The first quilt I remember was a scrappy bow-tie we inherited from my dad's grandmother. It was pretty utilitarian but as a young child I was fascinated with all those different patches of fabric! No one in my family quilted, although my mom is an excellent seamstress and she taught me sewing at a very young age. I sewed clothing, crocheted, painted...did almost everything except quilt.
When I got married, my mother-in-law and I didn't seem to have much in common, but one time she was talking about playing under her mother's quilting frame as a child and regretting that although she sewed, she never learned to quilt. She then showed me two quilts her mother had made, one was a scrappy bow-tie, very much like the one I studied as a child! We bonded over our love of quilts...a short time later she bought me my first quilt book!
That was over 15 years ago, and we've been quilting ever since!

My first attempt at quilting was in 1981 when I started a "Hexagonal Wreath" quilt. I got one wreath completed and pinned to the 18" square to be appliquéd. I still have all the 1" hexagons that I cut out.
Then in 1992, my dh encouraged me to take a beginner quilting class where I made my butterfly sampler king size quilt. I'm still trying to hand quilt it.

It was 1990 and my DH was deployed in Desert Storm. A girlfriend and I went to the Ham Festival in Cadiz, Ky. Part of the festival was a quilt show. We admired all the quilts, both of us were experenced sewers. I commented to one of the white glove ladies that I would love to learn to quilt. The rest is history. I was invited to join in the quilt club. Turns out it was local for me. We lived in TN. They invited my 4 year old son to come with me. And later my newborn twins. Most of the ladies are gone now, but they taught me so much. I will be forever gratefull for their help and guidance in my quilt journey. A lifelong quilt journey.

We bought a nice new bedroom suite 6-7 years ago and I wanted a king size Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt to put on it. No way I was going to pay $500+ for someone to make it for me so being my usual stubborn self, I set out to make it myself. After cutting what seemed like a bazillion hexagons on paper & fabric and getting maybe 8 "flowers" complete, I became hooked on the tv show, Simply Quilts which showed me so many other patterns & possibilities that I realized hand piecing a king size quilt one 2" hexagon at a time was not going fast enough. I had grandbabies starting to pop out that needed quilts and kids still at home that needed quilts whether they knew it or not! I wonder if hubby can sue HGTV for loss of companionship?--LOL! He's got his own quilt to snuggle with anyway!

I saw a cot panel Peter Rabbit(Beatrix Potter) in a sewing shop just after my 1st grandaughter was born 15yrs ago, also bought wadding n backing without knowing what to do with it!!Joined a sewing course at night school and the teacher was a fantastic quilter!! Most of the class were dressmaking but she was so enthusiatic and taught me how to put it all together and hand quilt! I had finished it by the next class and was hooked!! Took lots of courses and classes and have made 70+ quilts!!

I enjoy producing tops, but due to lack of space I take them to a friend who has a long arm machine!! She does a fab. job and has quilted 20+ for me! I am working on Quilts 4 injured soldiers at the moment from recycled mens shirts and have 4 tops to take to her.I have used the disappearing 9 patch and 4into 9 patterns found on the web and they look great!! when I learn how to post pics will do so!!I am only just learning to use a computer but am enjoying finding all these goodies!!!