Sharon,
Are you going to the big quilt show in Statesville, NC (civic center)this Fri. sat. and sun.? I am going down from WV thursday, If I can get across the mountians. We are suppose to have another big snow storm starting Thursday. I'm staying with my daughter. She is in Mooresville (Lake Norman) , about 15 min from Charlotte.

In 2000, I think, an email list that I was on experienced a rush of babies. So, we decided to make quilts. Those who wanted to participate learned how to make a 9-patch. I thought it was fun and kept going. I go through spurts and have taken years off, but when I do come back I do it with gusto!

My mother quilts, my grandmother (fathers side) was a quilter her mother was a quilter, and so on and so on. My daughter is a quilter. It's something in the blood.

Actually, I taught myself to quilt with the help of many good quilting friends. No one in my family quilted... but my grandmother knitted and my mother made the most beautiful awesome doilies (which everyone had on their tables and sofas in those days). I have a few of my mother's items... and I remember watching that hook fly so fast with the thread it defied you to see what she was doing. I learned to sew simple clothing from her as well. I knitted and I crocheted before I learned to quilt. I still knit and crochet when I get the urge to do so... but quilting is my favorite... stress reducer....ever. No need for pills when fabric does the job. Right? :?

I started quilting in the Spring of 2006, just after my Mom (a talented and juried crafter) passed away from Pancreatic Cancer. Our family tradition of going to cabins in the Pennsylvania mountains every Thanksgiving since 1969 is what inspired my first quilting endeavor. My Mom would, on Thanksgiving Day, ask my brothers and brothers-in-law to go into the woods and find a large branch and put it in a bucket of rocks. During the week long stay each family member (eight children, spouses, and 23 grandchildren) would each be given 2 construction paper leaves. On the first leaf we were to write down what we were thankful for. On the second leaf, what our hopes were for the coming year. Either before or after Thanksgiving dinner, each person would read their leaves and then hang them on the bare branch that had been brought in (Thanksgiving Dinner took a very long time :)). By the time all the leaves were read and placed on the branch, we had a beautiful "tree" that started out bare and was now full of life. My Mom passed away in April 2006 (Palm Sunday) and on May 1 was surfing the net and found a quilting pattern for a Thanksgiving Tree. It was fate and I knew that I had to make this quilt, eight times over (one for each of my parents' eight children). I have sewn quite a bit over the years, but never quilted. I recruited my sister-in-law and during Thanksgiving week 2006 we gave each family a Thanksgiving Tree quilted wallhanging. I have been hooked ever since.

I grew up seeing my mom and grandma sew, I also took it up. I love crafting, and after my son was born wanted to do something with his receiving blankets. I made my first quilt from them, and it was just a basic one. Through the years it has grown as I become better, I love the challenge.

I had always sewed most of my life (loved all crafts) and decided I wanted to take a class in stained glass. Well the closest thing adult ed was offering was quilting, so I did that instead. Have been quilting ever since.

We bought our house in '89 and I knew it needed a quilt. So I signed up for a sampler class. The lady at the store reminded me to bring my scraps. I didn't even know what she was talking about. Hadn't read the part that it was a scrap sampler class. About $150 later I had a nice little stash going plus all the supplies, and the rest is history. I guess I need to tell you that the sampler never got finished. It is rather pelty coz the kitties loved it so and I can't bring myself to work on it.

I found out my good friend at church is a quilter. We went on a camping trip together, and we went to a quilt shop in Cambria, CA. I saw the most beautiful quilts and fabrics, and just KNEW I was meant to do that too!! I bought a fat quarter bundle, we picked a pattern, and she spent the next 3 weeks teaching me how to cut, sew and sandwich. I found my creative niche, and I haven't stopped since.

My Grandmother quilted and I ended up with about14 quilts, one that she did along with her sister in the late 1800's, but I did a terrible thing when I was young and just married. I had no interest in old quilts, just taking up space, so I sold them, all of them for $700, kept one. Just last year I started thinking about what I had done getting rid of all those beautiful quilts and thought maybe I can do this, I remembered sitting and watching my Grandmother hand piece. So I went online got some basic instructions, found a pattern called Granny's Flower Garden, bought some fabric and off I went on my quilting. In the past 10 months I have made 7 lap quilts and I love it but not real good at it.