It's time for this month's My First Quilt interview! I love reading these stories of how people got started making quilts, don't you? Today Lori Nawyn is sharing how and why she made her first quilt. Lori is a nationally licensed artist who creates art for manufacturers to use on products ranging from stationery to puzzles, textiles and cross stitch and embroidery kits, and home and garden decor. She has a tiny brick and mortar store where she sells her art and her own line of greeting cards and hand painted barn stars.
You can connect with Lori at her website, on Facebook, and on her Instagram accounts for her art, her shop, and her fabric.
And now, here's (one of) Lori's first quilt(s)! Isn't it cute?
What year did you make your first quilt? What prompted you to make it?
2023. I've been designing fabric for national manufacturers for a little over three years. I've always dreamed of making quilts with my own fabric, but didn't think I had the skill...and I thought I was too old to learn! With a lot of encouragement from my local quilt guilds (that I joined just with the hope of watching others quilt), I decided to give it a try. I designed a fabric collection--Good Tidings of Skate Joy--that I uploaded to Spoonflower. When I got the fabric in the mail, I didn't know where to even begin. So I put the fabric aside for several weeks.
However, seeing all the quilts others were making with my fabric--and really wanting to learn how to quilt--I finally summoned the courage to create three 9x9 wall hangings which I used my embroidery skills to stitch the blocks to squares of felt; I also made a few small ornaments. I then used the fourth 9x9 block to try my hand at binding. It didn't turn out too bad! I had fun and decided to make a porch quilt to match the decor I'd made for our fireplace. I created a simple panel that I made loads of mistakes on--like adding batting that was much too thick, and really messing up the binding. After unpicking everything three times and ultimately getting the batting somewhat right, I finally finished it!
What techniques were used in that first quilt? Did you quilt it yourself?
On the porch quilt, I was really winging it and just used my machine--straight stitch and buttonhole stitch.
Who taught you to make the quilt?
I mainly taught myself by trial and error. I watched almost a dozen YouTube videos to learn how to do the binding.
Are the colours you chose for your first quilt ones you would still choose today?
Yes, because I really loved designing this fabric collection.
Did you fall in love with quilting right away? Or was there a gap between making the first quilt and the next one?
I didn't fall in love with it right away! After so many mistakes on just a small porch quilt, I didn't think quilting was something I'd be very good at--I'm too much of a perfectionist and really hard on myself! But a lady in one of my guilds helped me take a lighthearted look at myself and my creative aspirations. She said, "If you can't see the mistakes from the back of a galloping horse, they don't matter!" That made me laugh! I decided I was going to jump into quilting and just make what I loved without worrying what anyone else thought.
Where is the quilt now?
Hanging behind the cash register in my fabric and gift shop, Huckleberry Moose.
Is there anything you wish you could go back and tell yourself as you made that first quilt?
Yes! Just have fun and enjoy the process. Make mistakes and learn from them; they are part of the wonderful journey of learning how to quilt!
Anything else you want to share about your first quilt?
All my art, and thus my fabric, has a story. The girl depicted in the quilt is based on my childhood experiences watching my mother ice skate on a pond in rural Utah. Being on the ice, pirouetting like a ballerina, brought her such joy! Those memories bring me great joy and I wanted to capture them. I added the geese as whimsical characters who I envisioned would also love the wonder of winter.
I love the whimsical prints and how Lori has used them!
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