The first quilt?

Louise,

I re-read my post...and realized I need spell check in the worst way...


I set aside projects for a long time, or keep them in the 'project in
mind stage' for a long time, but I usually get back to them and finish
them. Last year I finished two quilts I started in 1996.

It is not a matter of losing interest, but of finding things that are
more interesting, such as climbing...On my last climbing trip, I did
take some handwork with me.



lisae




The Nielands wrote:

I would have done the same thing at 18! I've always had an "eyes are bigger
than my stomach" mentality when it came to creative projects -- I have great
plans for doing something, but I then find out I really don't have the
interest I thought I would or I totally lack the skill to pull it off. It's
a good thing I didn't try quilting back then or I probably would have lost
interest in a hurry!

Louise in Iowa

"Lisa Ellis" wrote in message
...

The Nielands wrote:


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?



No one in my family sews, except for me.

The first quilt I remember in my life is a top I purchased (for our
dollars), when I was 18 or so. It was sort of a log cabin, made of
ribbons, and I thought it was interseting. I wound up giving it to a
friend after I realized that I would never do anything with it.

The second quilt was a more of a comforter. It was just squares that I
sewed together to make the top, which was tied. I used corderoy for the
backing. so it was warm. I used it for years.


lisae

I grew up on "A Child's Garden of Verses" I can recite most of them from
memory. I had three copies, all illustrated differently and beautifully.
Look at some of the other poems. They're wonderful!

Betty in CT

"The Nielands" wrote in message
news:aIR2b.268498$o%2.122215@sccrnsc02...
I just looked up the poem -- hate to admit I'd never heard of it before. I
can see why you love it!

Louise in Iowa
"Clooniff" wrote in message
...
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

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

I wish I could say that it was the only mistake I have made
but I'm way to old to claim that! It wasn't until the quilt
was finished, I kept looking at it and thinking something is
wrong. I followed the pattern with my finger and it jumped
out!
Bonnie

The Nielands wrote:
If that's the worst mistake you ever make, you can be proud of yourself! At
what point did you realize that you'd reversed the colors? I made a block
the other night and just as I got ready to mail it to a friend, I noticed
the fabric in the center of the square was wrong-side out! I really debated
about pulling it all apart and resewing it, but it's not a really noticeable
difference between the right and wrong sides, and I think the friend will
appreciate the "error of my ways."

Louise in Iowa
"Bonnie" wrote in message
...

Charlotte Henson wrote:


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


The first quilt that I made that I kept was a drunkard's
path that I got the colors reversed on one square. The
pattern was lost because of that mistake. Afterwards, I
made another one with the correct pattern - I kept that one
also!

--
Bonnie
NJ

My favorite was "The Swing" but "The land of counterpane"
was a good one also.
Bonnie
NJ

Pat in Virginia wrote:
Betty:
In my case the opposite is probably true. I did not have quilts
growing up, but my first knowledge of poetry was from my book, RL
Stevenson's 'A Child's Garden of Verses' and I was fascinated by
his poem "Land of Counterpane."
So the idea of patch work was planted early on. Even so, I am not
the first quilter in the family. My maternal GM made lots of
quilts and my fraternal GM was an excellent seamstress who 'may'
have made quilts. Unfortunately both died young and I never knew
them, nor their quilts. But hey, I am continuing the tradition!

PAT in VA/USA ... who still reads RLS

Clooniff wrote:

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".

said...
Believe it or not, I used templates for the TATW I made! Back then, we
didn't have rotary cutters, so even the simplest pattern was made using
templates. I think I made mine from sandpaper, though, not the plastic-y
thing in the bacon package!


I know that templates were the way things used to be done all the time.
I know there are many people that still use templates by choice and I
know that there are some pieced patterns that require it still (not to
mention applique). I know a lot of people used cardboard from cereal
boxes. I don't know how my grandmother figured out to use the plastic
packaging from the bacon; she probably just tried it. Sandpaper at least
wouldn't slip while tracing. It is amazing that their generation recycled
more than the subsequent ones due to the Depression and the major Wars.

Come to think of it- I never saw any appliqued quilts in her house. She
pieced by machine and hand quilted.

Great thread to read. Thanks!

Julie
Richmond, VA

Yes, I love "The Swing", too. I find myself chanting it whenever I take my
DGDs to the playground. And "The Cherry Tree" because we had a huge
flowering cherry that I could climb in.

Betty in CT

"Bonnie" wrote in message
...
My favorite was "The Swing" but "The land of counterpane"
was a good one also.
Bonnie
NJ

Pat in Virginia wrote:
Betty:
In my case the opposite is probably true. I did not have quilts
growing up, but my first knowledge of poetry was from my book, RL
Stevenson's 'A Child's Garden of Verses' and I was fascinated by
his poem "Land of Counterpane."
So the idea of patch work was planted early on. Even so, I am not
the first quilter in the family. My maternal GM made lots of
quilts and my fraternal GM was an excellent seamstress who 'may'
have made quilts. Unfortunately both died young and I never knew
them, nor their quilts. But hey, I am continuing the tradition!

PAT in VA/USA ... who still reads RLS

Clooniff wrote:

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".

You mentioned the recycling for templates. My mother didn't quilt, but she
did sew clothes for all of us. I still have in a box somewhere the
newspaper dress patterns she made some of my earliest dresses from.

Nell in Austin
wrote in message
.net...
said...
Believe it or not, I used templates for the TATW I made! Back then, we
didn't have rotary cutters, so even the simplest pattern was made using
templates. I think I made mine from sandpaper, though, not the plastic-y
thing in the bacon package!


I know that templates were the way things used to be done all the time.
I know there are many people that still use templates by choice and I
know that there are some pieced patterns that require it still (not to
mention applique). I know a lot of people used cardboard from cereal
boxes. I don't know how my grandmother figured out to use the plastic
packaging from the bacon; she probably just tried it. Sandpaper at least
wouldn't slip while tracing. It is amazing that their generation recycled
more than the subsequent ones due to the Depression and the major Wars.

Come to think of it- I never saw any appliqued quilts in her house. She
pieced by machine and hand quilted.

Great thread to read. Thanks!

Julie
Richmond, VA

The double wedding ring quilt that was on my Grandma's bed. It was, as
I learned later, made by my great-grandmother.

Maureen

The Nielands wrote:

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

On Mon, 25 Aug 2003 23:35:42 GMT, "The Nielands"
wrote:

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


The first quilt I really remember was a Grandmother's fan my mum
made for my brother. It was appliqued down to solid green squares
(this was the 70s and there wasn't a lot of cotton around) with black
embroidery thread, and the sashings were white with green posts. I
was jealous as hell.
There were other quilts in the house, but they were simple squares
tied with yarn (I think Craig's Grandmother's Fan was tied as well) or
they were scrappy quilts made from fake fur remnants sewn onto old
blankets (very warm!). Anyway, none were as nice as Craig's quilt -
she always did like him best!
I wonder what happened to that quilt? I still have my fake fur
crazy-patch lap quilt, and Tracie has hers (queen sized) and our
sister Brenda's for some strange reason. My mum made our winter coats
from fake fur, and we all had long robes from fake fur (very cold in
the house in the winter) as well as numerous stuffed animals from the
same material. So there were a lot of scraps to use up! And around
Christmas when my mum was stitching up a storm, the air would be
filled with brightly colored fluff. (Just don't breathe in).


-- Jo in Scotland