I am loving all these quilting stories. Mine is quite similar to many, in the fact that I also learned from the women in my family.
I began sewing at age nine or ten, when my mother began teaching 4-H sewing classes. Two of my younger sisters also began sewing as they became old enough to join 4-H. Some of my favorite memories are of spending time in the sewing room getting our 4-H projects ready for the county fair, making Christmas projects, sewing our own clothes, then later prom dresses.
One particular Christmas dance, my date had arrived, and my new dress was still not done! I was mortified, and my date had to sit downstairs with my Dad while Mom hurried to attach the sleeve and turn up the hem and sew it! My sisters were giggling—it took me a few weeks before I could “look back and laugh” but now I love that memory.
Growing up in the 70’s, most of the quilts we made were tied. I slept in a cold upstairs bedroom, with a hot water bottle and about five of these quilts stacked on top of me. Then my grandmother began to hand-quilt whole cloth tricot quilts for wedding gifts, and I spent many of my teenage years sitting around grandma’s quilting frames hand-quilting with relatives and neighbors. I also remember visiting my fraternal great-grandmother in Star Valley, WY, where her sewing room on the back porch was always filled with stacks of little squares ready to piece. I later learned that everyone in town would bring her their scraps to piece tops for charity quilts. She was in charge of church charity quilts for over 50 years.
I received an old black Pfaff 130 for a graduation present, and made clothes for myself and my children when they were young. My two sisters developed their sewing skills into professions: one is a tailor and does wedding dresses for a bridal gown designer, the other is an upholsterer.
When my triplet daughters became old enough, I enrolled them in 4-H and became their teacher, just as my mother had done with her three oldest girls. It was a great way to teach them sewing skills, keep them busy, and it was something that we could all do together.
My own quilting journey began nine years ago when I found a bag of my Mother's unfinished log cabin blocks shortly after her funeral. I took it home to finish, then gave it to my Dad for Christmas the following year. It would have been her first pieced quilt. I was hooked, and during the next year I made five quilts simultaneously!
When my daughters were 13, we all joined a “block of the month” club at our local quilt shop. Soon we were winning blue ribbons and sweepstakes prizes at the county and state fairs. A quilting demonstration even took one of the girls to a national 4-H competition. We also enjoy making quilts for charity together. These are usually tied quilts, a warm hug from our family to someone in need. I love to piece, quilt, draft patterns, teach, and pretty much live, breathe, and dream quilting. It was a logical step for me to get my longarm machine.
This is a new generation of quilting. I think every woman has the inherent need to create, and finds great joy in the process of quilting. But the days of setting up a quilt frame and having the neighbors and relatives drop in to hand-quilt is somewhat of a lost art. We don’t have the time, the room or the relatives close by! Today, it is becoming more common for us to quilt with our checkbooks. That's right. Bring your unfinished quilt tops to me, and I will do the finishing for you! :)
For me, finishing the quilt that my mother had started was a healing process; a way of reaching out and connecting with her, as well as the other women in my family who have gone before. I often think about them when I am sewing and quilting. These women would all have LOVED all the new toys and gadgets that have revolutionized the quilting world today - rotary cutting tools, longarm quilting machines like mine. Some days I can just feel them looking over my shoulder!
I love the fact that my daughters--now 20-- (and occasionally my son) quilt with me. The sewing room is the gathering place in our home. The legacy continues and the circle rolls on when one of my kids says to me, "Hmm, I think I'll make a quilt..."