My FIRST first Quilt

Ok... Carrie, Camille and the REST OF YOU twisted my arm (click their names to see THEIR first quilts)... Are you ready to be 'Flashed???'... Here is the Story of

"Pat Sloan's FIRST first quilt"
So Just sit right back
And you'll hear a tale
A tale of a fateful quilt.
That started from a magazine,
In a tiny sewing room.
The mate was a mighty sewing woman,
The Skipper brave and sure,
Five thoughts passed through her mind that day,
For a three day quilt,
A three day quilt.
recognize the song?

First we must search the 'archives'... yes... there is VERY little light in the recesses of the storage/shipping room.

I was SURE it was here.. but I did find some other goodies!! There is a totally drafted BY ME, hand pieced, hand quilted small mariner's compass quilt in that stack!

checked here JUST incase

not here....

not here either... dang I DO NOT want to start opening boxes and trunks.... one more spot

I found it!!! I found it!!! I'm so GLAD I didn't have to open boxes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now JUST FOR YOU, and because I think it still smells like a doggie.. I hauled it outside for a photo 'op' and 'Freshing up'. 

So what year do YOU think I made this quilt... tick tock.. tick tock... times up!!!  I made this in about 1979... MAYBE 1980. I made it for our first home.. let me ask Gregg what year we got that... hold on...ok.... 1980 it is!!!

Put on your seat-belt.. now the story REALLY starts!

 To set the stage... I started sewing in Ms Orr's sewing class in either 9th or 10th grade (yes.. we MUST go back this far).  I LOVED LOVED LOVEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD to sew!!! I made HORRID clothing that never fit .. but I loved MAKING THEM!

Fast forward.. (yes.. I can see you are relieved)... First nobody in my family sewed... not my mom, not my grandmothers and NOT my GREAT Grandmothers.. really... nobody believes me but it's true!  First adult I met who sewed (beside my teacher) was my future mother-in-law!

So anyway... I sewed clothing.. not good.. but I had to sew... really really REALLY had to sew. Sewed in college, sewed on my first job (machine in my room), sewed in our first apartment where I had the 2nd bedroom for my 'studio'. 

then we bought our first house.  Well.. now I could sew 'things' for the house!! And I decided to make a .. yep.. BEDSPREAD.  Are you still with me?  The ONLY quilts I'd seen were made by Gregg's grandmothers. They were utility type 'throws'. The same as my family had in yarn (afghans ... remember that one above?)

So I did not KNOW you put quilts on BEDS!!! A Bed had a BEDSPREAD!. 

Now remember I made clothing.. that means using a pattern. So I went looking for a bedspread pattern and found a... drum roll...

a QUILT MAGAZINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So let's take a closer look at this lovely 'quilt'. I found 3 pieces of fabric .. you know they do match!  I followed the pattern... NOBODY said ANYTHING about points MATCHING.... geezzz... this has influenced my quilt making ... if the points don't match I don't care!!!

And exactly HOW do the layers go together? Well mom-mom's quilts were tied with yarn.. so of course I did the same... I tied them about every 3 feet or so.. seemed like enough!! I didn't KNOW her quilts had BLANKETS inside... they didn't write THAT in the magazine pattern.

 

So let's take a closer look at the BIG BLUE THING in the middle of my love-er-ly 'quilt'.  What the HECK IS THAT?  Well when I got my FIRST EVER BABY...ummm... DOG .. he got to do whatever he dang well pleased... and he loved this quilt... loved it a lot... he loved a hole right in the center!   I have ... at some point... done a few stitches to close up the GAPPING hole so no MORE batting falls out.. Nothing but the BEST for this quilt.

Some more evidence of how much Ted loved 'his' quilt.

 

But that's NOT ALL!! What would ANY EXPERT Seamtress in 1980 use for the BACK of her quilt? Well a SHEET of course! First of all it's big enough

And it has that cute little piping you can leave on for a nice accent!  

Had enough?  GOOD!!!  And 'The Princesses of First Quilt Flashers' asked we show a CURRENT quilt... well I have a lot of quilts... so I thought I'd share this recent quilt.

 

This is 'One Fine Way' published in American Patchwork and Quilting. I LOVE their photo! See the full quilt plus LOTS Of my other quilts at my website! CLICK HERE

So has this INSPIRED you? To be honest it did NOT inspire me one little bit!!! I did NOT quilt again until about 1996 ... when my friend Gwen TOLD me I HAD to learn to quilt... that is my SECOND and THIRD first quilts.... I'll leave that one for another day.. or come see my lecture some time when I haul it out!

give me the link to YOUR First quilt in the comments... or just tell me about it.. I'm ALL ears!

Comments

[Peggy]

I just read your first quilt blog..... cracked me up. It was great! Thanks for including it. I made one very similar in high school but unfortunately my very first quilt has gotten lost somewhere along the many moves I've made.... I truly wish I still had it.

