My First & Last Quilt on Off the Wall Friday

 This time of year is always brutal around here.   We have Paul's birthday, our anniversary, Mother's

Day, and my birthday all in the same four weeks, it adds up to a lot of socializing and family time.  It is better than it used to be because before we also had all the end-of-the-school-year activities to add to the list.  Now as empty nesters, we are used to our creative time and that has sure been in short supply.  

So this week, I thought it a good idea to share my first and last quilt.  In 1993, I started quilting by mistake when I received the book, Quick and Easy Quiltmaking instead of the cross-stitching book I ordered.  Before sending it back though, I decided to read it and well, the rest is history.  In typical Nina fashion, I thought oh that doesn't look too hard.  (For the record, if anybody needs a beginner quilt book I can HIGHLY recommend this book.  It has a TON about basic quilting making and was easy to follow.  I ended up doing about 4 projects out of it and it's written by some of the best quilt authors of the time.)

I did make a table runner and a baby-size quilt, to begin with,  But recently we found this one, which really was my first major project.  I used Nancy Martin's half-square triangle method where you sew bias strips together and use a bias square to cut them out.  I fell in love with that ruler and when I wore out the lines on the first one I had to buy the second one on eBay.   You will notice that I still hadn't mastered getting my points to match and it's still not bound because at that point I had no idea how to bind.  This was the first quilt I hand-quilted and it truly is a mess.   I actually taught myself how to hand quilt from a book.

It's about 45" by 60"

Seeing these hand-quilting stitches its a wonder I stuck with it!

By 1995, I had managed to get through the QNL Block of the Month's Heritage Medallion.  Notice points still not matching but by then I had learned to hand quilt, hand applique, and bind.  (I discovered that you could actually take a class at your local quilt shop!)

Over the years, I seem to be doing more art quilts than traditional work.  In 2022, after taking a class with Timna Tarr I made this.

But 2023 has been dominated by getting back to my roots.  I am in the middle of hand quilting my Rain, Rain quilt with big stitches.  Notice that the even hand stitching skill translates nicely to big stitching.  It's still on my quilting frame but I'm about 3/4ths done quilting it.

And as you know I'm not working on the BOM Homeward Bound from The Quilt Show.  This month I am once AGAIN  struggling with half-square triangles where my points are AGAIN having trouble meeting.  This time I'm using the method of cutting a square, drawing a line down diagonally down the middle, and sewing 1/4th seam beside the line.  So you get two half-square triangles.  Now this is an old method, but I never tried it before.  It's been working nicely but getting the points just right is hard.

To tell you the truth, I just thought after 30 years of quilting, I could finally learn how to get my point to meet!  I was hoping to have May done by now but nope, half square triangles are turning into a lifetime nemesis,

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First & Last with Jenny Lyon on Off the Wall Friday

Jenny

Because me making half square triangles for my Homeward Bound quilt is not very interesting, this week we will continue on with the First & Last Quilt series featuring Jenny Lyon.  Let me preface this with I love Jenny so what follows is absolutely biased.  Still, it's my blog, so I guess that's okay. 

I have been reading Jenny's blog for years and love how she'll detail the true ins and outs of getting a piece done.  With Jenny, she's always happy to give you a peek behind the curtain so you can really see how the sausage is made!  It's been a true pleasure to watch her develop into a nationally known teacher and author.  

First

This is what Jenny calls her "Re-Entry" quilt.  Re-entry since this was her second start at quilting when she finally settled in California.  

She writes, " I saw this at a local quilt shop, signed up for the class, and made the quilt. I didn’t really know how to free-motion quilt. My stitches are uneven; the holes are huge because I used some gigantic needle; there are tucks and uneven distribution of quilting density. The kicker is the tension – horrible! But I still love that quilt."

Last

Morning Breeze, Jenny Lyon

Morning Breeze, Detail, Jenny Lyon

"Morning Breeze is most representative of my style of whole cloth. It represents the drought-tolerant plantings in my yard. This quilt has wool batting and black 50 wt on the top with 100 wt light gray silk thread on the back. The wool gives bad tension no place to hide. My tension had to be dead. on. perfect. And it is."

