bebe

I was around 3 when I was first exposed to fabric scraps. My great grandmother was a quilter. I first played in her scraps. I told her I wanted to make a quilt. She said you need to be older so you can reach the treadle machine pedal. I was around 9 when she began to teach me. I do not recall if I only made blocks or made a doll quilt. She died when I was 15 so no more quilt making for me.
I took it up again when I met my best friend and she wanted to have a baby. I made her a quilt for good luck. I have been back to quiltting on a steady basis around 11 years. I have more UFO"s :oops: :roll: that finished quilts. I still have not completed my favorite one. :oops: :oops:

Bevanger

Good question...... When I was little my dad bought mom a sewing machine over seas when he was in the Navy. She wasn't interested. She did everything by hand..... So Dad taught us girls to sew on it... I was ohhhhhhhh maybe 5 -6..... Dad made me a green dress...... :D I sewed all thru high school........ 6 periods of sewing & 1 other class. I had all my credits when we moved here. I always had a "dream" of quilting, but felt I wasn't good enough..... THEN I got to watching Quilt In A Day..... And through the show I thought. I can do that.... I've done that, ok thats easy enough...... May this year I found the forum while looking for "beginner" patterns online , Bought a new Brother CS6000i sewing machine and I fell in love FAST...... Hrmmmmmmmm. My favorite quilt? I guess I have to say my sons Skull quilt. It was different then anything I'd ever made.... :D

Barbm

Started quilting 4 years ago. Guess I fell into it, just something I wanted to try. Fell, hook, line and sinker, as they say- gave up other sewing, crocheting, crafts, painting.

First started sewing about 10. Mom put me in front of the machine, she cut out littlest sister's clothes and I sewed. Gram let me experiment on her treadle. Made doll clothes and pants.

Favorite quilt- don't know if I have a favorite. I think it will be the one for DH and my bed, soon to be started. Only 2 more UFOs to finish. For now, it's the first one I made- DS's Irish chain. Made out of $1.00 a yard fabric from Wal-Mart and attached to his denim colored sheet that he didn't use anymore. It's on his bed now, and I love it- it speaks of the progress I've made and the simpleness I love. I know it won't last forever, but at that time, I was "test driving" quilting and didn't want to invest in too much stuff if I didn't stick with it.

Now, 4 years later, I have 4 tubs of stash and 2 under bed tubs of scraps (my favorite thing) and I invested in a good machine. So I think I'm in it for the long haul!

Barb

mary quite contrary

I think I was probably about 8 when my Dad brought home a wooden box full of fabric scraps. I played and played with them making clothes for my dolls. That was the beginning. I wanted to quilt for a lot of years before I could afford it. I have seriously been a quilter for about the past 15 years.

Janstar

About 10 years ago A friend was working on her quilt while I was visiting her and she told me I could do it too. I told her no I couldn't. Couldn't find a quilting class near by so bought Elenor Burn's Quilt in a Day, Trip Around The World. My first attempt. Sweat and tears and DH encouragment later, I was hooked and have been quilting every since.

2 Doods

My Grandma taught me to sew when I was 7. Many years of 4-H and Home Ec. classes taught me the skills I needed for working in a dry cleaners doing alterations (college years), making my own clothes, prom dresses, bridesmaids and wedding dresses. I also made costumes for plays and my kids when they were little. My late MIL quilted but passed on before I got a chance to learn from her. No one else in my family quilts. A year and a half ago I decided our great-neice needed a quilt for her first birthday so I checked a book out at the library. Didn't know how to quilt it so DH found me a Grace Frame and I taught myself on that. This year I joined a BOM group at a quilt shop, a $5 quilt club at another shop, a brand new quilt guild and the rest of my questions I ask all of you! Todate I have made 9 quilts as gifts, one to keep, and 7 charity quilts. I have my second "keeper" in progress. I think it is my favorite-so far.

Mama

My grandmother made a few quilts in the 1920's and 30's, one for each of her 6 children, always setting the last stitches on the day they were born. But she did more crocheting and knitting. Then in the early 80's 2 of my sisters and my mother took up quilting, they were/are whizzes with sewing machines - my Mom is gone now. I failed Home Ec in school because I actually fouled up 10 different sewing machines - I can break one in 10 minutes or less!
I was very jealous of their talents, but tried not to fret about it.
One night I had a dream about a fantastic quilt - but only had details of the border, it was a dragon curved around the edges - not the whole dragon, kinda like it was holding the quilt and peeking around a corner of it. I called my younger sister the next day and started to tell her about it, and she got excited when she realized that the night before she'd had a dream about a quilt, more to do with a King Arthur theme in the center of it but couldn't look closely at the outer edge. We met for lunch and started sketching it all out - it was a fantastic concept quilt! I said, great! now you can make this quilt, and she said nothing doing! She made me take classes and learn to sew. I have to do it all by hand, but I found out that I can sew a straight line by hand, so I can quilt!
We never did make that quilt, and now I'm in Wasington state and she's in Ohio - Amish country, so we likely never will. I've got more plans for quilts than actual quilts and I love creating my own block patterns - I named one after my grand-daughter that combined a drunkards path and a star and called it Joey's Wandering Star. I never keep them, I always give them away.
My favorite quilt was one I made for my Mom called Star over Georgetown Circle. A king size quilt with 1000 pieces all sewn by hand - it took me a month to piece that bugger! It's teal, white and black. She kept it on her bed until she passed away. My baby sister has it now and will pass it on to my grand-daughter when she is older. So for me - quilting is a family tradition!

lfw045

My mother was a professional seamstress and I grew up around the sewing machine pedal. She taught my brother and I how to sew when we were little by writing lines , circles and curves on paper, removing the thread and an using empty bobbin, and let us practice. I made doll clothes from her scraps and took Home Economics for five years in high school just to sew. I made all my clothes in high school. I've made my childrens clothes. It was just a natural progression into quilts.

Linda D.

littlehud

I started sewing when I was in high school. I made a lot of my own clothes. Did a lot of sewing for my kids when they were small, but no quilting. I stopped sewing for years. Then my mom was diagnosed with cancer and my sister and I spent time sitting with my dad at the hospital. We started knitting and crocheting to pass the time. Mom lost the fight with cancer so we started going to my dads most evenings to keep him company. Sis and I decided to try something different and she suggested we take a quilting class and see what we could do. This was about two years ago. She liked it, but lost interest after about six months. I am hooked and can't imagine giving it up. My favorite quilt was my double Irish chain. It's the only one I have kept.

bebe

show us pics of your favorite quilt!!!!!!!