Anna’s First Quilt
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Once again, Anna has been gracious enough to share another one of her quilts with us. Today I am sharing with you Anna’s very first quilt, and let me tell you, I am impressed.
She found the pattern in an old Good Housekeeping book on quilting. The patterns, colors, and fabrics screamed 1970s, which was when the book came out. She jumped straight in at the deep end, choosing to make the Storm at Sea pattern in two shades of blue, and white.
At the time, Anna says she had a very bad sewing machine, so the whole thing was hand-sewn and hand quilted over 3 years (1994-1997).
Anna says that it wasn’t perfect – all four sides were slightly different in length. But she thought it beautiful, and I certainly agree. If you would like to give this block a try, you can get the pattern for free at Generations Quilt Patterns.
Sharing over at: TGIFF at Things I Make, Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts
I will never understand how it is, that using triangles and squares–all straight lines and angles–creates the optical illusion of curves! That’s one of the things I love about this pattern.
It’s one of my favorite things about it too. I really do love how your quilt came out.
Storm at sea for a first quilt?? Sometimes it’s better that we don’t know what we’re in for! Beautiful job, Anna!
What a beautiful quilt! Just gorgeous!
Anna! What a superb job on a very first quilt! Womderul! It’s a beauty. I love how you placed your graduated shades with the blue. It’s awesome!
What an ambitious first quilt! My first quilt was 9-patch blocks. Anna’s quilt is stunning and I’m impressed that it was all done by hand.
Ignorance is bliss, and stubborness helps when I get in over my head, which is often, LOL!
The quilt I had the most trouble with to date (no photo of it so far, but that could change) was the Star of Bethlehem pattern. I took it apart and sewed it together about four times, and it would not lie flat when I did that last centre seam! It reduced me to tears. An acquaintance took one look at it and said, “Eight points? Forty degree angle, luv. Your template’s off. Give it to me.” She took the points home, trimmed them and sewed them back together. I later discovered that indeed the magazine template was “off”–and have seen the exact same badly-made template in several magazines here in Spain.
In any case, I have read that Star of Bethlehem, like Storm at Sea, is considered a tough pattern. But the resulting quilt is pretty and I still use it. You have to look at the centre to realise that not all the diamonds are created equal.
I love the storm at sea block! Been on my to-do list for a while now. This one is lovely!
I love this pattern! It is timeless. Very ambicious for a first quilt, though, and Anna did well. I just revisited Storm at Sea again this year. The top is done, but not yet quilted.