[Callipygian]

I love your first quilt story, especially the photo notes! My first quilt was only 2 1/2 years ago and it's still the only one I've actually quilted -- it went poorly so I switched to tying them. Soon I'll try my hand at stippling, because it looks so lovely, or at least buy a walking foot for some basic stitch-in-the-ditch. Your story has inspired me to actually do a My First Quilt post on my blog, maybe tomorrow. Thanks!

[Caroline Pyne]

Oops, Freudian slip, that was supposed to be "scrappy"

[Caroline Pyne]

My first quilt was a crappy quilt class using templates. For the supply list I was told to bring a selection of lights, mediums and darks. So, as my lights I chose bright yellow, my mediums were bright reds, and my darks were bright blues. The good news is that the quilt was for my - at the time - 3 year old son, and he loved it. One sister thought it was fabulous, but she also gave us a painting for a wedding present that is somewhere in a closet...Some day I will get the nerve to post a picture.

[Brenda Bailey]

My first quilt(s) started life as an eiderdown made of polyester and nylon, it fell apart by being loved too much and too much washing. It was on a childs bed after all. I took the top nylon off and cut the middle (wadding) in half - added an already quilted nylon top (bought that way) and a brushed nylon backing to both peices and made Eiderdowns/quilts for the bunk beds my little girls slept in. This was in the 70's and the resulting quilts were bright orange! They a have vanishied long ago........

[Magnolia Bay Quilts]

Oh, my gosh, how funny! That sheet on the back thing seems to be common thread with a lot of the first quilts. If it hadn't taken me ten years to piece a real top, I probably would have done the same thing. I really enjoyed your post!

[Stephanie B.]

You really ought to be doing stand-up, Pat - You're a riot. My first quilt was a quilt-as-you sew log cabin. It looks beautiful!!! (from very far away). It has several gaps where I didn't get the seams closed, there were a few puckers, and a couple blocks where I sewed the "logs" in the wrong order. I used a bright blue broadcloth for the backing and my bobbin thread was gold and really accentuated my terribly crooked stitchig. I gave it to my mother in law for Christmas. Boy was I proud!

[Pat Sloan]

this is just SO MUCH FUN!! LOVE reading your stories!

[Barbara Anne]

I had/have that print fabric, too, from long ago and far away .....!

My 1st quilt was a Rail Fence variation, made on my own so I made 18" blocks reasoning that the larger the blocks, the fewer would be needed. The quilting was corner to corner each direction and only a mile or so apart. The year was 1992 and the recipient was my dear aunt.

I then had to make two quilts pronto for my mother and MIL! Those were Log Cabins, again on my own so neither has blocks with red centers (I didn't know), and both were quilted by machine corner to corner ...

Your vast number of quilts has given me serious quilt envy.

Hugs!

[CJ Behling]

You are hysterical! I also think you need to hang out with Ami Simms. If you've never spent time with her, you need to. I think you two were twins in some other life! ;-)

[Karla from Ohio]

I really enjoyed your first quilt. It reminded me of the things I did when I made my first quilt. It was not a bed quilt it was a small wallhanger with jewelry attached for embellishments, which I still do today, along with the bed quilts. I even had a first roller skating outfit, that I made finishing up the skirt sitting outside a hotel room the night before a competition, sewing my skirt on by hand, my instructor could not figure out why I was not resting and focusing on the competition instead I was handsewing my skirt on so I had something to wear. Them not knowing I did not have an outfit to wear, and my first time working with Lycra, Ha! another funny reminder of the past. But I am enjoying your blog and site. The challenges are so much fun to participate in. Thank you!!

[TheaM]

The first quilt I tried to make was made from the leftovers after I had made a pile of baby clothes for my then new-born daughter - 1970 era left much to be desired in the way of quality quilting fabrics - my scrap pile included some bright pink corduroy, which was included - I had no time or patience then for hand quilting, so I pushed it under the presser foot of my new ELNA SUPER - it was such a puckered mess, batting in those days was not designed for machine quilting (or hand quilting, for that matter) and there was a great deal of "slip-sliding away" both on the radio and the quilt. I have no idea what happened to that quilt - the ELNA survived, tho, and is now in my daughter's home. I can still remember the thrill I felt when I bought my first walking foot!
My second attempt at a baby quilt for my daughter was made from a bundle of penny squares that I embroidered - but after seeing the mess I made of quilting the first one, my m-i-l insisted that I let her take the blocks to 'have it professionally finished by the church ladies'. Imagine my dismay when it came back with pre-quilted tricot on the back! I still have that one - I will try to find it an post a pic on my FaceBook page soon.

[paule-marie]

Oh my goodness, I remember that blue print fabric. When we put our house up for sale 4 years ago, I was going through fabric and found pieces of it. I think I may have bought mine some where between 1975 & 1979.

