My first quilting project was in June, 2012. I'd been watching two friends crank out some pretty cool stuff, and I thought I'd give it a go. I made 4 place mats. I've saved them, because they always make me laugh. I haven't stopped quilting since. I have learned from youtube, books, guild friends, and one class. These are my quilts from that year, poorly photographed, which is a good thing as you cannot see the multitude of errors in these babies. Following mastery of this site, I will master photographing my quilts!
This Turning Twenty quilt, above, was my first quilt. My friend Kelli gave me all the cut pieces - she'd made several of this pattern, and was done with that quilt. Too scared to try quilting on my sewing machine, I hand quilted this with big, fat utility stitches (with the help of my friends, Diane & Barb, and a bottle of wine). Still, I was proud and the dogs loved it.
This is the product of my first quilting class; a sampler only my mom could love. And she does!
Next, I tackled a jelly roll quilt after watching Jenny Doan on Missouri Quilts. I picked out the fabric though, to match my daughter's apartment, vs. buying a jelly roll. I love this quilt. This one was quilted on my friend Kelli's (dlquilts.com) Gammill. She was so brave and kind to let me try it. I was really hooked after that.
This was an afternoon lesson on paper piecing with the Quilt Guild in Taos. This was all new to me and quite the eye opener. Love paper piecing!!
My one attempt to be Vera Bradley....
A second jelly roll for my friend, Gwen.
The year ended with this quilt inspired by a pattern in the book, Thinking Outside the Block, by Sandi Cummings. It was the most fun quilt I'd done. I started to see all kinds of different quilt patterns I wanted to tackle. I gave this quilt to my friend, Donna, struggling with cancer. In the end, I received it back as a final gift from her. It's not going anywhere, now.
