This was after a few years of marriage, a couple of kids later and watching all the quilts being made that were so beautiful. (That will be another story when I get to it.) I went on my search for fabric and a pattern. Decided on embroidery and appliqued leaves for the patterns on 12" blocks. The fabric I chose was a plain tan for the blocks and plain green for the appliqued leaves and different colors for the embroidery.
I spent a lot of nights after the kids were in bed, appliquing. Actually, I was learning to applique, I had never done it before and embroidering was the easy part...
After getting the blocks all finished, Mom told me they looked nice and showed me how to put them together...well, they didn't go together quite as easy as she said. I couldn't get the corners to meet.. what to do, what to do. Flustration sets in big time... What would be your first thought if this happened to you? I layed the blocks out on the floor and the one's that were a little bit bigger, I cut to make them as near the same size as the smaller ones. At the time I thought that was the logical thing to do, but couldn't figure out why some were a little larger, when I had cut them all the same size !
Just happened that Mom came by.... she went into hysteria and said, "Elaine, what are you doing???!!!!" I explained the problem and that was when I learned that you put the block that is a little larger on the bottom and gather it in with the top block and when its pressed, you will never see it..I hope! :) actually its probably easier to pin them and do it on the sewing machine that way, than it was doing it by hand. But I learned, from some really great women, that were close to me.
Back then quilts were used and not kept for show or contest and etc. so to end this story I will tell you that my very first quilt went through four kids and two adults, many washings and a few pets. By the time I realized I should have taken better care of it, it was getting worn out, the binding was ragged and it had a few holes here and there, the fabric was now, not new. I saved it though and got it out of the chest a few weeks ago and took a picture, so the kids would know and remember.
Something I learned from making my first quilt was patience, listening to my Mother and accepting any advice they all gave me about quilts or anything else. After all they had lived and learned and knew more than me. These three women were great mentors in my life and I thank God for the time I had with them.
Here is a picture of my quilt, its still my favorite. :)
Elaine