What I love about this series, is that you can see how the artist develops her voice and what she finds passionate in quilting.  If you want to learn how to free-motion quilt, I highly you suggest you track down one of Jenny's classes. (She's got a full schedule!)   Or buy her book.  Also, she is teaching a week-long fmq class at Marc Adams School of Woodworking.  Spending the week with Jenny sounds like heaven!

Thanks, Jenny for sharing your work.  As always, you're an inspiration.

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First & Last Quilt on Off the Wall Friday

Elizabeth Barton's Solo Show at the Georgia Botanical Gardens, Athens, GA

Okay, a show of hands, who out there had a subscription to Quilter's Newsletter Magazine?  I must have started mine around 1992 and kept it through hmmmm at least 2010.  Honestly, without that magazine, I don't know where I would be as a quilter.  Really, those were pre-internet days when this was my one and only pipeline to the national quilting scene. Besides all the great articles,  I  even managed to do two of their Block of the Month patterns in consecutive years which taught me a ton.  

 Plus I got to meet Bonnie Leman at Quilting by the Lake one year.  I was so young and she was in one of my first classes.  I said, "Bonnie Leman? Oh, just like the editor of Quilter's Newsletter."  She said, "I was the editor of Quilter's Newsletter".  So here the little old lady quietly sitting behind me all week was THE- Bonnie - Leman.  She thought it funny I was so impressed.  I thought it funny that she didn't realize how the magazine she had started in  1969 had changed the lives of so many quilters.

One of my favorite columns in the magazine was the First Quilt....Last Quilt.  It's where nationally known quilters would show one of the first quilts they made and then show their latest creations. I loved seeing how far the quilters had come over the years.  But it was more than that.  Seeing where they started and where they ended up, gave me hope that maybe one day I too, could be that good.  Every time I would read the column I would end up saying "WoW".   It was the first clue, that these were just regular ladies who with patience and persistence and a whole lot of hard work had perfected their art. 

Sadly, QNM was shuttered in 2016.  BUT...I was thinking....wouldn't it be fun to revive my favorite column.  With that, I put the word out to some of my favorite quilters and asked for their first and last quilts.  Happily, I have gotten back a few replies!  

So this week, I thought we would start with Elizabeth Barton.  You can find her very readable blog here and her website here.  She shares some of her earliest pieces....

First

Elizabeth writes, "My first fiber piece" never had a name! Or if it did I don't remember!!  I made it by appliqueing silk and wool and other fabrics onto a piece of jute - they were sort of like grouped buildings!  I hadn't heard about piecing - yet...I think that was done about 1967"

Strange Beauty, Elizabeth Barton

"I cut the red waves free hand...it took me 4 attempts to get it right...I had to dye 4 lots of red and blue fabric!!!!  the image is based on the Hamilton Steel Mill in Hamilton Ontario

The Middle

.Where the Bongo Trees Grow, Elizabeth Barton,  60" by 60"

"It is part of a series of 10 quilts called "Idea of a City" and is inspired by Durham - UK.  On top of a hill that the River Weir winds around is a castle and a cathedral...magical mystical places....As I was making it I was thinking about magical castles...in magical lands...that the Owl and the Pussy Cat might have sailed to!!!"

(Note from Nina....yes...you read that right...Elizabeth did a series of 10 - 60" by 60" Cityscapes ...let that sink in a minute)

Last

This is a section of Elizabeth's spring show at the Georgia Botanical Gardens in Athens, GA.  It featured the pairing of her watercolor landscapes with abstract shibori dyed art quilts.  Gorgeous right?

A big thank you goes out to Elizabeth for sharing her work and hopefully inspiring some new quilters!  

In the upcoming weeks I will be sharing other artists' "First & Last" (including my own since I  just  found it  this week!)  If anybody would like to be included in this column please just email me.  Remember you never know who you are going to inspire!!

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