The first quilt I ever made was for my youngest daughter, a granny's garden using pre cut hexagons from what I think is now Homebase. All hand sewn. When I finished it I swore I would never make another one!!
Roll forward to 1990, we were living in Scotland, out for a mooch to Dunbar and there was a quilt show on. I made the fatal mistake of going in. When leaving I asked if there was a group local to us and was given a name........so began my quilting journey. First of all I started going to an evening sew in and just watching and talking. A cushion panel was bought and I hand quilted it. Then I decided to make a quilt for our king size bed. (yes I know, I must have been mad!!) Fabric bought I decided to use half square triangles and four patch blocks. I had no rulers so borrowed two and cut everything out and started to machine the bits together........life then got in the way a bit and it was when my job took me down to Hampshire I decided to go for lessons. That was it, I was hooked.......... My first effort was log cabin cushion covers, I must have made at least 20.....then a sampler quilt using different techniques......and a runner for my pine dresser. When I eventually got back to the bed quilt I discovered I had made a mistake I will never make again, I used two different makers rulers to cut out the bits and they did not fit together. I had to cut the blocks down to a uniform size, what should have been a king size quilt ended up as a small double quilt. One of the things I tell anyone I teach to quilt is to make sure you buy rulers from the same manufacturers, especially for basic rulers. and make sure you use them for all your cutting out.
I then moved back to Leicester and joined a group that met on Thursday morning, by this time I had an I Spy quilt and a Sun Bonnet Sue in the making for two of my Grandchildren.......I joined the Quilters Guild and on we went........over the years I have made dozens of quilts, some for us, one for a friend who was in the terminal stages of cancer, wall hangings at workshops. I became a co-ordinator for the Guild.......and I met the lady who was to become my quilting guru, she has become a friend, although suffering from eye problems (MD) she is no longer able to sew. She hand quilted an 'on point' churn dash quilt which is still on our bed 18 years later. She also introduced me to french braid quilts... and there for to my crowning glory.........a braid quilt in shades of pink and purple.......she hand worked an applique top border for it, and I was so afraid I would muck up the quilting, I took it to Aileen Bunker in Eyemouth to have it machine quilted. I entered the quilt in our local village quilt and it won first prize and best in show.......we had only moved to the village in June, the show was in September.......
I am still quilting, just now finishing another Sun Bonnet Sue for a great grand daughter due in October........
I in 2010 we moved back to Scotland and I rejoined my original group....the quilts I had made were very well received at show and tell, one elicited the remark.......'look at all those perfect points', a quilt we have on our bed over Christmas which was made from a kit donated by a friend in the US.
I have never counted up the quilts I have made..... I have also taught quilting to a group of beginners who are now in their third year as a group, someone remarked I did not know what I was doing when I set them on the path....Oh yes I did they are all now dedicated quilters.
When I discover how to do it I will publish pictures of my braid quilt. Any one who is interested can message me and I will give you the addy of my blog which has a file of pictures on it
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