My hubby of 38 years has agreed to help me hand quilt the snail's trail I made for our son's wedding in March. I could use the help, and am glad to get it. We'll see how it works. Wish us luck! 8)

Tim...I don't envy you...I just finished a quilt top that had 240 HST's in it! I thought I would NEVER get done with them! LOL Keep up the good work!

Tim, Your bed sounds fantastic. Does your SO still quilt? We would love to see pictures of your other quilts even though they aren't finished yet. The color combinations sound great. I looked online for pictures of a latilla quilt but I didn't find anything. I've never heard of it.

This is one of the Yellow Brick Roads that is spiffy! The colors really grabbed me and I hope I'll be around for a look see at a picture when it's quilted. This is a neat pattern - one that grew on me. I've made 3 in baby size and no doubt will make several more. I've seen some in batik that were really nice with gold lines thruout - made a special rich looking quilt. You go, guy

Wow to you that your other is intrested in what your doing. My hubby won't even look at what I'm working on. I'm jealous.

If only my husband would quilt! It was his grandmother who taught me, so he has grown up with an appreciation for quilting and an understanding (thankfully) of a quilter's need for a stash! Unfortunately, he is trouble in the fabric store. He picks out all kinds of fabric for things he wants me to make him and is not any help in being my outside cheerleader for self-control! :lol: I have recently taught him to knit, however. Which means no source of self control in the yarn shops either! Needless to say, both stashes are overtaking the house!!! :wink:

Lucky, Lucky. :mrgreen:

although i can't understand why in the world you would want him to stop you in the fabric store ( :shock: ) i guess you could try one or more of these tricks:

1) he can't pick out any fabrics for new quilts until he finishes knitting something for you. even "trade". he can pick for 1 quilt for each knitted item AFTER he has completed it.
2) get him started on a fisherman's knit sweater set. go to the store(s) by yourself while he's distracted working on that.
3) he can't pick out any new yarn until you've finished a quilt. (naaaa ... bad idea. too much pressure already to actually finish a quilt. LOL)
4) my personal favorite - as long as you aren't having to switch to eating cat food, shop 'til you drop!!!

LOL

this quilt is beautiful do you machine quilt or do it by hand that is beautiful dorothy from tenn :lol:

Ahh... you talkin to me?

If so, that quilt is done by the power of the mighty Bernina 830. Took me a couple of months, it's my first sewing project. I am still waitning to pin it together but that should happen soon.

You will show us some of your work?

tim in san jose

all right tim, thats very nice to hear.

My husband calls my sewing room the black hole of Calcutta...kind of true since shirts with one button missing might hide in there for years....

But when my great nephew's 2nd grade class worked on a quilt, he decided he wanted to learn to sew one. We started with little pillows....and I managed to let him take the lead without being critical....bite your tongue, bite your tongue.

He made a quilt wall-hanging for his mom, and when his first brother was born we made a very nice baby quilt - he did all the fabric and design selection, most of the cutting, and some of the sewing. (He was diagnosed as ADHD, but when he's working on a quilt he can concentrate on it longer than I can).

Brother number 2 came very early, so we had to hustle to get the second quilt made, but it too came out great. I love that there are fabrics with cars and trucks and tractors.

When they moved to a new house, he helped me make fleece patchwork bedspreads and curtains for both boys' bedrooms.

In fact, tomorrow he's coming to help me make him some school pants - these have got to be the three most rough and tumble boys I've ever seen, but that teacher should be congratulated for introducing him, and his class, to a skill he'll have forever.
K Cama

kcama, quilting is a great thing you've taught him to do .i have a very close friend and her son has add.she has taught him to work with clay. and when he sits down to work on his clay totally different boy

That is so great. I would love to see my husband sew. LOL. He is very supportive and even helps me cut material and pick material every now and then. He loves to watch me sew and quilt and when I have accomplished a project, I'll ask him if I should sell it. He always says no, I want to keep it. I think if he could keep everything I have made and will make, he would. :D His day is coming...lol...he'll sew something.

