Reminiscing . . .

I love Sew Mama Sew (on my side bar). One of the great things is the Forum, where people ask and answer questions. I have asked a few myself, and have received wonderful (and quick) advice. As I was perusing it today (yes, my 50 cent word, perusing) I found a woman who is just learning to sew and wants to make a quilt for her young son. A friend of hers told her it was too hard and not to even try. It broke my heart. So I (along with MANY others) told her to go for it! The first thing I ever tried to make was a quilt.  Now, I'm not saying I'm a wonderful quilter (ya'll know I'm not) but I do enjoy it. So it got me thinking about the first quilt I made.  I don't have it anymore, but I remember it well.  In first grade, we read a story about a boy who couldn't go anywhere without his blankie, but his mother said he couldn't take it to school with him. So throughout the book, his mother would cut his blankie in half until, by the first day of school, his blankie would fit in his pocket. (Isn't it funny the details we remember? Now, ask me my teacher's name from the first grade . . . a total blank!) So I had to make a blankie that would fit in my pocket for an assignment. It must have been over spring break, because I remember being in my Great Aunt Billie's house with my grandmother and her sisters quilting around a frame, and asking them to help me make a quilt for school. Obviously, I got REALLY bored REALLY quick, and ended up gluing it together, but they did try. Now, go ahead, ask me my address from first grade . . . a TOTAL BLANK! But I remember quilts and books! The next time I tried to quilt, it was in Jr. High.  Here is the product. It's a Nine Patch/Nine Patch. Those are applique tulips in the off squares (still my favorite flower). I pieced it, got bored, and left it at my grandmothers.  For high school graduation, she had found it and quilted it for me. I didn't realize how much I would treasure it until recently. I didn't try to quilt again until I met up with a group of lovely ladies (and their blenders and margarita mixes) in college, and the rest, as they say, is history. Sorry about the ramble with few pictures, but sometimes a trip down memory lane is just what the doctor ordered.

See Ya!