Saturday 22 July 2017

where did it begin?

Recently I have been reminiscing about past quilts and where my love of quilts started.....
My first quilt was truly a scrap quilt. I was making a lot of smocked dresses and I loved using good quality fabrics, a lot of them american cottons, but mostly pure cotton fabrics as they were easier to pleat, so there were lots of scraps. A friend of my mum's offered me a bag of scraps to start me off, to have a go and see if I enjoyed patchwork without having to go to expense. Dress remnants and lots of different fabrics, including some poly cotton but I didn't care it summed up the whole idea of patchworking for me-Utilising left over bits of fabrics to make something new.
Well the result may not be the prettiest of quilts but it is one of my absolute favourites. I had no patchworking ruler or rotary cutter, just pencil, ruler and scissors. very basic.
I hand quilted around the hearts and used a large stash of buttons for the centre of the 4 patch blocks and that's all that's holding it together, but hold it has.
I backed it in a piece of purple tartan someone had given me. Pretty ugly when you look at it but I remember being so excited that it would fit the top and I thought it was lovely.
 I love to drape it over my bed head.
I stitched my name and the year of completion around one of the hearts and it was made in 2004.

Thanks to the enjoyment I had making this quilt many more have been made since and a passion was ignited.
I think I have learnt a lot over the years and my skills have improved also but I'll always have a soft spot for this quilt and don't think I could ever part with it.


When did your patchwork passion begin and what was your first quilt like?Not sure how to do the linky gizmo but if you'd like to share just mention in your comments that you'd like to post your first quilt and I'll pop over to see.



On another pleasant note.....
The working week just flew and it was a great week.
A squishy parcel arrived in the mail from Fiona of Bubz rugz.
this gorgeousness was my belated birthday gift.
Such perfect stitching and beautiful fabrics. Thankyou so much Fiona! Love , love, love them xx


Have a lovely weekend and hope to see your first quilts in blogland.

Happy days
Marina






17 comments:

  1. Such a lovely story about your first quilt. My first dabble into patchwork back in the early '80s was with a bag of scraps from Mum. I didn't have anything but scissors, needle, thread & a patchwork book. I cut out enough Dresden blades to make 8 place mats, sewed together by hand. Just backed using the bagging method, no wadding. I was so proud of them. Hugs, xx

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  2. http://stvictorquilts.blogspot.fr/2017/04/blogaversary-epp-tuesday-and-other.html
    Hopefully that will get you to my post about my first quilt! Love yours Marina, it's great to look back and see how far we have come. Gorgeous gifts from Fiona.

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  3. It is interesting to think where we have started with our love of quilts and how that interest has progress. It was fun to see your first one.

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  4. Loved reading about your quilt journey. Such a special quilt. I dived in with a needleturn applique quilt......no clue....just loved the quilt! No tools either. Didn't know how to use a sewing machine. Tried to exit the class quietly and swiftly but was sprung and coaxed into having a go.... so embrassed.....and here we are lol!

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  5. I treated myself to a hand Sampler class back in May 1998. It was for my Mother's Day present. Needles to say that I loved it. Yes, I finished and still have the quilt. I used paper templates, grey lead pencil & scissors... It is the best way to learn and understand the basics...

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  6. Beautiful gifts from Fiona. Loved reading about your road to patchwork.

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  7. I've always loved old quilts, because I'm all about cozy. And old quilts are cozy. I didn't like sewing clothing, so I didn't think I would like making quilts. Thanks goodness I discovered otherwise!! I've been quilting for about 8 years now, and need to live another 108 years to make all the projects I have in mind. And now I'm falling in love with old sewing machines, too!

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  8. Lovely first quilt..... it's fun reading about where it all started and some of the stories in comments. I have to admit I started to learn because I needed to meet people and have something to do ..... I made a couple and gave them away .... now I can't stop...

    Glad your pressies got there finally.... I hope you don't mind me borrowing your picture as I forgot to take one!

    Hugz

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  9. Loved the story of your first quilt and I can understand why it is so meaningful to you . I think the first quilt I ever made was a star quilt , one large star made with cottons that probably weren't the best quality and I gifted it to my parents who used it every night for many years and it is still going although showing a lot of wear . I never did take a photo of it and that quilt was made in the mid 70'S but I didn't get serious about quilting until around 2000 .

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  10. Gorgeous gifts!!! I booked into classes to learn hand piecing over a decade ago now. I was the only one in the class doing it all by hand but I have always preferred hand work. It is so portable. I also learned machine piecing but I still love making quilts by hand. I was inspired by the first Elm Tree Quilts book which I think was called The Quilter's Apprentice. I read them all after that lol. My first quilt was a sampler which I have still not quilted. I haven't finished quilting my first EPP quilt either LOL. I think we keep learning new techniques all the time and want to make so many things that we put older projects aside.

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  11. How good is it that your lovely Scrappy heart Quilt was the start of your quilting journey.
    I started quilting in 1999 with a Sampler . Also with no flash quilting tools, just scissors ✂️.
    Because I dint live near fabric stores I used what I had , it was a mixture of cottons and polys.

    Happy Belated Birthday 🎉.
    Beautiful gift from Fiona...

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  12. Enjoyed your post Marina happy belated birthday

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  13. Hi Marina what a lovely post,happy birthday and i love the gifts Fiona made for you xx

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  14. Happy birthday! What a beautiful gift and lovely story of your first quilt.

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  15. Love your first quilt, mine was a 10 fat quarter quilt, made at a class in Gisborne. It was given to a friends daughter who lost everything in one of the bush fires. I have plans to make another one....one day!!!! Love the presents from Fiona, and a very belated happy birthday to you.

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  16. Hi Marina. I have been trying to reply to your comment but am blocked and have my emails bouncing back again. Hopefully this way i can at least say thanks for your comment. Cheers, Karen

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  17. HI Marina. Guess what? I still can't reply to your comments in 2018. Our computers just do not like each other. So I will reply via an older post. I have done a cut and paste of my reply.
    Thanks, Marina.
    They were lovely classes.
    Just another variation on our interest in embroidery. And another distraction!
    It was a delight to work with the wool.
    And you are right about her bright colours. I think that is why it appealed to me the most.
    Cheers, Karen

    -----Original Message-----
    From: wordpress=sunburntquilts.com.au@appmail.sunburntquilts.com.au [mailto:wordpress=sunburntquilts.com.au@appmail.sunburntquilts.com.au] On Behalf Of Marina
    Sent: Tuesday, 23 January 2018 10:23 PM
    To: karen@sunburntquilts.com.au
    Subject: [Sunburnt Quilts] Comment: "Pin Cushion Play."

    New comment on your post "Pin Cushion Play."
    Author : Marina (IP: 218.215.97.124 , 124.97.215.218.dyn.iprimus.net.au)
    E-mail : Marinagbugeja@aol.com
    Comment:
    Beautiful Karen!
    Love Sue’s bright wooly style

    ReplyDelete

Time is flying....

 Seems like my blog has become a little neglected again, this doesn't mean a lack of crafting though. Progress has been achieved on most...