You know when you're looking through flickr and you see a beautiful quilt full of designer fabrics and read a caption that says "this is my first quilt!". Does that ever make you feel like crap? Well, it does me. In order to take photos for this Quilting Confession, I had to first drag my 1st (non doll) quilt out of the dog kennel and wash it. I know some people would find this shameful to admit...even my husband keeps dragging it out of the dog kennel. I keep shoving it back in. It's not nice enough to gift, not useless enough to throw away.
Have you ever wondered why the phrase "bursting at the seams" was considered a good thing? Whoever said that was definitely not a quilter.
This pic is a "kill 2 birds w/ one stone" shot. You can see how my coins get really uneven at the bottom AND my bunchy attempt at free motion quilting. I only FMQ part of it. The rest of it was straight line quilted. I distinctly remember going to the fabric store and asking for the cheapest white they had b/c I wanted the fabric to crinkle. I had no idea you were supposed to use cotton batting for that effect. I thought cheap fabric was how to get the crinkly look. This quilt has that really thick poly batting.
Oh, and don't forget my mitered corners.
And here is how it looks from the other side. I thought it would be more secure to attach your binding ALL the way to the end instead of stopping 1/4" from the end to make my miter. I would up with rounded off wonky corners b/c for some reason I felt like I knew better than the lady who wrote the tutorial (crazy mom herself). Yeah, I'm hard headed.
So there you have it...my first quilt. You know I still like that crazy fabric. I am glad i made this quilt and (at least temporarily) thought it was HOT instead of a hot mess. Quilting brings me a lot of happiness and I'm glad I had enough confidence to keep on going. Two years later and I've been able to make lots more quilts, be featured on Moda Bakeshop, have a quilt at the Quilt Festival, and now I'm working on my first quilt for a magazine! I'm glad I listened to the person who said "it's just fabric" and started cutting instead of being paralyzed by a fear of failure or perfectionism.
Do you have a quilting confession? Email story and (if possible) pics to marylane_brown@yahoo.com to have your story featured here on The Tulip Patch.
Thank you for posting this. I just finished my first quilt. Not my first flimsy but my first quilt. It is full of mistakes but it is a gift for my MIL for Christmas so it is going as is. Hubby thinks it looks wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI agree - thank you for posting this! I do feel sick when I see people with gorgeous designer fabrics and sleek patterns for their first quilt. I also wonder if they are liars!! ;)
ReplyDeleteMy first quilt doesn't have as many construction problems as yours since I did mine in a class with a very strict teacher. But it is a good example of the country traditional style.blech. I haven't even had it quilted yet. I really should though because it is still a part of my story. Just like you learned so much from your first quilt, I did as well.
Thanks so much for this! I have not yet finished a quilt, I have been paralyzed with fear (to steal a phrase). I have no problem cutting and sewing, in fact I have 15 quilt tops hanging in my closet (skeletons anyone?lol). I am from a long line of perfectionists and am my own worst enemy. After this holiday season I have decided I am going to roll up my sleeves and pull out a top and get to work.
ReplyDeleteWishing you a wonderous holiday season!