First Quilt

Began and Finished 1999

1999 began my love affair with quilts.  I dearly wanted a patchwork quilt on my bed, but times were tough and quilts were expensive.  So I decided I'd just make one.  The only problem was that I didn't know anything about quilting except that a quilt was made of small pieces sewn together.

I had sewn before, so I thought it would be like sewing clothes or at least like curtains.  Boy, was I wrong.

It has no known pattern because I didn't know there were quilt patterns when I made it, so I just looked at pictures in catalogs and made one up. I didn't know that quilts had quarter inch seams, or how they were put together, so I started in the center and worked my way out. The seams were 5/8 inch, just like sewing patterns of that time, and pressed open. I didn't even know that the completed blocks needed to be the same size. Binding was done just like a hem with top, batting, and backing all folded over, except the top where I sewed the backing to the top. Amazingly, that quilt has held up for sixteen years. It's not pretty, but it's still in one piece. It's been washed at least 100 times now so the colors are faded. I never even thought I might want a photo after making it.