I see a lot of quilters on-line talking about their first quilt. That made me go back and see if I could find a picture of my first quilt. Here it is…………………Crazy About Chickens.

I put the last stitches in this quilt on September 17, 1999, the day before the deadline for entries to our local Fall Fair that year. I won first place in the “Beginner’s First Major Quilt” category. The top was crazy pieced on a muslin foundation. I tied the blocks and machine quilted the border.

I used my Grandmother’s Singer treadle sewing machine to piece the blocks for this quilt. I have many fond memories of my Grandmother sewing on this machine. As a child I was allowed to play with all the fabric scraps left from the many clothing projects she made. The only fabrics in her stash that were off limit were the large “whole” pieces that hadn’t been cut into yet.

We still use this quilt on our bed. It is one of the quilts that keeps us warm in the winter. It is no longer visible as a much prettier quilt now lives on top of it.

Often we have bits of fabric left from making larger projects. I like to make miniature quilts from these left over bits. These are two Trip Around the World quilts I have made from leftover bits of fabric. Because they are so small in size, I have named them Short Trips Around the World. If the quilt is smaller, the trip must be shorter, right?
When I machine quilt on my DSM, I like to use this serpentine stitch.

I thought I should start showing some of UFOs that I am working on. I do not start a project and see it through to completion before starting another project. This is why I have an endless list of UFOs! I am often tempted to try a new technique, put together a new block based on an exciting new quilt I have found, etc. in between projects that I am currently working on. As well, I become bored with a particular project and often shift gears to another project.
This quilt is named Everything but the Kitchen Sink because it has many blocks in it that were sitting around without a home. There is no plan to this quilt – it will be finished when it is queen size. I have no idea how it will look when totally finished as the decision for what to do on the the next round is not made until the previous round is finished. I still have a box of log cabin blocks that will eventually make their way into this top as well.

The intent of the quilt is merely to use up orphan blocks and reduce my scrap stash. No plan, no rules!

After my grandmother, died, my mother commissioned a bear maker to make my grandmother’s muskrat fur coat into three bears as a mementos for us. The bears were, Robert (my grandmother’s first name was, Roberta) which belongs to my brother, Elva (my grandmother’s middle name) which belongs to me, and Grandma which belongs to my mother.
Since Elva is owned by me and I am a quiltmaker, it was not long and I had made Elva her own quilt. This quilt is named, Canada Day. It is red and white – the colours of the Canadian flag and has a backing with small Canadian flags on it.

When my mother discovered that Elva had her own quilt, she wanted a quilt made for her bear. I decided that the quilt would be a gift for my mother for Mother’s Day. I finished the quilt in April 2001 and took it to my local quilt guild for show and tell.

The guild was asked to develop a display to showcase quilting for the the local library. I was asked if I would loan my small quilt to this display for the month of April. These pictures are of the showcase as it appeared in the entrance of the library.

This is Grandma Bear with her now famous quilt.

These pictures show the details of the quilt. Take a look at the penny in the upper right hand corner. I have never made blocks this small since! I do not enjoy making quilts with triangles but I managed to make tiny half square triangles for this quilt using the “Square in a Square” ruler developed by Jodi Barrows.

Prior to Valentine’s Day, many quilters’ blogs contained pictures of quilts that they display in their homes each year in celebration of February 14. I have no such quilt. There are no quilts in this house sporting red hearts. This is not because I don’t like heart quilts, it is just that I have not yet found the time to make a heart quilt. So, for the month of February, this quilt hung in my entrance as a tribute to Valentine’s Day. Perhaps I will finish a heart quilt in time for next Feb.

This is the third nine patch wall hanging I have shown on my blog. I enjoy making nine patches. I think they lend themselves well to scrap quilts which are the quilts I enjoy making most.