Welcome back to Melva Loves Scraps and the weekly Sew & Tell party...
I'm going to mix thing up this week and do the weekly feature first. Each project shared in the party is made with love and you each take time to not only make the items, but also write about them... I want this party to celebrate each of you up front... not as an afterthought.
So (drumroll)... this week's feature is Donna at DonnaLeeQ. She shared that she had started some fun projects for her. She's been busy with the making of charity quilts, which is always wonderful and usually well needed and appreciated... but the "fun more me" projects can be just as satisfying. She started the Autumn Nights Mystery Quilt.
These cute pumpkins are fun! Hop over to her blog to see where the pattern was found... maybe you'll want to make a pumpkin patch of your own. ;)
My deepest appreciation goes out to each of you! Because of your participation (not just in the party, but the sew along events I have hosted over the years), you have helped me to gain confidence as a quilter and a writer. Enough confidence that I bravely applied for and have been accepted... as an ambassador for Connecting Threads. EEEEEEEEEEKK!
I finished my Wild Goose Chase placemats last week. Thanks to those of you that stopped by for some coffee/tea and gingersnap cookies. I enjoyed our conversation.
I haven't had much going on in the studio... I started the Little Ghost placemats and have them ready for applique and binding. I'll show off the final photos in the "Out of the Dark" Halloween blog hop taking place October 20 to 23. I am scheduled for Tuesday, October 21.
Speaking of blog hops... After hearing that last year's Virtual Cookie Exchange was the last, I had planned on picking up the baton to continue. Turns out Joan and Carol missed all of the hopper participants and will carry on with the baton. I'll allow them to carry on. Be sure to mark your calendars and if you want to share some special quilts in the hopping good parties reach out to them. I'm sure they would welcome you in.
Fall is in the air, and it is time for a change in the guestroom... That means that I need to get my RSC Hexagon project off of the bed so that I can change the quilt. I have been slowly formulating a plan for the progression of this project. Here's what I think...
I'll will add some pastel greens and then start to blend the oranges into brown... below the teal/aqua area I will fade to greys and below the purples blend back into pastel pinks... At least I have a plan now. ;)
As I opened the cedar chests to select a quilt I spied my cross-stitched wild rose quilt. This is one of the first ever quilts I made... back when I was more of a cross-stitcher than a quilter.
My very first quilt was completed in 1993 – I had cross-stitched blocks of a wild rose arranged in a checkerboard pattern. I really had no idea what I was doing when I quilted it – turns out I did a “quilt as you go” kind of thing by creating sandwiches with the blocks, batting and some interfacing and then assembled the blocks together. I then made a backing that was stitched into place at the seams along the borders and at the binding. I managed to fumble my way through...
It was on our bed for years – until I finished my first BOM quilt in 2003.
the full story of this quilt is that it was supposed to have many more stitched blocks, but I grew tired of the slow pace of the project and decided that seven was enough with wide borders. The threads of some blocks (Dave's side of the bed) were worn thin and missing in a few spots after 10 years and that was when it was "retired".
How long have you been quilting?
Do you still have your first quilt?
Leave a comment... I'd love to hear from you!
Keep Piecing,
Melva
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Congratulations on becoming a Connecting Threads ambassador, Melva! That's exciting news! Your early quilt with the cross-stitched blocks is a sweet one. I started quilting when my oldest son was a senior in high school - I think it helped with relieving the stress of having a teenager in the house and one going off to college as well. I do still have my first quilt - it was just made completely with squares and tied with yarn. But I loved making it!
ReplyDeleteMy first quilt was a baby gift long ago! But I don't really remember much about it. The first one I made and kept was a twin quilt for it guest room. I was trying to make it before a cousin came to stay with us for a month. I finished the top, but I was hand quilting it. That didn't get finished for a few years. 😆 It was an Irish chain. I still have it and it gets used sometimes.
ReplyDeleteAn Irish Chain quilt is a great quilt for a beginner. :) Blessings!
DeleteCongratulations on being an ambassador! It's well-deserved, and we are all curious about what it will mean for you.
ReplyDeleteLook at all that beautiful work! I think those hexagons would drive me crazy, but you're creating a real work of art!
Congratulations on your upcoming Connecting Threads ambassadorship. May you enjoy each and every challenge/assignment. I began quilting in 1980. I don't have my first quilt as we wore it out! It was a LeMoyne star block pieced with cotton polyester blend fabrics and blue jeans that I had recycled! The star centers contained "hills and valleys." A number of points were lost and I tied it. --TerryK@OnGoingProjects
ReplyDeleteLeMoyne Star can be a challenging pattern for a beginner. Did you do it on your own? Or did you start with a class?
DeleteI am excited for you being a CT ambassador! I thought about signing up and then said nope I am happy right now with no commitments except for what I put upon myself, LOL. It will be interesting how it works, they didn't really say how often etc. you had to make a project. I made my first quilt when I was 19 for my first apartment. Yes I still have it, but it is not in the best shape anymore. Dresden plates stitched onto a sheet and tied.
ReplyDeleteWow congrats on the Connecting Threads ambassadorship - I am doing the Ross jump! Donna's pumpkins are so pretty, I love the fabrics. Your Wild Rose quilt is gorgeous. My first quilt was a little wall hanging, and yes I still have it. It has become a kitty blanket - lol! My first "real" quilt went to my daughter, a Christmas quilt mostly pieced from a panel. Like you I had no idea what I was doing, but it sparked a desire that won't quit!
ReplyDeletePets need and deserve some quilty love, too! ❤ May the spark continue.
DeleteThanks for sharing in my celebration and happy jumps.
My first 3 quilts were embroidered blocks that my grandmother pieced into quilts for me. They too are all thread bare in a few places from repeated use and have all been retired. Congrats on the Connecting Thread ambassador position. I'll be curious to see how that develops.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Madame Ambassador! (I'm watching The Diplomat on Netflix. I hope your appointment is less stressful.) My first quilt was a cross-stitch kit, double-bed size. I made it when I was in graduate school in 1973-74 (cross stitch first semester, hand quilting second semester). I got many years of use out of both the quilt and the degree.
ReplyDeletecongratulations!! challenges and fun ahead. you will do wonderful things (as usual) with your creativity.
ReplyDeletemy first quilt was made knowing absolutely nothing about quilting (no knowledge of accepted seam allowances or even the idea of a consistent allowance) and very little sewing experience. i made my own "woven on the diagonal" type pattern, colored it with crayons, and did the "math" for fabric sizes. a grand experiment in creating, with nobody to tell me how, what i was doing wrong, or that i couldn't "do it". just me and an idea.
it came out just fine. pretty in fact. i was proud of myself, and hooked!
enter the internet to try and find out more about my new love...
and then i stumbled upon your site with the WW2 quilt along. heaven. history and craft. this must be love.
thank you for your inspiration, history lessons and camping journals. you are much appreciated.
My first quilt was made in 1975-1976. A nine patch in red white and blue - with whatever fabrics I could find in my mom's scraps. I still have it!
ReplyDeleteI love the hexagon project, they way you are using the colours is just beautiful.
ReplyDeleteWow, it's impressive that you managed to finish that same cross stitch so many times. I probably couldn't make more than 3 or 4 of the same pattern. That quilt looks lovely on the bed.
ReplyDelete