Thistles and Vines

Thistles and Vines

This is the very first quilt I ever made. It is from the pattern my BFF learned at her Beginning Quilting class. With the help of her instructions and a number of books, I self taught myself the blocks and put it together.

The top was completed in January 2010 but since we traveled to China and brought our daughter home soon after, started the process of building our new house last summer and moved this past spring, the long arm work wasn't completed until July of this year.

To be honest, I was thrilled of how well it turned out. When I began it, I had no clue as to whether I could do this or not but as they say "the proof is in the pudding", or more appropriately "the proof is in the stitching".

I really love the way the green binding makes the green in the prints really come to the forefront. The colors in this were tough for me at first since at that point in time I normally didn't veer towards gold, rust and sage but I noticed the main prints immediately in the store and no matter what else I looked at, kept coming back to this combination.

Choosing which one would be the top focus fabric and which would become the backing was challenging (I am a Libra after all) but you can obviously see what I chose then. With all that I have seen and learned plus the new shades, colors and patterns that I have come to really like in the past 2 years, if I were to do this one over again I'd use the backing fabric for the top and I'd put the one with the red lattice as the backing.

This first quilt will always hold special meaning for me since it is what led me on this wonderful quilting journey that is now a passion for me. Daily as it graces the back of my favorite chair, it reminds me just what I can accomplish when I am determined.