My First Quilt Ever

My great-grandmother was a quilter, but she pieced and quilted everything by hand. Each of her grandchildren have received a quilt. Her work is beautiful. Someday I’ll post pictures of the quilt she made me. When I was 15, she was visiting and had me and my sister start a quilt. We bought our fabric from Walmart and she helped us cut out all of the pieces. Of course, I picked a block pattern that was way too difficult for my skill level, but I was determined. I took me until I was 21 to hand piece all of the blocks. I completed 10 of the 20 blocks throughout six years and the last 10 in a month or so. I had a feeling that I needed to complete that quilt so I could show my great-grandma. I sent the finished blocks to my mom. She cut them to be the same size (the were all wonky because I had no idea what I was doing) and put the sashing and border on. The sashing, border, and binding fabric is called “Freckles.” I have tons of freckles. My great-grandma was able to see the quilt top. I mailed her a picture. Shortly after, she passed away. I finished hand sewing the binding while in Albuquerque for her funeral. Obviously, this quilt means a lot to me. My sister’s quilt is not finished and even though she thinks it is ugly now, I’d like to finish it for memory’s sake.

If that’s hard to read, this is what is says:

In Memory of

Alice M. Wheatley

1912-2010

Great Grandma Wheatley

started Lesley Latham hand

sewing the block on this

quilt at age 15. Lesley

completed all 20 blocks at

the age of 21. Joni Latham

put the sashing and

borders on the quilt and

Cleoria Ficken, Davenport,

NE, did the quilting. Aunt

Cathy Chase sewed on the

binding so that Joni

(assisted by Lesley) could

hand sew it on the way to

Grandma Wheatley’s

funeral in Albuqueruqe,

NM, Feb 11, 2010. The

fabric used for sashings,

borders, and bindings is

called “Freckles.”