I can't remember when I first was aware of quilts as they were always around as everyday bedding. One red and white was used by my sisters and then me. By the time I had it there were some stains and red nail polish on it. I added my own design with a toy iron. Do you believe they actually made 'toy' irons that plugged in and got hot enough to scorch fabric?! I still have that quilt and several others most of which were hand pieced and quilted by my aunt and grandmother.
One special quilt is a blue and white made sometime in the 30's. My mother did not quilt but thought she should so she pieced this one. My great-grandmother did the quilting and it is lovely. Mother put it away without a binding, I don't no why for sure but I think maybe it was because her grandmother passed-away. I saw it one day and she told me about the quilt. I think I was eleven. I had my sister help me sneak it out of the house and she got some fabric to match the blue and then we took it to my grandmother to bind it. I gave the finished quilt back to my mother for Christmas. I was pretty proud of myself! Four generations were involved in completing it. The quilt now belongs to me and is very special for all the memories.

The quilt I remember most was a yo-yo quilt my aunt only brought out on very special occasions. I expected to have it when she was done with it, but there were a lot of nieces and it went to another family.

When I was 5 my grandmother started teaching me to quilt. i worked with grandma piecing tops every time she came to visit us. She usually stayed for a month when she came so we had quite a few tops pieced. Then when I was 8 she moved far away and I only got to spend 1 week a year with her. I guess we decided that there was too many other things to do together because we didn't use those weeks to work on quilts anymore. I saved the quilt tops and when I got married I took them with me and held on to them for years and years hoping to do something with them someday. Then Dec 18, 1996 I had a house fire and lost everything including the quilt tops that grandma and I had worked on. This devasted me and I put the idea of making a quilt away until just a little while ago. I now have the time and emotional foritude to make a quilt in my grandmothers honor. I am still in the process of designing it and can't wait until I start.

I remember when I was probably in 2nd or 3rd grade going to my grandma's house and she wold have a quilt frame set up in the corner of her dining room and I could never figure out how she got all of those squares together. When I was a little older I had an Aunt that would have a basket of little quilt pieces that she was hand piecing.(I watched her and it looked easy). When I was in my 20's I decided I was going to make a quilt.... so I cut some squares and triangles and tried to hand stitch them together... needles to say it did not work. In my 30s took my first quilting class and have been quilting ever since. My first one was all hand pieced and quilted, after learning strip quilting have not had time to do much hand piecing or quilting. So many quilts.... not enough time. When my Mom passed away I got one of my grandmother's hand pieced and hand quilted quilts. I treasure it.

As a child, while visiting a distant relative, I remember seeing a quilt with what looked like swastikas.(I still don't know what pattern it was). I was convinced that those relatives were German spies.

As a very young child I remember when we traved 5 long hrs to my Grandparents house, crawling under a pile of feather quilts made by my grandmother (in an unheated bedroom). She made patchwork quilts also....

I have been enjoying reading all the memories. Thank you.

My Aunt Madeline was the only person to quilt in our fmily as I remember. We were a family of knitters, crocheters and sewers of clothes. I remember a light purple and cream block quilt with light purple border which was made of wool . It was machine done but was so scratchy we (mom/dad/me) didn't like it and was relagated to the trunk in the attic. I loved rummaging in the trunks. Came across an applique butterfly comforter cover Aumnt Madeline did with very pretty purple/ other colors (purple I remember best) on white background with sashing. When we moved as Dad retired, all unnecessary stuff was given to the Salvation Army as he promised Mom new furniture-antique furniture, china cabinets, dishes -I loved the separated plates- along with the quilt comforter cover. Wish I had that now, still looking for the butterfly pattern of old but haven't found it-yet. It had nice rounded wings,on bottom also. Purple was kept and used as a beach blanket (horrors now!) and died a useful death. I'm sorry i didn't appreciate those things more when I had them, but I do now. Ah Hindsight.

I must have been only 2 or 3, since I was still in a baby bed, when I took my naps my mom would always put a Sunbonnet Sue quilt over the baby bed like a tent and I would go to sleep looking at the "dolls". That was my first recollection of a quilt in the very early 1940's.

I must have been only 2 or 3, since I was still in a baby bed, when I took my naps my mom would always put a Sunbonnet Sue quilt over the baby bed like a tent and I would go to sleep looking at the "dolls". That was my first recollection of a quilt in the very early 1940's.

At the age of 5-7 (many years ago), I would visit my paternal grandparents at the farmhouse they rented. There was a quilting frame set up in the back bedroom and although I'm sure there was always a quilt on it, I don't remember those. My aunt (being the only female child) got most of the quilts that were available when my grandmother died when I was 9 and maybe they were few in number. My cousin has one of those quilts and I was allowed to "borrow" it for a quilting presentation I did at the local community college. Of five granddaughters, I am the only one that quilts.

Here's remembering my Aunt Edna's Dutch Girl quilts...when I stayed overnight at their house, I just LOVED those quilts. Now, I have some of her quilt blocks, the bow-tie, that were given to me and I intend to make a quilt out of those. I just love TOUCHING those blocks!

