For me it was beacuse some dear friends of mine were getting married and I wanted to give them something useful, and something they didn't already have and no one else they knew would think of. So, I made them a hand quilted quilt.

They loved it, and the rest is history as they say. :lol:

My Grammy and Aunt Mary quilted all the time and did beautiful work. After my Dad was hurt in a logging accident my mother had to run a business, take care of my Dad and raise 9 kids. She didn't have extra time for anything. When I was 12 I took my first homeech class. I already knew how to cook, so I concentrated on sewing. From them on I made virtually all of my cloths. When we married and had 4 kids I continued. Occasionally I would make a scrap quilt, but nothing to be proud of. As our kids grew up and started leaving, I still made cloths, but when I would visit our lqs for fabric I would drool over the quilts. I would tell myself someday I'll do that. Then one day I was talking to the owner of my lqs and she suggested I take a beginning quilting class. I did and an addiction was born. When I was raising my kids, I was constantly told that I just didn't do things quite as good as my mother (not by my DH) or that I didn't really know what work was because I "only" had 4 kids. I guess part of me wanted to do something that my mom never did so that I couldn't be compared to her and I wanted to do it beautifully. I don't work really fast, but I am very anal about my quilts being as perfect as possible. As my mom got old and couldn't live alone anymore, when I would go to relieve my sister I would always take my machine and a project. She enjoyed watching me. I'm glad I could give her that.

My grandmothers, and my wife's grandmothers all quilted. My paternal grandmother was perpetually busy with some type of needlecraft: sewing, knitting, crocheting, or tatting. She had no daughters, her daughters-in-law were not interested in learning anything, then her granddaughters weren't interested either. By the time I got married (the last in the family) she was pretty advanced in Alzheimer's and couldn't do her crafts anymore. It was sort of sad that she never got to pass her skills on to another generation.

My wife had tried cross-stitch, and she enjoyed it, but had a rather slow payoff. She wanted to do something crafty, but didn't really know what. I told her that Granny had quilted, and I always enjoyed sleeping under the quilts she had stashed around her house. She told me about her grandmother's quilts, and how she and her cousin got special gifts because they were the favorite grandkids. Her mom had 11 siblings and I can't count all the grandkids, but my wife and her cousin were two of the youngest and spent a lot of time at their grandmother's house.

After we talked about those memories, she decided she'd like to give it a try. We bought her an $80 Euro Pro machine at Kohl's, and she took a class at a LQS a couple of miles from here. Her first quilt turned out pretty good, but she didn't like measuring, calculating, and cutting; she just enjoyed the sewing. On our next project she complained about it. Since I'm an accountant and of course a math nerd I tried to explain how she could make her cuts and get the most useful pieces from her fabric. Eventually I ended up doing the cutting myself, so that became my standard assignment.

Then we went to take another class at another QS, me intending to do my regular assignment, but they talked me into doing my own project start to finish. My wife was enthusiastic about me doing it until the teacher told her she had to cut her own fabric. So, we both learned a few things and now we work as a pretty good team. We've started lots of things, but haven't finished many. That's OK though, we are "enjoying the journey."

Darren

I started quilting for my senior project in high school. Made a "memory" quilt with pics of me from baby thru high school. It was a lot of fun, I had a mentor who worked at the school I went to

I don't come from a family of quilters. They're not crafters of any sort. Had a bad experience back in the 70's in a Home Ec class, did okay with the gym bag but failed miserably with the vest and skirt with a waistband and zipper. My Mom and I knew what a sewing machine looked like, but we choose, plaid wool fabric and not enough. Needless to say, I stayed away from a sewing machine until 1992, until I saw this women on PBS cutting fabric and throwing the scraps up in the air behind her. Yep, Eleanor Burns. I was fascinated and went to the LQS and bought precut hexagon shapes and a book to make a grandmother's flower garden. Not the best choice for a beginner. I think those hexagons are still in a box in the basement somewhere. But I was bitten and I haven't looked back. Started then with miniature quilts, worked my way up to Lap quilts. Still haven't made a bed quilt. May not do that ever. Bed quilts have to stay on the bed, Lap quilts can go on a bed, a chair, a couch, a wall or in the car. Much more usable and less expensive to make and quilt. I also love to make Charity quilts. I teach at the LQS easy classes. Down and dirty, will be challenging myself this year to get out of the box!! Love to piece.

After sewing clothing for people for years upon years, it was a great way for me to do something that doesn't have to wait for a fitting. It call all the shots, pick out the fabrics and the quilt I want to make. It's an escape from catering to other peoples' whims.

Enter batiks. I had no idea....

I have always sewed starting at 5 years old sewing my own doll cloths with my first toy sewing machine, then working my way up to adult clothing and house hold things . Then as I got older I had a lot of different hobbies, but once my health got really bad and I couldn't get out of the house much I took to Quilting and I've been doing it ever since.
I'm not very fast at it as I just don't have the room I really need to be set up right for it so that slows me down
I think , but I will always be Quilting even if I'm slow with it,it gives me something to look forward to each day.

Unfortunately I have to work this weekend :( Otherwise, I would be there! Be careful ... they're calling for a big snow storm down here Fri and Sat. ... very rare. But who knows, it could go right by.

I'm really sorry to hear about your mother. What a lovely tradition with the Thanksgiving Tree. Any chance you have a pic of one of the ones you made that you could share with us?

My son was a very sick baby and would only want mommy. Hubby needed to learn to take care of our son without me and get to know his son. Our son, Richard, I swear thought his Dr. was his dad!!! We seen the Dr. more than dad as dad worked two jobs to keep us fed!! So in order for me to have a break I started to learn to sew from a woman who had just moved back to town after a disasterous marriage and she opened up a sewing shop. I didn't really take to making clothing so she suggested quilting. So 13 years I ago I got the "itch". It was great for me to get out one night a week and see other grown ups!! I almost gave it all up one night, but my mom and Hubby told me to go it was good for me.

I will never forget the one night I went out and Richard was not doing too well all day and I said I don't think I should go out and hubby insisted that I go. So I wrote down the phone number and drivng into the shop I kept having this strange feeling and by the time (5 minute drive) I got to the shop I was in a state and phone home, well my girlfriend answered the phone and I about had a heart attack and she said that DH rushed Richard to the hospital and we tried to call you but the phone number was not in service. I had written the number down wrong!! So I rushed out of there and felt so darn guilty and was crying while rushing to the hospital. I got there just in time to hear the Dr. say he was going to have to cut a whole open in his throat if the adult dosage of the steriod didn't open up his airways! This was a little four month old baby!!!!!!!!!!! He ended up coming around and we spent a couple days in the hospital. It took them 6 months to find out he was allegic to the protein in milk and caused severe asthma. Today is a very tall, happy young man and still has to watch what he eats and drinks.

So that is my story!