A Quilt Journey Revisited
Quite a few months ago, the Program Chair for my local quilt guild (Camano Island Quilters) asked me if I would be willing to do a trunk show of my quilts. I had never done anything like that before so I said “Yes, of course!” I was nervous about doing it for the first time, but quilter’s are my people!
As the day drew nearer, I thought I’d better start looking for all the quilts I still had in my possession after beginning quilt making in the late 1980’s and started piling them up on my studio floor. I was quite surprised to see how many traditional quilts were added to the pile. I had totally forgotten I had made some of them.
I had to figure out how I wanted to give my little “talk” and decided that I would look at my quilting as a journey and start with my traditional quilts and end with my art quilts.
I first began quilting because I was attracted to Amish quilts. I found 3 small Amish wall hangings that I had finished and hand quilted. When I began quilting, there was still a lot of controversy over hand versus machine quilting. Thankfully, machine quilting is widely accepted today!
Over the next few years, I took many classes from a wide variety of teachers mostly at quilt shops near my home. I learned that I wasn’t very good at fabric color choices and that sewing ¼” seams and matching points correctly was challenging for me. I have great respect for traditional quilters and their skills!
At one point I got into making foundation paper pieced miniature quilts, thinking that would be a faster, more efficient way to complete a quilt. This piece was probably made in the late 1990’s. The foundation paper was still in it and when I went to remove it, sadly many of the seams started coming apart. I did finish quilting it and put a facing on it (versus a binding) and it hangs on my wall. It is flawed but still precious to me.
12” x 12” (late 1990’s maybe?)
One lament I have after going through my pile of quilts was that I had no information about them. There was no label on them about when they were made, no notes about what class or book or pattern they referred to, no name of who quilted them. It was hard to do a timeline without that information.
(Another lament is that I didn’t take a photo of each one before I packed them away after the trunk show).
As I went through my quilt pile, I found several tops that had been pieced but not quilted. I even found a couple of pieced backs already made for them. I decided I had to get them finished so I could hang them around the house. I even found one that had been machine quilted but just needed a binding sewn onto it.
I texted my long arm quilter and prewarned her that I’d have at least 4 quilts that I wanted her to quilt after the trunk show was over. I spent several days piecing quilt backs and finally dropped them off to her. It’s amazing how much fabric is needed for the backs. You can buy fabric that is 108” wide but I try to use up what fabric I have on hand which results in lots of seams and math calculations to make sure the back is big enough.
She finished quilting them in less than 2 weeks’ time! She’s FAST!
Then I needed to get busy and focus on getting the labels, bindings and hanging sleeves sewn on.
Two of the 4 quilts have been entered into my upcoming local quilt guilds’ first quilt show since the 2020 Pandemic – the Black and White Sampler and the Hunter’s Moon. It’ll be fun to see them hanging in a show.
62” x 62” Black and White Sampler (early 2000’s maybe)
68” X 68” Stars (late 90’s maybe)
44” x 60” Wonky log cabin (made within the last 10 years)
92” x 92” Hunter’s Star (finished 2024 but took about 4 years to get there)
Back in Sept of 2023, I wrote about this Hunter’s Star quilt on my blog post asking what color other people preferred and most people preferred the mid-range blue for the border. I finally went with the light blue border. It was my favorite but I will have to make a new bed skirt to go with it.
I also entered my latest Full Moon art quilt into the show.
32” x 37” Snow Moon (2022)
It was fun to do the trunk show for my guild and to have the opportunity to revisit my quilt journey. Now all my traditional quilts are stored together in one location and my art quilts are in another. I can hopefully continue being organized going forward so I can find them easily when I look for them.
And lesson learned about labeling finished projects and putting crucial information in with the unfinished projects!
Tesi Vaara
14 thoughts on “A Quilt Journey Revisited”
What a wonderful trunk of quilts you have!
Thanks Penny!
I bet it was fun looking through all of your quilts. It’s nice that you still have them. I have never made a pieced quilt but admire the skill and patience needed to make one.
It was fun to see them again. I don’t have much wall space and most are too big for the wall and too small for the bed so they get stored away.
Your quilts are lovely Tesi – such a lot of painstaking work too! It seems a shame that most are just packed away.
You are not alone in regretting not making notes etc 🙁
Thanks! It is sad to see them packed away. When I gave my trunk show, a guild member was helping me refold all my quilts and told me she really liked one of them and if I ever decided to let it go, she’d love to take it. It was one that hadn’t been quilted yet and not one of my favorites and I doubted that I would ever spend the money for the backing fabric and quilting it. So I thought about it for a minute, then I gave it to her. I hope it found a home that will love it.
WOW Tesi, your Quilts are beautiful. I would happily have the stars quilt on my wall because I could sit and look at the stars for ever. Every time I go back to it I see something else to study.
Your point about labelling finished works is a good one to remember. One always thinks “I’ll never forget that” but after a few years you’ll have forgotten. The problem is that I was always keen to get on with the next thing, intending to make the notes later – Oh yeah.
I’d love to see some more of your quilts. Can you do a “trunk show” for us too?🙃
Ann
Thank you Ann. The star quilt with the black backgrounds and the Kaffe Fassett fabrics is intriguing to my eye too. The photo doesn’t capture the black and white dot fabric very well. I used that fabric for the binding which is also difficult to see in the photo.
I could do a trunk show. I was asked to do a trunk show at another quilt guild next year. When I get the quilts out of storage again, I’ll be sure to photograph them all and can then do a trunk show on this blog site.
What a fabulous collection you’ve shown us. I bet you went down memory lane as you found each one (even if you don’t have the detailed notes) I’m sure other things came to mind.
Your trunk show also proved to be a catalyst for you to finish some pieces….so it was a double positive!
Keep up with your lovely art quilts.
It was fun to see my early work. I must have improved over the years a bit, as I was thinking how I would have done some of the blocks differently if I was doing them today.
What a wonderful bunch art. They all seem like art to me traditional and art quilts alike. I was going to ask if they were for the wall or the bed but you answered that above. A wall quilt would be more practical for me. I have a beautiful bed quilt that is just packed away because of the dogs and cats sleeping on my bed. One day I will stop caring and just put it on the bed anyway.
I think you should get that quilt out and put it on the bed!
Your quilts are lovely Tesi and I’m particularly drawn to Snow Moon, that’s terrific! It’s such a shame they can’t all be out on permanent display but good that you have the opportunity to show them occasionally.
Thanks Karen! I really enjoyed making all the “fodder” for Snow Moon as well as piecing it together.