The First Quilt I Ever Made

This week I had the urge to organize all my files and pictures. I didn’t actually get very far, since I found pictures of the very first quilt I ever made and didn’t finish organizing! You see, I had never quilted before 2020. Actually, I had never even sewn two pieces of fabric together before!

Well before 2020, a friend had asked me if I could make a memory quilt with her husband’s shirts, or if I knew someone who could. I was sad that I couldn’t help her, but didn’t think much of it until around March 2020. That was when I started spending my days sitting next to my special needs son in front of the computer all day to help him do virtual school.

That was when I decided that I needed to do something in our off hours from school to keep me from going insane! I started watching YouTube videos and reading as much as I could about quilting. I decided I must have a sewing machine, and bought this one from the Home Shopping Network.

Unfortunately, because I knew so little about sewing and quilting in general, I didn’t realize this was such a tiny machine. It has a throat space of about 5 inches. Throat space is the space to the right of the needle. Once I bought the machine, I bought a bunch of fabrics and decided I was going to make a queen sized quilt for my sister’s birthday. Yes, it sounds crazy and it was! I thought all quilts were bed sized, little did I know that I would love to make varying sizes of throw quilts eventually.

The Piecing

I found this tutorial for an X’s and O’s quilt from Missouri Star Company and decided that’s what I was going to make! Here I am starting to place the white blocks on each side of the green ones. I think I was using black thread!!

At least I could follow most of the directions pretty well. Here’s my block after trimming.

Here’s the block after pressing the white sections.

When I see these pictures now I try not to cringe at how bad they look. It can be hard, but I try to realize how much I’ve grown and learned in just 3 years!!

I was so excited to learn about quilting that I truly jumped in head first. I even bought a Fons & Porter design wall. I will say that was probably the best purchase I made when starting out. I have used it numerous times over the years, and love it so much. It really helps me visualize my quilts as they come together.

I was trying really really hard to not have two of the same fabrics next to each other, and that all the blocks were facing in the right direction. I did eventually give up on fabric placement, and decided it was good enough the way it was!

The basting

Finally I got the entire quilt top (flimsy) put together. My seams weren’t pressed thoroughly, and I had no idea how to baste a quilt, but I didn’t know that at the time!

I tried to baste the quilt on my bed. What a mess that was! On to the quilting!!!

The quilting

I did NOT realize how hard it would be to quilt a Queen sized quilt on a 5″ sewing machine! I will say that I must have liked it on some level, because I didn’t give up and (obviously) am still quilting today!

The binding

I knew from the very beginning there was no way I was going to ever hand sew my binding! I was happy with how my roll of binding came out, although I did have a really difficult time getting it on the quilt!

It’s done!

Finally, here’s the finished product. The Queen sized quilt that somehow ignited a passion in me to keep quilting!

I am so grateful that I learned so much since then. Including how to get better photos of my quilts when they are done! My little Janome C30 is now just sitting in a corner of my sewing room collecting dust. I have been looking for somewhere to donate it to, so if you can think of somewhere that could use a small sewing machine for free let me know. I want to be able to pass it on to someone else who would love to make their first quilt with it!

Now I am even more grateful for my Cutie frame and Q’nique 19x Elite after reviewing all these photos and reliving the making of my very first quilt! Check out my favorite Grace products!