Since I am feeling somewhat nostalgic today, I thought I'd share a little of my quilting past.... my very first quilt.
(Sorry it's not a great picture... it is a picture of a photograph, and it was taken a long while ago.)For Christmas in 1995, my mom gave me a rotary cutter, a ruler, and a cutting mat for Christmas. I didn't even know what they were, and all she could tell me was that they were for quilting. (This was back during her random-gifts-out-of-left-field phase.) I started graduate school the following month, and discovered that I lived about a mile away from a quilt shop. I decided to walk on down there and see what the deal was with my funky new tools. Lo and behold, they had an opening in their beginning quiltmaking class, and I immediately signed up.
I finished my first quilt in February 1996 and gave it to my mom for her birthday.
The happy little 2-color lap-quilt is a pattern called "Snowball Quilt" from the long out-of-print book Template-Free Quiltmaking by Trudie Hughes. I have to say it was a great pattern for a first quilt-- not too overwhelming in terms of pattern and color, but it introduced lots of great basic techniques.
I used a dark purple marbled print for the chain, and a bright turquoise and purple paisley print made up the background. The border and binding are sky-blue batik... I remember my quilt teacher raised her eyebrows at that choice (particularly for the binding), but in the end, I think we both liked it... and of course, Mom sure did!
The quilt is in tatters now... very well loved!
