Katia

It's late and I was just looking through all the beautiful quilts in the pictures section and thinking about what sort of quilt I want to do next. I started thinking about the quilts my Gramma and Mom made when I was a kid. Those quilts were to use on our beds and stay warm. And although some were so pretty, many were just squares sewn together.
I remember helping Gramma cut out fabric squares with a paper pattern and pins. Using the pattern over and over till it fell apart in your hand. How she made corners match I will never understand. Gramma never owned a rotary cutter.
We had a coat factory in our town when I was young and Mom used to go there to get scraps. You could buy a huge bag for a few dollars. Never knew what colors you would get, but they were solids and probably poplin, so fairly stiff. She created some beautiful quilts from that stuff. Although they did take some breaking in to be soft.
I don't remember ever seeing a quilting magazine around the house. But I do remember the names of some of the quilts they made. There were Flying Geese, and Drunkards Path, ( pretty funny when you are 8) and Wedding Ring and Double Wedding Ring and Flower Garden. I always wondered how they knew what to do.
I started sewing with my Gramma very young. Mostly on paper. But the most fun was when she let me use the scissors to cut the pieces apart or to cut between the ties of yarn when she was tying a quilt. I had to climb all over the table to reach. But that was the best. Just being with her, doing important grown up stuff. She never quilted her quilts, they were just tied. But it did the job.
She also never used the batting we have now. She often used old blankets or flannel sheets. I have what is left of a quilt she did for my sister. She used a wool blanket. Not a good idea. It is a flower garden, so lots of tiny pieces. My sister and I spent a whole day carefully clipping and taking out all the ties a few years ago. She had washed the quilt decades ago and it shrank of course. But she kept it anyway, hoping to figure out a way to save it. I still have it and plan to fix it somehow. My middle daughter never got a Gramma quilt and I want to fix this one and give it to her. I know it will not be as big as it should be, but it will still be special. And I know Gramma will be honored.
So, what memories do you have of quilting way back when? Has it always been an art to you or a utility thing. I feel that anything we make can be both. A warm quilt can be useful and beautiful. New patterns and techniques come along all the time. And then some times, like with my Mom and Gramma, we do the best we can with what we have. My I spy quilts were ones where I and my sisters could look at the blocks and pick out fabrics they used in our dresses. Funny how little things like that make what we do now seem even more special. Like part of our legacy, I guess.

Ariannaquilts

I don't have a story about quilting, never knew my grandmother she was long gone before I was even a thought. No one in my family quilted before me not that anyone remembers, but there were a lot of sewers. I just wanted to say that I bet your gramma probably got her patterns from the newspaper and that I think you are very lucky to have such wonderful memories.

luvstoquilt

My grandmother is still my inspiration. I was lucky enough to keep her until I was 35 and not a day goes by without a thought of her. She kept me grounded and never acted like I was in her way. She quilted and also tied quilts. When a quilt got worn she made it a cover and we tied them. So much fun to work with her! I wish I had that stack of tied quilts so I could untie them and see what they were! Sweet memories.

PatPitter

One of my grandmothers hated sewing. The other one sewed and quilted but I don't remember her doing it. She was in her late 70's by the time I could remember her and she just didn't do that sort of thing any more. By the time I came along my grandparents had the theory of "I can afford to buy a blanket, why would I make one?"

I do have a quilt made by my paternal grandmother in the late 50's or early 60's. My dad had it and gave it me in the early 2000's because he knew I would appreciate it and take care of it. It was tied AND machine quilted. It is a variation of the drunkard's path. I'm sure Grandmother would have NEVER used the word drunkard for something she liked. It was made from scraps. My mother said she recognized some of the fabrics being dresses that one of her sister-in-laws wore. Some of the fabrics are things I immediately associate with Grandmother, she may have still been wearing those dresses 10 years later when I could remember here

sprice

Katia, Thanks for sharing your lovely memories with us. I didn't have any quilting grandmothers, but I did make a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt in honor of my grandma who was an excellent gardener. She could make most anything grow beautifully. She died when I was about 10 but I still think of her often.

feline fanatic

My quilting history matches Ariannaquilt's. Except my mom didn't really sew much and I had no other relatives who sewed. I remember her making me the cutest halloween costumes but it was complete improv on her part. She didn't own a sewing machine and I never touched one until I took sewing in high school. So all my quilting memories start when I started quilting myself about 26 years ago. I do remember as a child playing with those cardboard toys that had holes punched in them and you would string yarn or shoelaces through the holes. Then when I got older I bought kits to make stuffed animals. It came with the fake fur and a simple pattern you had to cut out and my girlfriend and I hand sewed them together when we were about 10. It was great fun as we helped each other with instructions that we didn't understand. I think mine was a tiger.

Maggie_Sue

I remember as a child my grandmother sewing on her treadle machine mostly mending, no quilts that I recall. Every time she would get up from the machine I was ready with my fabric and sit down and sew until she would chase me out. I made doll clothes with scraps of fabric she would give me. Great memory of Grandma!!!

MOBRIDGE MOM

My grandmother was the sewer and quilter in the family. Most of the quilts were anything to keep you warm kind but for my high school graduation in 1975 she made one for me made out of double knit fabric. She embroidered different stiTches on the blocks and hand quilted it. With grandma being an older lady she didn't wear panty hose but the nylon stockings that you had to use with a garter belt and in my quilt she laid all the ones that had runs in them in single layer and backed it with flannel. That quilt was the warmest thing. It went with my oldest son to college and the only reason I got it back was because it needs a new backing. Some of the embroidery is gone but the double knit will last forever!!!

Cotton Mama

My grandmother is why I quilt. She hand pieced and hand quilted every quilt she made. I'm blessed to have one of them. She passed away many years ago when I was a little girl. She meant a lot to me, and quilting is a way for me to feel connected to her.

Reba'squilts

My husbands Grandmother was a prolific hand quilter. By the time my mother-in-law married into the family all of her quilts had been given to the woman previously married to her new husband. She was given a hand pieced quilt top and told if you want it to be a quilt you can do it yourself. It sat in her cabinet for 40 years, then I got it and it sat in mine for 30 years! I finally took it to a quilt shop and had it made into a quilt. I learned to hand sew the binding and finished it. Then I started to quilt myself. I can't believe how the flimsy held up, I threw it in the washer and dryer with no detrimental effects. That flour sack fabric was pretty tuff! I guess the top to be at least 100 years old at this point, it is a version of log cabin and quite beautiful. Now that I am a quilter, I know that washing the way I did was crazy! I was lucky not to ruin it. We display it on a rack and vacuum when needed, I guess it will get washed again someday when our daughter gets it. We call it Lizzie's quilt after the grandmother.