What made you get the "itch" for quilting?
01-26-2010, 05:28 PM
#31
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Mt. pleasant, MI
Posts: 538
Originally Posted by Sharon - NC
Originally Posted by samroberts01
For me it was two things, One my grandmother has always given us quilts, so I have always wanted to quilt. She is the one who turned me on to this board! Two, My son was very sick as a baby and was int he hospital and had surgery at 5 months old to remove a web that was in the jejunum of his intestine. During that stay he was given two quilts that were donated to the hospital along with books and so many volunteers who read to him at the hospital, so I wanted to be able to give back to those who had helped us when we were going through a rough time.
01-26-2010, 05:31 PM
#32
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Mt. pleasant, MI
Posts: 538
Originally Posted by mrspete
Oh so great the stories are. I'm not sure that I have much of an interesting one, but here goes. My mom and I were like oil and water. If she said "up" I said "down". So as a little one I would get hints as to what I would like and wouldn't like to do by the things she fussed about. There was a box, one of those waxed boxes that packed meats are shipped in. In it was a lot of small pieces of fabric. Well, in about 1957, she was counting bubbles in a magazine and sent in the contest of how many to win a vacuum cleaner. A great deal of time later, she'd nearly forgotten about it but a man knocked on our door. We were living in a coal camp and were used to bums knocking for a hand out. She had just lost her dad and told 'whoever it is, go away." And a male voice piped up, "Even if you are a winner in a contest, you still want me to go away." So, he told her she had won her chance to BUY a vacuum cleaner. She got the magazine and looked it up and all of the item had been the part she mailed away. SO, she said, no it said, to WIN. Well, she'd just bought a new electrolux vacuum and didn't need one and told him so. And he asked if she would be interested in a new Electric sewing machine. She said maybe or maybe not. He sat and showed her his book and talked and talked. I was playing jacks on the floor when she jumped up and said, what would you give me for this. Her darling old Singer treadle machine. He and she made a bargain, but her sewing machine had to be shipped. Two weeks later, we got a card in the mail to go to Cottonhill Train Station and pick it up. It was protable, pink and all sorts of attachments. A tool box, and instruction book. Oh goodness, she was the cock of the walk. No one else in the Coal Camp had one. So, to practice she dragged that old box out and pieced those little pieces together. She told me it was instructional, not that she was wasting her time on it. One day, it was as big as her bed and she took a think cotton blanket and sewed it to it and wrapped the blanket around it and mitered the corners. It was a delight. Many a warm night was enjoyed by that rag quilt. She didn't have to tie it, because she taught herself the art of 'freewill'sewing. She was a bit religious. I already have two sewing machines so just a couple weeks ago, I gave "Pinky" to a lovely lady I met on freecycle looking for an old one. I was moving it to feed the bird, moving it to use the dryer and moving it twice a day. It weighed a ton. The lady is delighted and so am I. Just before I married in 1968, my intended bought me a machine for Christmas.....and piecing bits and making children's clothes and wedding garments since. oh I love to sew. God is Good!.....Ruth
01-26-2010, 05:35 PM
#34
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: At my LQS
Posts: 2,326
Originally Posted by Lisa773
I started quilting in the Spring of 2006, just after my Mom (a talented and juried crafter) passed away from Pancreatic Cancer. Our family tradition of going to cabins in the Pennsylvania mountains every Thanksgiving since 1969 is what inspired my first quilting endeavor. My Mom would, on Thanksgiving Day, ask my brothers and brothers-in-law to go into the woods and find a large branch and put it in a bucket of rocks. During the week long stay each family member (eight children, spouses, and 23 grandchildren) would each be given 2 construction paper leaves. On the first leaf we were to write down what we were thankful for. On the second leaf, what our hopes were for the coming year. Either before or after Thanksgiving dinner, each person would read their leaves and then hang them on the bare branch that had been brought in (Thanksgiving Dinner took a very long time :)). By the time all the leaves were read and placed on the branch, we had a beautiful "tree" that started out bare and was now full of life. My Mom passed away in April 2006 (Palm Sunday) and on May 1 was surfing the net and found a quilting pattern for a Thanksgiving Tree. It was fate and I knew that I had to make this quilt, eight times over (one for each of my parents' eight children). I have sewn quite a bit over the years, but never quilted. I recruited my sister-in-law and during Thanksgiving week 2006 we gave each family a Thanksgiving Tree quilted wallhanging. I have been hooked ever since.
Again, I love your story and Thanksgiving tradition. Thank you for sharing that with the group.
01-26-2010, 05:57 PM
#35
Power Poster
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: East Oklahoma - pining for Massachusetts
Posts: 10,477
This is a good question. I was in a museum in Vermont some years ago. It is in the town of Shelburne. I was in the one building with the quilts in it for nearly an hour marveling over the wonderful old quilts. I believe that is when it started.
01-26-2010, 06:40 PM
#36
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: oklahoma
Posts: 522
never say never!
My Mom always had a quilt in a frame. She and a few friends quilted together. They quilted lots of quilts. I tried to quilt a few times and hated it. I said never will I ever quilt!!
A friend took a quilting class and wanted me to try one. I have sewed clothes since I was small and enjoyed it. I agreed to try and I am addicted. I don't hand quilt tho only machine quilt. I still don't enjoy hand quilting.
My Mom always had a quilt in a frame. She and a few friends quilted together. They quilted lots of quilts. I tried to quilt a few times and hated it. I said never will I ever quilt!!
A friend took a quilting class and wanted me to try one. I have sewed clothes since I was small and enjoyed it. I agreed to try and I am addicted. I don't hand quilt tho only machine quilt. I still don't enjoy hand quilting.
