First Quilts

Today a young lady is coming to my house for help with her first bed-sized quilt. She is 13 years old.

What a privilege! My daughter has a sewing machine she uses for mending only, and my granddaughters are not interested in quilts except to have one on their bed that matches their ever-changing decor. I have taught adults to quilt, but to host this young girl will be a special delight.

I didn't start quilting until my family was grown and gone (which partly explains their lack of interest). My first quilts were for babies, and those very first ones are thankfully without digital photos. However, here is one of my 'relatively a beginner' projects.

It is 35.5" x 39.5" so rather on the small size. The pattern came from QNM Jan-Feb 1996, and is called Baby Pinwheels. Nancy Riddell designed the pattern and included a poem that began with, "It's OK if you sit on your quilt. It's OK if your bottle gets spilt..."

I called my version simply "Spinners" and included the poem in a gift card. When I gave it to the new mom, she ignored the poem, loved the quilt, and hung it on the wall! After a year or so, she finally took the advice in the poem and began letting the baby use it.