How Did Everybody Get Into Quilting??
#91
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: NW Chicago Suburb
Posts: 379
My start at this addiction also had to do with Christmas in mind. I have 2 daughters (they are 13 years apart in age) that are really close and also great with a sewing machine (didn't want to call them "sewers" - that word can be used in more than one way). I taught the older one to sew when she was 7 years old - she was the fussiest clothes shopper - taught her to sew her own clothes rather than take her shopping for them. Anyway - big idea for Christmas was a mother/daughter bonding time. Went to our LQS and signed us up for a class. I bought a cutting mat, rotary cutter, ruler and included a coupon for their choice of fabric in the package. The class was every Saturday for 6 weeks and before it was over we were all hooked.
#92
Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: DFW Texas
Posts: 53
Everybody has such wonderful and interesting stories. Hope you enjoy mine. When my mother passed away, I inherited 3 quilt tops. One of them is a 'Double Wedding Ring' which is large enough to cover a king size bed and still drape all the way to the floor. This top was pieced together in 1936 (before I was born) by my mother and father. Dad cut the pieces while mother sewed them together. It is HAND pieced. At the time, she was pregnant with my brother. I don't know why she never finished the quilt. However, it inspired me to learn to quilt. This was in1982, and I was still working. After my retirement, I took a quilting class, and since have been making quilts and hand quilting them in order to become good enough to finish the DWR. I currently have 2 tops that I am working on simultaneously (one that I am hand quilting and one that I am piecing). When I complete these, I plan to start quilting the DWR. In later life, mother was a professional seamstress so her work has always been immaculate. I only hope I can do the quilt justice. Can't you just imagine the quilt label on the back? "Top pieced by Mr. & Mr. JCB, in 1936. Quilted by their daughter BAR in 2011."
#93
Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 123
In 1996 when I was informed that my 25 year old singer died my DH went with me to the repair store to pick it up. We entered the store and OMG he was so impress by what the new machines could do(there were Phaffs, brothers, and other amazing machines) that he sat down with George, who could sell you back your own children and you would say thank you. So ofcourse my DH bought me a phaff. We proudly brought my new machine home and started playing with it. Since I only did occasional sewing, I though this is to expensive of a machine just to use occasionally. I thought about the quilts I had seen at the store and decided that maybe I could learn to quilt. Went online and read about 9 patch and snowball blocks. bought some fabric made my first snowball and 9 patch quilt. However, I set them on point not knowing about bias or how to cut setting triangles so you can imagine how it turned out. After that experience I decided to take my first quilting class and have been hooked every since. Little did my DH know what he was letting himself in for, when he bought me that first machine. I currently have the brother 2000D and for Christmas he traded in my old Phaff bought me the brother 6000D as our anneversrey and Christmas present. I am so lucky to have him.
#94
Originally Posted by grandma pepsi
Everybody has such wonderful and interesting stories. Hope you enjoy mine. When my mother passed away, I inherited 3 quilt tops. One of them is a 'Double Wedding Ring' which is large enough to cover a king size bed and still drape all the way to the floor. This top was pieced together in 1936 (before I was born) by my mother and father. Dad cut the pieces while mother sewed them together. It is HAND pieced. At the time, she was pregnant with my brother. I don't know why she never finished the quilt. However, it inspired me to learn to quilt. This was in1982, and I was still working. After my retirement, I took a quilting class, and since have been making quilts and hand quilting them in order to become good enough to finish the DWR. I currently have 2 tops that I am working on simultaneously (one that I am hand quilting and one that I am piecing). When I complete these, I plan to start quilting the DWR. In later life, mother was a professional seamstress so her work has always been immaculate. I only hope I can do the quilt justice. Can't you just imagine the quilt label on the back? "Top pieced by Mr. & Mr. JCB, in 1936. Quilted by their daughter BAR in 2011."
#95
My grandmother quilted when I was little and also made me a wedding quilt I will always cherish. While staying at home with my daughters, when they were little, I started watching Eleanor Burns and I was hooked.
#96
Originally Posted by Diana Lynne
Not really sure..I always hated sewing and anytime my Mother tried to teach me, I was running out the door to go to my horses..Still trying to figure out why all of a sudden to make quilts has become one of my many loves..To me, its like painting..You never really know what its going to look like until its all done..And for me I guess that is why I love it so..
#97
I've just spent a couple of hours on this board reading all the stories of how ya'll got started. What a great read!
I had made clothes for my myself since I was 8years old. I recall I made a lavender jumper skirt with material my mom let me pick out myself. I got to use her machine! I remember her saying that I had to save the scraps for her so she could use them later and indeed they showed up in a scrappy 4 patch that she made a few years later. Anyway I had a friend of mine who called me up one weekend and said I had to try making a quilt. I said no way! But kicking and screaming in protest she made me go to her house, I thought we were going to be cutting up little squares all day. She introduced me to quilting through the Quilt In A Day Log Cabin book by Eleanor Burns. It took me two days and I loved every minute of it. It was FUN! So I thought since I was so good at making the Log Cabin pattern I could strike out on my own and make something I really wanted....A Double Wedding Ring Quilt! No one told me this was not a good idea.... they should have! I fussed with cutting out the pieces and fighting the bias and trying to make it work, well it is currently my oldest UFO clocking in at 32+ years! It keeps me humble. I didn't let my failure to finish it stop me from my path in quilting. I returned to the Elenor Burns Quilt In A Day Series and honed my skills, lol. Now I can pretty much make anything I want to but I find my taste are always changing. I love trying new things and usually make a quilt or two out of whatever new technique I have come across. I love the process and I call each quilt one of my 'babies'. They all go to friends and family who are instructed to USE them until they wear out and I can always make them another. I've never had to replace one yet, it makes me feel good that they take care of them. My current project is an embroiderd quilt.... and of course there is always the double wedding ring quilt to finish..... riiiight!