[Rickie]

Pat, I got such a laugh from your first quilt. Mine was also a "challenge". I took a class where we could make our blocks any size so I had 6", 9" and 12" blocks since I am an overachiever I was the only one in the class that actually got around to setting the blocks. I knew nothing about straight of grain. .I used muslin for the background and not paticularly good quality of muslin. I just cut and whacked pieces to fit, made rows and stuck them together, sometimes with a muslin spacer sometimes without.Thanks for the big chuckle, I loved searching your shelves for the quilt. I like to get out my first quilt and see how far I've come in 12 years. And, Lady, you have,too.
Rickie

[Pati]

I had added quilted accents to clothing I would design throughout high school. It was he birth of my baby sister (20 years my younger) in 1975 I actually finished a "baby quilt". It was also my first counted x-stitch project. I alternated 3" squares of counted x-stitch (on 22 pt. hardanger) and pastel gingham. It was supposed to be a present for her first Christmas (I finished in time for Valentine's Day). All of the x-stitch were significant memories... a clock set to her time of birth, her name (mis-spelled her middle name - but I asked her father the spelling), a girl embroidering (me), etc. Here is what I learned for the future: 1) Don't start a Christmas present quilt after Thanksgiving; 2) don't cut 22 pt hardinger into 3" squares BEFORE embroidering the motifs; and 3) ask the mother how to spell unusual names (not the father).

[Erica K]

So I'm enjoying myself and smiling the whole way through until I see the "in case you didn't see it" arrow. I haven't laughed so hard in I don't know how long! :) And then the piping... :)

That was really great Pat. Thanks so much for sharing!

[Lissa]

Your humor and wit continues to shine through. Way to go!I wonder what Camille and Carrie will ask us to dig out next. What fun!

-modalissa

[Mary Lou]

Oh my gosh, I have to say, your post is the funniest "First Quilt" post I have seen!! And that's probably because I can completely, totally relate to it. I'm a no-blogger, just a lurker, so I can't show my lovely, but it pretty much had the same effect - made it about 1981, didn't even finish it, just made the top, and didn't touch quilting again til about 6-7 years! Yep, mine was that bad! Thanks for the laugh, have a great day!

[Konda Luckau]

Too fun -- I love it! You inspired me to post my first quilt as well.
http://moosequilts.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-first-quilt.html

[Jeannie Smith]

Ok, so my first quilt that I QUILTED, had been hand-pieced by my great grandmother in 1900. That doesn't count for the first quilt I MADE! I went to my first quilt show in Atlanta after spending several years hand-quilting grandmother's. I saw these small cuts of fabric (fat quarters) and bought 12 of them. What a hard lesson to learn..I was then limited by the amount of fabric I had. I had bought a book and followed directions to make an Ohio star block, then turned it into a pillow. Hmm, not bad. So I decided to use that and a nine patch (what do you mean strip piece???), add some photos from my favorite town of Newberry, SC. I made a small lap quilt (only had those 12 pieces of fabric to use), machine quilted it in the ditch, and was mighty proud of the finished product. That was seven years ago. Last month that quilt hung in the Landrum SC Guild Quilt Show!! ...and so did my Great grandmother's square in a square. I've made 38 quilts since those first two, and look what I chose to enter into the show!!
Sure did enjoy seeing Pat's first effort!!

[Tere Campbell]

My first quilt was a small doll quilt for my daughter about 10 years ago. My second quilt was for my younger daughter about 3 years ago. My first larger quilt was made this spring for a church auction to benefit preteen camp. It's an autograph quilt and we had all the the preteens going to camp write their favorite Bible verse on it--it's wall-hanging size http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30232751&id=1356408093 and sold for $150. I'm currently working on a throw-sized crazy log cabin for my second daughter and am making many quilted totes for a local store.

[Barbara Loomis]

How funny! Thanks for sharing your story and your quilt. My first quilt was a half finished one from my grandmother so the first one I ever made from scratch has a sheet as a backing since I didn't know any better and was a poor college student reusing whatever I had on hand. Again, thanks for the laughs and the pictures.

[Sharon Scott]

Pat, this is so great! I love the way we had to search, and find, your quilt. Priceless! My first quilt is being finished by me this year (one of my resolutions). I started it in 9th grade 1970. Lucky for me, I have always loved the cutting out part the best and cut it all out before I started hand applique. It is a school house quilt in all those wonderful 60's colors.
My first finished quilt was given away years ago without taking a picture :(.

[Amanda]

This was too funny, Pat! Thanks for sharing. I laughed out loud when I saw the piping from the sheet on the back of your quilt.

I posted photos of my second first quilt. My first quilt I gave to Goodwill. Don't say it...I know.... lol

You can click on my name to see my first quilt; the post is still up.

I want to tell you, though, that if it weren't for the designers (you) and fabric designers (you) that share your ideas and inspirations I wouldn't have ever started quilting. You have been a huge influence on me even before I ever knew who you were. I always looked for your patterns in magazines and in stores. So here's a big hug and thank you!

[Cathy]

Oh I love the sheet on the back, piping included!!! Thanks for sharing that, it is so lovely to see where you started, and to where you are now. And all those stacked quilts on your shelves...fabulous xo