my borders this time by following the directions requilted it and rebound the edges and hung it back up on my wall and to this day it is still on my dining room wall as a reminder to always measure through the center when attatching my borders. Even though I learned the hard way I was hooked after that first wall quilt and started kicking out kid size quilts each week when finally I got tired of making small quilts and tried to quilt a bed sized one on my DSM. Needless to say it wasn\'t long before I found my way to this website in pursuit of a long arm and the rest is history....it is going on 3 years now since I bought my Liberty and I still love piecing as well as quilting. I am so glad I didn\'t wait any longer to learn to quilt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenMcManus Posted January 26, 2008 Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 Like Joann, I taught myself to quilt using Alex Anderson\'s beginning quilting book. It was the rail fence wall hanging also, and I think I used Thimbleberries fabric. I say "I think" because I don\'t have this top anymore. I had the almost completed top in a brown paperbag in the back of my car along with the other paperbags destined for Goodwill. You can guess the ending to this story. But even that can\'t keep a good quilter down, and here I am, four years later, quilting away on my Millie. Yay! Jen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yeoldeforest Posted January 26, 2008 Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 First quilt - a year and half ago. Why does the quilt always look better in "real" life then person. Went to the LQS, was spotted as a Newbie immediately. They gave me a Quilt in a Day Flying Geese book then I spotted the half-price material and the rest is history. Not sure if I want to sew any more flying geese blocks but we fight over the quilt on a cold night on the living room couch. Also, decided that the stitch-n-ditch was a pain in the !$%$% on my DM. The quilt was originally made for my daughter, hence the horses, but I liked it too much when I got done. She is in that "...don\'t appreciate anything...cause I\'m a teenager and know everything..." mode so I didn\'t mind keeping it for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbi Posted January 27, 2008 Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 It doesn\'t matter if you are a new quilter or an old hand at it, it\'s the work we all love. Grandma used to tell me "each stitch is a labor of love" I try to pass that on when I sign my quilts, and give them to family or friends. Besides, it\'s the thread that binds all of US together! (was that too pun-y?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbi Posted January 27, 2008 Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 Sandra: I know what you mean.... I didn\'t even work til after college (and marriage) then it was I don\'t know, $2/hr? or more? We didn\'t neeed much then did we! But we had everything we needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtreusch Posted January 27, 2008 Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 I made my first quilts for my son and daughter. They both had quilts from my mother, my grandmother and my great grandmother. I wanted them to have a quilt from me so that they had 4 generations of quilts. I did a lot of sewing in 4-H growing up and really wasn\'t interested in taking it up again. My intention was to learn enough to piece a quilt for both of them and stop there. Obviously things didn\'t work out that way and God had other plans. Six years later, I\'m still making quilts and I have a part time longarm quilting business. I also quilt about 10-15 quilts each year for missionaries supported by my church. Recently, I\'ve also been asked to piece and quilt several auction quilts for some local and state organizations. Debbi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matildanme Posted January 27, 2008 Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 1st quilt My very 1st quilt that I started was a grandmothers flower patch in the 80s and never did get finished. I hung on to it for years and years along with the guilt of having a UFO . Only when I passed it on to the opportunity shop did I free myself to make other quilts. This little quilt was my 1st one finished. I made it out of Laura Ashley squares and other collected fabrics. Quilted on my Janome. I hope the photo pops up! I\'ve not posted a pic before........here goes...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuiltFaerie Posted January 27, 2008 Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 Mine was stolen out of my house the first year I lived on my own. It was 1983. I had made a Jacob\'s Ladder completely out of scraps by hand. I had worked on it starting in high school and when I finally got it all done, my mom quilted it for me. It was no great beauty and I am sure the morons who broke into my house had no idea what they were taking from me. They probably just used it to cart stuff out of my house. I don\'t even have a picture of it. My mother finished a similar one that my grandmother had started and gave it to me to replace the other. Funny thing is that I think this was the quilt that inspired me to trying quilting oh so many years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted January 27, 2008 Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 Bobbi, I felt the same way, plus I was living at home then, so didn\'t really need much. I gave my parents $25 a week out of my $68.50 to help pay them room & board. I still had enough money to save for a car. I bought my first car brand new in 1968 for $2550.68. It\'s funny how I can forget things from last week, but some things from all those years ago are so etched in my brain that I guess I\'ll never forget them. If I needed (actually, if a wanted) a new outfit for a date, I\'d rush to the fabric store and by the weekend I had a new outfit to wear. I was so thrifty back in those days, I guess it was from being raised by Depression Era parents. I need to get back to some of those ways now, instead of spending so much for stuff I really don\'t need. Addictions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaR Posted January 27, 2008 Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 For years I thought the first quilt I made was in 1980... looking at some old pictures, I see I made the first two in 1958-1959, and 1960. They were embroidered baby animal blocks.. I didn\'t even know it was a quilt.. to me then, it was a blanket.. I really have no idea what I put in the middle.. just cottom sashing, aqua/blue on one, and pink in the other.. and I think a gingham check on the backs. No idea how I bound them or with what. Probably blanket binding. One quilt still exists though a different child than it was made for has it, the other is gone, probably in the trash. I wish I had a picture that would show some detail. Oh my dumber years were fun. RitaR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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