More Quilting memories

After learning "everything there is to know about quilts" from my grandma, I decided I should start putting it into practice for myself. This is a picture of the corner of my first quilt. I think it's a pretty ambitious project for a first quilt, and I always liked the way it turned out, even though it was never striking enough for a wall quilt, and it is not a useful size for a lap quilt or bed topper.

There are 13 squares (4 with gold/warm backgrounds, and 9 with blue/cool backgrounds), plus 8 pieced setting blocks. It is set on the diagonal, and hand quilted, mostly in the ditch or echo quilting.

All my ancestors are Dutch, and I was raised with a tradition of thriftiness, so all the fabrics in this quilt are things I had in my stash when I decided to get started. Nothing was bought specifically for this quilt (which explains a lot!).



My next foray into quilt-making came when my daughters got new beds. They were almost bunk beds, but not quite. One was a loft type, about 4 feet above the ground, and the other slid sideways underneath. I wanted to make quilts for them, but I didn't want the quilt to hang over the side: on the top one it would droop onto the lower bed, and on the lower bed it would get caught under the casters. So I made this very simple 9-patch/fence rail pattern, and I made it twice. It is also set on point, and hand quilted. I did fine on finishing two quilts until I got to the special quilting on the second one. The first one has my daughter's name, and her birth date, and her dolls' names, and some extra things in the brown strips, and the second one has my second daughter's name. Period. She will be glad to explain to you that that ALWAYS happens with second kids! LOL



This next one is a double Irish Chain quilt (appropriate for today, right?) I visited a quilt show, and picked up fat quarters in the pink colors, and I think about 1 yard of the blue, and then I had to decide how to get a queen sized quilt out of that much material. That is why there is quite a wide border of muslin around the whole thing.

I think these are very 80s colors!

The quilting is done by hand, and I had a lot of fun with it. There are larger quilt motifs in the pieced squares, and smaller ones in the border, with a line of diagonal stitching in the "chains."



The only other bed-sized quilt I've finished is this one for my mom. It is an Amish design, and is supposed to be Amish colors, but we didn't quite accomplish that. I pieced this one, and started quilting it. (I think I got as far as the purple center diamond.) At this point I discovered there are groups who will hand-quilt for a very reasonable price. I think that is the only reason it is finished.



We won't mention the black, white, grey and red queen sized quilt top that has been languishing for 20 (or more) years, or the bright pastels my daughter requested that has been sitting in a project tote for 5 years or more, 90% pieced.