My grandmothers and my mother were all quilters. When I was seventeen, my paternal grandmother and I made a Dresden Plate top. I moved that top all over the state of Texas for years. Finally asked my Mom to quilt it, and gave it to my son for a wedding gift. He has a very special quilt. It has scraps from my and Mom's dresses, my brothers shirts and even my Dad's underwear.

My Ex MIL quilting. SHe made quilts for each of the grandkids!

I had bought myself a Brother sewing machine and thought I'd make some goofy stuff. I'd sewn my kids clothes when they were young, (my daughter just turned 41! Ugh!!). I didn't really want to make clothes again, but couldn't figure out what I wanted to do. I was at the doctors office one morning and saw a quilting magazine, and BAM!!! I was hooked!!!!

Several Aunts in my family quilted and about 20 years ago I decided to try it. I bought a quilt kit while on vacation. I hand pieced & hand appliqued & hand quilted it. I had no idea what I was doing. It took me about 8 years to finish it, because I'd get frustrated or bored and put it away. After that I didn't quilt again until last winter. My son had moved out & I thought that I'd buy a new bedspread. I found one that I liked at Bed Bath & Beyond and it was over $100 for a twin size, and I thought "you can make that". So, I found a free pattern for a rail fence quilt and I pulled out my old sewing machine. I machined pieced it & hand quilted it...the hand quilting was pitiful...ha. By the time I was finished I had found this board and read about FMQ. I bought a Brother XR9000 with the drop feed. Now not only am I making quilts, but Bow Tucks bags and table runners. I still feel that I'm in the learning process, but the board has helped me out so much. And I still have that first quilt that took me so long to make. Below are pictures. I didn't know what to do so I whipstitched by hand with embroidery thread around all the applique. I didn't even know it was called applique back then...lol.

My friend got me started. She did a lovely quilt and I said to self , if Iris can do it I know I could. And I did

me too- Quilting Grannie-working in fabric and touching all those pretties. and people telling what they were making and then we started to get the quilt of the month!! i was hooked!! free patterns and fabric already chosen. wow if i could cut! a friend taught me to use a rotary cutter and here i am. self taught hand quilter. still need to get my stiiches more even, but i keep on and on!

The Sisters Oregon Outdoor Quilt Show. We happened to drive to Sisters on the Saturday they held the outdoor quilt show. I needed an outlet for my sewing since my girls no longer wanted "homemade" clothes. I told myself I could do that. I signed up for a quilting for beginners class and have been quilting ever since. That was about 10 years ago. We go to the quilt show every year. It is one of the highlights of our Summer.

I have sewed for so long that I don't remember how old I was when I started. I made my first quilt in 1966, it was a puff or biscuit quilt, then I made applique quilts for my new baby. I used a coloring book to get the designs. Mostly I made garments. My MIL made quilts and when she got cancer she started giving me her tops. I always wondered why people cut the good fabric into little pieces to sew it back together. When I quilt working in the public eye I knew I did not need as many clothes so I turned to, cutting up good fabric into little pieces to sew them back together. :lol: I did hand quilting at first and have frames that hang from the ceiling. But as I progressed I turned to using a LAQM. Now I teach quilting and garment sewing.

Auto accident, back injuries and could no longer work. Had to have something to do. My aunt and Mom quilted and I decided that at least it was something that I would end up with an actual thing I could keep and look at. First quilt I got hooked, spent half of last night when I should have been sleeping thinking about my next quilt.

Hi. My inspiration came from my Grandmother. She could barely read or write but she made the greatest quilts. Taught me to cut my blocks and hand sew them. Made my first double sized quilt ar age 10. It was a Bow tye made from flour sacks. I am 73 now so I have no idea how many I have made. She asked me to always teach others to quilt. It has been a lifetime of shareing her love of quilting with others. I reallly love teaching children to quilt.The youngest has been a couple of 5 year olds. Quilting knows no deference to age or gender..Marvel