I'm estimating ages here, because I couldn't use a sewing machine yet, but Jeri could. She was about 9 and I was about 7 when we decided to make our mother a quilt for Mother's Day, instead of (or perhaps along with) the usual breakfast in bed that we always prepared (I'll have to do another post on those!).
It was the Saturday before Mother's Day; my mom had gone out with my grandma and Aunt Karen for a while. So my sister and I dug through the drawer full of fabric that my mom kept for other purposes. After selecting our fabrics, we grabbed some scissors and started cutting. Some of the 'squares' (if you could call them that - no templates, just free-form cutting with scissors) were quite large, and others were very small. We both cut fabric until we thought we had enough to start sewing. My sister started sewing on the machine, and I continued cutting squares until it looked like there were enough to make a good sized quilt; then I began hand-stitching squares together (with very long stitches, I might add), and together we formed our squares into a very puckered and crooked patchwork quilt top, of which we were very proud.
Next we needed some batting and something to use on the back of the quilt. We went back to the drawers in the hallway to look for something suitable. We found a blanket that would do for batting and some white cloth to use as backing. After trimming both to match the size of our quilt, Jeri went to work sewing the three layers together around the edges. I'm guessing, since I don't remember what was done to bind the quilt, that the edges were folded over. There was no quilting or tying of the inside of the quilt - just bound edges. [Update: Jeri says that she thinks there were no folded edges - only rick-rack used around the edge.]
Our gift was then wrapped and we had to wait until the next morning to present our gift to our mom. We knew she would love it!
Our mother cried when she opened her gift and saw the work of our hands. Could have been tears of anger for using her best linen table cloth as the backing (and probably some of the napkins in the quilt top), but I tend to think she was overjoyed and happy that we would do something like this for her. Mom once said that she wondered what had happened to that blanket (which was found when the quilt fell apart). And we were never scolded for destroying her best table cloth or all the fabric that had been planned for other uses.
My mom has Alzheimer's disease, which is in an advanced stage. She lives with me, so I asked her if she remembered that quilt. She started crying and said she always loved it and wished she knew where it was. I don't know if she really remembered it or not, but I certainly do!
It was about 1977 or 1978 the next time I made a quilt. It was the tied variety made from yardage purchased at Sprouse Reitz (does that store still exist?) for 25 cents a yard, on sale. It was flowered fabric, and I purchased about 6 yards each of blue and red. The quilt was used on my bed for a few years, then my mother inherited it when I left for Argentina to serve an LDS Mission there. It was later returned to me, and it had been well used and repaired in a few places. After it wore thin, it became the dogs' blanket. I wrapped my dog Taylor in it after she died and sent it to doggie heaven with her. Here is a picture of Taylor:
My next real attempt at doing a pieced quilt came about 20 years ago after I read a book called "Seven Golden Threads" (or something like that) and I thought I wanted to try real quilting again. So I purchased fabric and began sewing to make a king-sized quilt (that was ambitious!). I knew absolutely NOTHING about using colors, and unfortunately, I didn't realize that the seams should only be 1/4 inch wide. The pattern in the quilt is not easily seen and the quilt top puckers; it remains a flimsy to this day. My mom latched onto it, so it resides in her room, but someday I might redo seams and quilt it (or maybe even quilt it as-is).
I've made many quilts since that time. I am currently working on Bonnie Hunter's next quilting mystery, Orca Bay. Step 2 has already been posted, and I'm still working on Step 1: Making hourglass blocks. Here is what I've done so far (nothing finished yet, as you can see):
If you'd like to join in, go to quiltville.blogspot.com and look for the tab called "Orca Bay." Be warned, though! Bonnie uses a lot of small pieces! But the quilt designs are excellent!
