MY VERY FIRST QUILT

(This is a recent picture and that's my cat Cotton)

This is the first quilt I ever made. It was started somewhere between 1974-1975 when I was being inspired by Little House on the Prairie and The Waltons television shows. I didn't know the first thing about quilting but I wanted to make quilts. I wanted to learn how to make do and use whatever I had on hand, like the pioneer women. But I surely don't think I could survive that life. I am stong when it comes to some things, but I can be a real wus about others. What a combination. Quilting like the pioneer women with fabrics like those. The fabrics are all scraps from cloths I sewed for myself. They look pretty wild but that's what was on the bolts for clothing back then. It's hard to believe, they actually made up into cute dresses. I had a simple A-line style pattern that I made so many dresses-from square neck, round neck, long or short sleeve. One type of fabric I used a lot was called Kettlecloth, a blend of cotton with a little polyester. In the 60's and 70's we were still wearing only dresses, two piece skirt and jacket outfits, etc., to school or work, but never slacks or trousers. So my quilt is a remeberance of a whole era, and the way we dressed. I can look at most of the fabrics and remember what I made from them. I used some simple curtains the I had made during that time for the backing. They were 100% cotton calico and when I wasn't able to use them in my new house I couldn't get rid of them. I thought I might need them some day(I'm a big saver of things)and I did-30 years later. I was always going to hand quilt it but finally decided I'd never do it. Instead I had it machine quilted by one of my quilting friends who does that for a living. She does beautiful work so I've decided that I'll have her do all the quilts I make frome now on and those quilt tops that are already made but sitting on the shelf just waiting. I wan't more time to crochet and do other things. Hand quilting large quilts it just too time consuming. I am learning how to do sewing machine applique and piecing. It takes a fraction of the time as by hand and the quality of the work can be really good when you practice and have patience. I think my work is decent enough so I'll start posting pics of different things I'm doing. And I hopefully be finishing more crochet items. And then there are some other different crafts I enjoy. This will give me a good way to document all the different projects I have already done and everthing in the future.