The Beginning

My Grandma had the goal of making a twin quilt for each of her 12 grandchildren. She quickly recruited the help of my sisters and I, teaching us how to quilt along the way. My family was also very involved in our local 4-H so we followed the 4-H project requirements as we progressed our skills. This started with a simple 9 patch pillow or wall hanging. 4-H also had the requirement of hand quilting this starter project. Below is the only photo I could find of this project. It is basted and ready for hand quilting (I haven’t hand quilted since).

The next level for 4-H was to make a throw sized quilt. The idea of quilting a larger piece scared me so I opted to make a rag quilt. Below is a photo of me cutting the edges of each block to make the fringe. This quilt was given to my Grandpa’s sister and I also do not have a photo of the completed project.

I decided to repeat level 2 and make a more traditionally pieced throw quilt. I used the pattern Breezy from the book Growing Up Modern by Alison Harris. I was making this quilt for a family friend’s baby. I tried to use gender neutral colors because we did not know the gender of the baby at the time of fabric shopping. For this quilt my sisters and I went to a local quilters house for a whole weekend and all tried to knockout as much of our quilts as possible. It was like our own little quilt retreat.

This quilt was also the first time I used a longarm. A local retired couple let my sisters and I use their Gammill Statler Stitcher and spent time teaching us how to operate the machine. 4-H required a label on each quilt which started my love for creating my own designs. This quilt was the first time I made my own creation with the kite label.

The final level of 4-H was dedicated to twin sized quilts and improving techniques. I started by making a quilt for my own bed. I used a pattern from the same book as Breezy (Growing Up Modern). This time I followed the tumble pattern. I also modified the Urban quilt pattern to create the back. (I HATED boring backs and tried to make all my large quilts reversable, now for the sake of time I use solid backs)

Each year I stayed in the final level of 4-H Quilting I had to use I new technique. For the 2nd year I decided to tackle Half Square Triangles (now my favorite type of block). I followed the pattern Go West by Bonjour Quilts. This was the first quilt where I truly did all the math and “wrote” a pattern for the quilt back. This quilt was made for one of my cousins. It took my Grandma a couple years of teaching but I was finally making quilts that helped towards her goal.

Twin quilt #3 added the new complexity of curves. Again this quilt was made for a cousin. I used the Chic and Jazzy pattern by Sew Kind of Wonderful.

Six projects later I started quilting on my own without my Grandma advising (and doing most of the ironing). I started to take inspiration and figure out how to make my own patterns. They were badly sketched on paper but the math always worked out.