I’m just finishing up my first quilt after having the desire to learn most of my life. Though told I couldn't possibly remember it, I distinctly recall my Granny (my grandfather’s sister) giving me a quilt when I was two and a half years old. It fascinated me to no end, with its small colorful pieces and stitches, and so the seed was planted. Now at fifty having had Leslee offer to guide me (after she restored the same quilt for me), I couldn’t possibly say no to the opportunity to learn and have been enjoying myself immensely over the last month. I’ve decided to work on baby quilts for the infants in the family first and work up in size and difficulty. Machine piecing and quilting by hand is my current plan of attack. The sewing machine is my first. I did a small amount of sewing on an old treadle machine once and some corn pillows with my mom a few years back. It wasn’t so hard to learn, though trial and error played its part.

The running stitch is finally picking its pace up from the slow cantor I started with. I insisted on learning “by the book” (via online site) and think it’s paying off. I’m about halfway through the stitching and should be done within the week. I don’t know if I’ll continue with the hand quilting by the time I reach the queen-size quilts, but will play it by ear.

Usually I pick up a hobby every five years or so to keep my mind alert and interested. The cooking and baking, music and music making, writing etc. came to me slowly at first, as is quilting. My only regret is that I didn’t take it up sooner. There’s no making up for lost time, in the long run though I’m very grateful to have stumbled upon it in life. It’s proving to be a wonderful experience and one I hope to share, just as my Granny did all those years ago.

Congratulations Steve, glad to have you in our world! BTW are you speaking of "our" Leslee? or do you have one too?

Oh, "our" Leslee yes, I almost forgot I have to share here. :D

Congrats on your first quilt.... I am looking forward to seeing many more. My hubby started quilting a year ago.. he was 50 then... wonder if it has to do with the age? He is totally hooked. He has a bunch of tops ready to quilt... most are for charity. There are 3 that are for specific people. There is a cool black and white quilt he made for our son's 15th birthday (it was in June)... there is a winter quilt he made for himself (Our daughter wants us to each have a winter/Christmas quilt for our Christmas card picture this year. Not sure we will get them all made!)... and he has a lovely floral he has made for his mother's 80th birthday this December. It is my favorite... mainly because it will be a total surprise to her and the rest of his family.. and it really is a son's love poured out to his mom. His quilts are all large! In fact, they grow and grow as he is working on them! We joke about it. I hope you enjoy quilting as much as my hubby! Barb C

Barb C - where are the pictures of all these MAN-made quilts? We would love to see them.

Here is a picture of his first quilt. He made this one last fall. I will have to upload pictures of the rest. Barb

That is indeed a manly quilt - I like it. Thanks for showing us. He should be proud.

glad to have you on board Steve!!!!

Thanks, I find it's a good place to visit between betweens and threading.

I'm fast finishing the quilting on the one and have started planning another. I figure to get a couple of baby quilts out of the way (before the babies in my life grow up and need twin size), this will enable me to learn the different techniques before moving on to bigger projects.

One neat thing is I can utilize a couple fat quarters for the patches and when buying the rest of the material to complete a project, buy enough fabric to have leftovers. What I'd like is a nice patchwork for myself later on so this kills two birds with the same yardage as it were. Hey wait a minute, is this how quilters end up with extra storage units full of material?

Steve, you catch on real fast! I have lots of hope for you!!!!! :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol:

Oh dear me... :roll:

I too am one of the lucky ones. My husband is interested and encouraging about my quilt hobby. He doesn't make them himself, but he has helped me with color arrangement, assured my when I am frustrated, and he has picked out an assortment of blues and purples for a quilt for him. He wants no straight lines, only curves, so I am working up the courage to do it.

I admire the men on this site who let their creativity out in a way that will be treasured by family and friends, and last a long time.

Way to go guys!

Welcome Steve & congrats on your 1st quilt! :-)
You will find this one of the finest sites on line!

Everyone is cheerful and so very helpful

Good luck on next quilt!

