BKrenning

We had just spent a good deal of money on a fancy bedroom suite around 2003 and I wanted a quilt for it but didn't like the Walmart "puffy" ones nor the limited selection of colors. I wanted something more like machine pieced & hand tied ones I remembered my grandmother making in the early 70's and one my mother often used on her bed that grandma had given her for her high school graduation (early 60's) and I figured that if my grandmother could do it 40+ years before, it should be even easier now. I wanted a Grandmother's Flower Garden for our bed but soon realized that I might not live long enough to finish hand cutting & piecing a bazillion 2" hexagons into a king size quilt.

So then I decided to make something smaller and had some calico cat fabric I had bought many years before to make dresses for my daughter so I picked out a pattern from McCall's website, made cardboard templates and started tracing it all out on fabric and cutting it out with scissors. The pattern I had picked out has inset (Y) seams and I had no idea how to sew those on the machine so I started hand piecing it. Then I found the show, "Simply Quilts" and learned about rotary cutters & cutting mats so I bought those. I also figured out how to adjust the pattern to get rid of the inset seams and hubby shamed me into using the sewing machine he had bought for me many years before. Now we were rolling! I whipped out 10 blocks and then we had our first granddaughter so I started making a quilt for her & would switch back & forth between the 2 projects when I got bored or more often, frustrated.

Simply Quilts kept me motivated enough to keep learning & trying. My daughter's Calico Cats quilt turned out fairly well considering I knew almost nothing about constructing a quilt and my granddaughter's quilt was used a wallhanging instead of a quilt or it wouldn't have made it through very many washings. It was a mixture of poly/cotton blends, muslin, cheap flannel & batiste fabrics none of which were prewashed. Then a great niece came along and sew did my quilt making skills so her little quilt looked much better and I decided to make the granddaughter a better one based on an episode of Simply Quilts--the one with Billie Lauder making, "There's a Dog on my Quilt." 6 grandkids, 2 great nieces and 1 great nephew later and I still look forward to making them their bed size quilts, graduation quilts and wedding quilts plus my own children, brother-in-law, sisters, sister-in-law, mother, etc. I love giving them something I made that is useful.

Sweeterthanwine

My story is not as interesting as all of yours, but I used to watch my Mother hand piece quilts when I was a little girl. Always thought that I would one day do what my Mother did. After I retired, this is when I decided to try and quilt (1998). Bought a Learn to Quilt book and made my first quilt, full size. Now I can 't get enough of it and have so many on my bucket list, I know I will never get them done, but I will die trying!!

olebat

Last week I posted episode 10 of The Early Years of how I got started in quilting. http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-107447-1.htm At the bottom of the post are the links to episodes 1-9. It is a serial story, trip down memory lane, take-ya-back home sort of tail for many quilters. ' Am wondering if I should continue. The next chapter of about eight episodes, introduces the colorful family members who dance in and out of my life. Some of the characters are a racketeering cab driver, a gourmet cook, a foreign diplomat, and a railroader. If ya want to know how I got started quilting, follow my journey in the weekly serial.

Nolee

Your quilt is just beautiful for a first try. You definitely have a calling.

I sewed for years for my four daughters then stopped when they hated homemade clothes and didn't sew a thing for over 20 years. In 2006 my third daughter was expecting her first child and I was in Jo-Ann's and saw a pattern called "Quilt in a Day." I thought, "I could make a quilt in a day" and proceeded with it. HA!! Four weeks later it was all pieced, I put on a backing, turned it inside out and wallaa, I was done. No batting, mind you!! I sent a picture of it to my sister-in-law who worked for Dritz at the time, so proud it was done. She wrote back, "Uh, Nolee? You sewed it together; you haven't quilted it yet." Oh, I didn't realize that's what quilting meant, LOL.

I haven't stopped since!!

Lady-T

In junior high, I took sewing in Home Ec., I flunked!
I liked to hand sew but HATED machines!!
I used to patch denim jeans & heavy work clothes all by hand.
I have a neice that sews like an angel! Makes all her childrens clothes, etc...
One day she showed me a summer quilt she had made and I wanted to do that soooo bad! But never followed through.
Then my Mom passed away from breast cancer (2001). I was going through her things, I came across her handkerchiefs.
I thought they would be pretty made into a quilt. She would have loved that!
So DH bought me my first machine that fall. A Viking Huskystar....nothing too fancy but a great machine.
Bought a few fabric I thought were pretty and went well with the hankies, Then just started cutting & sewing.
Didn't know a thing about any special techniques and definitely made a mess of my attempt at applique!! :lol:
But all said and done, I liked it and I think Mom does too!
And so I was bitten by "the bug". I've made 31 quilts so far.
No record my any means....but that's ok.

grann of 6

I have sewed all my life; made all my kids clothes, grandkids clothes, sewed for other people, etc. I used to make window treatments for friends, family, co-workers in the evenings. After my husband passed I moved out here in the country to be closer to all my kids who all live within 10 minutes of me. I met a lovely neighbor across the street who also sewed and had kids the same ages as my adult kids. We bonded immediately. After she retired from the school district she decided to do some quilting and was determined to get me into it. I knew nothing about quilting except what I absorbed from Alex Anderson and her guests on her daily TV show. After my neighbor passed away, her husband gave me all her sewing stuff including her old Kenmore sewing machine. In the stuff was a lap quilt top she had been making for me while they wintered in Florida. It took me a couple months to be able to work with it but finally finished it the way she would have done it. And as everyone else says, there was no turning back. I am hooked. My daughter still can't believe I am a "quilter".

michelehuston

I saw a small shop in the downtown are that said quilt class. A friend and I decided that might be fun, so we signed up, she gave up, but I became addicted. That was the only class I ever took but have been very happily quilting since 1990 (?). Quilting gives me strength when I need it, picks me up when I am down and each and every quilt I make has all of my emotions put into it. Love, anger, frustration, depression..it is the best therapy ever! I have never regretted it.

charley1

A friend was going to teach me how to do stain glass, well that did not work out so she helped me with quilting. I have to thank her for taking me under her wing, bringing me to her quilt group. Lots of years ago, but it has been fun

mona202

I have just started and it was just a matter of wanting to try it. I went to library and got a lot of books and then bought a small project book on how to teach kids to quilt. I figured that would be the most basic instruction I could get. I made a table runner first and my second project is HST Twin size quilt . Excited to see how it will turn out. Some of my points are not perfect. Wish me luck. I am loving it so far!

#1piecemaker

What great stories!! When I married my second DH after 30 years of marriage to the first one, my new MIL gave me some of the tops that she had made. She guided me through the process. then I gradually stated pieceing my own. I hope I can continue to piece quilts all of my life. It is a form or relaxation for me.