No classes - mostly the internet and talking with a friend.

Huh, When I started there were no classes like there is now. At least none that I knew of. I just cut up squares (with scissors) and went for it. A machine pieced nine patch was born.... LoL!

Well I have read and bought books, checked out books from libraries, watched videos and finally began going to the quilt shops for the good stuff and advice.

I have still to take a class. But, I think if I had started out with classes, it would have been better. Then all those good piecing habits and little useful tricks I had to learn on my own would have come quicker.

I say quilt classes are worth thier weight in gold. Not to mention the quilting ladies that are the information network of the community. And so fun to talk with, share patterns and fabric, and go to shows with are all there waiting for you to meet.

Oh yes, I did! Found out that the local Adult Ed offered a quilt making class & signed up. That was about 17 years ago, and I'm still attending the same class! LOL We started out doing our blocks quilt-as-you-go & all by hand. Now us "old timers" work on whatever we like.
Eventually I joined a guild & take workshops thru' the guild, sometimes at one of the local quilt shops or quilt shows....even here on the board :D

I had watched a lot of shows on tv and the internet and then I found this board! :D :D :D I started the block of the months, chat classes, tutorials, and lots of help and advice here that helped me to try patterns on my own :D :D :D

Nope. No classes.

I wandered into a quilt shop in Pensecola FLA while on vacation. I saw a pattern I liked (YBR) and some fabrics I liked (mostly Kaffee Fassete stripes and solids). Bought enough for a lap quilt.

It sat around for 3 or 4 years in a drawer. I figured out one day that nobody was ever gonna make me a quilt so I dug out that unstarted project and started cutting fabric. I had bought a Bernina 830 a couple of years before so that wasn't needed. Of course, I had to read the instruction book to even figure out how to thread it. Decided about two days into the project that since I was never gonna make another quilt, I had better get more fabric and make a queen sized one.

Got one of the great Machine quilting books from Harriet somebody or other. It was great. Finished that quilt top (see my avatar) and have finished a couple more. Still working on quilts, patterns from magazines, books, or something derivative that I just think up.

I now do all my HSTs and Flying geese on an old Elna Super and the 830 is my main machine. I guess I have learned to do a bunch.

It's like my old paw said 40 years ago... "If ya can read, ya can do anything."


tim in san jose

My classroom used to be the Simply Quilts show. Now it's gone, i'm on my own. :?

I suspect i'm missing a lot of fun by not taking classes but they're too far away and i'm too cheap to pay for them. :lol:

Oh, yeah, didn't she make it look easy? One of these days when I have consistent time to do nothing but sit and watch I'll maybe sign up for their website classes, but not for awhile. lol lol

I do now take a block of month with the LQS but that's the only class I've ever taken. Went to one workshop last year and am going again this year but it's a demo workshop by Eleanor Burns sister. If you get a chance to see her trunk show, GO, RUN, take money, and enjoy. The local guild gets her here every year and it's the best $5 I spend on anything in the world. She's funny, she's real, and she's informative.

The classes we take through this website are better, you don't have to wait with questions, ask and it is given! :-) :-) :-)

When I first started...Simply Quilts was my classroom also. I checked the local library (they had 1 book on quilting)..So...I just used the beginner book that came in a kit from Wally world..it included the book, a rotarty cutter, a 6" ruler and a tiny cutting mat. That was in 06, since then, I've found Youtube, this board and a LQS that offers classes. I have since taken 2 classes- machine quilting and a class from Libby Lehman to learn techniques. I do better when I don't know that I'm not supposed to do certain things...then I just go ahead and figure out how to make things work.

I started a rail fence in 1999 and it took off from there. My grandma made every quilt she owned and my mom did some quillting. I started hand sewing at 5 or 6, went to the machine at 8 and have been sewing every since.

I took a class at Jo-anns fabric in 2003 and I've been hooked ever since. I took the class with 4 friends and now I'm the only one still quilting.

My first class was a log cabin!

