Sunday, September 26, 2010

My first quilt


The first quilt I made was for my son, Ryan.  He was moving into a toddler bed, and I wanted to make a quilt for him.  He was never much for blankets, and rarely slept with much more than a receiving blanket, but this quilt changed things.  He became obsessed with covers after this quilt appeared on his bed, so much so that one of his favorite games to play is the under-the-covers game, where he climbs into my bed and pretends to sleep, after tucking himself in under my covers.

This quilt was inspired by a fabric that I saw at one of my favorite online fabric stores, Fabricworm - Michael Miller's Zoology.  Ryan has always loved animals, and when I saw this print, I knew he would love it just as much as I did.


This quilt is fully machined - machine-pieced, machine-quilted, and even machine bound.  It wasn't until the last quilt I did, my 7th, that I actually attempted hand sewing on the binding.  I'm kind of allergic to hand sewing.  Love, love, love my sewing machine, though.  It was with this quilt that I really learned my sewing machine inside and out.  It was this quilt that made me realize how much I enjoyed sewing, and quilting especially.

I think I did three or four practice quilt sandwiches before I actually started the free motion quilting.  There were at least three or four seriously bad oops moments while I was quilting, but when you look at the quilt as a whole, you'll never find them.  Me, on the other hand?  For a long time, they were all I could see.  Now, I can't even remember where they were.  And Ryan?  His favorite part of the quilt was the corner where the mitering is far from perfect.  He liked the feel of that corner, probably because of its wonkiness.  


Today, the quilt is folded up in my closet, as Ryan now sleeps in his new, big boy room, complete with a twin sized bed, and of course a twin sized quilt to go along with it.  I still smile when I see it in my closet, it's one of those things that will brighten my day when I see a little bit of that fabric.  

I love reading quilt stories, so tell me yours.  What was your first quilt?  Who was it for?  Is it still loved today?

Note: The pattern I used for this quilt can be found here.

2 comments:

  1. Hi, Mama! I found this quilt (and your blog) through google images when I was looking for some quilt inspiration. I used your idea of framing the blocks to unify the I spy quilt I made for my son. Your quilt is GORGEOUS! I can't believe this is the first quilt you made; my first quilt was a MESS! Anyway, thanks for the inspiration! I linked to this when I posted about my quilt.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi, I found this beautiful quilt thru Pinterest. Love the pattern and the fabrics you used. May I ask you a question: How...How...How do you get all that fabric through the sewing machine opening...you know, that hole between your button settings and the sewing foot? Do you roll it up? How..? I am going to attempt my first quilt soon, but this is what is holding me back...how to get so much fabric through that hole.

    Thanks and have a blessed day...

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving a comment for me! I appreciate each and every one of them and try to respond when time allows. Your comments totally brighten my day :)


Welcome! I'm Elizabeth, mom to a mood teen boy and a chatty six-year-old girl and I sew for my sanity. Let's get to quilting, shall we?
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