I remember one of grandma's quilts in our house. It is long gone now. I remember when it was on the bed my sister and I shared. Then it seemed to just float around bed to bed. My mother was not a quilter, nor a sewer. I have always been a sewer and now I am a quilter.
Diane/Wyoming

Seeing the quilts my grandmother made for me and my brother. I loved seeing fabrics that were used in dresses for my mother and me.

I remember sitting under my mothers quilting table - set up in the dining room - listening to the "church ladies" chat and gossip. It was a wonderful time for a three to five year old, sometimes another child would be there to look at the squares and watch the needles and fingers work. I remember it fondly.

You are so luck to have those memories. One of my grandmothers passed before I was born and the other when I was about 9. However, I do have a quilt made by the one. It is not pieced in a fun pattern just large blocks but that is ok she still made it and that is the important thing.

Oh, so many memories! I don't remember NOT having a quilt on my bed. Both my grandmothers and my mother quilted, although with 7 children my mother didn't have room or time to quilt much at home. Every month the church ladies got together to quilt for charity. I remember playing on the floor under the quilts. At some point the older ladies started calling me to thread their needles because they couldn't see well enough. My mother taught me to sew. When I was very small I hand stitched doll clothes and quilts. When I was about 8 I made a quilt block for a pillow cover. I still have it. None of the points are pointed, but it's my first quilt block. I still have quilts my grandmothers made me. They are warm and full of love.

All the above stories of grandmothers echoes my upbringing. Grandma's and quilts go together. Just think ladies of the memories we are starting for our grandkids. It's called passing on the warm memories and traditions. Keep quilting!

When I was about 8 or 9, I remember watching my grandmother quilting from an old wooden quilting frame hanging from the ceiling. She actually taught me to quilt by hand on that very frame. I started my grandson a quilt 6 years ago working on it whenever I have time. I have always had a love for fabrics and I think it was due to my grandmothers quilting when I was young.

I went with my Aunt to a quilting bee when I was 8. I remember threading needles for the quilting lables and wondering why They coukd not see. Now I know why they could not see! LOL Diane C.

I've loved reading all these memories, too.
My own earliest memories of "quilts" was sitting at my grandma's feet playing in her basket of little fabric squares while she sewed them together into rows. They were tiny squares--must have been postage-stamp. She cut up every piece of old clothing into scraps for quilting. I don't remember any actual quilts she made, although I do remember she had one on her bed for the winter. I would spend time at her house during summer vacation,and I was always amazed at all the "old-time" things she did. Her tiny house sat on an acre of fruit trees, and she canned like mad. I've never come across any as good as my grandma's canned peaches!
She also sewed everything she wore. She was so talented that she could go to a store, look at a dress, go home, make a pattern, and duplicate it exactly. She was a no-nonsense woman of Scots-Irish descent who had raised two boys pretty much on her own and didn't really have that much patience for teaching. That is unfortunate because I wish I had had the sense to "pester" her to teach me her skills before she passed in the mid-70s. I don't know what happened to any finished quilts of UFO that she had because her other son (my father's brother) swept in when she passed and took most of her things out of state with him.
I did inherit her 1923 Singer, once a treadle but my step-uncle put a motor on it for her when she tired of pumping. That machine, which my DH keeps bugging me to "get rid of" because with my cheap-o Kenmore I obviously don't "need it," is quite a bulldog--I sewed over several layers of denim with it, no problem. Used to be quite a chore to get to the end of a garment and have to turn the whole thing around to backstitch--it only went forward!
Thanks for sparking these memories.

There is only one quilt that I remember, my granny made it from her boys old wool coats, solid black, and a red plaid, she used feed sacks as the backing, and tied it, actually she tied most of it, and then showed me, (I was 7) how to do it and let me finish it. It was the heaviest and warmest thing that I can remember, which we dearly needed, in the winter of 1957, in the hills of Kentucky, my parents were divorced and we lived in a trailer with no furnace. We all (my mother and 2 sisters) slept in one bed and that quilt kept us from freezing, we were all toasty warm under that quilt. It's gone now, but I made 2 replica's of it and gave one to my granny's only daughter,(my father's sister) with the story sewn into the fabric.

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My memory is about the same. I slept up in the top room (never heard it called attic) and could look outdoors at the tree next to the window and the hill side nearby. I slept under quilts made from Grandpa's old coats and pants, backed with feed sacks, blanket lining, heavy but warm and comforting to a little girl up there all by herself.

Sitting on the floor by my great grandmother while she hand stitched and cutting pieces for her using scissors and a cardboard pattern. You had to be really careful not to cut the pattern. I thought I was such a big helper!

