Down Memory Lane and Now

It was years (and years!) ago that I made my first patch work pincushion. I was hooked. I made patchwork pouches, bags then moved on to quilts. I didn't have a sewing machine nor any fancy cutting tools, so every thing was done by hand, the old fashioned way.

At the time I was also interested in the history of quilt making and antique quilts, so I read some books related to those topics. When I first started out, I was fascinated by traditional quilt designs; such as the Baltimore album quilt, double wedding ring and grandma's flower garden and so on so forth. Soon I had strong desire to make one... I know, I know, it was a crazy idea being a beginner and attempting to make quilts like that. Also, I didn't know any quilt makers in the area I lived in. Everything I know I learned from books.

My first big quilt was this one: Irish chain.

After the Irish chain quilt, I worked on smaller projects then, when I got engaged to Mr.TRH, I decided to make a double wedding ring quilt. It took FOREVER. Seriously ... I quickly realized what I got myself into, but it was too late. I already bought all the fabrics, and this was going to be a special quilt for me. I was committed.

I love all the process of quilt making, but what I love the most is when I am sitting down and doing hand quilting. About a year later, I finished making the quilt. Stitch by stitch, imagining what our life together would be like...

The next big quilt I made was this grandma's flower garden quilt. We were newly married, and we didn't have a whole lot of money to spend on anything. I decided to use an old college ruled note books we didn't need to make templates for paper piecing. This quilt was also done all by hand. At the time Mr. TRH worked the night shift at work and came home and slept for a few hours and went to school during the day. There was quite a drive to school, so often times I drove him to school so he wouldn't sleep at the wheel. To save gas, I stayed at school for hours until he was done with classes. Due to my visa status and health issues, I couldn't really hold a job, but this made me feel that I was contributing to our life in some way. I didn't mind the wait at all and this hand piecing project kept me busy. While I was working on my project in the hall way, sometimes people would stop and ask me what I am working on and sit down to chat with me.

It took me about 2 years start to finish to complete this quilt. When I cut the last thread, I was thinking to myself, "I will never do this again!". Now, years have passed, I am working on a hexagon quilt again.

After having toddlers and a baby at home, I found it was very difficult to do what I had been doing. I started to do easier and simpler projects; things I could whip out in a few weeks. My love for hand quilting is still there, but there is a new found appreciation for machine quilting. My taste in colors has slightly changed as well. Here is my recent project I created for Riley Blake. You see what I mean?;

Traditional or modern, Hand pieced or machine pieced, hand quilted or machine quilted whatever it is, I admire the quilts because they represent people's thoughts, stories and personalities. Over all, I don't think what I like changed much. I took in some modern aspects to what I already had in me and evolved to my personal style. I guess when you are into anything creative it is a journey to find your own style somehow. I kind of enjoy getting lost in the process; experimenting with different color palettes and patterns every now and then.

Have you figure out what you like the best?