Latrinka

Well, I'm a nurse, and at one time I really got into making scrub tops. I ended up with a lotta scraps, so decided to make quilts. Just cut squares, then half square triangles. no patterns or anything. then, i found this site and you-tube, and am still teaching myself different patterns. I've only done french braid, dresden plate, and D9P quilts. Have done boston block, but only 1 block, not a whole quilt!

laalaaquilter

I first came to admire quilts when my mother and I moved into Grandma's house in my mid-teens. By that time I knew how to embroider and needlepoint and had watched my grandmother and sister sew clothing. At Grandma's mother found the trunks with the old quilts Grandma and various aunts had made, particularly a crazy quilt that I fell in love with. I wasn't interested in quilting at that time but had a deep appreciation for the work, art, and love, involved. Later I learned cross-stitch and then one day in my twenties I looked around my apartment and realized I had fabric just sitting there and got busy piecing a top. It is stitched all wrong, has no true pattern, mixes colors poorly and has been sitting folded as a UFO for over twenty years. Over the years I've been collecting buttons (another fetish) and sequined appliques to embellish the top with 'when I get around to quilting it'. Within a year of piecing it I found a bed sheet that I liked for the backing and I just kept it with the top, waiting. Last year a friend who quilts and knows of my UFO challenged me to finish it and I promised to begin. Since then I've taken a long arm tutorial and quilted a charity quilt for my friend. She is planning a long arm purchase very soon and has promised to let me use it. (I've promised not to ask for any time on it until she's played with it for at least two months!) I've been told that the bed sheet is inappropriate for a backing, that it will break my machine needles, and that the shop where I took the long arm tutorial won't let me rent time on their machines with it because of the needle breakage issue. I figure I'll just take a few packages of needles with me to friends house and get busy! I look forward to posting a picture of my completed quilt from the 80's before the end of this year and beginning to put into reality some of the quilts that have been floating around in my head for years.

Rann

My grandmothers.

grammysews4u

sleeping under my Granmothers quilts as a child. I always loved the feel the look and the thought that she had made it. so sad but I think my mom let me actually wear a few of them out !! But then mom prob. didnt have any other blankets for me to use!

krlowe

In my early 20s I saw some quilts and just thought they were beautiful. I bought some books on quilting, not how tos, but the history and was very overwhelmed. This was 1988ish. I didn't know anyone who quilted and was afraid to start. Then on 9/9/2001 a friend died after a long battle with breast cancer. Her memorial was 9/13/01 two days after 9/11. They had quilts that she had made there and fellow quilters spoke with regards to her and her quilting. At that point I decided that life was to short. that I had to do what my heart wanted and signed up for my first quilting class shortly after that. I don't make many quilts but each one is a labor of love. Each one, whether kept or given away has a place in my heart which is sent throughout the universe with it.

Anne P

I'm not even sure why at this time, but a long time ago I took a beginning quilting class at a local fabric store. To promote the class, there were many beautiful quilts hanging all around the shop, so I think I was just ready for something besides sewing clothes for the family and curtains for the kitchen! The class was so long ago, rotary cutters had not been invented. We made templates and drew around them, then cut everything out with scissors. We made several different blocks, such as nine patch and Sunbonnet Sue, etc. Every stitch was by hand, too.
The first actual quilt I made was a wallhanging for my daughter, who wanted something to hang above her bed in her first apartment. I made the design and the templates and did all of the cutting, sewing, and quilting by hand because it's all I knew.
Then along came Saturday morning quilting shows on TV, the rotary cutter, cutting mats, and rulers - and machine quilting! Not that there is anything at all wrong with templates and scissors and hand quilting. It's been interesting to see the changes in quilting over the years.

grammysharon

I had a niece that was turning four and wanted to make her a quilt. (1989) I had been watching Oregon Public broadcasting and they had quilting shows on Saturday's. I have learned by watching "simply Quilts" that used to be on HGTV and all the sewing and quilting shows on OPB!! Now I have this forum to continue the process. :D

katigirl

My sister and I both sew. She taught me when I was 11. After the death of my first husband she asked me if I ever thought about quilting. I had gotten several books but not ever tried it. She told me about a quilt retreat sponsored by her church women's group. I went and haven't missed one since then. That was 16 years ago and yes I owe my addiction to her. We both agree we will never be cured. To start a 12 step program you first have to admit you have a problem.. what problem I don't see any problem. lol. :D

GailG

Several inspirations...I have always remembered, as a child, combing wool from worn out quilts to have them remade by a family of sisters in our community. These quilts were whole cloth with awesome handstitching. We slept under those quilts which were so toasty warm. Then many many years later, I remember going to visit a friend who had a little frame in her living room with her sitting handstitching baby quilts (also whole cloth). Then I began watching Georgia Bonesteel ((((blush))) not sure of her last name... showing those beautiful quilts. I remember her putting on her white gloves to show them. What pride and respect! I began watching any and all quilting shows I could catch on LPB and then HGTV. Then alas, in the mid ninties, a friend at school (a quilter) threw out this idea: Lets all make blocks to swap so we'll all have a friendship quilt. Well, this do do bird (ME!) made 15 blocks and did the swap. I was the second one to assemble my blocks. I was so proud. And that's where it started. I began collecting books and patterns. Then along came the internet -- of which I'm also a do do bird. And the rest is history.

samifel

When I was about 8 my grandmother gave me a box of fabric squares, a spool of thread and a needle. That was my first introduction. However, it was years later that I became a serious quilter. I have been making and selling quilts since 1983.