a challenge

I love your idea Jessamy, and I'm going to see if I can find my first project. It's in one of the dog beds.

Sunny

reply.www.geocities.com/jessamy_thompsonhttp://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jessamy_thompson/my_photos> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Idea!

My first is actually already posted; but the picture doesn't do it justice; *fortunately*.

It's all polyester, hand appliqued with stitched about 3/8" long. I used a white sheet for the backing. Hand quilted with heavy white thread and very long stitches.

susan kraterfield see my *other* quilts: members.cox.net/kratersge

What if it's still a WIP??? Yep, my first quilt is a sampler (started in 1989) with every technique I could find in every book and magazine I could get my hands on. And it's quite outrageous- it features my beloved black cat in nearly every block and it's all in black and pink with some cream accents... Pink!- even tho "he" was all boy. It's one of my "why finish the quilt top as I'll NEVER be able to quilt it" projects. WAIT! I just may tackle quilting it after I finish the horse-pital quilt! It's all basted and languishing in a box.... somewhere???

Leslie & The Furbabies > It occurred to me today (while I had a house full of visitors) that it might

reply.www.geocities.com/jessamy_thompsonhttp://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jessamy_thompson/my_photos> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well. since my first quilt was given away soon after its creation to a baby, I can't share that one. And my second was given away to my DFIL and I don't have pics of it either, but let me tell you what a trial it was. I didn't know any better then to buy crap fabric (not that I can afford much more, but I can at least tell what is a good buy vs. "Is this actually fabric?") The Third quilt I made for my DMIL was pretty, but it had its wonky seams and mismatching points, though I tried my best. A pic of Rose Garden can be seen here.

try to pick patterns that don't show off my obvious inability to sew a straight line and match things up. But I'm having fun with it!

My first quilt is on my webshots site. Go to webshots.com/user/daffymom0401. Go to the Quilt Folder. On the first page you will see Stars and Moons. It is the first thing I had sewn since HS sewing class since I hated/still hate sewing so much. Love to quilt, hate to sew!

Debbi in SO CA

Jessamy wrote:

this I wanna, hafta see

a tossed into the corner WIP/UFO is more than acceptable :-)

First quilt, I was 5 sitting on my Great-aunts lap whilst she pedaled the treadle. Pink 9 patch. Haven't a clue where it got off to but I bet it was worn out and thrown out. Been quilting since. I don't have pics of the first quilts I made. first one I can recall is one I made DS 1976 that happened to be in the background of a pix with me holding DS. AFTER we're resettled I'll have to get my craft album out and have DS recreate our Web-site. Now that we have a scanner I'll be able to put some ne'er before seen pixs up:)

Butterfly (what a fun challenge)

Butterfly

What an accomplishment for a first quilt. Mine was blocks of awfulness! Big blocks, but how can you go wrong with big blocks. I did. No pictures fortunately.

Ahh... but you only *think* it's in a box..... I snuck down and rescued it.... OK... I didn't ... but it made you think now didn't it!!

My first project came out great.... I was too dumb to know not to attempt a queen size quilt or that anything could go wrong.... and I just took it off my bed..... yup... the batik just replaced my first quilt ever. And it was looking really loved, but it held up well. The only thing I think could have improved on it was it didn't have that color value make it pop thing going for it. All the fabric ended up being a medium value even though it was different colors. Hint to newbies... look at your fabrics thru black and white either settings on your digital camera, or take that shot and print it black and white.... look to see if they all look the same or if there is that pop value for you. ;-)

Jan RCTQ Coffee Diva

reply.www.geocities.com/jessamy_thompsonhttp://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/je...> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- Hide quoted text ->

Oh, what a shame; not a month ago I gave away my (what I consider to be) my worst quilt to someone who loved it anyway! I might have a photo of it somewhere. Then there is my 'kept for showing errors' log cabin miniature. I'll see if I can rustle something up. It is a good idea Jessamy. These wouldn't be my first ones, but when I started experimenting more (my first ones - a slightly un-matched pair - were actually quite nice!) . In message , Jessamy writes

Mine is going to have to wait until we return home. I made a "Storm at Sea" wallhanging in rusts and beiges, using a cardboard template enlarged from a magazine article. Cut with scissors and machine stitched, and amazingly, none of the triangle seams matched!

Okay, I fell into quilting very much by accident! The volunteer fire dept. was making a depression lace quilt to raffle to raise badly needed funds. I was asked to embroider and quilt one block. I had been sewing for close to thirty years by then, but I said, "NO! I do not quilt and I do NOT want to learn to quilt! I'll just donate some money instead of making a block." Well, they talked me into making the darn block and the rest is history. This was in 1988. I bought every quilting magazine and book that I could find and I was determined to try every technique I saw, every saching and several borders. This is a rather strange and unusual sampler, so I included quite a few photos. Have fun looking at it and laugh all you want..... I am! It looks much better in the pics than in person..... I made *every* beginner's mistake and then some. (I included captions with each pic- you can skip all the explainations if you want.) And ha-ha Jan... the box was right where I thought it would be!

