Quilting Changed my Life

Shortly after my mom finished her first quilt she decided that it would be fun to have a mother/daughters quilting project. We were all going to make the sampler quilt in this book. 

This was new to me, because as the youngest she was not going to let me use her sewing machine until I took a sewing class in school.  She bought lots of fabric in different color ways and we got started.  This is my first block. 

I just love the note that is still attached with two pins after all these years.   

We decided that if we used all the colors in every block that it would be really busy.  So we narrowed down the colors and selected the ones we wanted to use.   My quilt was going to be in pinks, greens, and blues.  (My favorite colors at the time.)  This is a redo of my first block  called Roman Square in the colors I selected.

We went through the blocks together. Mom cut the fabrics for me and I sewed them together. This is the fence rail. 

This is the log cabin.

Here is the double nine patch.  

I loved it! I just had a hard time waiting for the next block to be made. This is what it looked like when I tried to cut and sew by myself. 

In case you didn't know, it was not meant to be wonky with the stitches showing in places.  ;)

This is my second attempt at the smaller log cabin (with Mom's help)... Not much better. 

So how did this change my life? Let me explain...

I was about 11 years old and the young girls in my ward were having a talent night. I was discouraged and my mom was trying to help. (I think we all know what girls are like at that age.)

She said, "You could play the piano."

I replied, "No, Mary plays better than me."

She said, "You could do a dance."

I replied, "No, Kim dances better than me."

She added, "You could sing a song."

Again I replied, "No, Tanya sings better than me." (Are you seeing a pattern here?)

My exasperated mother then tried, "You could display your quilt blocks."

I stopped, thought, and then said, "Okay."

We displayed my blocks on a solid like this.  It was meant to be my sashing.

I am sure my mom was just relieved to have this drama solved, yet it was a huge turning point in my life.  I stopped comparing myself to the other girls (almost completely). 

The icing on the cake was when all the other girls were so impressed and asked in awe, "Jasmine, you made this?"

Honestly, these blocks are still just that--blocks. Yet I consider them finished and not an extremely old UFO. Let's face it, they are awful. They are not square or the size they should be.  They were ironed rather than pressed...  

At one point I was going to get rid of them. My mother said I should keep them because someday my daughters (um... daughters?) would like to see that I was not always so good at quilting.

I actually have shown them to others frequently when I am teaching beginning quilting to friends and youth. They make a great example for what not to do! But maybe someday I will do something with the better ones...

Do you think I should use them, or continue to leave them be? 

XX,
Jasmine