mirabelle

JeanieG he loved it but said it was "too good to use", I told him to put it on his lounge chair and in typical male style he said he already had a quilt on his chair, yes he has and it is mine!!!!! he stole it when I retired his old quilt

janRN

Mirab, I love all the quilts that you and DD did but my favorite is the ABC quilt. What fun you two must have together! She sounds so much like you and your Energizer Bunniness!!! Is there room for one more in her guest room?

works4me

What great quilts mirabelle. It's wonderful that you and your daughter can spend such productive, fun time together.

QuiltingNinaSue

Two energizer bunnies in one quilt room, wow.... too much for me to try and match the energy for one....its time to sit back and enjoy their energy and productivity. Wonderful results.

I hope, Carrie, that you can get back to what you enjoy so much and feel better about your health. And all the others who follow along on our PC trail. Love to read all the stories and see everyone's beautiful projects here.

Honchey

Hi Everyone, Just wanted to touch bases here...With all the tornado activity going on the lastt couple of days..I hope all of you in the area are ok...Still no internet here at home so I'm at the clubhouse..there's so much activity here in the community that it's too uncomfortable to be here when it's so busy...i'm recovering from a severe allergy bout and then DH came down with the same...only his didn't last a week and a half like me...We're retuning home this coming Thursday...I'll be able to stay on longer when I'm home...Till then everyone be well..I'll have lots to catch up on. Oh, my knee is very well rested and doing ok.... no swelling..but then...I'm doing nothing!!!

mirabelle

Jan always room for friends

QuiltE

My Oh My MiraB ... you and DD sure were busy!
Will these be for your charity quilts to the hospital? Some real special ones there. I couldn't help but SMILE at the Sesame Street one ... perfect combo of fabrics and border choice. Oh dear at DH's reaction to his quilt ... I guess it shows his love for it though, as he wanted to take such tender care of it! Be sure to take a BIG suitcase on the 8th!!! Curious ... did you start your DD sewing as a wee one? or when did she get the bug?

Honchey ... good that you have allowed your knee some recovery time! What did you have the allergic reaction to? ... not good!



Further to my question to MiraB about her DDs start into sewing ............ when/how did everyone here learn to sew??

Me? ... as a kid, Mom let me sew ... Not sure what age, but I am guessing I sewed before I was six. First projects were to sew squares together to make a dolly quilt. Of course, no nesting of seams back then ... sewed them in twos, then two sets of twos then joined the fours to 8s, and so on. And if the seams did not match .... I HAD to rrrrrrip it out! And always did crafts, needlework and crochet, again from a young age. In high school and thru to my early years of marriage I made most of my own clothes, including a coat and my wedding dress. Never made any quilts ... nor saw them being made. Then with the busy-ness of working off-farm and on-farm, my time for sewing became almost non-existent! I did get back to it about 25 yrs ago for a bit ... and made my first quilt!! Then life changed again, and another interruption. This time ... I think I have been back for about six yrs and, the rest of the story ........... you know!

