My First Quilt

Carrie and Camille have inspired me to share a picture of my first quilt. I began quilting in the late 1980s, but didn't finish my first quilt until 1998! I collected fabric, cut pieces from templates, pieced blocks -- all the stuff that quilters do. But when I met my friend Karen in 1996, I had never finished a quilt! We loved primitive applique’ quilts, and decided to make angel quilts together. We were co-workers at the time, and we’d work on our quilts together at lunch, sharing fabrics and “body parts.” We used a lot of Red Wagon’s angel patterns and created some of our own. Our friend Darcy was traumatized by the lack of faces and hair (and sometimes hands and feet) in our angels. I hand-quilted it to death, using a very thin cotton batting. I wish you could feel how soft it is! Over the years it has been used and laundered so much. When it begins to deteriorate, I’ll put it away. But for now, I really enjoy using it and remembering how much I enjoyed working on it with my dear friend.

And here are pictures of the most recent quilt I’ve finished that I can share right now. It’s a Christmas quilt made from a Sandy Gervais Christmas panel. I cut the panel into pieces and added blocks and strips to fill in the spaces.

I think I’ve learned more about combining fabrics over the years. The fabrics I used in my angel quilt are very random. Homespuns, metalics, and everything between.

Hope you’re all having a good week. Be sure to go over to Camille’s and Carrie’s to take a look at the other first quilts!

Kim