October 25, 2024

My First Quilt with Eva Saunders

It's a little hard to believe, but it's already the last Friday of October! Where did this month go? Since it is the last Friday of the month, that means we get to enjoy a My First Quilt interview. This month Eva Saunders of Gingerly Quilt Co is sharing the story of her first quilt.
My First Quilt with Eva Saunders | DevotedQuilter.com
Eva Saunders is a fabric artist and quilt pattern designer, who learned quilting from her grandma in her teenage years. She loves quilting and sharing her knowledge of everything sewing and art.

You can connect with Eva on Instagram.

And now, here's Eva's first quilt!
My First Quilt with Eva Saunders | DevotedQuilter.com

What year did you make your first quilt? What prompted you to make it?


The first quilt my grandma made with me in the 90s, I can’t remember (and I sadly don’t have photos), but my first OWN quilt without her help was in 2021, when I had a lot of fabric left after making masks for health workers. I was going to move cross-country and decided to use as much of the leftover fabric I can before the move. Needless to say it became a huge quilt! An extended queen size quilt, about 90”x 90”!
My First Quilt with Eva Saunders | DevotedQuilter.com

What techniques were used in that first quilt? Did you quilt it yourself?


The pattern was Three Step by Annie‘s. It was very simple piecing with rectangles and sashing. I had to lay the quilt out on our living room floor and still didn’t have enough space to see all the blocks at one time! It was quite a puzzle to arrange them in a pleasing manner. I sewed them together in rows, then attached the rows to each other. In the middle of that, we moved! At the new place, I had a little more space, so I was able to finish the top, thread baste it on the floor during a snowstorm (without power) and was ready to quilt it! Quilting was probably the hardest part, because I had never done it with a machine (my grandma had only taught me hand quilting) AND because I used high loft batting with my small  domestic machine… I decided to straight line quilt along the sashing, because there was no way I could do any intricate designs with my minimal throat space. It was quite a workout! But now I‘m very proud of this quilt (and will only do Throw sized quilts max going forward ;) )
My First Quilt with Eva Saunders | DevotedQuilter.com

Who taught you to make the quilt?


My grandma taught me how to quilt when I was a teenager.  She was a seamstress and quilted as a hobby. I loved being in her sewing room with her, a place that was truly her own, no husbands allowed… We spent a lot of summers together sewing quilted wall hangings and clothes. We never had enough time for a bed sized quilt, though, so my first larger quilt I made in my 20s.

Are the colours you chose for your first quilt ones you would still choose today?


The fabrics I used were selected from bedsheets that were donated from people in my neighborhood for mask making, so I selected the ones with colors that I liked. Oranges and teals, browns and beiges. I wanted the quilt to be colorful, but made of neutrals, so that it would fit into our new home, which we didn‘t know the decor and style of yet. There was one print that tied it all the solid colors together, so it worked out really well! After that I made quilts with cotton fabrics (instead of bed sheets), which have a nicer feel, but I still like the colors of my first quilt and its soo soft! In fact, I used the colors of this quilt as an inspiration when I made my company logo for Gingerly Quilt Co, which is orange!
My First Quilt with Eva Saunders | DevotedQuilter.com

Did you fall in love with quilting right away? Or was there a gap between making the first quilt and the next one?


I had fallen in love with quilting when I was a teenager, but stopped during high school when I didn‘t see my grandma as much anymore. I still used my sewing machine to alter clothes during college, but didn‘t get back into quilting until after making masks in  2020. Sewing masks got me back into sewing! And after that first large quilt, I was bit by the quilting bug again and made many more- and also started writing my own modern quilt patterns, which is how Gingerly Quilt Co was born in 2022. 

Where is the quilt now?


The quilt is tucked under my bed for whenever I‘m too cold at night! 

Is there anything you wish you could go back and tell yourself as you made that first quilt?


I wish I hadn‘t used high loft batting. Then I would have been able to quilt a little denser and make it a bit more sturdy!

Anything else you want to share about your first quilt?


This quilt just proved to me that you can do anything you set your mind to! ;)
My First Quilt with Eva Saunders | DevotedQuilter.com

Thanks, Eva for sharing your first quilt with us!

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