Friday, 4 December 2015

a blast from the past

On the first Thursday of each month there is a linky party over at Jenn's visiting the Ghosts of Quilt Projects Past! And this month, what with it being December, the focus is old Christmas projects. I thought I'd join in, just for a laugh! I'm sharing one of my earliest quilts today, made way back in 1988! Yep, so long ago it's hard to remember all the details but I'll give it a go!

When I first became interested in quilting, I belonged to a little group and we meet each month at each others homes. Each time someone would hand out a pattern, fabric, and quilting instructions and we would all make one block for each other, bring it back, get the next one... great way to learn!

For my turn, I wanted a green & red Xmas-y quilt. It's a very traditional 'Bears Paw' quilt, made using the QAYG method. I asked for simple outline quilting on the cream in the blocks. When all the blocks came back to me, I joined them together and then handquilted an interlocking lozenge shape up between them.

The quilt is now faded in places, I notice one area on the back is unraveling, it feels very thin, but I guess it's a vintage quilt now! Here's a little peep...








- close up of my hand quilting at the intersections of each block


- not too sure what I did with the binding, it's sort of rolled, very wide,
but I manged the mitered corners, sort of!









Linking up with throwback thursday over here for the 1st time.
And I see 'Bears Paws' are still in vogue,
pop over here to wendys quilts and more to see some lovely scrappy versions




14 comments:

Nifty Quilts said...

Very sweet quilt!

audrey said...

LeeAnn took the words out of my mouth.:) It's a very sweet quilt!

Jenn @ A Quarter Inch from the Edge said...

I have a couple Bear's Paws in my dark quilty past as well! And that quilting group sounds like a fun way to learn. Thanks for linking up with Throwback Thursday @ A Quarter Inch from the Edge!

Little Black Cat Quilting said...

Here from Throwback Thursday! I love the Bear's Paw pattern and the scrappiness of each paw. So great that you can think back to your friends in your sewing group when you see this one. :)

Jayne said...

I've always loved the Bear's Paw block. Yours is so pretty and I love how you and your group learned together!

Mystic Quilter said...

Lovely Christmas quilt and Bear's Paw is ideal. Looks like bear prints through the snow.

Wendy @ Wendysquiltsandmore said...

How lovely! That's great you've still got it and can gauge how far you've come since then. Thanks for the tag too!

JanineMarie said...

I still like the Bear's Paw block, and I like how your quilt has the soft look that comes with time. That shows it's been well loved. I wonder--was your binding perhaps purchased blanket binding? I remember using purchased binding when I first started quilting--I didn't realize it could be made.

Julie said...

Still a lovely quilt - the binding on my very first quilt is rather wide too.

Deb @ Frugal Little Bungalow said...

A wonderful Christmas quilt! :)

the zen quilter said...

It's just lovely.

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

Thank you Deb! It’s not one of my favourite quilts, but it is nice to reflect back and see how my quilting has changed over the years! Linda

Linda said...

Love your Bear Paw quilt!

elle said...

A great setting and colour combination!!!