Two Hippos: My First Quilt

Warning: This quilt is pretty ugly. Avert your eyes if you must.

I made this quilt sometime between my junior and senior years of high school (over 10 years ago). I bought a lot of fat quarters of fabric and created a patchwork mess. Some of it is handsewn (I distinctly recall sewing some patches on the train on the way home from a college visit my junior spring) and some of it is machine sewn. Some sections are atrocious -- in terms of fabric and design -- and some sections are actually pretty decent. It's backed with soft maroon flannel and still warms up my bed when I go home. It's living proof that quilts can be ugly but useful.

It's safe to say I've improved since this first endeavor into quilting on my own. But looking back, I can only appreciate my willingness to try anything, a risk that knowing-nothing demands but also sometimes resist. If you're reading this and just starting, I highly recommending diving in. You can't wrong. Even if you do, it can be fixed, used, and learned from.

And if you need picture proof, here you go, warts and all.

A little of everything is happening here.

A closer view of a little of everything.

The most hideous section in the world. Look at the ugly bubble-gum pink border, the wacky late 80s leaf print, and early 90s purple something. I think the border print could have been made to look decent if it were not for that terribleness surrounding it. But, take a deep breath, this is the worst part of the whole quilt.

See, not so bad. I really like the bottom stripy section. It's one of the few things I would do again if I had the chance to remake the whole thing.

Learning how to make 9-square blocks and 16-square blocks. I didn't know anything about strip-piecing back then, so I cut everything out individually. The purple batik print on the right is actually very nice fabric.

You can see the back, with some sort of stitch-in-the-ditch quilting. Emphasis on sort-of. But there's a large piece of the pretty purple fabric as well.