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What attracted you to quilting?

What attracted you to quilting?

Old 10-10-2008, 07:26 PM
  #61  
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Well, THEO, with the pretty musical notes as your logo...

I seem to have lost your sweet message, but it touched my heart. I am so happy someone in today's world still loves a grandmother! And to think that she inspired you to be a quilter is the best story yet.

I never knew a grandmother on either side of the family, but my mother loved to sew. She told me that her mother had brought in a meager income back in the early 19th centruy by sewing embroidered dust caps. Would any one of us know what that is? The ladies all wore long hair put up on top of their heads and of course wanted to keep it as clean as possible as long as possible. Times were rough back then. So she made the traditional little elastic type and shaped dust caps to use when they did their house cleaning. I suppose vacuumes were not invented by then and most people could not afford carpet anyway. Apparently my grandmother was well-known for her sewing and embroidery skills. She passed that ability down to my mother so there was always lots of cloth at our house.

So how does that all translate to quilting? I began cutting pieces of cloth (out of the middles of yardage) when I was two. You know any mother is going to be upset about that if the yardage were being saved for somethign special. Then I learned to find scraps of cloth she had laid aside and made things like coin purses. Of course the purses could not be given away empty, so I "borrowed" the change from the milk bottles set out for our milk man. Hmmmm! Got into trouble for that one too! Then someone finally gave me a piece of cloth of my own and I was allowed to make my first dress before I was eight. Those precious little clippings from the corners and sides could not be wasted, so my mother and my aunt showed me how to put them together for a doll quilt or doll dresses.

The doll quilt is what caught my heart, so my "career" as a quilter went from there. Most of my quilts have been for gifts--weddings, new babies and even just because. But someday (when I manage to get back home) I still want to make one for every grandchild in our family. There are 17 now and I need to quit this and get busy!

The message I get from all this is that it takes lots of tender love and care from someone who wants you to succeed at something useful. I see some little girls who know nothing but TV and boys and it breaks my heart.

GramMER
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Old 10-11-2008, 04:41 AM
  #62  
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Actually I really like to sew...
My Mother made clothes for us and her. I can still remember her getting so mad about a pants pattern not fitting right.
I made my first "formal" for Rainbow Girls on my grandmothers treadle machine...
I didn't sew for many years and just took it up again in probably 1998 or so.
I bought a cheap machine then bought a spendy machine then another spendy machine with embroidery and I love it...
I love combineing machine embroidery with quilting and just bought the Duetta 4500D at the end of May...
Sewing offers me a way to "build" things, buy fabric, hope and wish for a beautiful quilt, a fun smile from a "trick or treat bag" or just to sew "just for me"!!!
I look forward to many years of this wonderful hobby!
Thanks,
Kirsten
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Old 10-11-2008, 01:39 PM
  #63  
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i rember my mom buying my sister and children embroidery kits ,where she made us learn to hand sew i wanted to use her sewing machine but she won,t let me use her machine so in 7th grade i learned from home ec , on a sewing machine from their i make small projects at home i brought me a small used sewing machine and have been in love with sewing,how i got started quilting a lady from work told us she was giviing classes on quilting i was always curious about quilts so i went to my class and fell in love with making quilts .my frist quilt project was trip around the world and have been quilting ever since
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Old 10-12-2008, 01:38 PM
  #64  
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I started quilting when young girl. Mom sewed and always had scraps for me to make doll blankets. Then time went on and I started my family. I made the kids clothes and then took the scraps and sewed them on old blankets to make warm quilts for the kids beds. So about 1948 started quilting./or sewing patches on old blankets and have progressed to every type of quilting. Hand quilting being my favorite or applique.
I have taught at Joanns... adult education... and in my home. I even had a small quilt shop where every Sunday I would hang a new quilt in my front window... If I went to church Sunday and the quilt was not changed everyone wondered what I had done that week. I helped support my family by making quilts.
Today I quilt for churches, raffles, kids, siblings and fun. Always have at least 5 items going. Make my self finish those 5 tops before I start another. That is really hard because I see so much I still would like to do.
I do not really like the craziness of some of the quilting magazines today. The patterns are just to far out.... Prefer to go back to the old tried and true patterns of yesteryear.
Love this group and this was a fun subject to read...
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Old 10-12-2008, 03:29 PM
  #65  
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I started sewing in high school in Home Ec. Made all the assigned projects and had to put all the zippers in the dresses and skirts for the style shows. Sometimes it does'nt pay to be good at something! Ha! I also designed and sewed all my Rainbow formals. Took design in college. Made all my kids baby and other clothes, including a cowboy shirt for my 4 yr.old son, it had 17 pieces in it. Don't know why I remember that! A friend introduced me to quilting when I was 60 yrs. old and the thing I regret the most is all the wasted years I missed that I could have been quilting. Thanks for asking and I love all the stories you all have to tell. Jan
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