My first quilt

Welcome to our new blog series where we're featuring the first quilt made by guild members. Today it's Kayla, our guild president. Enjoy!

I made this quilt in 2007. I didn't know anyone who quilted, but I thought I may enjoy it. I was really looking for something to give me short breaks between my research at the time. 

I learned a lot from this quilt. It's best not to make your first quilt with tiny 1.5x3" flying geese. It's best to iron. Lots of prints are not great. It's nice to have different tones. Flannel backs may not be best for a cotton top. Flannel bindings are even worse. I also learned the difference between piecing and quilting because at the time I had no idea that a machine could sandwich the layers together, so this quilt is actually tied. 

We call it the ugly quilt, but cannot seem to part with it. 

My First Quilt

Welcome to a blog series where we feature members and their first quilt, ever! Enjoy! Today it's me, Lindsey.

I have been knitting since freshman year in high school, and I got a sewing machine for Christmas when I was in my 20s, because I saw that many knitters sewed linings for bags or similar small projects related to their knitting. I had seen Amy Butler fabric around, and I thought it was so cool, but I never knew what to do with it!  

In 2006 I moved to a small town in Montana for the summer, and there wasn't a knitting shop, but I wandered into the quilt shop one day thinking maybe they could help me fill that crafting need. The woman there was so helpful, sent me away with a new cutting mat, rotary cutter, a few yards of batik fabric, and a log cabin quilt pattern that was literally written for little kids. After spending a few hours with my sewing machine manual (I had no idea that sewing machines needed bobbin thread! I never took home ec., I had never used a sewing machine before), I was up and running. I knew right away that for all this effort, the quilt would be gifted to someone who would really appreciate it, so I gave it to my grandma. Grandma was quilter and also sewed a lot of clothing for her family. I visited her this summer, and made sure to get some pictures.

After making that quilt, and two more for Christmas gifts for my family that year, I didn't sew again until I moved here to Bend. I was shopping for yarn at the Stitchin' Post in 2011 and saw a quilting class for that weekend. I figured I could fake my way through it (after all, I had figured out my bobbin!). It was that fall that I discovered the Modern Quilt Guild, and the rest is history! 

My First Quilt

Welcome to a new blog series we're calling "My First Quilt". Members are going to share pictures and a little description of their first quilt ever. To start us off, Laurie is sharing her quilt. Laurie started quilting in fall 2011, and finished this quilt in 2012.

Here is a photo of my first quilt, which I call "Bubble Gum." It's a traditional sampler quilt that I made in my very first class, but even back then I had "modern tendencies." I choose the black and white to give the quilt a gritty, urban feel (the gray inner border reminds me of oil-stained asphalt) and added the pink to represent bubble gum -- the kind you find used on the pavement. I remember being so afraid to actually cut the fabric for the blocks, but once I started cutting and sewing, I was hooked.

Bubble Gum 

And the back!