Remembering the Years 1999-2001

1999

I took my first machine quilting class at a local quilt shop from a lady named Virginia. I learned so much and immediately came home and made this whole cloth quillow to practice my new skills.  I keep this quilt to show my friends when they are learning free motion quilting.  They can see that we all have to start somewhere.  It finishes at about 42 inches by 70 inches.  My boys love putting their feet in the pocket, and I love using it as a back pillow. 

I made this cute wall hanging from a kit given to me by JoAnn. I call it Lovely Hearts.  It is about 18 inches square.  It was the second quilt I machine quilted.  It was nice to start small. 

I made a jean quilt for my sister Kimberly as a house warming gift.  It has flannel squares on the back.  As I had never made a jean quilt before, I just kept cutting and cutting.  I made the quilt queen size.  Do you know how heavy a queen size jean quilt is?  ULTRA.  Yet, my sister and her husband loved the weight of it and even had it on their bed for awhile. 

I don't think I will ever make one that large again.  I also learned that it is better to buy good quality flannel.  I was not happy with how much the flannel balled up after it was washed. 

2000

This was a special year for me, because I married my awesome hubby. Here we are...

The summer after we married I finally finished hand quilting my Barn Raising Log Cabin and got the binding put on.

I also finished the top of  my Stack-n-Whack and had to put it aside. I didn't have the skills to machine quilt it or the money to pay to have it quilted.   My husband was sad it wasn't finished immediately.  He kept asking me when I was going to finish it. 

2001

This year I finished the top for Around America. It is from the pattern "Around the Twist" by Trudie Hughes. When I asked my husband what he thought, he sweetly said, "It will be nicer when it is finished." This is a phrase I heard a lot. He is very much a finisher and had a hard time appreciating the little finishes along the way. (Don't worry, through the years of living with a quilter he has become much better at giving feedback.)

This was a busy time for me as I was working, going to school, and newly married  I worked on my quilty projects whenever I could (especially when I needed a break from homework).   

XX,
Jasmine