Monica posted the other day and asked us to share our first quilts. Hers was typically accomplished, showcasing loads of different techniques and her characteristic ability to combine colours in a way that makes the whole so much more than the sum of the parts.
When I read the post, we were away from home, so I was thinking about what I thought was my first quilt - a red white and blue star pattern, but when I went to the cupboard to take it out and photograph it, I found another quilt entirely that I had forgotten about, that definitely pre dates the one I thought was my first.
This must be from around 1995, made as a way to practice using a sewing machine. It's a simple 9 patch and I think I made it because I wanted to incorporate the little whimsical farm print that now makes me cringe slightly.
It got heavily used once Mark came along as he was the pukiest baby ever and I moved about, draping any non-machine washable surface in his vicinity with some sort of quilt or mat. So there have been countless cycles through the washing machine and tumble drier, which have left some of the machine piecing stitches looking a little worse for wear.
Usually so much washing and drying would have given it that heirloom feel, but the wadding I used is nasty polyester, so that was never going to happen. Forgive me, it was before nice cotton batting was freely availible and I didn't know any better.
The forgotten quilt. Reminding me that even when you really have no clue what you are doing, you can accomplish things with a little focus and detemination.