I can hardly believe that it's been a year since I started this little link-up. I've enjoyed reading your tales of quilts past and seeing your amazing work. And I've filed away more than one idea for a classic quilt re-worked in a modern style!
For my throwback this month, I'm going back to where it all began - the first one ever. This quilt has been mentioned many times on this blog, but never actually seen! Around the time I started working on it, Google was founded in California and a major air disaster,
SwissAir 111, occurred near my home. It's crazy to look back on
1998!
I was entering my second year at Saint Francis Xavier University and I
have many memories of quilting this big 'ole quilt on my wee Singer on a small kitchen table in my basement rental apartment.
It really is big - a generous queen size. I figured that if I was only going to make one quilt (oh foolish me!), I wanted it to be big enough to use on a good sized bed. To further illustrate my madness, I quilted it every 2 inches horizontally and vertically. So. Much. Folding. And. Rolling.
After years of folding, you can see some sun fade on the solid squares (clearly not my beloved Kona). Oh well. An18 year old quilt should have some wear!
My quilts have always had labels of some kind... even if it was only fabric marker on the back in a corner! And you get yet another incarnation of my early binding style. Yikes.
I snapped these pics when visiting the family cottage where this one lives. It's a quilt only a mother could still love! In the background, you get a snippet of her other love - daylilies. Remember
Daylily Daze?
I couldn't resist one more money shot!
It's Throwback Thursday's 1st birthday, but you're the ones getting the presents. I have a pile of awesome prizes for those of you who link up and/or comment. Check 'em out!
1) Two patterns of your choice from
Quilting JetGirl's Craftsy shop
2) This awesome 6 FQ
Snofall by Rae Ritchie bundle from Canadian on-line store,
Zoey & Bean Fabrics
3) 25$ gift certificate from
Sew Sisters
4) 40$ gift certificate from
Mad About Patchwork
5) 50$ gift certificate from
Fridays Off Fabric
Thanks so much to the generous sponsors of these wonderful prizes! How to win, you ask? There are three ways!
- Link-up a blog post telling all about a quilt from your past. Don't
forget to link to A Quarter Inch from the Edge in your post or grab
the Throwback Thursday button for your sidebar.
- Leave a comment telling me about your first quilt.
- Leave a comment telling me if and how you follow A Quarter Inch from the Edge.
The giveaway is open to International participants until Sunday, August 7th at 11:59 Atlantic Time. Prizes will be chosen by random number generator. If you're a no-reply blogger, please be sure to leave an e-mail address where I can reach you!
Thank you to everyone for your continued support of my little link-up! It's so much fun reading your tales of quilt triumphs and, of course, laughing over fabric choices and the growing pains of early quilting days. Here's to many more months of the same!
J
Like yours, my first quilt was also an Irish Chain. My sister and I made it together in 1995 as a wedding gift for our brother and his wife. I was immediately hooked on quilting, and it is still my favorite thing to do!
ReplyDeleteMy first quilt was also the double Irish chain, bless Eleanor Burns heart. It was made in the one and only class I ever took, which was enough to learn some basic skills and jump in with both feet on my own. Your quilt is lovely, a nice memory. I don't believe I ever took a pic of mine. It was a gift for a young man who had a serious accident and is now a quadriplegic. Boy, that sure was a long time ago! Have a great day! XO
ReplyDeleteMy first quilt was a brick pattern, using Amy Bulter fabrics, it was a lap quilt that I made for my niece eight years ago. I've made many quilts since then.
ReplyDeleteI follow up you through bloglovin.
Well, I just love your quilt. (And if you look at the colors on the header of your blog, you can see an enduring love of teal!) It looks so cozy, and it must have a million great memories if it's at a family cottage. Is that a knife edge binding? I've always wanted to try one. My first quilt was a monkey wrench baby quilt in garish green and yellow --a baby quilt for a friend--sewn and badly quilted (the puckers make me blush) on a Singer featherweight.
ReplyDeleteI follow you on bloglovin'
ReplyDeleteWow, a full year of Throwback Thursday. That is really awesome, Jenn, and thanks for sharing your first ever quilt! My first bindings look pretty much just like yours. We all have to start somewhere and a quilt that covers and keeps you warm works whether the binding is show quality perfect or not. <3
ReplyDeleteI like this quilt's rich green monochrome goodness. Nothing to be embarrassed about here.