Imak

Why don't you buy the boy an inexpensive sewing machine so he will have it when he visits? :D

I got my little Janome "Quilter's Dream" off ebay really cheap, but it's a nice little machine that can do almost anything I want. Truth told it's more machine than I know what to do with at the moment.

The Hawaiian quilt (pillow top) is almost done and I can hardly wait to see it complete. I'm unsure about some of the process for making it into a pillow, but it shouldn't be too difficult.

You know I hope all you ladies here understand you should treat me as a quilter first, my being a guy is something on the peripheral. Let’s face it, when you look at a quilt do you see the gender of the maker, or the beauty of the quilt? Where as I appreciate the kudos for tackling a form not normally associated with my gender, I appreciate even more the friendship and help you all have offered. What I’m saying is that my quilting has very little to do with what’s between my legs, OK?

That said, I understand that there are a few master quilt makers who have been male, but I don’t know their names. Anyone know them by name?

Steve, this is probably one of the few places where you can be you among a bunch of women who do not care what is between your legs, as you say. We are glad to have you. I am interested in male quilters because they usually do have a different color sense and seem to be more bold with their quilting choices. Women are usually taught from a young age the "rules" of sewing, color matching, and construction, so they are confined, so to speak, when they are designing a quilt. It takes a long time for those of us who were taught that way to break out of the confines of our discipline and just do it. Most men, on the other hand, do not have that to cope with from the beginning. They are more spontaneous. That is why men quilters fascinate me.

I don't give you kudos because you're a guy. I've given them because you're good! My first attempts at quilting were nowhere near as good as what I've seen come out of you and a few of the other beginners who have been willing to show their "firsts". :)

We have one man in our larger quild who has been quilting for quite awhile. He's extremely talented. And I think you bring up a good point Norah. Most (certainly not all) of the quilts I've seen men do somehow do have a little bit of a different twist to them. I don't know why that is, but it is interesting.

Interesting because I've only seen a couple of quilts made by men and I thought they were interesting, but not nearly so as some of the ones I've seen done by women. Could it be because women dominate the genre and they have made more quilts?

There is an exception that floored me, Albert Small:

http://www.quiltindex.org/basicdisplay.php?pbd=illinoistest-a0a0b6-a

http://www.quiltindex.org/basicdisplay.php?pbd=illinoistest-a0a1e9-a

http://www.quiltindex.org/basicdisplay.php?pbd=illinoistest-a0a1f0-a

Then too it could be the mosaic quilt pattern that floored me, and really not anything to do with the fact that a man produced them

I keep being told that men find intereting color combinations, but after seening the work of Jenny Beyer, I'm inclined not to think that is really true so much about men as it is about individuals.

Ricky Timms is your man. He has a great quilt pattern he designed. Its called convergence quilt. His other love is music and he has a CD, I think country music. when he appears at quilt shows he also sings.......a twofer.
Google the man, :wink: he is a true artist.

Its just rickytims.com

Well two Okies and guys into music and quilting, I'll be darned.

When this thread first started I wrote about my 13-yr old grandson who enjoyed quilting. At 13 (almost 14) I guess he's a "young man". This picture is a quilt he made me for my birthday. He said it was called Minnesota Chain. He's been quilting for a couple of years. He started by going to Joann's (he lives in Ohio) where they had week long quilting camps for kids. He loved it. Last fall when I was visiting him I helped him with one block of this quilt. He then put it aside because he was involved with other things at the time. Three weeks before coming to MA for my birthday he told his mother he was going to finish the quilt for my birthday. He worked non-stop on it .... driving his mother crazy and leaving a mess everywhere! He was hemming the binding on in the car as they drove from Ohio. The quilt is made from fat quarters. Needless to say I was speechless when I opened it! I have it draped over a chair in the living room where everyone who comes in can see it. While he was here I showed him how to paper piece. He took to that right away! So I sent him home with some patterns and more fabric.

Really amazing, he is already better than me. I hope he is taking some art classes at school.........a natural talent :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

JudyJo, has Steve been hanging around with your grandson? That would explain how Steve got so good so fast? Seriously, he is a young, very talented artist.