My First Quilt

At about the time when my first daughter was born, I bought a book on quilting, with lots of different styles, from Molas, to Country, to Japanese, etc...

The book is called "Rags to Rainbows" and the author is Miranda Innes. I still love it 12 years later.

I started my first quilt with a pair of scissors, a sewing machine and some pins. No rotary cutter, cutting mat or a ruler. And I managed quite well considering.

The book was very good as it explained how to sew half square triangles in rows, to save time and effort. Of course I was marking my fabric with a soft metre, and I didn't square up anything.

After a lot of time and effort, a year later at least, I managed to finish my top. It looked beautiful in my eyes, although I had to tease the fabric in some places to make it fit.

I visited the Bouchara shop in Paris and bought some synthetic wadding. There wasn't any other option. I also got the backing fabric, with printed buttons.

I started the quilting with my regular sewing machine. I had never heard of a walking foot. The result is less than perfect. I used a nylon thread, and you cannot see it, but the foot of my machine dragged a bit on the fabric creating folds that didn't exist before.

I haven't yet binded it, nor did I put a label. I am wondering if I should undo all the quilting and start that bit again, or leave it as it is as a souvenir of my first effort.

We use it anyway. At the moment it is covering the most worn out part of the sofa, until we get the new ones delivered.

Since this quilt I have been hooked, and this quilt and the book will always have a special meaning for me. And of course I have made many more, tried new techniques and invested in a lot of kit to make it easier.