Rose_P

There are lots of factors. One was that my grandmother did it when I was a child. She passed away when I was 9, but I remember enjoying the quilts on the bed where I slept when we visited her house and remember her sewing a quilt. I don't have anything of hers, but feel a connection to the family tradition.

Another factor is that I have been sewing since childhood. At some point it didn't pay to sew clothes any more. Ready made clothes aren't much more expensive than they were 30 years ago (speaking of the kind of basic things I usually wear every day). At the same time, the cost of fabric and patterns and even thread rose to the point where it costs more to sew clothes than to just buy them.

A third factor was that sewing clothes became much less rewarding after my daughter grew too old for cute little toddler things that she loved to wear, and meanwhile I added just enough (poorly distributed!) weight that the easy fit I used to get from patterns had become much more complicated. It's hard enough to find ready made clothes that fit right and are becoming, and when I reached the point that something I spent hours sewing wound up looking very bad on me, I knew it was time to give it up.

I missed sewing as a creative activity, and have always done a variety of crafts, so it was almost inevitable that I'd eventually pick up quilting as an alternative. We live in a warm climate and don't need a lot of quilts, but joining a guild that donates a lot of quilts to needy people has given me much needed impetus. I love feeling that something I made will help someone stay warm and to feel connected to people who care about them. Besides that, I just spend time playing around with different designs and colors. I make things such as doll quilts just because it's fun.

I have to add that going to the huge International Quilt Festival in Houston a few times over the years was also extremely inspiring, as was watching Alex Anderson's Simply Quilts.