My First Quilt

This is the first proper quilt I made. It is from a design by Lynette Anderson of The Patchwork Angel and I started it when I was pregnant with my four (soon to be five) year old. I made and appliqued the top and then stuffed it in a bag for a couple of years until my friend Alison saw it and forced me to finish it! It's not very accurate but I do love it. The children like it because I have turned the characters into members of the family and they love telling visitors that Daddy is the Scarecrow! (well he's not very tidy at the best of times!!!). It is above the fireplace in the dining room which we can't paint as the plaster hasn't dried out in two years - oops! It is the only quilt I have done from a pattern - the rest are all "made up" and very simple and wonky and several are still in pieces in bags somewhere waiting for another friend to make me finish them!

I started out sewing "seriously" just before my second daughter was born. I had made my first daughter a knitted patchwork blanket, teddy, mobile and clothes and wanted to do something similar for No.2 - unfortunately with a toddler already in tow I just didn't have time to knit anything. Then I saw a pattern in a magazine for a seaside quilt. I wasn't confident enough to make a proper quilt but hit on the idea of using fleece and applique-ing pictures on to that - so this is the first (rather tatty) one I ever made.

I took it along to a craft fair at the last minute to bulk up my stall one Christmas and got an order from it and then proceeded to make dozens of different designs over the years - all personalised to suit the recipients and their families. The problem is that fleece isn't as exciting as proper patchwork fabric although I did have fun with all the different applique fabrics.

These are the children's and mine - rather scruffy, fairly grubby, but definitely well loved!