I am a quilt class drop out. I signed up for a 6 week class at the local learning center paid my 130$ and dropped out after the second class. I am a lefty and the teacher was teaching righty learning and she kept telling me I was doing everything wrong, and backwards embarrassing me in front of the class and she gave me a hard time because I choose brights for my first little wall hanging project when she said in the flyer light or pastels colors would be best... I am not a fan of pastels at all and it did'nt say I "had" to use pastels.

So I dropped out bought some books and learned my own slow way.
And thanks to my BFF who is also a quilter (we met online) she has walked me through many a technique with lots of patience.

I took a Community Ed class back in the mid-80s. We made a sampler quilt (crib size). It was a quilt-as-you-go class. We hand pieced all the blocks then hand quilted each block on a lap frame and sewed them together (we were allowed to sew them together by machine as long as we hand sewed the back). Needless to say, mine never got finished and I still have it. I can't believe the quilting looks so bad! It took me nearly 20 years to get back to quilting. Now I don't hand piece or hand quilt. It just wasn't my cup of tea. And I've never taken another class but I watch a lot of TV shows, read a lot of books and learned a lot from the ladies in my church quilt group.

I certainly hope you got some of your money back!!! How rude of that teacher to treat you that way!

THAT really makes me angry! Why did she think the right to tell you that or berate you on ANYTHING?? I hope you reported her for that behavior and I hope she never attempts to teach a class again! Insanity! I have a good friend that I taught to crochet by having her sit across from me and watch me. I have done the same with folks wanting to learn to quilt. Being a righty doesn't limit the teaching ability only a closed and little mind does that!

I started with a SIL attending a quilting course at a local community college. It was hand-piecing 12" sampler blocks. I learnt a lot, and made all the blocks, but still have them unsashed and awaiting completion.

At the time I was working with fabrics that I had in my stash, but most of them were clothing fabrics, 'cause I didn't have the funds to spend money on "craft".

I've come a long way since then, and have no fear about adding to my stash. My sister has been a great enabler - she let me have a huge box of samples that I love, and dig into every time I think about making a tote or quick gifts for various occasions.

I started with a class at Lee Wards back in the 80s. The teacher had taught some classes at the Community College and agreed to teach one class at the store! I was lucky! She was GREAT! She had also started the Quilt Guild that I still belong to. Our class was 6 weeks long with two patches each week for our Sampler! I DID IT! I was so proud! And made so many friends through the guild! I don't remember anyone from the class because I was concentrating so hard on learning everything I could. We were using all the tools and tricks we could to learn the new techniques each week. I have taken other Sampler classes at LQS and throug my guild. I have gone on retreats where we get national teachers to come teach their techniques. I can't tell you how many Georgia Bonesteel videos I still have, nor how many programs I taped of Simply Quilts, and Carol Duval! Most of what I have learned comes back to me just after I have made a mistake and am picking out my stitching! But I feel fortunate to live in an area where there are so many people who will share for free, or a reasonable fee. :lol:

Yes, I did take a quilting class for beginners at the local quilt shop-had a wonderful teacher who wasn't a store clerk. They sent the list of supplies which I diligently sought and bought. The day of the first class came, I went, and to my dismay I was the only one who hadn't brought her machine! I guess you can tell how green I was!
Taking the class was very beneficial because I know I learned 'the right way' to do things. I say that because some of the questions that come up on the Quilter's Message Board are specifically those that were answered and shown in this quilting class, such as wavy borders. :)

There is a group in central CA where newbies signed on and stayed and stayed and stayed. Most have been with this instructor for over 9 years.
Well, my first thought was, aren't they learning and moving on? after being with this instructor for my first semester-I want to stay with her too.
Her 2 classes always has room for new quilters that are welcomed into the group. Rare in this world? I hope not........

I took quilting classes at a quilt shop when I first stated quilting. I wanted to learn how to hand quilt. That was 3 years ago. Some of the girls still meet at the quilt shop on Monday nights. We pay a small fee and we learn from each other, echange scraps and have coffee. It a good way to keep in touch and it is a girls night out.

