petthefabric

This quilt was done at a time when I felt verbally abused. A friend was very encouraging to keep me going and to
allow me to work outside the box and rules. She did the embroidery. It says, “Words hurt more than Sticks and Stones.” The quilting is words of confirmation and condemnation. ‘Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” is a childhood retort. I’ve always thought it was a protective lie.

The quilt might not score big in any genre but it’s been healing for me. Probably no one else would care to hang it, but it speaks to me.

So do what works for you.

cashs_mom

Hahahaha! Now we know why we love to buy pretty fabric just because.

ibex94

Pet -- your sticks and stones quilt is beautiful!! You do need to enter it into competitions! It will speak to more people than you can imagine! Great job!

It screams to me! My home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. You have captured my turmoil for my beautiful hometown perfectly in your sticks and stones.

ptquilts

Pet, that is an awesome quilt as well as the story behind it. The thing I love about quilting is how easy it is to get started. Cut up some squares (don't even need a pattern), lay them out into a Trip Around the World, finish by tying if you are not up to quilting it, and boom, you have an awesome quilt.
And if there are any mistakes, "Hey, it's folk art!" as my DH used to say.

1CharmShort

Hi caseb
with the internet, quilters now have the world at their fingertips

This forum has links to lots of free patterns
you can go to the website of almost any fabric manufacturers or even online quilt shops and find dozens of free patterns.
any search engine is a gold mine of resources.

youtube is an endless resource for tutorials, patterns, tips & tricks, lots of advice-both bad & good
there are many podcasts, tv shows, videos and fun sewing/quilting sites to get lost in for days.

you can join forums like this, groups on facebook and elsewhere...you can even join one or lots of online quilt guilds. zoom, etc makes that fun and easy now.

Like others asked
Will you tell us a bit more about yourself and what / where your interests are?

NZquilter

I grew up in New Zealand and started quilting 15 years ago. No one in my family sewed more than a button and we were too rural for Internet to work. I had to figure out my own way to learn. So I checked out library books on quilting and learned everything from them. I didn't have much money to buy fabric, only baby sitting money and fabric there cost $20NZ per meter back then. I shopped thrift stores for fabrics and cotton shirts and dresses to cut up for quilts. My backings were sheets. My batting was unpicked mattress protectors or duvets. I couldn't afford a rotary cutter set (+$60NZ at the time) so I made templates out of old washed out milk bottles. I guess I was creative and, looking back, I've come a long way and love living in America with all it's quilting tools available! I do remember some frustration on not having all the things Americans have, but in this day of age, one can order it all online too. I love scrap quilts and the thrill of the hunt for fabric and getting a deal. I still hesitant to buy fabric and prefer thrift stores or garage sales.

You mentioned that your grandmother lived in Finland. Do you currently live there too? I would suggest checking if there are any quilting stores available. Maybe see if there is a local sewing group. Check local libraries and take advantage of the Internet. If you want all the fancy tools and rulers that are available in America, just order them. If you want a long arm, check if a dealer will help you work something out across borders, if there are no dealers in Finland.

Remember, we are only held back by the limits we set up for ourselves!