GMA

the amish believe that it is bad to think they can make a perfect quilt because that is too god-like. unless u are a perfect person- no perfect quilts. relax and enjoy that's what I do some points make it some don't. most of the time, the receiver of the quilt doesn't have a clue.

Susy

Great subject! I think it is the first time in my life I have felt like I could be creative & maybe someday a bit artistic. I started out sewing clothes after I quit working(hated not working but had health problems) and never got the hang of making things fit. I promised DH that I would never get into quilting (thought it was expensive & stupid to buy fabric & cut it up again) but here I am, new to it but feeling like I have my first "addiction."

STAR

My grandma and mom quilted together, don't know exactly when they started. They were always buying material and starting new projects, taking classes and finishing small projects and swaps. I used to go to the store with them when they bought things really not knowing a thing about what they were saying. Eventually I started picking out fabric colors for them or matching up colors. I always thought it was so beautifil the work they did(all by hand). Well my grandma quilted even when she was sick in the hospital. Then I started asking questions about quilting and wanted to learn. Once my Grandma passed I really bugged my mom to show me how. I guess I never really started before then because it was a thing for my grandma and mom to do and I was happy enough to just be around. So I started to quilt, by hand only, I have yet to finish but like them I am a great starter!! :lol: I really enjoy seeing what I can do.

Lisa T

Oh, cool topic! I like hearing what everyone has to say.

For me, it's in my blood. My whole entire family quilts- my great-grandma taught my mom and my aunt, and my grandma (who was her DIL) taught me. My sister and my cousins all quilt on some level so I think we just absorbed it while we were playing under the quilt frame while the grownups were tying off quilts.

Another reason is that I just adore fabric- the feel of it, the colors, how it looks in stacks. (What do you suppose it tastes like...?) I guess if I just bought it with no reason my husband would have me committed so I say it's for my quilts. LOL!

I think that quilting is the perfect marriage of creativity and usefulness.

quiltswithdogs

I learned sewing basics in high school, stopped during college. Then I crocheted. Soon after getting married, DH surprised me with my first machine and I went to town on clothes. He sweetly wore even matching shirts or his shirt to my skirt...I know, I know... but it was a "thing" in the early 70s. When our daughters were little, I made them lots of cute clothes and crotched slippers. My sewing soon was just mending with a rare skirt, pajamas, or holiday or stage-performance costume. The closest thing I did to quilting was a pillow where I stitched over print of double-wedding ring... the cheating turned out pretty real looking and I never forgot it. So when in honor of my 50th birthday, I decided I needed a hobby and for it to be something nobody else I knew did, especially in my whole extended family, I remembered that pillow and how even pretending to quilt made me happy. I took a beginner class and told my sister the wallhanging would be a gift for our mom since she'd love it and I didn't know if I would be good enough at it to continue so it might be my one and only quilt. Well, I enjoyed it so much and it looked so great and everyone was so thrilled that I could do this, I was hooked! I really love the puzzle-piecing aspect. After my current projects with deadlines (baby quilt, daughter birthday) I am going to play around with kaleidoscope quilting. I have so many techniques and patterns to try, I rarely do the same one more than once unless it's just for a pillow. I love it, find it so mesmerizing that time can fly by with no tv, no music... only discussing quilting at hand things over with my dog and bird.

jbsstrawberry

Because I love to sew, and quilting was a new challenge. I researched quilting to death before I actually attempted it. Then I found a BOM here on the board that I loved so much I had to give it a try. I piddled and piddled making little experiments here and there after that first block.
Then my nephew was diagnosed with cancer, I decided to make a quilt for his benefit (along with several wonderful ladies here who kindly and gererously donated quilts to the cause). When I showed the top to my dad, who was on home hospice care for cancer of his own...he looked at me and said..."You're so smart, and talented. You can do just about anything ya know. Lisa this is really 'perty'" (Dad was from KY hence the perty LOL). It was the only time I can remember him complimenting anything I did. Now I love quilting even more, because Mom shared with me a few months ago, that even though he didn't tell me personally, he bragged about "Lisa's talents" to anyone that would listen to him. He really was proud of me, so now I do it to honor that pride he felt all along, but couldn't tell me about directly.

tlrnhi

I quilt because it's an outlet for me to get away from the world.
I can go "inside" myself and not worry about what is going on outside.
There's been many nights when I've disappeared into my room, only to emerge with the sunrise. Then I think....where did the time go?
I love that feeling! I don't like the tired feeling that envelopes me later.
But, I love taking the fabric apart and turning the pieces into something completely different from what I started on.
I used to knit. Not very well, I may add, but I tried. I cannot crochet to save my life. I don't like scrapbooking...too boring if you ask me, but give me some fabric to cut up and put back together? I'm in HEAVEN!!!

Baren*eh*ked_canadian

Awesome topic! I love reading about how everyone started quilting :)

quiltswithdogs

I forgot to tell you about a big inspiration to choosing quilting as the perfect hobby for me!

It wasn't from only that pretend-quilting pillow from 25yrs ago that I mentioned, but probably even more, from a particular movie.

Did you ever see that movie called Stepmom? It's basically about Julia Roberts as the stepmom and Susan Sarandon as the children's mother. Well, Susan gets terminal cancer and decides to make something very special for each of her children before she dies. So for the rest of the film we see her taking photos and then using them on 2 quilts. She makes a bed quilt for her daughter and a magician's cape for her little boy. It's heartwrenching but got me so excited to do photo quilts!

Although I haven't done a big, primarily photo, quilt, what I have done is use the photo technique in a smaller way on gifts and they've made the receivers so happy. I often include a photo on my label sewn on back and on smaller projects like pillows and quillows. For example, I made a fancy-with-golds quilted pillow with a copy of their wedding photo in the center of the pattern (I forget which one) for my BIL/SIL's 50th Wedding Anniversary. They love it. Thanks, Susan Sarandon. Eventually I would've found and tried using photos, but watching the projects grow over 2hours of this movie inspired me to start out in my first year having this rewarding technique.

See that square in my avatar quilt? It's a photo of a dish broken into 4 pieces and a "whole" dish surrounded by the Broken Dishes pattern. I wanted to symbolize how a "broken" victim of sexual assault or domestic violence can become whole again. The photo helps me do that.

mgshaw

I have sewed forever, took 4 years of home ec., 2 years of fashion design and 1 year of occupational sewing in high school. Mostly what i did was garment sewing but some crafty type stuff too. I have always been big into "old " stuff, heirlooms and that sort. I love anything historical. No one in my family that I knew quilted. My Grandma had a Double Wedding ring quilt that my Great Grandmother made and originally one of my Uncle's was to get the quilt when Grandma died. So I decided to try to replicate it and that is what got me started. I just found out recently that my Mom ended up with Great Grandma's quilt, so I will end up with it eventually!!! :D