The first quilt?

In an e-mail replying to Diana's thread about getting started in quilting, Julie said she always had a quilt in her life thanks to her Grandmother. That got me to thinking (a dangerous thing at this time of day when I'm tired from work!). What's the first quilt you remember in your life?

Like Julie, mine was one from Grandma. It was a Trip Around The World in fabric from the 30s and 40s (I'm guessing on that part). I remember it being on my bed upstairs in the old farmhouse we lived in, and I'd sit and trace each "trip" with my finger. I'm sure it was hand quilted, and I just loved that quilt! When I finally learned to quilt in the 80s, TATW was my first project, and I think it might still be my favorite pattern.

So what's the first quilt you remember (even if it was from just last year)?

Louise in Iowa

Reply to
The Nielands
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I have never gotten a quilt! My Granny was from Ireland and she sewed but she never made quilts. She made all her clothig, rag rugs, tatted stuff, crocheted stuff but no quilts. Years ago -- at least 25 -- I first put my hand to making what I termed a comforter because it wasn't quilted, it was tied and I used really FAT batting. I made them for the babies being born and they were made of poly/cotton gingham. I would alternate 3 different sizes of 10" gingham. The comforters were 3 blocks wide and 5 blocks long and the backing was a 45" wide coordinating solid. I left the batting about 2" larger than the quilt on all 4 sides and turned the excess backing to the front, tucked in the raw edge, mitered the corners and top stitched the whole thing down. They weren't too bad, all things considered. Of course, they were nothing like the quilts I make now that I have found RCTQ and been totally corrupted by y'all -- thank the heavens :-)))! CiaoMeow >^;;^< . PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their WHISKERS!! Nothing is complete without a few cat hairs!

Reply to
Tia Mary-remove nekoluvr to re

Mum made patchwork covers for very old blankets that were showing their wear for my sister and I as our main blankets when we first had twin beds. So I've always loved the patchwork. And the first quilt proper was one that stayed in her room on the foot of her bed. It was a LeMoyne star with a white background. I know the fabrics aren't 100% cotton, but it was all hand sewn.

It wasn't until I was Jr. High, when my mom decided to get serious about making more quilts, and mine would be the first one she was going to make. I had to pick the pattern (Storm at Sea) and the three fabrics (all lavender with one a bit darker), and she did all the stitching (by hand). I still have it. It's terribly stained with coffee and highlighting markers, but gosh, it's still together. And I've watched her produce a quilt a year for about 15 years. She's since stopped or slowed down, and switched back to her constant love of counted cross stitch... but I've learned a great deal just from watching her and seeing her quilts. And we've gone to LQS's and quilt shows together just for the joy of it.

-georg

Reply to
georg

The first quilt in my memory was made by my great grandmother. She was very dear to me and I thought her quilts were perfect. I have one and I cherise it, even though it is in terrible condition. When I look at it now, I realize that she wasn't a great quilter but she did love to make quilts to keep all her grandchildren warm. I hope someday my grandkids will look at the quilts I make for them and think that they were stitched with love.

Reply to
Bonnie

Reply to
The Nielands

I remember comforters from my other Grandma! In fact, I have two of them in my collection right now. As much as I loved to trace the trips around the world on the quilt on my bed, I remember how "comforting" it was to curl up in those comforters, too! I had almost forgot about them. Thanks for the reminder!

their

Reply to
The Nielands

Bonnie,

Thankfully, we don't necessarily need to make quilts to keep our loved ones warm (other than emotionally), but I'm confident that our grandkids and nieces and nephews, in my case, will know how much love went into them. Thanks for sharing your story.

Reply to
The Nielands

Never had one til I started making them. Actually, that's why I started making them. I still don't have one for my bed (cept an old store bought...it's falling apart, of course).

I envy people who had quilters in their family.

Reply to
LN (remove NOSPAM)

There were no quilters in my family, so my first quilt was the one my husband's grandmother gave us for a wedding gift 36 years ago. I used it a lot until a year or so ago when some of the fabric started wearing out. It's for display only now.

Julia in MN

Reply to
Julia in MN

The first one i remember was at my dad's step mother's house. It was one of those ones made with brown and orange and green thick wool and double knit polyester squares and tied. It was very ugly and very warm.

