Throwback Thursday ~ Circa 2011

I've missed the last couple Throwback Thursday's, and thought this was the perfect time to share a blast from the past!  Thank you Jenn for the gentle reminder!

My share:  something subdued, something normal.  This was one of my early attempts at coming up with my own design.  The irresistible pull into the wacky world of Jay McCarroll drew me in with the fabric.  The fabric line is 'Germania', of which I had pieces of every color, but stayed blues for this little baby!  

I couldn't tell you the size of the blocks, accent blocks or even the size of the quilt.  I didn't exactly keep good records back then.  I do know the colors of the solid squares were pulled from the fabric.  I made five blocks in each print and used five different solids.  That's about all I remember!  

Oh, and the fact that I played with the border and added a totally standout yellow for the binding. That was 'crazy train' thinking!  

Pile of doneness.  I do love the funky print with the blue splats and red!  It's called 'Nerggle City'...how can you not love that?!

Back then, I didn't do much in the way of killer cool quilting.  Dense quilting never crossed my mind, crazy wild quilting was germinating in my brain but hadn't quite developed.  This was as crazy as it got back then.  

I enjoy looking back on my early quilts.  The long and windy road of what works and what doesn't, design decisions, fabric choices...it's has been a lot like Mr. Toads Wild Ride!  You never want to get off!  

LINKING:

Throwback Thursday

Needle & Thread

Throw 'Back' Pillow

It's here again!  Throw Back Thursday  Yikes!  

As I search out a throw back every month, I'm struck at just how far I've come.  Thankfully we learn a lot along the way, improve and grow...with that I give you 'The Purple People Eater'!

The year would be September 2011.  I was still in my batik phase, which isn't always bad. There was a time when I thought batiks were 'all that and a bag of chips'!

Bright, bold colors were used a lot even back then.  Strange color combinations too! That minty green is unsightly!

Improv was probably the one technique that opened my eyes to the endless possibilities of quilting.  It taught me (and continues to do so) that there aren't right or wrong ways, that thinking outside the box is always a good thing.

This I am 99% sure was my first attempt at pebbles free motion quilting!  There are even a few applique circles!  

    
It's so funny looking back at these!  I guess I loved dense quilting back then too!  How could I not remember that?!  Either I'm getting old or...I'm just getting old!

As I rediscover these throwbacks, I actually get a little twinge of excitement.  Some of them make me want to take these ideas and run with them and others make me just want to run!!!

LINKING:

Throw Back Thursday

A Former Time ~ 2010 Throwback

Here's to learning lessons and new techniques!  Back in the day...  Yes, it's that time of the month were we get to share our Throwback @ A Quarter Inch From The Edge.  Thank you for the reminder Jenn!

Digging in to the deep, dark recesses of Flickr, I decided to share this little lovely!  A baby quilt I made in September 2010. 

A virtual smorgasbord of feed sack prints and wonky delight!  I remember starting this and thinking how fun it is to make wonky blocks.  The tiny whimsical prints, the delicate colors and a very simplistic design...all together, pure sweetness to me!  

Even back in 2010 I wanted to be creative and change things up, take a chance.  Which is why I added a few applique circles to round (pun intended) out the design. 

One lesson I learned after this was finished, not all whites are the same whiteness!  A very hard lesson to learn at the time.  I was so angry, sad and disappointed.  I was too new to know better, too new to know what a quilt blog was and too new to google to know I could find an answer or ask a question!  Serious lesson learned!

That wasn't all I did that was new...

Of course, I felt like I had to add a colorful border.  But that just wasn't good enough...something weird, but perfect!

I don't know how this popped in to my head at the time.  It was one of those moments, you know what I mean?  A gathered border.  I've wanted to do this again for so, so long!  I'm glad I choose this quilt to share because I'm so doing this border again!  

It was a pain in the butt, that I remember.  Chunky.  Gathering is a pain on its own, a pieced strip to gather is twice as hard!

I love seeing the quilting on the back.  Though not perfect, it certainly touched my fancy at the time.

The tag.  The proof.  The mark of forever!    

You may be wondering what I did with this little mishap of a quilt.  As with many quilts it was gifted to my daughter.  She assured me that the different whites were not a problem, she loved it regardless and wanted it badly.  Who am I to argue?!  I just love her that much!!

I learned that all whites are not the same.  I learned to take chances, applique circles with wonky blocks.  And I learned that having an idea or vision is so worth exploring, just look at the border!   Even if you are a 'greenhorn' in the quilting world, you need to follow your gut and give it a go!  

Pink-a-licous

How about that?!  I've actually been ahead of the game and have a post and quilt ready for Throwback Thursday!  Thanks Jenn for the gentle reminder!  Maybe not by much, a half a day, but that counts and it seems to be the way I operate.

Pink.  Yes it is!  It doesn't happen often, but I've been known to make a quilt with prints occasionally!

This one was made for my Great-Niece Kailee.  Way back in 2009 when I just wanted to make, make, make...it was suggested I make a quilt for Kailee.  She loved pink then, now I'm not sure, but I knew I couldn't go wrong back then.
   

If I recall, as it's been a few years, this pattern was in an issue of American Patchwork & Quilting.  The circles are applique using the freezer paper method. 

This was my first attempt at applique.  My first run in with freezer paper.  My first shot at blanket stitching.  And my very first time at quilting anything other than straight lines!  

The fabric is by Kumiko Sudo - Haru Kaze (Spring Breeze).  This fabric reminds me of a water color painting.  Soft and delicate, a touch of Asian and not to little girl pink!

