Saturday, July 10, 2010

Completed Quilts--Then and Now

This is a picture of my first completed quilt (June 2004)...


During part of the KC Modern Quilt Guild meeting this week, we shared a bit about our quilting journeys and our first quilt---either the quilt itself or a photo or sketch. It was really interesting and fun seeing the quilts and hearing the stories.

So, I still had mine out from Thursday night and thought I'd photograph it and show you too.

My grandmother was a quilter and I've always loved quilts. I took a quilting class in 1982 to make a quilt for First Daughter's bed. The class taught hand piecing and quilting, fabric pieces were cut with scissors and cardboard templates--very time consuming. I never finished that quilt:(

Fast forward to 2003...my interest in quilts continued. While planning a trip to Charlotte, NC I remembered an aquaintance telling us about the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY! What a wonderful stop that was--exciting designs and vibrant colors--talk about inspiration!!

I started buying quilting magazines and books, including Glorious Patchwork by Kaffe Fassett. I was even more inspired and was especially drawn to scrappy quilts. So in the fall of 2003 I decided that's where I'd start, hand piecing and quilting it since that's all I knew. It took a while to finish, but I did it!

During that same time I found out about rotary cutters and mats and rulers and sewing quilts on a sewing machine--and now I'm hooked!!

Here is my most recent...a baby quilt, finished today, for a baby shower tomorrow;) The baby is a boy due in September (a someday playmate for Liam) and the theme in his nursery is vintage cowboy--cute!

Front (34 x 44 in.)

Back




Marilyn

6 comments:

beth said...

I love both quilts. Sounds like you got sucked into the quilting world right before me. ;)

Alexis said...

It's always so interesting to hear about other quilters' journeys. Your cowboy quilt is so cute!

Cheryl said...

My first quilting class was around the same time as yours! I know most of the quilts I made were hand-tied, not quilted! I stuck to quilting the tons of pillows I made instead!

I love the cowboy baby quilt, so cute!

3rdEyeMuse said...

love, love, LOVE the baby quilt!! fantasic fabric choices!!

Pat said...

Your quilts are most beautiful, my dear friend.
Thank you for sharing.
Happy Quilting!

Anonymous said...

That was really fun to read!

AL(S)H