ReplyDeleteI thought about a few ancient flashbacks I could share – my homemade high school ball dress, the doll I made aged ten ... – but no quilts leap to mind and it is too rainy to drag anything outside to photograph. (And I should be working anyway. :( )
Thanks for a fun year of flashbacks!
I follow you on Bloglovin. I am a novice quilter as I have only been piecing blocks since the first of the year. I have not really made my first "Quilt" yet. I have made a couple of rag quilts for my son and step grandkids. I have made quilted pillows, and a few mini quilts. I have started to make blocks for a real life-sized quilt but do not have enough yet to even think about putting it together.
ReplyDeleteI am amazed at the size and quality of your very first quilt! It really is lovely! My first quilt was made by way of necessity when I was a junior in college and living in my first (and only) apartment. I couldn't find a bedspread for my new full-size mattress, so I decided to make one. I bought yardages of multiple purple fabrics (always my favorite color), cut out 5 inch squares and simply sewed them together patchwork style. I bought a new blanket for the middle layer and a new bed sheet for the backing. I knew nothing about quilting back then in 1981, so I sewed the layers together here and there with yarn ties. That quilt has been on camping trips, sports events, picnics, 4th of July fireworks and has been a playmat for my babies. It's been repaired a few times, but will hold up for a few more generations...I hope!
ReplyDeleteI am a Bloglovin' follower and I forgot to tell you: Happy 1st Anniversary! I wish you many more successful years of blogging!
ReplyDeleteI follow by email and bloglovin! Lovely quilt!!! churcae(at)auburn(sot)edu
ReplyDeleteMy first quilt was sewn with 5/8 inch seams using hot hot pink fabric (what can I say I was a teenager....)and scraps left over from making my dresses and jumpsuits (it was the 1960s...). I used it as bedroll one summer as I hitchhiked across the West (I was a very naive teenager!). I had a great time, met tons of wonderful people and saw the gorgeous countryside! It is in tatters now but I still keep it to remind me of how I started off in quilting and the fabulous time I had!!! churcae(at)auburn(dot)edu
ReplyDeletemy first quilt was a quilt for my bed, the only other thing I have ever linked up with you. It has no particular name, was triangles set in squares, from a woman's magazine of the time.
ReplyDeletecongratulations on your ist anniversasry! I follow you through bloglovin
ReplyDeleteI follow you by email. That is a great quilt! Would love to see how you modern it up. from okruhlik6(at)aol(dot)com
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the Throwback Thursday anniversary! It's always a good party, thanks! And glad to see your first quilt! Mine was another baby quilt for a cousin.
ReplyDeleteI follow via Bloglovin'! Great prizes, thanks!
ReplyDeleteI follow you by email. Do enjoy your posts. Thanks for the efforts you put into this.
ReplyDeleteMy first quilt was a triple rail in turquoise, yellow and green. I still use alot of turquoise in my quilts. And I've been known to make a triple rail for a baby quilt, on occasion. Thanks to you and your sponsors for the wonderful giveaways!
ReplyDeleteI have a thing for teal at the moment, so you quilt went right through the heart)) My first quilt was the Sunny Sampler I shared here on a Throwback Thursday a couple of months ago!
ReplyDeleteI follow you via bloglovin. Thanks for the chance to win!
ReplyDeleteI love the image of you sewing away in the basement. My first quilt was a double irish chain with a white background, and blue and black fabrics in the blocks and chains. It' no long with us...or if it is I don't know where. I gave it to my nephew.
ReplyDeleteI follow you on blog lovin.
ReplyDeleteI'm so impressed in the size of your first quilt, and that you quilted that giant on your domestic machine! Im in the process of finally quilting my first quilt - its only been twelve years since I finished the top! :) I can't wait to get it all quilted.
ReplyDeleteI follow you by email, and really enjoy seeing your posts pop up in my inbox!
ReplyDeleteMy first quilt was a 12 block sampler. I knew nothing about quilting but was determined to make one so I joined a class and the rest is history!
ReplyDeleteI heard so much about this quilt...it's good to see it. My first quilt was a flannel rail fence for nephew.
ReplyDeleteI follow on Bloglovin, on Instagram, and in person.
