In 2003, on one of my regular visits to my Grandma’s house, I asked her to help me make my first quilt. I’ll never forget her laugh as she reminded me that quilts take all winter to finish, so of course we were going to need some time. I didn’t know how to start, but I knew I wanted to learn to quilt, and she was the best person to teach me. What started as a weekend project stretched out over many months, and together we finished my very first nine patch quilt.

My First Nine Patch Quilt

Grandma had alot of fabric rolls and pieces in tote boxes that she had collected through the years. We went through the fabric and found some solid green and coordinating floral prints to get us started.

She chose the Nine Patch quilt design because it is a great basic pattern for beginning quilters. Even as basic as this pattern is, I still managed to make the corners crooked.

If you look closely, you can see the tiny, even stitches where Grandma showed me how to hand-quilt the quilt top. Then you can look right beside her beautiful stitches and see my large, awkward attempts. Working on this quilt with my Grandma is one of my treasured memories. It was such a combined effort of love that it is one of my favorite quilts in my home.

While I finished working on the nine patch quilt, Grandma took the rest of the pieces and made two pillows to match the quilt.

I gave this quilt to my youngest son, and he has loved it almost to death, but it’s still one of my favorites.

Years have passed since Grandma and I made this first nine-patch quilt, but we always enjoyed getting out new fabrics and planning out new quilts. I’m not quite sure when this next one will be finished, and I may never get as good at hand quilting as Grandma, but this is such a great memory to share with this amazing lady I call Grandma!

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