I started sewing in high school, then moved on to other crafts...crochet, knit, needlepoint, cross stitch. Enjoy them all. About 10 years ago I was at a friend's house and she was hand quilting a quilt for her daughter. I was totally impressed. She grew up in a Mennonite community, so quilting was always something she did. Not too long after that she subbed for me when my mom died. When I got back, she and my class had made me a quilt. They drew pictures with fabric crayons of things I love. I decided if 9 year olds could do it maybe I could. 5 years ago, she convinced me if I could sew a straight line, I could quilt. She found an easy pattern, talked me through a lot of it, and I havent' stopped since. We shared many special times for 4 more years. She died last year from cancer, but every time I sit at my machine, I think of her and know she is laughing at how smitten I've become. I have a niece I'm trying to convince she can quilt. So far she's not biting :)

It is fun to read how different ones got started quilting. I have loved sewing every since I started in 4-H as a kid. I didn't consider myself a quilter until after I retired, but when I look back, I have quilted small objects for years and years--I just didn't consider pillow tops as "quilts" --I probably made enough cathedral window pillows to have made a quilt top! My mother-in-law was a wonderful quilter and for many years I bought her fabrics as birthday/Christmas/etc. gifts. When she died, I inherited all her quilting supplies. They included a lot of quilt blocks and I started "real" quilting by learning how to put those together. Wasn't long before I was making my own blocks. I can't imagine ever getting tired of putting together a new top. I find I am leaning towards lapsize/baby quilts because I can try a new pattern more often that way. They are easy give away, too.

I have been sewing since I was a young child, and we made a few blankets/biscuit quilts/bedspreads then (with mom and my sisters) but I didn't really start quilting until we lived in Germany and I needed something warm to cover a window. It was before rotary cutters and all that...

I know you ladies like to say there are no rules in quiltmaking, but there are certainly ways to make it overly difficult for yourself! I used poly blend fabrics, poly batting and 2 layers of sheets to make this, and then I HAND QUILTED through it - it was VERY hard getting through all of that. I used regular sewing needles and a double strand of regular sewing thread. It's a wonder I didn't quit then! But that was 22 years ago, and I am still doing it (but now I know how to do it BETTER).

Cathe--I think you have great perserverance! I agree with you--some ways of doing things makes the process easier than other ways. Exchanges like this will help folks learn a different/easier/better? way to do a number of quilting things. Bet your first quilt "never" wore out!!

I started much like you cathe. I didn't know one fabric would be better than another. I backed my first large quilt with a sheet and then hand quilted it. It was NOT easy getting through that zillion thread count sheet and I wondered how other women did it! :D But I've learned a lot since then.

I've sewn most of my life too, and made all my girls' clothes when they were little. I used to watch my mom sew all our clothes. I stood quietly by her machine while she made the most beautiful things, and now I sew on that machine. It keeps me close to her. :)

I came from a family who sewed clothing and crocheted. No quilts in my past. But I did learn to love fabric (and yarns as well...I knit and crochet) and when I was visiting a friend of mine from church, she showed me her latest quilt project and I was hooked. She showed me some of the basics, but I was too impatient to wait until I learned enough from her to make life easier on myself. LOL I dove right in, made every mistake ever made (and made up a few of my own, no doubt!) and then slowly, by watching others, I learned. Quilting has gotten me through some really tough times in my life, and I thank God I was united with this craft. I'll die with a needle in my hand! LOL

My Grandma babysat me from the day I was born :lol: She quilted every chance she got so I grew up watching her.. When I was about 6 she bought me my first sewing basket.. She also let me "help" quilt whatever she was working on.. One memory that is really vivid was when she would put me down for my nap on the couch.. She would tell me a story while she sat and quilted... So quilting was something that was a part of my life for as long as I can remember..

I learned to sew from "maman", my aunt whom I call mother in French. She was a seamstress and showed me a few things. Well 2 years ago she got lung cancer and through a friend I got the name of a group who make quilts for people with cancer. I requested one for her and she has it with her all the time, the treatments can make you feel a chill easily. I was so moved by the situation that I decided to join the group. I'm still learning but I can 'sandwich' with the best of them.

Well what got me into quilting was when I came home from college Mom wanted to "reconnect" that mother-daughter relationship we had before I went off to school. I looked around for a quilting class and we found a 10 week class that taught you everything to make a quilt. So we took our class and now here I am addicted as ever!!!