A New Adventure

 
I have wanted to learn to quilt for a very long time.  As a child, I remember visiting my hillbilly relations in southern Ohio.  One great aunt in particular was a master quilter.  She had all these gorgeous quilts in an array of colors all over her house.  I remember following this dainty, silver haired woman down the hallway to her bedroom where she proceded to lay out quilt after quilt for us to enjoy.  We would run our hands gently over the stitching and suck our breath in a little deeper for each one she shared.  One was a gorgeous, huge star and another was a LARGE brown horse on an orange background.  I am not fond of orange, but just the power of the sihouette has permanently etched the memory of that one on my mind.

My mom and I both wished we could have learned to quilt from Aunt Susie.  But alas, years, decades went by and neither of us ever learned.  Then about eight years ago I decided to give it a go.  I bought a book that taught hand-piecing and worked on a table runner that I gifted to my mother-in-law.  Now I should mention, although I pieced it, I farmed the actual quilting out to a local woman.  Coming off the success of my first project, my passion got ahead of my head and I endeavored to make my mom a quilt for her bed.  I got a kit from JoAnn's and went about hand-piecing the many blocks required for that quilt.  But somewhere along the way, I got waylaid and the project sat dormant for about 6 years.  Then my mom mentioned it again recently and, feeling guilty (it was supposed to be a gift, after all), I got it back out and finished piecing the top.  Then I called another local quilter I met at an estate sale last year (kismet!) and voila! we have a completed quilt.  It is NOT the one pictured above.  Don't want to ruin the surprise *grin*

The one above is the latest in what will be a string of small quilts made for my kids and my niece and nephews.  Each one will receive one for their birthday.  First up, my darling niece who is turning 5 next month.  I wanted to try my hand at a "start to finish" quilt...no farming it out.  Well....the piecing, which I chose to do on the machine, turned out pretty good.  It was with the quilting that things started to go south (puckering, mostly).  Not all the way, mind you, but out of the realm of PERFECT, which loyal readers know drives me nuts.  But in the end, it is a project made with love that hopefully will be worn threadbare by years of use.  And I will take the lessons learned into the next project (which will be for my son's late summer birthday) and hopefully it will turn out just a bit better.

When it's all said and done, I hope to make one for my bed as well.  But that quilt job will again be farmed out to my local master quilter.  She does such a good job.  So after mom gets her quilt, I will post pictures of it here as well.

Enjoy the sunshine, and the heat!

Comments

[v reynolds]

Silly girl,post it I don't mind. I already know what the top looks like anyway. Let everyone see your work.
Love you for thinking of my feelings though
Love ya
Mom