kbiederman

I made my first quilt when I was about 8, with my mom's help. I actually never finished it because someone cut in the border fabric. About 11 years ago, my mom finished it and gave it to me, it was the best gift ever!! (You can see it only has two borders, lol) It is not very pretty, and it is a little torn up as you can see, but it has been the blanket that everyone has cuddled up with. Both my kids have slept with it as babies even. It is made from old scraps, so I remember a lot of the fabrics from childhood. So anyway, I decided one day that I wanted my blankie back, and would have to make a replacement! That's my story! ~Karen

jojo47

I've only been quilting myself for about7 years, but I've always been facinated with this beautiful skill since I was 4 years old and was exposed to quilting at my maternal grandmother's house on the farm. She almost always had a quilt on the frame then and even after she and Grandpa moved to town. My mom and her sisters also quilted (Mom did more whole-cloth quilts than pieced ones). Only me and one other of my sisters have the quilting bug (so far). I don't know if my paternal grandmother ever quilted, as I was only 5 years old when she passed away.

sylvia77

JGilmore, You can google quilting fabrics and you won't believe how many online shops there are! You have to shop around but there's always something on sale somewhere. You can also google for quilt shops for your area if you wish to visit in person too. Hope this helps.

sylvia77

It's funny. Out of 7 children, I'm the only one who likes to sew. Must get it from my grandmother.

jojo47

Karen, quilts like yours are the best! My grandma made a Log Cabin quilt for each of her 50-some grandkids, and I still have mine. I, too, can spot scraps of fabric that were left over from clothes that my mom had made for me. Grandma got the leftover scraps for quilts.

Out of curiosity, where is Stacy, MN?

sylvia77

Karen, That's a quilt that's full of love and it's great you and your family have been able to share it.

zkosh

My mother, grandmothers and aunt all sewed beautifully. They all also crocheted and did embroidery. I remember making doll clothes as a girl and learning to crochet from my grandmother who was left handed and consequently taught me her own way of doing stitches.

As I grew up I got interested in sewing. I think it really started when my grandmother cut out some aprons for my great aunt and sat me at the sewing machine to stitch them. When my mother got a new sewing machine I was the one who took lessons to learn to use it and it went from there.

After I married and moved to Michigan for a couple of years, I saw others knitting and learned to knit. I guess I've always been a dabbler and loved trying all crafts. I didn't have a sewing machine so it was quite a few years before I tried sewing again, but this time it was my mother-in-law who got me interested in sewing. She makes most of her clothes and sews absolutely wonderfully. She does designer quality work.

Anyway she gave me an old machine that did a straight stitch and wouldn't even reverse. I went to town on it and eventually she passed down to me a machine that also had zigzag and reverse. I was thrilled. I made clothes for me and for my daughter after she came along. I don't think I ever made clothes for the boys, but I always made their Halloween costumes. My husband surprised me one birthday with a Bernina, the original 830. I took classes, learned some tailoring, fitting, pattern-making and so forth. I loved it, but eventually I went back to teaching, still with three kids and a husband to take care of and sewing went by the way.

I kept the machine out and would do some hemming or repair once in a while, but that was about it. At some point when we moved I put the machine in its case in the closet and figured that I would never sew again. The kids were out of the house, but I was still teaching and doing other things. The turning point in this saga was when my husband bought a sofa for my youngest son at a resale shop. It was a very nice sofa, but the cushions were ripped at seams and needed to be restitched. Well, guess what? As I sat and stitched I found myself thinking what fun I was having! LOL

Shortly after that I wandered into a new LQS that had opened near me. (Periodically I had been thinking I wanted to learn quilting, but I had always resisted.) It was near the end of the school year and they offered a one week class in beginning quilting at the beginning of the summer. It was ideal for me since I spend much of the summer visiting my parents and making short trips out of town. Well, not only did I sign up for the class, I also bought John flynn's Wheel of Mystery quilt kit, precut in beautiful batiks. I went home and started the kit and had it mostly done by the time the class started. I knew then that I was instantly addicted. All the fabric I used to have was pretty much gone, but I now have a great stash and you know the rest of the story!!

Mousie

well, I think I have shared this before, but, just in case...:mrgreen:
I have been sewing since age ten...clothing, home dec stuff.
Lots and lots of clothes for my girls and dresses for myself for church.
I had not been around quilts much, so my perspective was they were hodge-podgey and didn't capture my interest.
I loved the one my grandmother made for me, but was too busy sewing for my girls to even think about quilting.
It wouldn't have worked out very well way back then.
There were five of us living in a small house. My sewing space was
1-drag my machine to the dining table.
2-oldest left home, got a space about 4' x 9'
3- another left home, but we got a computer etc. so i just moved my stuff, didn't gain any room.
4-last dd got married and I got an 11'x15' sewing room, finally.
I have been disabled for many years and some things flare, so when I got the room, I wasn't ABLE to quilt.
Then, when I began to feel better, I had a conversation with my grandmother that used to have her own craft store.
She was teaching her senior citizen's group how to make a wall hanging. As she described it in detail, I really got into talking about the fabrics and she encouraged me to try a small project.
So I bought a quilting magazine. I have so many now, I'm not sure I would know which one it was, but I have them in chronological order, so my guess would be the oldest one ;)
It opened up a whole new world, but the clicker was, the moment I realized that sewing garments usually took one or sometimes two fabrics.
Quilting could require many cuts of different fabrics in all kinds of colors and patterns...WOO HOO...I was hooked.
It was like being told instead of buying one candy bar, you need to take a bag and go fill it up with a bunch of different kinds and they are going to look fantastic together.
I will never be a one bar girl again :mrgreen:

Mousie

p.s. don't have a clue why I ever thought the quilts I saw way back when were hodge-podgey. I think it was so I wouldn't be tormented with desire to do something that there was no room for. It just wasn't 'time'.
It's 'time', now, and has been for a few years!

kbiederman, I hope you see this, since it's not a quote...
I love your quilt and am amazed at how well you did on it at such a young age, and that it has been loved and survived all the love over all these years.
I hope you have pictures of it. I don't have the quilt my grandma made me anymore but i've always been a shutterbug. yup, still got the pictures! :wink:
(can't post right now, though.)

kbiederman

Thank you Jojo and Sylvia, I really love my "blankie".

Jojo, I am about 30 minutes North of the cities up 35, just past Forest Lake, and before North Branch. Where in Mn are you at?