01-26-2010, 07:02 PM
#38
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Georgia
Posts: 475
My story isn't as sweet or sentimental as others....To be honest - I quilt because I am tired of crocheting. I have done a ton of different arts and crafts - and I usually burn out on something if I'm not challenged anymore. I really do love quilting and the variety of patterns and fabrics should keep me interested for years and years. (crossed fingers)
01-26-2010, 08:24 PM
#39
Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Nebraska
Posts: 143
I am the accidental quilter.
I had been invited to get together with some friends one Sunday afternoon. "Judy is going to teach us how to quilt" I said I'd go along to socialize, but that I was NOT interested in learning anything to do with sewing. I had avoided that for all my life and I didn't intend to change at that point.
Well, needless to say I did participate that afternoon. Then I decided I needed to finish what I had started so I did a little more when I got home. I did own a sewing machine my mother had bought me for my college graduation - a Singer featherweight and I did at least know how to thread it.
Before you know it, I was into the "stuff gathering" mode. I needed tools, right? And more fabric? I couldn't run to Judy's house for everything.
At that time in my life I was making good money and I was more than willing to spend it too. Before you know, I had a full supply of everything: A new, better sewing machine, a cutting table with two huge mats, LOTS of fabric. Mind you that very little sewing was taking place, but I was having fun!
Had to try out the new sewing machine, so occasionally I would make a block or two to try them out. I also got so I actually made an entire quilt - baby-sized, mitered corners on the borders.
What interested me about the whole thing up to this point was the geometry. I loved the shapes and how things fit together. (Can you guess I loved playing with a Spirograph as a young girl?)
Mostly I just tinkered for the next 4-5 years. Then a couple of years ago I was invited to go do an all day sew-in. (Invitations are dangerous for me LOL)Again I thought I would go more for the socializing and once again I actually sewed, planned, and got into an entire project. Most of what I had learned up to this point had been on my own, just playing around. But that day at the sew-in was totally different with all the people who were willing to help me out with all sorts of things.
So now I've been going to the sew-in once a month for two years and wouldn't miss it for anything. I of course do plenty of quilting at home too. Another new machine for me a few months ago too. Somewhere in there I inherited my mother's machine too. She's still living, but hadn't used it for years. So now I have two Singers: my Featherweight, and a 301a mom bought new, my Brother which I used at the sew-ins for a year and half, and now my beloved Pfaff.
I am still pretty slow with it all because I want it all to be perfect when I am done. I've picked up some other days of sewing also, so now I have about 4 days a month at the store and the rest at home. Someday I may get faster, but I will know I will be the eternal beginner.
AND I now avoid invitations! I don't have time for anything else.
I had been invited to get together with some friends one Sunday afternoon. "Judy is going to teach us how to quilt" I said I'd go along to socialize, but that I was NOT interested in learning anything to do with sewing. I had avoided that for all my life and I didn't intend to change at that point.
Well, needless to say I did participate that afternoon. Then I decided I needed to finish what I had started so I did a little more when I got home. I did own a sewing machine my mother had bought me for my college graduation - a Singer featherweight and I did at least know how to thread it.
Before you know it, I was into the "stuff gathering" mode. I needed tools, right? And more fabric? I couldn't run to Judy's house for everything.
At that time in my life I was making good money and I was more than willing to spend it too. Before you know, I had a full supply of everything: A new, better sewing machine, a cutting table with two huge mats, LOTS of fabric. Mind you that very little sewing was taking place, but I was having fun!
Had to try out the new sewing machine, so occasionally I would make a block or two to try them out. I also got so I actually made an entire quilt - baby-sized, mitered corners on the borders.
What interested me about the whole thing up to this point was the geometry. I loved the shapes and how things fit together. (Can you guess I loved playing with a Spirograph as a young girl?)
Mostly I just tinkered for the next 4-5 years. Then a couple of years ago I was invited to go do an all day sew-in. (Invitations are dangerous for me LOL)Again I thought I would go more for the socializing and once again I actually sewed, planned, and got into an entire project. Most of what I had learned up to this point had been on my own, just playing around. But that day at the sew-in was totally different with all the people who were willing to help me out with all sorts of things.
So now I've been going to the sew-in once a month for two years and wouldn't miss it for anything. I of course do plenty of quilting at home too. Another new machine for me a few months ago too. Somewhere in there I inherited my mother's machine too. She's still living, but hadn't used it for years. So now I have two Singers: my Featherweight, and a 301a mom bought new, my Brother which I used at the sew-ins for a year and half, and now my beloved Pfaff.
I am still pretty slow with it all because I want it all to be perfect when I am done. I've picked up some other days of sewing also, so now I have about 4 days a month at the store and the rest at home. Someday I may get faster, but I will know I will be the eternal beginner.
AND I now avoid invitations! I don't have time for anything else.
01-26-2010, 08:46 PM
#40
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Cypress (NW Houston), TX
Posts: 581
My mom taught me to sew clothing and I did that on and off until quilting came into my life. My BFF's new mother-in-law was a quilter but the only thing she made was Cathedral Windows all by hand. She taught my BFF how to do it and one Christmas I got a CW wall hanging. I blew me away that my friend that never sewed had made this. Her MIL gave me a bunch of old quilting magazines and, I swear, I wanted to make every quilt I saw. (Nothing much has changed.) So the next Christmas I told my DH to get me quilting supplies and I gave him quite a list including a "The Complete Quilt" book so that I could learn from this book and I did. My first quilt was a king size rail fence in 1988. And the beat goes on.
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