How about this for a first time 'design'?!  I knew the big circles needed something other than the usual, and if I was oh so careful...I knew I could do it.  Slowly, slowly, very slowly I went.

The back in this picture is rather dull.  In real life it wasn't...bad camera and inexperience played a big part in this!  It's hard to believe that I use to quilt the bare minimum back then! Now it's quilt until it's dead!

I would embroider my name, city, state and date on a triangle for each quilt I made.  My family was not going to forget who made this quilt for them!

A matching pillow case was needed for a little girls first quilt.  I don't remember how I made this pillow case.  I wonder if I winged it or found a pattern somewhere.  It doesn't look like it, but just under the circles I machine embroidered Kailee's name across the pillow case.  

I often wonder if she still uses her little quilt.  Has she out grown it?  Did she snuggle in it when she was sick or cold or watching T/V?  Kailee lives back in Portland Oregon, where I lived before Tennessee.  We rarely get back to visit, but it doesn't mean I don't think about all my family back there often. Especially this time of the year.

Really the only Holiday themed quilting I have done were these Christmas stockings.  I hunted for the picture in the deep, dark depths of the horrible photo archives!

One was for my daughter, one for her then boyfriend and one was for a friend of my son. I don't often sew anything other than quilts, especially in the early days!  These looked like fun and I could get crazy with the fabric!

LINKING:

Throwback Thursday

The Year ~ 2006

First of all, I wasn't about to miss out on Throwback Thursday hosted by Jenn @A Quarter Inch From the Edge this month!  Not this time!  So, I promptly wrote out a post-it note and plastered it on my computer.  And yes, next month's post-it is securely in place!

I have to say, Throwback Thursday is truly a blast from the past.  When I dig through the 'archives' I'm shocked at what I made back in the day...way back in the day!  I'm appalled at the horrific pictures!  The new camera technology was a break through.  Except if you haven't a clue how to use them, the fine art of photography, they look like crap...pure and simple!

This was another collaborative effort with my daughter, Britt.  We decided to make my Mom a quilt together using her favorite colors, purple and lime green.  (not so lime green!)  The only difficult part of this quilt was fussy cutting the square blocks so each had a flower highlighted.  

We went with purple batiks and a soft green for contrast.  One even has a slight shimmer to it.  

I, of course was the quilter of this.  Machine quilted.  It appears I even used a decorative stitch on this one!  What?!  I'm sure I was pulling my hair out, trying to make it perfect!  I didn't know there was a 'thing' called 'burying the threads'!  

We both signed it.  How barbaric!  

The good news, my Mom loved it!  She had to.  Could a mother say 'Wow, that's really awful' to their child or grandchild?  No, she really did love it!

I can't tell you what size it is.  Lap size, for sure.  I can't tell you what the pattern is or where I found it.  I can tell you that as always, we had a fun time making it!

One thing many bloggers say when asked why they started a blog is they wanted to document their quilting journey.  How true!  I am so glad I started a blog, especially now that I, for the most part, can take a good picture.  And for documentation!  We can write about our process, what fabrics we used, the pattern, inspirations...and it is always at our fingertips!  

So, forgive these 'throwback' pictures and limited information.  Let's just say we live and learn!

For Jenn, I'm showing a small picture of probably my ugliest ever quilt I made.  I think it was my second quilt, the fabrics were hideous!  Gag!!  

If I could make the picture smaller I would!  Epic fail, but proud of the effort!

LINKING:

Throwback Thursday!

The Guilt Quilt

Oh boy!  Throwback Thursday is here!  I have so many from years gone by, it was hard to decided which to share next.  I decided the infamous 'Guilt Quilt' would be worth a revisit!

By this time, I was well on my quilting journey (2010), quilts had been made for everyone imaginable...except my own kids!  My daughter Britt, made me a second quilt for Christmas hoping once I received it, guilt would set in and I would make one for her.  

She choose Tanya Whelan's ~ Dolce fabric and told me to go to town!  I was referred to Fresh Modern Quilts on Flickr for inspiration, which was so overwhelming!  The task at hand, design something...for the first time...EVER!

It was agonizing designing my first quilt!  I wanted to knock her socks off, impress her and surprise the hell out of her!  

Eventually (and I mean weeks), I came up with a rectangle inside a rectangle.  The inside piece is place differently inside the blocks.  Center, horizontal, vertical, top, bottom...all over the place.  

  

Finishing the blocks was pure relief!  You would have thought that was the end of it, but no you would be wrong.  Just finishing the blocks was not enough.  Always wanting to impress my dear daughter, I had to come up with a layout!  

I could have gone simple.  Rows of blocks.  But that 'knock her socks off' thought kept creeping in!   This is where husbands cower and hide!!  Usually!  Mine helped me!  He suggested the diagonal layout.  Seriously, I think he got the T-Square out too!  He even drove me to get the grey fabric for the sashing!

How many times have we said how much we love the backing of a quilt as much as the front? I did, she did!  Plus, I didn't have any scraps left over after this!  

Eventually there came a time when the quilting needed to happen.  I hadn't really played with designs at this point, but came up with what I called my 'Chicken Scratch' quilting.  

Which was inspired by this print.  Randomly placed all-over lines.  It worked.

This quilt gave me confidence.  It started me on the path of designing my own quilts.  It was the beginning of what has become a daily adventure!

You know how I know she loved it?!   

This picture said it all! 

I look back on this quilt with pride and joy!  

Britt said this on her blog: 

'This is one of the best gifts I've ever received.  Mama, you outdid me.  Moreover, you outdid yourself!' 

End of story.  

LINKING:

Throwback Thursday

Needle & Thread Thursday