My First Quilt with Leslie Rutland

I unintentionally took a break from posting My First Quilt interviews, but I'm back with one today 😊 This time Leslie Rutland is sharing the story of her first quilt.

Leslie Rutland is the founder of The Seasoned Homemaker where she shares simple quilting, sewing, and crafty projects for busy women looking to connect with their creativity. She loves to teach and inspire her readers to spend a little time doing something they love and help them connect with future generations through a quilting legacy. Today, she shares quilting on her blog, writes quilt patterns, and hosts a membership community for quilters. 

You can connect with Leslie at her website, Instagram, and her membership.

And now, here's Leslie's first quilt. As a lover of blue and a lover of star quilts, this one is right up my alley!

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

Around 1989 or 1990. It was a graduation gift for my youngest sister and intended for her to take to college the next year. It's been a part of her life ever since.

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

This was before acrylic rulers and rotary cutters. I made templates from cutting up cereal boxes. Then I traced these templates onto my fabrics and cut everything out with scissors. I squared up the quilt by using a carpenter's square. I hand quilted with 100% cotton thread and used Mountain Mist Polyester batting. The binding was wrapped from the back to the front. 

Who taught you to make the quilt?

I took a class at a short-lived local quilt shop.

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

Never! It was during the "country blue" era. While I would still use these colors, I wouldn't use them in this way.

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

If I wasn't making it as a special gift, I would've abandoned the project. It felt tedious and I knew there had to be another way. I didn't make another quilt for 25 years. 

At that point, I started dabbling in quilting, but I "had a moment." In 2015, QuiltCon came to my hometown of Austin, TX. While sitting in a lecture about the Ohio Star quilt, a beautiful quilt was shown and it was like my brain lit up at that moment. After that, everything about quilting shifted and I knew I would be a quilter for life. I dove in head first and haven't stopped making quilts since that moment.

Where is the quilt now?

It is still in use at my sister's house, sitting in a basket in her den. It went with her to college, and then marriage, kids, pets, and all of her life.  It's in fairly good condition considering its age and use. Three kids have all snuggled under this quilt. I  need to replace the binding, but I hesitate to make a single change because so much of my sister's life has happened on this quilt. 

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

Don't stop. Keep quilting. Make small quilts and experiment with blocks.

Thank you, Leslie, for sharing your first quilt with us!