mirabelle

Wow what a great question for all of us to share QuiltE

Well I was raised by my Grandmother and she tried (in vain) to teach me to sew, in the end I was not allowed to touch her treadle machine for fear of breaking it I would dearly love to have that machine today. But she did teach me how to knit and crochet and embroidery, even though I was left handed and she was right handed. I tried to make my childrens clothes when they were small but was not very successful. Then DH and I moved to the Northern Territory and there was not much to do in that small town. But there was a sewing shop and she had classes on stretch sewing so I took some classes and made my kids t-shirts and tracksuits.
Then I heard of a patchwork class with the local craft group and signed up out of sheer boredom, I had a sewing machine (hadn't learnt how to use it properly in 10 years but that was ok) My first quilt was a Biscuit quilt and I worked on it every Sunday afternoon, my kids would stuff the pockets for me as I sewed.
Then I bought a patchwork book, Log Cabin in a Day by Eleanor Burns, took me 6 weeks to make that quilt for my son. and as they say in the classics I WAS HOOKED.
I went on to become Secretary/Treasurer of the Craft group and we would pay for tutors to visit our town and teach classes, so over the years I have learnt, EggArtistry, Silk Dyeing, Bobbin Lace Work, Decoupage but always came back to patchwork. It's a long story but we had our own Craft Room, rent and electricity free, some Government funding to help run it, and when I left we had over 60 members
In 1989 we had a visiting tutor by the name of Pauline Rogers come to town and that is when my downhill slide into addiction really took place. Pauline came to Tennant Creek every year for the next 5 years and taught us so much. Starting with basic patchwork, applique, making jackets and vests, stained glass and lots more. In 1991 my DD wanted to come with me to class and I said she was too young (she was only 8) but Pauline said "let her come" and by the end of that weekend my DD had learnt how to draw up templates, use a rotary cutter, cut out her patches and had made a set of cushions. (our home almost became over run with cushions) From that weekend we have always sewn together, sharing my sewing machine until she was 10 when she got her own machine for her birthday, no more arguments on whose turn it was

Pauline is still touring and teaching around Australia and New Zealand and DD and I catch up with her whenever she is in the area. She remains a very close friend to both of us..

I am still addicted unfortunately there is no health program for me to attend and I wouldn't go anyway. I love spending my days in my sewing room playing with fabric.

Now back to sewing the binding on Spike

JeanieG

A great question indeed QuiltE!

My mom had always had a sewing machine, and I have very fond memories of my grandmother at her old Singer. In fact, my grandmother made my wedding dress!

I took my first sewing class in Home Economics in the 9th grade. I took more classes in High School, even took a tailoring class (we had to make a suit). I remember making those straight skirts that we wore in high school with 1 yard of wool fabric, of course we had to line the seat with a taffeta type material (don't remember what it was really). It was the era also of those full gathered skirts with tons of petticoats to make them stand out. Gosh what memories! I remember making those full skirts too. My best friend's mom use to make her circular skirts. I just thought they looked so great, but was too young at the time to make them my self. I remember embroidering at a young age. I did pillow cases for the house!

My quilting began with an ad in a local paper about a quilting class at a high school at night in around 1978. I was looking for a new hobby, and had a 1962 Singer that I bought new when I started working. I had made most of my work clothes, and also clothes for my niece. I decided to take that quilting class, not knowing what I was getting myself into!

This teacher made us learn the "old fashion" way. We made templates out of cereal box type cardboard. Then traced around the template and cut outside the lines. We sewed on the line. This was a sampler quilt. This was before rotary cutters! I remember my first quilt was not at all straight, but I was so proud of it. The next quilt I made was just like Mirabelle- the Log Cabin by Eleanor Burns. I made several of those quilts! I took another high school class that was a hand quilting class, again a sampler quilt. I still have that quilt, it turned out beautiful in those orange, gold and brown colors that were so popular back then. I aught to take a photo and post it, you all would get a kick out of it!

I did not quilt for about 10 years (was too busy with 6 kids and working full time), except if I wanted to make a quilt for a niece or nephew's graduation, or a baby quilt and did not start again until 4-5 years ago. I have taken one day classes occasionally since then on various methods.

Anael

Here's my story.
My mom was always sewing, we didn't have an electric sewing machine in the early 50s. As long as I can remember I was knitting, embroidering and crocheting. I was about 8 years old when I started sewing. My mom had tons of cheap coupons and she told me to go ahead and cut it When she bought an electric sewing machine she soon felt sorry for me and I was allowed to use it. I've always been sewing clothes for my kids, my late hubby and myself. When I lived in Germany I designed my own dresses. I even was/am a certified seamstress
December 2008 I bought an embroidery machine and became a member of an embroidery board. On that board some members were quilting also so at the end of 2009 I started my first quilt. And here I am, quilting away I don't do clothes anymore, not even for the twins or Mick as my DDIL doesn't like that - I guess.