Thursday, July 14, 2011

First Quilt

Last year, I completed my Education Specialist degree (YAY!!). By the end of my program; however, I was absolutely, totally, without a doubt, sick and tired of “reflecting.” After each assignment, reading, etc. I would have to reflect on what I read/learned, how it applied to me, how it applied to my students, my cohorts, my learning community…UGH!!! I really hated the word, and could not say "reflect" without sarcasm in my voice.
Well…fast forward to the present.  When I returned home from last weekend’s retreat, I had a Happy waiting for me. My sister, Beverly, had sent me some quilting magazines, beautiful summer, beachy fabric, and a …

So, once again, I find myself…yep…reflecting.
I began my journey into the world of quilting almost a year ago, thanks to the encouragement of my sister Rene’. Last July, she came to visit and to give me my first lesson in quilting. The weekend didn’t quite turn out as we had planned. If you have a moment, take a look at Rene’s blog post of the quilting lesson that never was J.
What Rene’ didn’t mention in her posting was that, at the time, I.did.not.sew…AT ALL. If my husband needed a button sewn on a shirt, he did it. If he needed his pants hemmed, he did it. In fact, the only 9th grade home economics unit I failed was, you guessed it, sewing! Needless to say, I wasn’t quite sure how long this journey would last. I wasn’t very optimistic.
However, with lots of encouragement from my sister, as well as links to YouTube videos and the blogs of experienced quilters, and many, many phone calls to my sister, I found myself quilting…about a month later, with a passion!!
My first quilt was, of course, for Rene’. The pattern was Yellow Brick Road, which I understand is a great first quilt to make. I quite honestly can’t remember anything about the fabric other than it was the softest material I have ever felt.


Rene’s quilt was the first, and only, one in which I basted with safety pins. Whew!!! You talk about lots of pins, an aching back, and bruised knees. I never realized just how hard a tiled floor was.


After pinning it, I used masking tape to mark the lines for quilting. I wasn’t about to even think about trying FMQ!! My lines ended up pretty straight, considering it was my first effort.
 I spent quite a bit of time in front of the computer while learning how to hand stitch the binding.


Somehow I missed getting a full shot of the completed quilt, but maybe that's for the best ;)
Well, judging by the length of this post, I guess reflecting on my quilting journey is much more enjoyable than reflecting on school work!
As always, thanks for taking the time to visit my blog.
Michelle

5 comments:

  1. I loved reading your reflections learning how to sew and quilt, and making your first quilt. What a great experience! It's so neat that your sister taught you, and now you can share your hobby together. Good for you, Michelle!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Michelle what a great post!!! I absolutely love my quilt and I have taken quite a few pictures of it if you'd like me to send some of them for your journal.
    Yesterday I was discussing writing with dad who as you know is an amazing writer and saying that my kids also write well and that the writing gene must have skipped a generation because it takes me forever to write a blog post and even then I'm not satisfied with the result. Well I'm sitting here with dad now and corrected my statement because you obviously have that writing gene!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm laughing about your sarcastic feeling of the word "reflect"! We have that with the word "fellowship" (which is a whole 'nother story!) and I felt that way about the word "critique" after finishing my art degree!

    Great post, you are a natural at this blog thing!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Michelle,
    I have just found your blog and I am from GA too! I am new to quilting, been sewing for a long time though! I started teaching last year, and I am getting my MAT in middle grades math and science. YES, I am sick of reflections and posts! I have one more year, finish next summer and I DREAM of when all I have to do is go to work and then quilt! No more reflections please!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well, if it makes you feel better, Yellow Brick Road (a great first quilt) was the project I was having so much trouble with at retreat! LOL!

    I loved what you had to say about reflecting. I HATE that, too!!!

    ReplyDelete