Saturday, April 30, 2011

In the genes.

Quilting, the love of it, the ability to do it, is in my genes..  I am sure.

I grew up helping and watching (mostly) my mom and grandma, my great aunts even, while they quilted.  Laying underneath the quilt on the frames, watching how fast they would work, learning how to roll it, and get a good, tight roll.  From that point on, I have loved doing it. 

I made my first quilt when I was twelve years old.  I used a pile of scraps that my grandma gave me.  They consisted of everything from polyester knits to 100% cottons.  Quite the mix for a pieced quilt.

I pieced it together using a re-furbished old Singer that had issues with it’s tension.  I didn’t use it much after, out of frustration mostly.  I think it’s still in my parents crawl space, but I really want to conquer it.  Like, bad.

I bound my funky little pieced quilt by hand as I sat with my grandma, and as my mom and brothers shoveled snow off of her roof.  It was an exciting winter.  I am sure, if I tried, I could find that picture..

If I really wanted to, I could dig in my cedar chest, waaay down to the bottom and un-earth that first little quilt of mine.  Then you could see just how far I have come.

I have made many quilt since then.  I like to think of it as our storage of warmth in case we lose power for an extended period of time.  I have no blanket shortage here.

Here’s the latest:

    quilt 033

I have to admit, I have had this material for more than two years.  I bought it when I heard that my sister-in-law was having a girl.  I saw it, and fell in love with it, thought it would make a darling quilt for a baby girl.  Then, she posted her nursery on her blog, and there was the same fabric.  Needless to say, since she is also an amazing quilter, I gave up on that.  So it has sat.  Then I decided to do something about it and just do it!

(Maybe if I have another baby girl..  someday.)

(Or maybe I will just hold on to it for a grandbaby..)

(Do you know my husband?)

quilt 006

I got really giddy about making my own bias tape.  Grandma left behind her own little pattern for making the fun stuff, but I also found helps on the internet.  There are great resources out there.  My favorite one for pictorial help is here and the technical one is here.

quilt 001

(I am not so proficient in math, but that technical one is awesome, I found the most help there.)

It was fun making it.  I am not going to lie, I got a bit geeked-out about it.  But it matches my quilt perfectly and I love it!

quilt 011

I already have another one in the works, ready and waiting..  if the weather stays the way it has, slightly warm, rainy, snowy, warmer, windy, snowy..  it will be perfect weather to be snuggled-up inside working on another one. 

quilt 018

5 comments:

Promise said...

Mindy...beautiful! It is absolutely beautiful! Definitely a piece of art!

Janet said...

So proud of you! I love how the pattern looks quilted. You've done a beautiful job.

Cory and Kylee said...

It looks so good with the binding! You did awesome!

Mindy said...

That is beautiful! I actually bought the same fabric when my daughter was born two years ago. I haven't made a quilt before but knew I just had to. I actually washed and ironed it recently and then put it back in a closet. Maybe seeing this will spur me on.

mandi said...

ooh, me too! Though I will admit to enjoying piecing much much more than quilting. Probably why I have more than a few unfinished quilts. I've been wondering about getting some fabric made out of JS papers at spoonflower. Keep meaning to ask designers how they feel about that as long as it's kept personal. AND I have this really great biased tape maker I ordered from Purl. It's 50mm which is about 2" ad when it's all sewn on it should be a 1" wide binding [haven't actually finished anything to try it out yet :) I am truly lame.