My Fast First Quilt

Linking up with Lily's Quilts Small Bog Hop and Sew Mama Sews My Favorite Quilt Linky Party. 

It all started back at Highlands Middle School in Kennewick, WA, 1975. One day I heard an excited teacher telling a fellow teacher about her new car. I didn't think too much about it until I sat down in my comp class later that day and spied said car just outside the window. I was instantly smitten by the cute lines and especially that adorable little bunny gracing the rear hatch.  My "dream car" was set in stone.

Growing up on a car lot I would get to drive a lot of fun cars through high school but I was denied my dream ride since my dad never had a VW Rabbit on the lot. I sold a cute little orange Fiat to help pay for college and I was driving a red Renault when I met my hubby but I never forgot about that cute little Rabbit.

My heart was broken when hubby informed me that VW had rebadged the Rabbit as the Golf in 1983. My dream was crushed...until one day in 2006 I saw this...

iPad users touch here.

It was Back!!! My dream was rekindled and the timing was perfect. My youngest son was 15, just short of getting his license and I was so ready to ditch my last Mom-SUV, a giant Nissan Armada, white of course. The car hunt was on for a slightly used 2006 VW Rabbit.

Well, as some of you may know the Golf/Rabbit has an alter-ego called the GTI. The original Hot-Hatch. Hubby was pushing for the GTI while I was thinking of nothing but that cute little bunny clad hatch. He finally talked me into test driving a GTI. 

Wow, talk about fun. I had to have one and Hubby said he'd add an aftermarket bunny if I had to have it on my hatch. Well, I still do not have the bunny on my rear. (correction: I happen to have added one yesterday) but I do have a mischievous red smile.

We found my GTI in January of 2007. It only had 3,000 miles on it and still smelled like new. A guy had traded his BMW for it in October 2006 and then traded the GTI on another BMW in December of 2006. I guess the GTI was a fun temporary fun ride while he waited for his special order BMW.

And fun it is...The Mark V GTI was always a favorite of Jeremy Clarkson and the Top Gear crew in the Hot-Hatch and affordable sporty car segments.  And during the Mark V GTI run it seemed to grace the cover of at least on major car mag monthly. 

Now they are up to the Mark VII! I feel like I've only had the car a few months. Hubby wants me to move up to a larger car but I always tell him he will have to pry my cold stiff fingers off the wheel of this car. It is my Dream Car after all.

Now for the quilty part...

I rekindled my quilt-sewing hobby in December of 2012 by trying out a few mug rugs. Within a month I had started on my first lap quilt. My attempt at quilting in the 1990's was abandoned when I could not get the hang of using my walking foot so I was a bit nervous about attacking the quilting stage of this lap quilt. I came up with a great idea...practice on something smaller like a baby size quilt. My circle did not have any new or on the way babies at the time so I decided to make something for me. 

Where could I use a teeny tiny quilt? How about my teeny tiny car! A quilt to match my car that I could use while traveling so hubby can be comfy cool and I can be toasty warm. Brilliant!!!

The GTI has an adorable red grin and charcoal and black leather seats so my color palette was set. I chose a not-too-babyish tutorial with a downloadable PDF pattern by Elizabeth Hartman called Charm Squares Redux. I headed to the local quilt store and purchased my fabric. I wish I could tell you what each one is but I didn't pay attention at the time. I think the gray is a Bella Solid. The red and white print is my favorite.  I like the gray Christmas print because the tint is just a bit "off" from the other grays and it adds a fun pop. It does have two Riley Blake Chevrons. The large gray on gray in the piecing and the binding is a tiny gray chevron. For the quilting I relied on Elizabeth Hartman's Free-Motion Quilting Basics and tried my hand at an overlapping box pattern. 

This is possibly my favorite quilt to date. That is why I am linking up with the Sew Mama Sew "My Favorite Quilt" linky party Hosted by Jess of Quilty Habit.

And now some photos with my Car Quilt in its natural habitat...

White house, white car, guess what color dog lives in that house.

 The quilt makes my car smile.

Notice the red brake calipers peeking out from the potato cutter wheels.

A temporary Rabbit logo. Too much?

Yes, it is a 6-speed turbo-charged manual go-cart.

Charcoal leather seats coordinate nicely with the quilt. 

Vee-Dub in da haus...actually we have two. My son has a gray 2007.

VW is famous for their goofy ad campaigns and they did not disappoint with the Mark V GTI.  Click through if you are a fan of humorous ad campaigns.

They had the Un-Pimp Your Ride Series.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv157ZIInUk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCIF6JF1O5U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I0WfnhVs2s

And, my personal favorite, the My Fast series. Here's my favorite:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sy8d4aroW4

They also released a Project Fast DVD Brochure which can be found in bits and pieces on YouTube.

Thanks for reading about my first quilt finish.

Shared on:

Val's Quilting Studio's Tuesday's Archives