Catch-Up: First Quilt

I made my first quilt, above, in about 2003 or 2004 (is this the most recent first quilt we've seen on the blog?). I can't imagine why I thought making a quilt was a good idea. At that point I was knitting a lot, and I guess seeing a Gee's Bend quilt was enough to make me take up a new craft.

Why didn't I use solids like the example?? Or at least cooler fabrics? Being broke was no excuse, since the Gee's Bend quilts aren't made with $9/yard fabrics, but I probably didn't know much about the quilts--I only remember seeing the picture and being inspired. I got the fabric at a Rag Shop craft store that was near my apartment. The store had leaks everywhere, and smelled like a place that had leaks everywhere. Hopefully that helps you understand their limited fabric options. I got a bunch of cheap calicos. And for some reason, velvety stuff for the back (no batting, because I had no idea there was such a thing).

I pieced and quilted the whole thing on a strange toy plastic sewing machine--I think my mom gave it to me at some point in college because she new I liked using her actual sewing machine, and she figured that was a suitable stand-in. Usually I believe the tool doesn't matter as much as its operator, but not in the case of tiny toy sewing machines!

This mostly lives in a dark corner of the closet, but it obviously got some cat-claw love at some point.

I went back to knitting for a while after this. I started up again in 2007, but finally began investigating the quilting process a little more, learning things like what batting and binding is. I believe my second quilt ever is the grandmother's flower garden I'm still plugging away on, which was kind of ambitious! I feel like I've come a long way since this quilt, but it's only been a few years. I still have plenty to learn :)