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bebe 11-16-2008 07:05 AM

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 11-16-2008 07:50 AM

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 11-16-2008 08:53 AM

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 11-16-2008 11:06 AM

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 11-16-2008 11:58 AM

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 11-16-2008 12:47 PM

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 11-16-2008 12:56 PM

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 11-16-2008 02:13 PM

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 11-16-2008 03:08 PM

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 11-16-2008 03:20 PM

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

Bill'sBonBon 11-16-2008 04:56 PM

I started sewing when Iwas about 8 I guess,on my Mothers singer treadle. My Grandmother and my Mother was a crocheter, imbroidery
and quilter. My Mother did a lot of hand sewing and between the two, we learned to sew. On bad weather days, Mom would get out the scraps,needles and thread. GrandMa gave us a lot of sequins,buttons ETC. We made Pillows,doll clothes all kinds of stuff. I have always kept an interest in sewing,made my 2 daughters play clothes,curtains for house ETC. But did not get into quilting,but always admired people who did, until 2003. So I guess I have been quilting for about 5 years now. I think the Attic Window quilt I am working on, seems like forever is going to be my fave and that is because it is actually the first one I have made for myself. I had to put it aside for Christmas Qults for 3 Grt. Grandkids. But this week I am going to try to get it sandwiched,basted hopefully.
Bill'sBonBon

littlehud 11-16-2008 06:35 PM

1 Attachment(s)
OK. You want pictures. This is the double Irish chain. The only one I haven't given to a family member. It's mine and has turned out to be my favorite pattern and quilt (so far).

2wheelwoman 11-16-2008 07:38 PM

I have a good friend I've known forever who really got into sewing and quilting back in the mid 70's. When I'd visit her (in another state) once a year, she always had a couple new quilts in progress and ones hanging in her home that still had the blue ribbons from the fair on them. She kept encouraging me to try it, but I was always sure I couldn't.

Then, a few years ago, when I was there she had a beautiful stained-glass wall-hanging that I just HAD to try. Coincidentally she belonged to a guild who ask their members to teach a small workshop each year, and this was 'her' project. So, she still had the kit and instructions and bagged them up for me. I spent an afternoon making 1/2 a flower at her house, then worked on it at home, with long-distance and email teaching all the while. It is my favorite quilt so far. I'll try to post my first picture on the forum of it. I haven't made any other "keepers" yet, but have made two gifts and about a dozen charity quilts, both baby quilts for a shelter and quilts for Soldier's Angels for wounded soldiers.

A funny aside, my friends DH made a big speech to my DH about how he should RUN, RUN AWAY as fast as possible because I was joining a cult. A cult that had taken over his wife and his home and his dining room table and all the walls and the whole basement. The next year, her DH decided I'd be a great way to cull her stash and encouraged her to build "me" a stash and get some of the darned fabric out of his house. Lucky for me! I try to include some of "her" fabric in all my quilts.


2wheelwoman 11-16-2008 07:47 PM

aarrrghhhh - no picture appeared. I'll try it one more time. The instructions seem simple enough - but maybe I'm simpler. :oops:

2wheelwoman 11-16-2008 08:33 PM

1 Attachment(s)
OK, my last try at this. Sorry for the extra postings.

Done with steam-a-seam and clover iron on tape that was then sewn on both sides
[ATTACH=CONFIG]64820[/ATTACH]

Quilter101 11-17-2008 05:28 AM

My grandmother quilted, as I belive her mother and her mothers mother. I don't know if it goes farther back, but I do know that they sewed. My grandmother started quilting was she was 8 or 9 by hand. Pieced and quilted by hand. I had always admired the quilts she had made, because my family has some of them, but I had never really thought about doing any crafts. Then somebody moved that was in my church and we we offered all of this stuff. There were a lot of yarn, and a lot of fabric. I got about half a truckload(big tubs) for free and decided to learn how to do crafts. I couldn't get knitting or crocheting and I happened upon a quilting magazine. That was in, I fell in love with it about July or so, and finished my first quilt, which I posted in the pictures forum. I have been planing to start another quilt, maybe a four patch soon. I have issues with cutting correctly so who knows..
Sorry for being so long!

mpeters1200 11-17-2008 11:37 AM

I came from a long line of sewers. Clothes, curtains, pillows...you name it, they sewed it. Then, along came my generation and they didn't teach ANY of us. They thought it was a lost art and no one in our generation would do it. I blame them for the "lost" arts in quilting, needlework, and sewing.

I took a class 6 years ago because I wanted to make the type of blankets that my in-laws made. I couldn't imagine blankets being so beautiful, yet home made. I've still only taken the one class, but there's a couple more that I want to take. I've made 4 lap size Rail fences, my first 4 projects; 1 patchwork out of a McCall's magazine (my first and only big project so far), and a couch size handprint quilt for a friend with cancer.

I'm currently making 2 bigger quilts. One's a mystery and the other a Stairway to Heaven for my step-son in the army. I think I'll have to keep the mystery or risk a divorce as I haven't kept any of them yet and dh says he's tired of watching his hard earned money walk out the door.

I've pieced numerous things for charity, but they were pinned by someone else following different patterns I can't remember. It's a small club of only 6 or 7 women and collectively we made over 50 quilts in 2005 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the church we meet at. We also make quilts for the church shut-ins and different juvenile charities.

mpspeedy 11-17-2008 03:48 PM

Hi,

I began sewing clothes for my dolls when I was 7 or 8. The lady who lived in the apartment on our second floor first showed me how to sew. By the time I was 12 I was making clothes for myself on my mother's featherweight singer. I made my first quilt summer between my junior and senior year in high school out of scraps from the clothing I had made over the years. That was 40 years ago. I quilted by myself for many years before I discovered quilds etc. I went to my first quilt show in 1976. I actually made a quilt and entered it in the Great American Quilt contest that year. When I got to the show and saw the quilts they accepted I was amazed. Since then I have been to many shows and learned a whole lot more. My mother was an excellant sewer but didn't start quilting until several years before her death in 1996.
My favorite quilt is a whole cloth. I am a handquilter for hire as that is what I enjoy most. I spend lots of time handquilting small preprinted panels. They make great gifts. I just returned from a 4 day quilt retreat with one of the two guilds of which I am a member. We had a great time and I got a lot of pieceing done. I also learned how to make bowls from fabric scraps and cotton clothes line. Just what I need another project. My stash is unbelievable but I have been at this game for a long time.
Most of my quilting is either for other people or items I give away. Three of the tops I put together this weekend where for Linus quilts.

GailG 11-17-2008 09:04 PM

Made my first quilt :oops: as the result of a swap that we did at our elementary school among staff members who were interested in sewing. Two of the members were quilters. I still can't believe the awful blocks that I made to swap. At the time I didn't even know that blocks had names. :lol: Well, I was one of the first ones to assemble the blocks into a quilt. To this day, some have not put theirs together. That was in '95. Then I made the first of my t-shirt quilts. (Had a stroke in there somewhere and used the quilt in my rehab.) I haven't made a favorite one yet. I like all of them -- even the whole cloths and the quillows I make for the kids. The little quilt that I have received most pleasure for making is a little 6-hour quilt I made for a then 4-yr-old who travels back and forth to St. Jude's in Memphis. His mom told me that he loves his quilt and that he has worn it ragged. He is now 7. Last week I delivered a new quilt for him to take on his next trip to Memphis. He had told me a while back that his quilt was "getting too small." What a sweetheart. This little boy's grandmother was an awesome quilter. She passed away a few years ago. So quilts are near and dear to their hearts.


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