Although strictly speaking not a quilt, my memories were of down comforters my beloved Grandmother had. Being from "the old country"(the Ukraine) she gathered the goose down herself from the geese she raised to make them. They were marvelous....warm as toast, had a unique sound to them and yet really light as a feather. Seeing as there was no central heat in the house, they were a necessity. The only heat came from the kitchen stove...wonderful memories

I had a Little Dutch Girl (better known as Sunbonnet Sue) quilt on my bed from age 2 until I was too cool to have a quilt that was handmade by my grandmother on my bed. My brother had Little Dutch Boy with a 30's green sashing---my sashing was pale pink----and I always liked his quilt better.

This is a topic which I really couldn't resist. I have posted, under the Main, the first of a series of articles, which I call "Confessions of a Want-to-be Quilter." The articles were designed for my guild newsletter. They are my real life experiences, filled with nostalgia, humor and tears. Although this has been a long work in progress, many of you encouraged my writing after my saga of the Quilt Police bail question.

Please be frank, tell me it stinks, and I wont post the entire series. As planned now, it'll be a weekly. But you know you can just skip reading it when it comes up, and admin won't post it to the frequently read list. On the other-hand, let me know if you want an autographed hard copy.

Going to grandparents house in the wintertime and sleeping on a feather mattress on the floor and covered in quilts that granny had done she always had a quilt frame hanging from the ceiling.

A scrap quilt that was used for baby brother to lie on it was in all shaps and sizes of fabric...I used to look at the fabrics to decide which I liked best....I would have been about 4-5 years old.......when in secondary school I made my first hand sewn crib sized quilt at 14 years old and kept it for all 3 of my daughters

I stayed with my grandmother while my mother was in college. Grandma let me make tents with her kitchen chairs and quilts. I was about 3-4 years old.
When I was eight, I had Rheumatic Fever. At that time, the treatment was bedrest and Penicillin. My mother (who by then was a teacher) stayed home with me. She sat beside me and taught me to quilt. This was her way of keeping me quiet. I still have the first quilt top I ever pieced. Pretty rough, but still special to me. I never got around to quilting it. I've been quilting now for 57 years!

I remember a Dutch Doll quilt my Mother made for me when she was "expecting" It was similar to Sunbonnet Sue except the Hats were and shoes were all black and the dolls were sitting down. I loved it to death.

when I went to my DH's grannie's, and (winter) told us to get into bed and she would cover us up. Thought this was funny, but we did, and we didn't move all night. The quilt weighed 9 to 12 lbs. Made out of old coats and suits.

My Grandmother making a Sunbonnet Sue

DITTO

I can remember sitting on my grandmothers bed with my cousin and we would play a game. Who ever could guess where the material fom a particular quilt came from, either it was an aunts dress, apron, or one of our grandfatheres shirts, would be the winner. My grandmother save all the old clothes and made quilts from them. I try to put a little something in all my quilts, even if its only one small squre of fabric.

I cannot recall a time when there were pretty quilts around. Funny story about one, though. When I was about 4-5 I sometimes had bad dreams; when I'd awaken, I'd go across the hallway to my brother's room ( 6 years older than I and my hero)and get into bed with him. He kept me safe ! One night I went in there and woke him and told him there were snakes all over the bed; (think I was born with a snake phobia)--I was sobbing, practically hysterical; he yelled loud enough to bring our Mom from downstairs.. who turned on the lights...revealing that the snakes were the black handles appliqued to a pieced baskets on his quilt. You know, I cannot recall ever seeing that quilt again; I'll have to ask Mom what happened to it.

oh no...mistake typing this sentence : I cannot recall a time when there were NOT pretty quilts around

I remember watching my grandmother (nanny, as we called her) making what she called "Dutch boy" and "Dutch girl" quilts, which were more like our Sunbonnets of today.

Watching Granny piecing quilts on her Singer treadle machine when I would visit during summer school vacation. I was probably 7 cause I remember watching the news about President Kennedy's assination at my aunt's house - Granny did't own a tv. Mama has Granny's machine with the original bill of sale. I don't remember the date probably in the late 30's or early 40's.

I don't know if it was my first memory,I have so many wonderful early memories of quilt-making with my grandma and her sisters and her neighbrs on the front porch.I remember being nervous and my granny put 1 arm around me, Her sister put her arm around me and they told me not to worry.If I made a mistake no problem.They started telling me about their first quilts and the others joined in with their first quilt stories.My nerves went away and I had done an entire row with only 3 mistakes and stuck myself 4 times.Granny told me that was good for a first time,and the more I did it the better I would get.They all told me the golden rule of quilting was to relax and enjoy quilting.That's what I have been doing all these years and will continue to do.You see,Granny and her relatives and friends taught me basics and the true meaning of quilting.

My Grandmother (Dad's Mom) gave me a feather filled quilt after I got married in l970 or around that. She had worked in a pajamma factory and made a slip cover for it. Her mother had made the original quilt and it was tied. I covered the quilt with the satin slip cover and only used it a few times. Can't keep it on the bed.LOL Feathers crept out of it and I had patched a few small holes in it. When we are very very cold and can't get warm a few minutes under this quilt will warm you up in a hurry!!