Reply to
Jalynne

Even though i had quilters in my family, I never had one until I started making them. In fact, I still don't have one for my bed, either. But that will change...i'm working on it! And...my DD will always have one of my quilts to grace her bed...always.

Reply to
Jalynne

The first quilt I remember was a crazy quilt. I still have it. My mother found some foundation squares that had been started by a great-aunt (I think) and finished making the top. It has pieces from my GGM's wedding dress, GGFs wedding vest and lots of other bits of clothing over three generations. The only embroidery on it is herringbone stitches around the pieces. The back is green satin quilted with a feather pattern onto a 2" thick wool batt, and the top appliqued onto that. When we were sick and had to stay in bed Mother would get it out for us to sleep under. That's probably why I love the Robert Louis Stevenson poem "The Land of Counterpane".

Betty in CT

Reply to
Clooniff

Reply to
juliasb(nospam)

"The Nielands" wrote in news:i3x2b.258043$o%2.117708@sccrnsc02:

I also still have my "first" quilt. It was from my grandmother's house. It's a log cabin. It is so old and worn that it is almost all white now... and full of holes...

Reply to
Emilia

My first quilt has a sorta funny story.

Many women in my family are incredible seamstresses but none quilt.

My then boyfriend and I were out looking at garage sales on a Sunday morning. We followed the signs to one and started looking around. I found a nice, simple twin-sized grandmother's fan done in blue and whites and hand-quilted in somewhat large, loose stitches. It has a poly-cotton sheet backing brought round to the front. Nothing extraordinary but still pretty.

I wasn't sure exactly who the other man at the sale was. He was the only one there but he looked like he was going through the things for sale too. He wasn't the cleanest person I've ever seen. He noticed me looking around and said somewhat spontaneously "Scott's upstairs, but I can sell that for him, do you want to buy it?" I said yes and readily agreed to buy it for the asking price of $5. He looked sorry he hadn't asked for more but continued to pick stuff up. As we were driving away we saw him loading "his" things into his shopping cart. The man was homeless. He'd found these garage sale items left out overnight and must have pocketed my $5.

I felt guilty about that for a while but then I realized whoever was selling this stuff didn't care much about it if he couldn't be bothered to bring it in overnight. The quilt is in far better care in my hands and the homeless guy probably needed my $5. So I think everything turned out for the best.

The amusing thing in all of this is that I gave this quilt to my current boyfriend and have given all the others I've made myself to various people. So I'm a stealth quilter at my home. It takes a quilter to know one. You'd see my stash of cottons organized by color and my rotary cutter and mat. Other than that there isn't a quilt in the place. And it may be blasphemy but I'm not sure I want one. Maybe it's only the mother of all quilts for me... Maybe I just haven't found *my* quilting voice.

-Charlotte

Reply to
Charlotte Henson

That's ok. Think of it this way... your gifts are practice. When you really want a quilt of your own, you'll have athe skills to make one that will last the rest of your life and be a true heirloom.

I don't have many things that I've made myself- I only have 2 beds and blankets enough for 6. And there's no wall space, since I used to paint (most of those I still have). But my parents have this family cabin in the woods, and there's a lot of beds up there... so I have a lot of places to put them that aren't in my house. So don't expect to see a lot of quilts in my home. I think there's only one that I made here- and that protects the stash by allowing cats to sleep on that instead of in stash.

-georg

Reply to
georg

Bonnie, The second time did you do it with the same colors? Or did you branch out? Do you keep those two with each other? I find these choices very interesting....

-Charlotte

Reply to
Charlotte Henson

Oh? Did I know this about you? Oh, just read your last line. Nevermind. Sigh.

Reply to
LN (remove NOSPAM)

I did use different fabrics - I can't do two things alike. They are displayed in the same room. Many people can't see the mistake, but it is glaring to me.

Reply to
Bonnie

Sadly, I can't paint any more. Something about not being able to paint and keep breathing. It's this inability that has driven my artistic skills to seek other, less toxic artforms. So no hand-dying for me either.

But that's ok, I can make some really cool artwork now, that never would have occurred to me to try before this. No one else in my family paints, except my husband's cousin, and she's a professional. But since there's other fabric artists in the family, they can appreciate the effort.

-georg

Reply to
georg

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