Yup, that is the best advice you can give anyone: Read, Read Everything!
Words bring in the world to you.

My cousins all quilt and they invited my daughter and myself to make blocks for a family quilt. Ours were the strangest blocks of the group! I signed up for a class at the local college but it was all hand quilting. Meantime I saw a Quilt in a Day demo and was sold. I started with those and went on from there. Now I teach the quilting classes at the same college and have for 25 yrs. now.

Hi,I started with English hexigon patches after a friend got me started.Then I moved to Yorkshire and we were in the middle of ripping out the house and garden ,the place needed everything upgrading.While waiting for workmen to get started I went to a patchwork class. I suppose it was good that it got my interest going but there were far too many in the class and the tutor had friends attending and they seemed to get all the attention. I was hopeless at maths and and sewing so felt rather lost,plus at that time ,in England, cutting mats and rotary cutters were very new and hard to obtain items. However at the age of fifty I discovered a new and wonderful art.We started with the Roman stripe design and I made my own interpretation of it and was told'Oh there is always one in every class !!'After that I bought books and magazines and used my imagination.What a world opened to me,I have made friends and passed on what I have learnt to others.When I have taught I always remember how I felt in that class, and it has given me patience to encourage others.Now the wonderful and generous people I meet on the web help to share ideas,designs etc.Thank you all.

I did - someone brought a group of Appalachian quilters to CT in 1973 or '74. I made a Dresden plate block and was smitten! My friend who went with me never finished her block and still isn't smitten. I guess I should make her a quilt. I made one for her GD, but not one for her yet.

My first exposure to quilts was at a very very early age when my mother, aunts, grandmothers, greatgrandmother made quilts from feed sacks for warmth in the winter. They traded fabrics, patterns, quilt frames (that hung from the celing) The people who delivered the feed to our farm helped the women get the feed for that week in matching sacks (and I remember the men being very kind with their help, sometimes even expressing how much they liked a certain pattern. This was during World War II and times were difficult. Our town didn't have a fabric store. I remember when all of these ladies learned of the "double blanket". That's when the quilting stopped. Many years later when I was grown with my own family my grandmother passed away (my father was an only child). The grand kids shared a lot of my grandmother's things. One of the things I got was a quilt top of Dutch Dolls. A few years later an old gentleman from church made me a quilting frame that hung from the celing. My mother and her sisters and sister-in-law came to my house and we hung the frame from my garage celing, had a pot luck lunch, and they taught me to hand quilt. Each one of these ladies had their own special way of making their stitches a lot of tales about times past. Of course I still have that quilt and from that day a couple of these ladies began making quilts again. One aunt got all of her grandchildren a quilt made before she passed away. My mother always thought quilting was just too much work. Now she would climb on a ladder and trim trees or clean out the gutters, but she was not interested in quilting. I suppose the short answer here would be YES I did have a quilting class before I began quilting. I just wanted to share this wonderful memory with other quilters. In addition to this day, I watched every quilting show I could find while I was still working and after I retired, I have found time to pursue this wonderful art.

I did.

I tried quilting after seeing my sister in law do a few. I did a simple 5" block different colors she told me what I did wrong like binding it before I tiring it together. I liked it so after we moved here to Dubois,Wyoming I took a class in town. The teacher turned out to be the President of my now quilters Guild. I learned so much from that class and now if I run into something I do not know I have 40 some great ladies to help me. Best part I hated sewing when I was younger funny how things change.

I'm taking one right now at my university. Best part about it is I get humanities credit for it too! I helped make a donation baby quilt through my church back a few years ago, but besides that I had never quilted before this class... had sewn a little, but that's about it. I love quilting so much now, just wish I had more time for it.

yes i did and got hook right away ,i started with a pattern called trip around the world by eleanor burns my hero ,and still love making quilts

Sounds like you met one of the Quilt Police. I always heard they were out there someplace.

I don't know about y'all, but I feel like I've had a class just about every time I "travel" through this QB.

