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Thursday, 20 January 2011

my first quilt ever, finished at last

 It was about 9 years ago when I got seriously interested in patchwork & quilting, but I didn't know how to start. By a coincidence a new, one year, evening patchwork & quilting course was just about to start at a local school. So, for next 10 months, one evening a week I was learning all about the quilt, from planning, measuring, choice of fabrics, construction....We could choose how large our quilt was going to be. Most ladies went for a baby size or a lap quilt, possibly a single size one. I went for a full size double! (You can tell I was new to this, no idea!!) We all were learning the same blocks, adjusted to the size of our quilt.
We started stitching by hand, but later could also use a sewing machine.
For a reason I can no longer remember, I decided that my first quilt was going to be all hand stitched!
Needless to say, that when the course was finished, my quilt wasn't. It was all hand pieced and all blocks were hand quilted. The course finished, something new and more exiting came along (don't ask what) and my quilt was forgotten, or rather, it has been pushed from corner to corner since. Just under 2 x 2m, my largest UFO. Until last week.
Now, I don't do new year resolutions, by now I know I can't keep them. I don't make stitching plans, I pick up and put down various stitching as the mood takes me and that works for me. But I realised that if I don't finish this quilt now, I never will. Time to introduce it to the machine. So I quilted in the ditch around the blocks, hand quilted around the hearts on the borders and stitched on the binding. May be at some point in the future I could do more quilting on the borders, but that will do for now.


Yes, I can see quite a few faults and the colours and the fabrics would not be my choice today. But despite that, this is not a bad addition to our guest room.

Posted by Radka
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13 comments:

  1. Jacky and Steph20 January 2011 at 21:26

    That looks lovely - you should be very proud! You will have to look out for the Inspiration patchwork and quilting magazine in the summer, as it will have Steph's strippy quilt in it! We had a phone call today.... busy times!

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  2. Jensters20 January 2011 at 22:06

    Radka this looks so beautiful on the bed....i love it.

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  3. Linda20 January 2011 at 22:33

    Congratulations Radka. I know exactly where you are coming from. I have several projects that need my attention, so hopefully I can take a leaf out of your 'finishing' book. We all did the sampler thing didn't we. I like your colours, and the layout. It will be a welcome addition to your guest room, and with different blocks these quilts are talking points as far as I'm concerned..........each block has a story. Well done.

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  4. Deborah OHare21 January 2011 at 08:26

    Well done Radkha. It a great feeling when you finish a quilt.

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  5. Frances Leate21 January 2011 at 14:54

    It's a lovely quilt Radka and how wonderful to finish your first quilt so you will always have a record of where the journey began. Happy stitching!

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  6. Nuestras meriendas y manualidades21 January 2011 at 22:20

    Congratulations,it´s wonderful.I like very much.Kisses,Aurori

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  7. Unknown22 January 2011 at 00:10

    Very beautiful blanket!! Easy, beautiful, solar. And very cheerful)))

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  8. Joy V22 January 2011 at 12:26

    Well done Radka! It's a lovely quilt especialy lying on the bed. I'm sure your guests will adore it.

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  9. Anonymous24 January 2011 at 06:36

    Thats a great quilt and well done for getting it finished. I love all the different blocks on it and the colours you have used make for a cheery, bright quilt to liven up your winter days.

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  10. Farah25 January 2011 at 04:57

    What a great achievement you feel when you have finished with it.... So lovely and with such vibrant colours and yet graceful... choice of colour plays such an important role you proved it here Radka... provoking project...
    Can you please spare a little bit of your time for my new post, its something different I hope you enjoyed
    http://craftaworld.blogspot.com/
    Love
    Farah

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  11. Juliettecherry25 January 2011 at 19:06

    The quilt looks very lovely in the guest room. Anyone who does any type of needlework would appreciate it. My first quilt took 5 years and 5 months to complete. It was all hand appliqued and quilted, and altough I have tried, I cannot like doing my quilts on the sewing machine. So ...........I have to accept that they take a loooong time.

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  12. Babara27 January 2011 at 07:40

    It's indeed a very, very nice quilt you made with all the different blocks. Actually I am beginning to make a sampler quilt too. I just noticed how little I know about the various techniques of sewing the great variety of block patterns. That will be a good exercise for me :-) !

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  13. Ann-Mari25 January 2012 at 19:59

    A truly beautiful quilt. Thank you for showing:o)

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