008

I'm counting up the quilts I've made over the last 10 years of my quilting lyfe.  

Winter 2006:

The name of this game was simplicity and speed. AKA: I had a boy who was just about to turn one and I was 8 months pregnant with by second baby boy.  Oy.  And I had time to quilt?!  Priorities, I guess.

With this quilt there isn't a whole lot to explain, I found a coordinating group of fabrics and let them do the talking.  I kept the quilting also really simple.

This quilt went to my husband's first cousin and his wife who were having their first baby.  Judging by the look of these fabrics, they didn't know the gender of the baby.

You could say this quilt set a precedent: every cousin that had a baby thereafter got a quilt from me. :)

007

If you're just joining me, I'm chronicling every quilt I've ever made.  Seriously. Lucky no. 7 is my first finish of the year 2006.  It kind of feels like I'm getting somewhere with this list!

This quilt was given to my friend for the birth of her first and only daughter.  My sister, being close friends with the mama-to-be told me that her nursery colors were brown and pink.  At the time, in my sheltered existence, this news made me very nervous.  Because color schemes cause unease in many people.  And brown and pink was just starting to be a popular combo.

Anyway, I set out to nail this brown and pink quilt thing.  I chose two traditional quilt blocks and alternated them in the quilt - a first for me.  Also, it should be noted here that I started designing my quilts very early.  Quilt 006 was the first one I came up with the layout and border design using an existing block.  

For the quilting design, I used a star stencil with feathers for the alternate "chain" blocks, a cute daisy chain stencil for the border and free motion stippling to fill in the other areas.

And last but not least for the little baby mama who loves stars, I added this quilting to the corner border squares:

006

{Because of my upcoming 10th quiltiversary, I'm reliving the quilts of my past.  The goal is to remember the how and why of the quilts I've made over the years, eventually trying to nail down a total number made.}

Fall/Winter of 2005:

This quilt represents quite an undertaking in my young quilting career, mostly because of the size.  I don't remember the exact dimensions, but it was meant (and it does) cover a queen sized bed.

I made this quilt for my mother and father in law for a Christmas present.  My husband and I often find it difficult to buy gifts for them and so - needing another project, I'm sure, and solving the problem of not knowing what to give them - I embarked on making this quilt on nothing else but my domestic sewing machine.

Even though this was late 2005,  I still remember that I searched online for a fabric line that I thought my mother-in-law would like and ordered it.  I also searched the Quilter's Cache site for a pattern that'd be appropriate for the fabrics, keeping in mind I wanted some negative space... I was premeditating those feathered wreaths. :)

Because I was pressed for time, because I had limited tricks up my sleeve, and because I was quilting this big quilt on a domestic machine, I started with stitching in my ditches all over the quilt and then went in and quilted the feathered wreaths over and over and over again.  

I just have to highlight one other "first" for this quilt, the borders are mitered!  (Way to go, Jess! I didn't know you tackled that technique so early.)  :)

It's sweet, my mother-in-law redecorated their bedroom based on this quilt, I wasn't ever expecting that.  If I'm not mistaken, they might still use it on their bed.  

I look at this quilt now and think that I can do so much better.  But, I think that's missing the point.  I wouldn't choose the fabrics or pattern again, but times change, styles change, abilities change, and for that one moment in time, it all came together and I was able to show my love and appreciation for them using those materials and burgeoning skills. So? Worth it. :)

005

{As I approach my 10 year quiltiversary, I'm taking stock of the quilts that I've made over the years, counting them up and remembering the how and why.}

Fall 2005:

It looks like someone found herself back on the Log Cabin wagon!  I scaled down the log size for this baby quilt.  I also used the same exact print for all of the light portions of each block.  I think it made a greater impact on the overall design.

I particularly like the light green centers of each block and how I repeated that same fabric in the inner border.  Verdict: I'm still proud of this quilt! :)

I used another new-to-me technique as far as the quilting goes.  This quilting pattern is a really traditional one called Baptist fans.  I remember that in order to achieve this quilting style, I drew the arcs onto a disposable plastic plates and cut them out.  I then tediously traced around the four arc templates onto the quilt top with a water-soluable pen.  Keep in mind that I had to repeat this process four times for every single repeat on the quilt.  It took awhile!

I used a variegated thread for the quilting for the first time.  I've always been quite "meh" about variegated thread.  To this day, I don't use it on a customer quilt unless the customer insists on it and then place a special order for the particular color they're wanting.  

Like quilt 004, we gave this quilt to one of my husband's co-workers.

004

I'm revisiting the quilts of my past, and I'm still in the fall of 2005.  This baby quilt was completed just two weeks after quilt no. 003. 

My husband and I were invited to a couples baby shower for one of his coworkers at the time.  Quiltmaking was still so new and exciting to me that I couldn't bear to pick a gift from their registry - I had to explore a new idea, a new pattern.  Lord knows I needed a break from the log cabin pattern!

I could critique my fabric choices now, but I see the progression in learning as I look back and that is a precious thing.  I was growing and evolving with every new project.  In present-day quiltmaking, that's still my goal.

I cross-hatched the background, but what I was trying to feature in this photo was the "E" I quilted in the middle of the star block.  The baby's name was Elizabeth and I wanted to personalize the quilting.  It's not highly visible, but again, I tried a new thing and I learned from that experience.

I used stencils to pull off the butterfly border and I also see that I hand-tacked the binding down on the back side of the quilt.

Life is life.  People come into our tiny corner of the world and then leave it, sometimes it is us leaving them.  Honestly, we were not very close friends with the family this quilt went to and in a few short years, we lost touch with them completely.  Job changes, moves, life just happens and we move on.  It's a touch sad, mostly it's just a reality.  This situation is not unique, in fact, there will be a lot of quilts on my list that will bring back memories - only memories - of a passing friendship.  But not a single regret. 

003

I'm revisiting the quilts of my past, one by one [for now].  There's a strong to quite-strong chance that no one else will be interested in this retelling of history, but dang it - it's my journal, and I really want to know a number.

The year was still 2005, it was the fall and another friend of mine was having her first child.  Judging by the color scheme I chose, they didn't yet know the gender of the lil one at the time. 

This quilt marked a turning point for me, and an important one. It was the first quilt I solely machine quilted.  I took a domestic machine quilting class just prior to piecing the top and I COULD NOT WAIT to apply the techniques I'd learned to make this quilt better than my last two quilts.  The information I learned in the class  was such a difference maker!

Ready for the worst quality pictures in the history of the Internet?

Yeah, I can't even believe I just published those. :)  Let's just let that be a commentary on the times (again, it was 2005) and my enthusiasm for moving onto the next quilt and not caring about the photography. (Okay, I do wish I had cared a little bit about the photography.)