While I’m away, I’ve got a few guest posts lined up of people sharing their first quilts – those first quilts where we learn a lot of lessons the hard way! Today we have Holli sharing her first pretty quilt – made on a boat!!
Thank you, Alyce, for inviting me to talk about my first quilt. I’ve lived on a boat for a little over two years and had been doing quite a bit of sewing for the boat – canvas covers of various kinds, cushions, window coverings. Mostly big and heavy stuff, made out of heavy fabrics. With a desire to sew with softer things, I decided to make my first quilt in the summer of 2011 after reading a few blogs and making my first ever visit to a real quilt store.
I picked the quilt pattern from this book:
I chose this pattern, called Lemongrass by Laura Ducommun:
It looked like something I could do; rectangles, wonky (so precision wouldn’t be required), not too big. I didn’t want my quilt to be an exact match, but it was really hard to pick something different, so I kind of went with the color scheme here.
But, then, I thought those yellow rectangles needed a little something extra. So, with zero experience in either quilt making or applique, I appliquéd every rectangle. This was a ‘tester’ block I made, to see if I’d like it.
When I got the fabric for the quilt, I bought some with all these big flowers on it, and I wanted to use it in the quilt, but not as it was. I don’t know what the fabric is called; this was before I learned that knowing where fabric comes from is information others want. I think the flower petal fabric behind it is the same line.
I used a tight satin stitch to attach the flower, and then made a stem in the same stitch. I liked it. So I made a bunch more. (As I continued working on the quilt, I started worrying that I’d used the wrong stitch, that it was so tight that it would actually cut through the background fabric and once it was washed, it would fall apart.) It was amazing to me how many different flowers there were in the fabric; a really wide repeat. I cut some of the leaves too, and appliquéd those on to some. At this point I hadn’t yet done the borders; I just was laying out the appliques. I also made some birds, you can see them in the four corners. Their bodies are fleece, and their wings are leaves. I don’t remember that butterfly in the lower left. I don’t think it made the final cut.
I have this tile with a little bird on it that reminds me – for some reason I cannot explain even to myself – of my best friend. Its a pretty simple shape, and that’s what I based the bird appliques on. From my notes, I really liked how bright the flowers were. I still do.
I had my sewing machine set up on the flybridge (the top of the boat where the steering is). I think my cutting mat was on the floor, because I didn’t have a table up there. There’s a sort of countertop next to the steering wheel and that’s where I was ironing/pressing.
This was my favorite flower. Still don’t have the block actually constructed. Hm. I wonder if I was avoiding actually making the block?
Ok, finally, a real block. As I recall, the fabric was cut into strips of various widths of my choosing, and then I’d cut those up and sew them to others that were the same width, and those pieced strips would become the logs of the cabin. It was tedious, and I was continually unsure whether I liked it.
I didn’t. The deep pink I thought really competed with the yellow centers, so I undid all the strips I’d made. Rather than using a seam ripper, though, I just cut those pieces out and then sewed just the other two fabrics back together. That was fun . . . (not).
I went back to the quilt store (according to my notes). I know I was struggling with the fabric and colors. But I didn’t buy anything else for the quilt top. I did pick up a book on quilting. And it said that I should use a patterned fabric for the quilt back because it would hide mistakes in the quilting better. Yikes. I had planned on using a solid. Armed with this new information, though, I bought something else.
After about three weeks I had 14 blocks made. I needed 16, but had lost two. One got marked up with something and I think one blew away. A week later I had them all done. It was bigger than I expected it to be. I struggled again with whether I would sash it, like the pattern, or not. I laid it out on our bed.
I liked it with the sashing, depicted here by the background of a blanket. This was the lower right quadrant of the quilt, and it seemed wider would be better.
In the end, I didn’t sash it. I had tried to cut straight strips WOF and couldn’t manage them, so I ended up just sewing the blocks to each other.
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There’s the top, and below is the quilting I did, which was just stitch in the ditch around each yellow rectangle, and then around each applique. I was afraid to do any more. Even though my backing had a pattern, it read pretty solid.
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| Simple (simple) outline quilting |
I don’t remember what I bound it with but I remember how much I enjoyed hand stitching the binding to the back – and I’ve enjoyed every hand stitched binding since. I don’t have a picture of the completed quilt which was gifted to a friend. I do have the sample block I made. Well, its somewhere I’m sure. Elvis liked it.
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| Elvis on the sample (with his wombat) |
So, that was my first quilt. It was hard to make. I was unsure of every thing I did. I wasn’t thrilled with the fabric or the pattern. But I was so proud of myself when it was done. I’m so glad I documented as much of it as I did. I did get thoroughly hooked on quilting. We cleared out the guest quarters on the boat and turned it into my sewing room. Its small and dark and has hardly any room to turn around, but I’m so happy there with all my fabric and notions and threads and scraps. I’ve learned so much more in the past 18 months, mostly from the wonderful generous bloggers out there. Thank you!
Happy sewing!
Holli
Thanks so much Holli! Extended until March 6th when we get back: A reminder that 100% of all sales from my Tea For Two pattern will be donated to my sister and her husband. It is only fitting, given the cover quilt was to be Ariella’s.
SIMPLESEW says
This was a cool read.. I love the idea of embroidering the flowers how great it makes a fabric better.. I laughed when I finished reading, that the bird flew away, I am think, she must have a strong wind in her house.. But figured out. BOAT ..loL.
BaublesBubblesBags says
Wow!! I think the one you ended up making looks better than the original idea that inspired the piece. Loving the bright colours on yours.
MsMidge says
That is such a gorgeous quilt! Love it!
liniecat says
What wonderful blocks!
Sarah_L_N says
I absolutely love it! Such gorgeous colours and appliqué 🙂