I woke up bright and early this morning to put the binding on this quilt. It is the first that I ever started and it is a bit embarrassing to admit that it is still unfinished after more than 25 years. There was a lot that I didn't know back then and the blocks are poorly constructed by hand because I didn't have a sewing machine. I used puffy high loft polyester binding because I thought that quilts were supposed to be fluffy. That made hand quilting really difficult and binding was incomprehensible to be at that point in time. So in it went to a bag to be carted around from our first condo in Chicago through two Florida houses and finally to our beach condo here. I used walking foot straight line quilting in the muslin sashing and border areas to try to smush everything a bit flatter. The quilt blocks will still need some hand quilting, but I can do that during cold winter nights at the cabin in Virginia. For now I will sew the binding to the back tomorrow during slow stitching Sunday and it will be finished enough to use. Do you still have the first quilt that you ever started? It is fun to look back and appreciate how much more I know now than I did back then.
I think that I added a few more blocks to the pink cross and dots leaders and enders project for this year and I've got a few hexies along to the top of the diamond hexie quilt to straighten out the tip. I think it just needs some half hexies all along the outside to be done. What pink scraps have come out to play in your sewing room? Misterlinky is below. Please share
Loving cross and dots. So tempting to add it to my list of RSC wannabes.
ReplyDeleteI'm in awe of quilters who "got it" right from the start. My first quilt was definitely a lesson in what not to do. I donated to my children's school for a fund raiser. Never took a picture. That would have been in 1986. It was a crib quilt made of red, white and blue calico prints. The block was log cabin based on Eleanor Burns Log Cabin in a Day method. Rather than bind the quilt I surrounded it with a ruffle. Probably went your route with a polyester medium to heavy weight batt. I think I quilted it by machine - stitch in a ditch. You and I have come a long way since. Somehow we weren't put off by our early experience.
ReplyDeleteQuilts always turn a corner when they've been quilted and binding is being sewn down. Congratulations on finding and finishing that sweet quilt! Have a great weekend, Angela!
ReplyDeleteYour first quilt looks good, much better than my first one. LOL And yes, I do still have it. You'll enjoy having it at the cabin this winter, and it will bring some good memories with it.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I still have the first quilt I made. If I do, it's stuffed far back in the very top shelf of a closet. A wall hanging of 6 blocks, alternating applique hearts & pieced tulips, puffy batting, very little quilting, possibly huge binding. I never did hang it up - it would not lay flat when done. And even just finished...I didn't like it that much.
ReplyDeleteLove it!! I still like fluffy quilts!!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd I do have the first I ever made - i used some twills and I serged and Oh boy - but I love it!
Congratulations on your sweet finish! My first quilt was also a "fluffy", with folded binding strips cut at 5" wide. I've learned a LOT since then, and so have you!
ReplyDeleteI still have my (somewhat less than successful) first quilt. I'm glad to see that you are planning to finish yours. Love your new Cross and Dot RSC blocks, Angela!
ReplyDeleteThe very first quilt I did had embroidered turtles alternating with a solid green. I’m pretty sure I did a birthing method , no binding and tied it with my mother’s help. It was a gift for a friend’s new baby. I was 19. I’m glad you still had your first quilt and rescued it to become a cuddle quilt at the cabin.
ReplyDeleteNice job finishing your oldest UFO! I still have my first quilt, but it's in a box in the basement. Giant nine patch blocks, slinky poly backing, and 100% cotton batting (it was cheaper than polyester!). Also, tied, not quilted. An object lesson in what not to do!
ReplyDeleteMy first quilt is pretty much like yours, I used the puffy batting, quilting it was a nightmare. It's still in my sewing room closet with two blocks quilted. It's not on my to do list as yet. Maybe some day. That or I'll take it all apart and start over.
ReplyDeleteMy first quilt got it's first breath of air when we lived in Ohio in 1990. I'd been reading voraciously all the quilt books I could find at the library before we moved there, and the new library had even more! So, I decided to make a sampler quilt with coordinating remnants I bought at the JoAnn Fabrics where I was working. I chose pink and blue prints and began my work. I decided that I would do about half pieced, with my machine, and the other half of the blocks would alternate between them being hand appliqued. By the time we moved home, and I got another job, I had most of the blocks made. Then they got put away. I was busy and needed to learn more! Quilt magazines were becoming abundant and very helpful by then. By the time I finally was ready to put them together I'd learned more, I'd replaced or adapted a couple of the 12 1/2" unfinished blocks, which had a white muslin background/ light fabric. I finally chose a solid light pink for the sashing and border, and got it machine quilted 10 years after it was "born". Later Mom-in-law saw it, wanted it so she got it. Then she gave it to one of her grandsons, and both he and her daughter thought Mom had made it. I showed Sis in law and her son and daughter in law the label on the back, clearly showing them that I'd made it. It now resides on our nephew's guest bed. We can visit it anytime we go there.
ReplyDeleteI think your quilt has marinated nicely and I know you'll feel good to finally get it finished. Those hexies look amazing and I really like the way the dots & crosses look together. They look linked up and should look cool when other colors join the party!
ReplyDeleteMy first quilt were made in similar colors! It was actually a wedding gift (log cabin quilt with a pink center square where I hand quilted the heart of the home). They still have it! I replace the binding once a couple of years back. It is a bit tattered but it has been loved exactly as I told them when I gifted it. Yes, I have given them another quilt to love!
ReplyDeleteMy first quilt was a baby gift and my mom helped me a lot, she even took the binding off and put it back on since I did such a bad job of it!
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