My answer exactly :D

like she said, and besides i'm a know-it-all. nobody can teach me anything. ask my family and friends (if i still have any).LOL!

No Class - just searched internet & bought a LOT of quilting books.

Piedmont Quilter

About 15 years ago, bc I was always sewing, and made some curtains for my bedroom, I took some calico cotton prints, cute 12 big squares, don't even remember how i did it...I know i didn't know how to "square them up...sewed them all together, with a pieced sashing...flying by the seat of my pants.
Had never seen a book, a tv show, and hadn't ever owned a computer. It turned out pretty good, and i still have it. Now, as nice as it looks on the front...lol...turn it over...I must have taken this camel colored fabric that my mother gave me, and machine sewed it, huge asterik style, to an old blanket, then put on top and 'tied' it.
Never did another quilty thing till about 3 years ago. My grandma told me she was helping with a raffle quilt, and she was making a wall hanging. She had to explain to me what that was. She said, "Cheryl, the way you sew and love fabrics, I know you would love quilting." So I bought a magazine.
The rest has been out of books, and off this site.
No classes here, and no quilters around here. I am a lonely little petunia in an onion patch...and landed in the best place you can be! :D

I had made cheater quilts for babies, then several years ago I started watching Simply quilts and Carol Duvall. I made some tapes for future use; I even catalogued the tapes. After watching for a couple of years, I got up the nerve to make a quilt when one of my nieces got married. I went to the library and found a pattern I liked (churn dash blocks). I didn't make another until my nephew got married. Once I moved down here, I started quilting all the time with my sister and nephew's MIL and a couple of friends. My sis and I did the BOM at a local quilt shop last year, and we're doing it again this year. I have to agree that I learn a lot here.
I also check out patterns online as well as tips from some other sites. (None as helpful as here I think).

I did not take a class when I made my first quilt. I had done some sewing in the past. And I watched "Simply Quilts" all the time. It turned out OK. But I really wanted help with how to sandwich the quilt and then machine quilt. So I took a beginning quitling class. It only covered making the quilt top. I was really disappointed but I did learn many great tips. And it was great to have fun with the ladies. I was totally surprised to hear that many people send their quilts to someone else to do the quilting.

I read several books and just talked to other quilters. I put together everyone's hints and I can now make a quilt from beginning to end.

I take a class once in a while now. I always learn something new.

I did. and my project is still not finished. I have maybe 100 stitches and it will be done.

30 years ago my stitches were small and perfect. I think that is why I never finished it.. Perfection.. crazy.. It is the perfect color for my walls again !

Thanks for the reminder.. need to finish that darn thing !!

Log cabin, card tricks, honey bee, applique hearts in a four leaf clover design.

Ellen

My first quilt I hand pieced it, blanket stiched the pre-printed Santa appliques and hand EMBROIDERED the thing together. I didn't know about quilting.......LOL. Then I got a an idea to do a quilt for my mom and just started to do it only this time machined pieced, hand appliqued and finally quilted together. Then I took a class!!! It made things much simpler and after reading a book on hand quilting by Alex Anderson I hand quilted it together. I have taken other classes and my guild runs mystery bees and new members classes all the time. The new members bee always tries to teach a technique. It's usually fun even if you are not new to quilting.

I forgot about my first quilt, a disaster.
Back when they had liquid embroidery I traced coloring book pictures and painted them with liquid embrodery pens. This turned out nice but them made the mistake of using a wool blanket for batting. When washed it shrank so much it ruined the quilt.
This was before the internet and tv quilting shows. Now I have learned how to quilt and am addicted.

I did one quilt first then took a sampler class. I really learned lots doing all the different blocks. It was all done by hand but each square turned out perfect and I still have that quilt some 30 years later. Love it. I took tow others a Trip around the World Strip quilt and a log cabin. I haven't done any for years but I'd like to take some more classes but haven't any place offering them that is close. They are fun to see others doing the same pattern and how each is so different.