I had made clothes for my myself since I was 8years old. I recall I made a lavender jumper skirt with material my mom let me pick out myself. I got to use her machine! I remember her saying that I had to save the scraps for her so she could use them later and indeed they showed up in a scrappy 4 patch that she made a few years later. Anyway I had a friend of mine who called me up one weekend and said I had to try making a quilt. I said no way! But kicking and screaming in protest she made me go to her house, I thought we were going to be cutting up little squares all day. She introduced me to quilting through the Quilt In A Day Log Cabin book by Eleanor Burns. It took me two days and I loved every minute of it. It was FUN! So I thought since I was so good at making the Log Cabin pattern I could strike out on my own and make something I really wanted....A Double Wedding Ring Quilt! No one told me this was not a good idea.... they should have! I fussed with cutting out the pieces and fighting the bias and trying to make it work, well it is currently my oldest UFO clocking in at 32+ years! It keeps me humble. I didn't let my failure to finish it stop me from my path in quilting. I returned to the Elenor Burns Quilt In A Day Series and honed my skills, lol. Now I can pretty much make anything I want to but I find my taste are always changing. I love trying new things and usually make a quilt or two out of whatever new technique I have come across. I love the process and I call each quilt one of my 'babies'. They all go to friends and family who are instructed to USE them until they wear out and I can always make them another. I've never had to replace one yet, it makes me feel good that they take care of them. My current project is an embroiderd quilt.... and of course there is always the double wedding ring quilt to finish..... riiiight!
#99
Member
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Franklin WI
Posts: 12
As a preamble to this topic, I need to tell you that I have been sewing since I was a kid (I'm 63 years old now). The first thing that I made was an apron, during a weekend that I stayed with my aunt while my folks were away. I guess that my Aunt Rose lit the fire in me, even though it would smolder for some years into the future. Much later when I was an adult, I used to work with a woman who was a prolific quilter and in fact, she made a quilt for me when I got married. I always admired my friend's quilts and the skills that went into making them. At the time, I was mad for making jig saw puzzles. They kept me busy in the evenings and kept me from "unauthorized" snacking, as well. At some point, it occurred to me that that if I could construct a puzzle, I could quilt. So, I took some classes and to this day, I am a quilter. I have never frgotten my aunt (since deceased) and how she started me on home sewing. So, a couple of years ago, I bought a sewing machine for MY niece, sort of paying my aunt's kindness forward. We meet occasionally to sew, but right now, my niece is in the throws of being a teenager and all that involves, so quilting will have to wait a while.
#100
Originally Posted by Jan in VA
My first exposure to quilts came when I was about 8 years old. Didtant relatives of my father's had found him by looking for any family member with the Dabney/Collier name, to take on an antique family quilt that was about to pass out of the family line. Her was the first male to inherit it. I remember driving a long way from home with him to pick up this quilt and how much fun it was because we got to have a store-bought ice cream cone. We arrived back home, Mother and Daddy spread out the quilt on their bedroom floor to see what it looked like. I remember thinking, "All this excitement about *that* thing?!"
Decades later I was treated to lunch in a little cafe that had a small quilt store upstairs. We went up to look around after eating and I signed up to take a class. Made three quilts in 6 weeks with those girls. That was in 1983 and I've never looked back!
The family quilt shown below was made prior to 1780, according to the Textile Museum at Colonial Williamsburg, where it now resides. It is one of the earliest they have ever seen, made near Richmond, VA from linen grown from flax on the plantation and imported English calicos.
It is pieced almost exactly as we piece today, with 8 point stars and broderie Perse applique. The colors were stunning originally, with vivid rose pinks and clear aqua blue in the applique from the imported calicos.
It is actually rather prettier than these pictures, but was in such fragile condition after 225 years of love and display, that I had to give it up to safty and restoration when it passed to me.
Jan in VA
Decades later I was treated to lunch in a little cafe that had a small quilt store upstairs. We went up to look around after eating and I signed up to take a class. Made three quilts in 6 weeks with those girls. That was in 1983 and I've never looked back!
The family quilt shown below was made prior to 1780, according to the Textile Museum at Colonial Williamsburg, where it now resides. It is one of the earliest they have ever seen, made near Richmond, VA from linen grown from flax on the plantation and imported English calicos.
It is pieced almost exactly as we piece today, with 8 point stars and broderie Perse applique. The colors were stunning originally, with vivid rose pinks and clear aqua blue in the applique from the imported calicos.
It is actually rather prettier than these pictures, but was in such fragile condition after 225 years of love and display, that I had to give it up to safty and restoration when it passed to me.
Jan in VA
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