ReplyDeleteGreat first quilt story. I think I still have the lighter green fabric that you used in your quilt. I follow you on GFC.
ReplyDeleteHappy anniversary of your Throwback Thursday. I always enjoy seeing the quilts shown. One of my favorite early quilts was a hand pieced double wedding ring quilt. I used pieces of scraps from my grandmother's, great aunt's, aunt's, mother's, 2 sister's, my, my daughter's, and my grandson's aND daughter's clothes. I worked on it for seveal years in my spare time, and the top was nearly finished. It was a gift for my daughter, and when we got together, we spread the top on the bed and watched as the size grew larger. We talked about the scraps, and I told her stories of my grandma who my daughter never knew. Unfortunately, we had a house fire and lost everything except the pajamas we were wearing. I am so thankful that my daughter got to see her quilt in progress and we were able to share the stories in the patches.
ReplyDeleteI follow by email. As a mother, I really like your Irish chain quilt. I, too, enjoy the daylilies. .
ReplyDeleteYour first quilt is still a lovely quilt. If I showed you my first, you would think yours was a show winner! LOL. My first was a large maple leaf applique pattern on muslin squares, which was started while my sister in law was in the hospital following an brain aneurysm. Her Mom (my Mother-in-Law) showed me how to needle turn the edges and we passed squares of fabric, needle and thread out to all who waited with us at the hospital to help complete blocks and pass the time. Once the blocks were done, we sashed it with with a bright green (yuk) tiny print. The leaves were from all my scraps from garments I made over the years of sewing. My Mom had taught me to save every scrap! Months later, we put in a frame at my MIL's home and all the church ladies came over to help us hand quilt it. I must say it quite colorful and BIG! Who knew then (early '80's) that later I would actually love making quilts after I retired just 3 years ago. Thanks for sharing your first quilt and allowing me to walk down memory lane to reminisce about mine.
ReplyDeleteThat has always been one of my favorite patterns and I love the aqua color.
ReplyDeleteI follow you by email. I love your first quilt and the most amazing thing to me about it is that I have BOTH the prints that used in your irish chain in my stash. Pieces of those fabrics ended up in several of my quilts over the years!
ReplyDeleteI follow you by email :)
ReplyDeleteMy first quilt was a sampler of hand sewn blocks, machine assembled and quilted in the ditch, 80" x 80" for my first daughter.
ReplyDeleteI follow you by email :)
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed that you dove right in on a double Irish chain! My first quilt was an appliqué sampler with 12" blocks and high-loft polyester batting for my boyfriend at the time. To his credit I do believe he still has it! I really do not want to know what I did about binding it, though. FUnny how binding scared me for so long.
ReplyDeleteThat's a beautiful first quilt! My first quilt was a wedding gift for a friend back in 1997. It had fusible hand applique, hand embroidery and hand quilting. I haven't seen it since it was gifted, and would certainly cringe if I did! I remember SwissAir...in fact, I had been out sailing with friends on St. Margaret's Bay the day before it happened.
ReplyDeleteI follow you on Bloglovin :)
ReplyDeleteMy first quilt used the disappearing 9-patch block. I quilted it with the stitch in the ditch method. I made it about 4 yrs ago and still use it today. I follow you on this blog.
ReplyDeleteHi Jenn - lots of beautiful link ups again. My first quilt!!! Hexagons, 1" and lots of them - took me two years to piece and hand quilt. Still in use though and I love it. Congrats on your anniversary - looking forward to another year. xx
ReplyDeleteWhat a brave endeavor for a first quilt! Love it, and the close stitching is probably why it is in such great shape today. I am smiling because I still have some of the lighter green tone on tone in my stash.!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your first quilt! It's lovely seeing how well it's done over the years. I actually love the slight show of aging. :)
ReplyDeleteI follow on feedly.
ReplyDeletemy first attempt was a double wedding ring (go big or go home!) I doubt I will ever finish it as it is not all at to my taste now...
ReplyDeleteMy first quilt is a wall hanging sized creation with a lighthouse, sailboats and little houses. I saw a photo of a magazine that pictured the quilt (the quilt's pic was about 5/8 of an inch square). Surprise, I wanted to figure out if I could make it.
ReplyDeleteHow do I follow you? Bloglovin and in person.
ReplyDelete