Leslie & The Furbabies > this I wanna, hafta see

reply.www.geocities.com/jessamy_thompsonhttp://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jessamy_thompson/my_photos> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> What if it's still a WIP??? Yep, my first quilt is a sampler (started> in 1989) with every technique I could find in every book and magazine> I could get my hands on. And it's quite outrageous- it features my> beloved black cat in nearly every block and it's all in black and pink> with some cream accents... Pink!- even tho "he" was all boy. It's> one of my "why finish the quilt top as I'll NEVER be able to quilt it"> projects. WAIT! I just may tackle quilting it after I finish the> horse-pital quilt! It's all basted and languishing in a box....> somewhere???

Leslie, if this was your first quilt, you really should finish it. OK, it is quirky; and it is a little over-pink; but it has so much going for it. The appliquéd cats are terribly good - their shapes are so realistic - and the little fat one curled up but smiling would always raise a smile as you passed by. It is full of love of Pudd and that shows. There are lots of the little filler bits that I really like; and the fact that it is not all regular squares makes it uniquely yours. Now that you enjoying your free motion quilting, why not finish it sometime this year? You know, it is part of your history, and there is so much to look at. How about a chenille fishy on that blank square? That would bring it up to date and span the decades. It wouldn't take long to finish now. Go on, do it . . In message , Leslie & The Furbabies in MO. writes

I will try to get someone to take some pics of my very first quilt - still a UFO after over 30 years!

That long ago there were no quilt shops anywhere near me, and I had no access to quilt books. So when I saw a cushion in a weekly magazine made from four enlarged Cathedral Window blocks I thought "I can do that". So I drew up the design for a queen sized bedspread (reached the floor on both sides and bottom of bed so must have been about 9' X

10' in the planning) and then scaled down the blocks to about 4" units. Are you beginning to see why it remains a UFO? lol. I planned this project almost to death, colouring in tiny patches on my pattern and deciding exactly where each colour was to go so that I had a mathematically even distribution of fabrics!

Then I went shopping. I did say there were no quilt shops near me didn't I? I bought MILES of navy blue polycotton for the blocks, and several yards each of five small polycotton floral prints (red, yellow, blue, green and white backgrounds) to make the inserts. Then I got the "brilliant" idea that the inserts would look even better as tiny little pillows! So I cut up tiny squares of nylon fabric (!) to back the inserts so I could stuff them.

In a box here in my sewing room I still have the fabric and all the squares I cut up (hundreds and hundreds of pieces lol) and the section of the quilt I actually made. It is almost wide enough that if I turn it on end I could just add a row and make it a VERY long thin quilt for a single bed. The box is labelled with the name of the quilt - "Ignorance is Bliss".

I carted that quilt around with me through 26 houses/quarters, all my moves in the Air Force and then some. Every so often I would drag it out and add a row. Now my eyesight is so bad I can not see to work on the navy fabric, and I doubt I could bring myself to sew any more on it anyway. But I show all my new "students" just so they can realise that there is a reason I teach them really basic stuff in the beginning (even though some have been sewing for years). Being able to sew does not automatically make you a quiltmaker/quilter roflmao!

I planned that quilt SO carefully, and it is an absolute disaster and destined never to be finished. But I wouldn't part with it for the world. I may even be buried in it! lol And let's face it - storage is no problem. No self-respecting moth or silverfish would eat it!!

Thanks for the giggle remembering this. Poor old IIB hasn't seen the light of day in a while. I may go drag it out and let the cats play with it.

I think my first (and so far only) quilt is located at the link in signature below, other projects are here

I agree. You should put your new found machine quilting techniques to work on this little cutie! You've put too much thought into the sweet blocks to leave it unfinished. I agree with everything Pat said. She's "spot on!".

I don't have a picture of my first quilt. It never dawned on me to take one, and that quilt is long gone! However, here is a link to the second one I ever did. It's a Quilt in a Day by Wendy Gilbert called Christmas Traditions.

http://home.w>in fact can *everyone* not only the oldies and regulars but the newbies and

Carole D. - Retired and loving it in the foothills of NW Georgia

My quilts, crafts, QIs, and more -

Funny - I was just looking at my first quilt today and actually contemplating tossing it because it was so bad, but decided not to.

L>in fact can *everyone* not only the oldies and regulars but the newbies and

What fun!

this trapunto is the first thing i ever quilted. the Angel quilt is the first pieced quilt i finished. Jacob's quilt is the first bed sized quilt i attempted. I hand pieced it, and attempted hand quilting, but gave up 7 years later (and only a third of the way done) and sent it to Jan to finish on the long arm :) Like Ragmop says Finished is Good !

Now I have way, way, way too many tops ready to go that i really must get to. But i don't seem to have good raport with my machines right now. And the master bedroom curtains are higher on the list lol

Kellie