At long last!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 4:15PM ;)
I honestly didn’t think this quilt would ever be completed. Today, I am so proud to say I took it off the quilt frame!
This was the first quilt I ever pieced, and according to the label so proudly embroidered right on the front of the quilt (LOL) it was done in the summer of 2004.
For six years, it’s been stored in a dusty box. I had pulled it out when we bought this house, thinking I’d quilt it on my HQ16, but I only had my frame set up at eight feet, and it wouldn’t fit.
Back into the box. I remembered it awhile back after I got the Millennium, and decided I would finally finish it! Oh my, what a disaster this quilt was! There are no matching points, it’s pieced with embroidery thread, there isn’t a square block to be found, and all the fabrics on the back were unraveling, making quite a mess.
There was in excess of eight inches of surplus border fabric, and I honestly didn’t think I would be able to quilt it without ruining it. It nearly went into the trash, as it rather overwhelmed me. I decided it would make excellent practice, because I will probably quilt someone else’s first quilt at some point, made with little skill but much enthusiasm!
I starched and steamed the heck out of the borders, in an effort to ease in some of excess fabric. I only ended up taking one tuck! And honestly, I could have steamed it out as well, I just ran out of ambition.
Now it’s just a matter of finding fabric to bind it with, I’ve long since lost or used the binding fabric up. If I can’t find a better match, plain black will work.
I had to laugh, the name of the quilt is “Bear Paw Scramble”. I know this because along with the date and my name, I added that information to the lable. I’m laughing, because it’s the worse quilt I’ve ever made, and the only quilt I’ve ever labeled!
Reader Comments (14)
CJ, I really like the quilt. We all had to start somewhere & I know that you've soared to great heights with all you accomplish. Diane
CJ, You're being too hard on yourself, I think the quilt looks great! You should have seen my first quilt, well I can't even call it a quilt considering it is still sitting in a box with only about 1/3 of it pieced together lol. MAYBE one day I'll be brave enough to get it out, fix where I went wrong and finish it...MAYBE!! lol
CJ, when did you start tackling garments?
Well, from here, your quilt is gorgeous. It's so great that you are getting it out and getting it finished...especially when it's been such a challenge. How do you like your Millennium? I have been eyeballing one and would love to have one.
you are too hard on yourself!! I think it looks pretty darn good - you should see the first one I ever did - total disaster - along with the 2nd and the 3rd - gradually I got better. Great job with the quilting and like you say it was good practice - I bet you got even more comfortable with your machine.
Karen
http://karensquilting.com/blog/
Well, I guess looks can be deceiving because I think it looks good. I am impressed that you were able to get so much of the excess border fabric steamed out.
Yes, it was good practice but I sure hope you never have to go to those lengths for a customer quilt unless you charge extra.
Any finished quilt is a good quilt. It's fun to see how we have progressed. I didn't realize that you needed to pay attention to fabrics with direction. I matched my seams correctly but those critters go in all different directions in the star points!
Congratulations, the quilt looks great.
Beautiful work, CJ - as always. Sorry you're so tired and hot.
Aw CJ, if you need to feel better about your first quilt, I'll happily send you pics of my first one to hang along side it, LOL. I think it's gorgeous and as always....love the colors. We could probably have interchangeable fabric stash....I always love the colors in the quilts you make. And OMG....that is a huge frame! How big is it? Do you miss your HQ16 at all?
I think it is FABULOUS!
CONGRATS on finishing your first quilt! It's beautiful! Think about how far you have come since then. Now you're a quilting DIVA!
I, too, think you're being way too hard on yourself. It looks fantastic! Who'll be able to tell that all those things might have been wrong with it? They sure don't show at this point! And if I had made a quilt top that long ago that wasn't quilted, I probably wouldn't still like the fabrics I had chosen, but yours are obviously timeless, cuz they look great!
Great job.. I love the look of this quilt. You have more patience than me - I would have probably removed the borders to try and fix them and then it likely would have ended up in the trash -- or I would have cut it into pieces for table runners or something. So kudos to you for getting it done.
If that quilt was as bad as you described, I think you did the right thing. You're right -- someday someone is going to bring you another 'first quilt", and you'll be better able to tackle it and make it into a thing of beauty, as you have your own. :)