All the Quilts that Came Before

So I have been meaning to add a post about the other quilts I made BEFORE I realized that I could combine my photography hobby with my quilt hobby. I really do not have many to document here as I only started quilting a few years ago. Also, I made these three quilts, took photos, possibly even with just my iPhone and gave them as gifts to my family. So, just as a warning, the quality and quantity here are minimal.

As you might guess, these are definitely not great images and there was no art to the set up of taking these photos themselves. I just hung them on the banister and clicked. I am not any less proud of them though. These are pictures of my first three quilts, and there are a lot of firsts here….

This is, incidentally, Aiden’s first quilt too. It turned out really cute I thought. There are little crabs on the back. As I said, I forgot to photograph that but daughter says she will let me get photos of it next time I am out. Yay! I will post them here when I do.

This pattern is called the Irish Chain and was quilted on my home sewing machine (actually all three of these were quilted on my sewing machine). I took a class at My Sewing Room in Calgary. They have lots of great classes and I did find out that I actually needed, at the very least, this one in particular. My teacher was Gwen and, bless her heart, she was very patient and only made me rip out stitches a few times… little did I know that little tool, the seam ripper, would become my most valued (ahem, used) sewing instrument other than my sewing machine!

Her final advise was to make another quilt of the same Irish Chain pattern as soon as possible. So, Luke and Darrow ended up with the next one…

So you would think that the second time around would be a breeze… not so. In fact, I had so much trouble remembering everything Gwen had taught me even with her notes and all of my side notes and scribbles!

Anyway, that feather fabric was so beautiful that I hope no one can see my errors and just in case you can – look at that face! Don’t you just want to give him a big old puppy kiss?

So on with the third and last quilt I made. This one was made for BD’s mom. BTW, all of these are lap size quilts. Mom’s quilt was made from fabrics that I found in her sewing boxes, which she had used for bedroom and living room decor, and stuff I had around and then others that I had bought to go with the whole theme/colour scheme of the quilt. The pattern is called Cranberry Chutney. I loved the name and at the time of buying the pattern I also loved it. Maybe not so much once I started sewing though.

This is the first quilt that I made that had me figuring everything out on my own. I know that people who are putting together patterns think they are making them easy but honestly, so far I have not always found that to be true. It’s probably just me though.

The backing and binding on this quilt was perfect for Mom. She was always sewing projects: clothes, new bed spreads, lamp covers, covering furniture. She also knit each and everyone of us a Siwash sweater! Crafty lady, she still has her knitting needles and some wool beside her even though she can’t really see well enough or hold the needles long enough to knit.

That’s it!