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-   -   Who is your first " quilting mentor"? (https://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1/who-your-first-%22-quilting-mentor%22-t53489.html)

Sheila Elaine 07-11-2010 12:44 PM

My Grandmother. She was the family seamstress, made dresses & mens shirts & used scraps to make quilts. I'd go to Roses' Five & Dime with her where they had the big tables in the middle of the room with stacks of scrap fabrics & bolts on the other side. She got teased for turning fabrics in Roses' every week when she'd come home with a couple of more big bags of fabric. She had a quilting frame set up in the bedroom & her & my Aunts would sit with their glass of iced tea & quilt for hours. They couldn't see the TV as it was in the other room, but they kept up with the Soap Operas religiously. Soon as my Grandfather came home from work, all hot & tired, she'd start in about so & so was cheating on his wife or doctor so & so. One was As The World Turns & another General Hospital. He'd hurt her feelings & she'd go in the kitchen & cry. You know how some women can be, but I loved her. She'd show me how to applique & cut out turtles & Sunbonnet Sues. Sure do miss her.

harrishs 07-11-2010 03:43 PM

My mom---she wanted one of her daughters to know how to piece and quilt. My older sister wasn't interested. Years after mother passed, my sister asked me to show her how to quilt and her first quilt was a king sized for her daughters wedding---she hand quilted it! She was hooked and is far more talented than I am......Mom won----two of her daughters quilt. And my 10 year old DGD and Son in law quilt! Two of my sister's daughters quilt too.

sosewcrazy 07-11-2010 04:44 PM

My mom helped me sew doll and "troll" clothes when I was very young, and the love for sewing spread from there. I sewed clothes for me, and then for my kids, including many, many hand smocked dresses for my daughter and niece. I'm just getting into quilting, though. I've love quilts and going to quilt shows forever.

Dee 07-11-2010 05:19 PM

I watched my grndma and mom. But,never really got into quilting until a few years ago. But sewed everything.

minnow895 07-11-2010 08:26 PM

my family on my dad's side has had many quilters through the years fist it was my grandma which died in 1985 i gave up quilting for awhile than i took it back up in 1991 after i saw a few my aunt had done she does a lot of quilting for people she has a long arm and does my quilting i just make the tops since than each of the four grand kids has a quilt or two my mom has a king size lone star now my brother each want a quilt to snuggle up with a keep warm.
i gave up quilting when my mother that watches all the quilting shows so she could tell me what i was doing wrong it was real hrd when someone watches tv and knows evething yyour doing i finally said to heck with her a started again and told her to mind her own bussiness i would do it the way grandma taught me

irenecarter 07-11-2010 09:17 PM

My grandma, I called Memme. she used to have quilting frames hanging from the ceiling of the main room ( living room and her bedroom). I can still see her sitting there quilting all day, and then at night, she would tie the frames up high so that we could walk under them. If she wasn't quilting she was hand piecing sitting in her rocking chair. I use to sit on her foot box and watch her and listen to all the stories about our family history. I still remember them all. She was a great source of inspiration. My Mother was another mentor, she is 85 and still embroidery's quilts every day or applique them. She had a hard life, along with taking care of Memme for over 25 years. Memme was her mother-in-law. She always treated her with love and respect. She taught us how to treat other people.

merryhare 07-12-2010 05:55 AM

That would be my mom. She didn't start quilting until her 60's but we all grew up making our own clothes. Her mom did many other crafty things and crocheted a lot of afghans. I took up quilting about 10 years ago but have a bachelor's degree in sewing construction so it was not a stretch to switch from clothes to quilts--just a lot more fun! Now we spend a lot of time together quilting whenever I get a few days off.

zz-pd 07-12-2010 04:42 PM

Everyone on the quilt board. God bless. Penny

mayday 07-14-2010 09:50 AM


Originally Posted by raptureready
My mother. She was a wonderful woman. She gardened, took care of six kids plus whomever we drug home, helped with the livestock and the farming, was the top Avon sales lady in Illinois and six surrounding states, quilted, sewed, and did all this through major health problems. Mom was blind in one eye, suffered numerous problems stemming from being severely malnurished as a child, was forced to leave home and be on her own at 11 yrs old and was a WWII widow by the time she was 16 1/2. She had Lupus, Arthritis, Collangens(sp?) disease, Raynods, and Fibromyalgia and still made some of the most beautiful quilts I've ever seen. She pieced and quilted all by hand. I have lots of questions answered by members of the board and I cherish all of you but my momma was and always will be my number 1 mentor.

what a wonderful lady

Quilting Nana 07-14-2010 01:48 PM

My husbands grand mother. She would make quilts completely by hand.
I was amazed at her skill and also her qickness.


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