grandma Janice

I learned to sew on an old tredel singer and have always made clothes for my kids, all the way from sport jackets for the boys to dresses, formals and finally my daughter's wedding dress. I have always been into crafty things, but when I started quilting it became my passion. DH's mother made all my kids quilts that they enjoyed all their growing up days so when my grandkids came along, I thought I should carry on the tradition. I started making them quilts and soon got hooked. since I find almost all my material and things at garage sales or on sale, DH let me get into it in a big way. I have always hand quilted and I hope to keep doing that as long as I can. I admire all the LAQ ladies and their quilts but never wanted to go that route so far.

cpfrog

Learned to sew from my late Mom on her '47 Featherweight, making doll clothes in the 1950's. Fast forward to 1969 and just after 2nd son was born, got a Singer Stylist. Fast forward to 80's: our local College Club made an appliqued raffle quilt for scholarship; after a few years, the lead girls burned out; I figured how hard could it be to put two pieces (squares) of material together. Voila! been quilting ever since - over 20 years now and finally making something for me on both the Featherweight and Stylist!!! Quilting has been therapy for me before and after the losses of friends/family; and has put me in touch with some remarkable people! Quilters are a special breed.

cjomomma

Wow this thread has been fabulous to read. Thank you. I love each life story as to how everybody got started and at times had tears in my eyes and couldn't read the words. This turned out to be better than I could have ever expected it too. And yes I have read each and every one word for word. Thank You to all of you that have responded to this thread. Keep them coming I am sure others would like to read more too. I knew that most us had put bits and pieces on the board every now and then but it has been nice to read the stories from beginning to end.
Carrie.

Joanie2

I learned how to sew with Gram like so many others. I made my first scrap quilt from bits of leftover clothes she made for me and other grandchildren. I kept that quilt through several moves over the years and somehow it got lost after the last one. I do miss it. I began quilting after #3 son was born. Living in a house with 3 little boys, a husband and a father in law -- I needed some girlie time. So I went to our local Sr Ctr to learn. The class was a log cabin but my Kenmore sewing machine apparently didn't like traveling. I learned how to use a rotary cutter and cut strips and that was about it. I had to rely on Eleanor Burns book to make the blocks. What I didn't learn was the difference between pressing & ironing so my blocks were not square. One day several years later I went into House of Fabrics and met a lady who said she could guarantee that if I came to her class I would finish my quilt top in one day.
Not only did she help me finish the top, she had just started machine quilting and quilted my queen quilt for only $25! I took a few other classes from her and she quilted those for $25 also. Needless to say I was hooked. That was 20 years ago and by strange coincidence she now lives about 2 blocks from me! Of course machine quilting prices have changed since then. Dang!

Stummel

Wow, I am a bit jealous of all those who had dear friends or family members to introduce them to sewing or quilting. Absolutely nobody in my family does crafts or arts now, apart from my dad's step sister. I grew up in the same house with my grandparents, and my grandmother used to crochet sometimes or do embroidery and cross stitch, but not very much. I learned to crochet from her, but always hand sewed dolls clothes by myself when I was little. At 15 or so I wanted to be a fashion designer, so my parents kindly sent me to three sewing classes and I made a skirt, a dress and trousers. The skirt was never worn, the dress never hemmed, and the trousers ripped the first time I wore them. It was also the year my grandmother died, which was the most tragic loss to me as we were very close.
In university I sewed a lot of my clothes and made bags for people, and when I was doing my Masters and lived in a town with a quilt shop I took one of their classes. I have always had a sewing machine, used ones mainly as I moved from country to country fairly often in my twenties and just got rid of them when I moved.
I finished the top from my quilt class and loved it, but then the handquilting of the actual quilt was time-consuming and I just carried it across the Atlantic a few times and everywhere I moved unfinished.
My dad saw it once and said he'd like it, so for his 65th birthday last December I finally finished it, although I now know I didn't do the binding properly. He doesn't know though and loves it anyway.
When DH got moved for his work last year I gave up my job and haven't found a new one yet. Finishing my dad's quilt got me interested in it again and I got a Janome for Christmas and just finished a baby quilt for a friend and another top last night.
I have always liked fabrics and DH gets annoyed sometimes if we're out shopping, because he walks ahead and loses me, while I absolutely had to stop to touch something. I also love to guess what fabric is made of and feel happy when I guessed right!
The only obstacle to this is that none of my friends have the least interest in sewing or quilting and that I haven't met anyone in my age group who shares the hobby. My friends just think it is a bit quaint, but I love it and hope to one day be a really good quilter, despite not having anyone in the family to show me things.
I wish I had started much earlier and that I had been able to make quilts for my grandparents before they passed away. Apart from my dad and husband, nobody in my family would like or cherish a quilt, and we don't have any children, so I will just make them for friends and myself.
But I do think it is very special to have skills and tips passed on through generations of a family, so love reading all the stories. :-)

crleslie

My oldest son was getting ready to graduate from HS and head off to college and I started thinking about what I would do when my baby left for college 2 years later. I was a mess picturing myself coming home from work with no one to take care of, no soccer or baseball games no one to talk too (this did not go over well with my husband who was very excited about being numero uno again!!). Then I went up in the attic to start getting rid of stuff and found a bag of the boys favorite stuff, like t shirts sweatshirts little blankets, capes. You know, the things you knew you should get rid of but couldn't. I was telling a friend that my husband told me I had a month to give him a good reason to keep this stuff before he sent it to garbage heaven. She suggested I make a quilt. I don't really sew and she offered to teach me. I did some research and I knew that I really wasn't looking to make a typical t-shirt type quilt so we designed a log cabin quilt slipping in the different pieces. It was made of all plaids and I used what looked like our family colors for a flannel backing. I've been making quilts made of special clothing since! I find that I can absorb myself into the quilting and forget the world. It all began 6 years ago. I've even trained my husband to cut fabric and he helps me with my appliquing and will gladly go to the fabric store with me when I promise I'll buy him a beer afterward! The best part is I am tattooed and have a mouth like a truck driver so when people see my quilts they are completely blown away!! HaHa!

jolo

My story is like so many others, Mother and aunt,her sister made quilts. Used the frame pulled down from the ceiling ,my clothers were of feed sack fabrics. I learned to sew on a treadle machine.My Elna sets in the cabinet of that machine now. lol. I didnt quilt much when my son and 3 daughters were growing up,made their clothes. I knitted,crocheted,c.cross stitch,etc. but I always loved fabrics,stash grew and grew as I became an RN. Then I retired in 1994 and have been quilting non stop since. Teach it,do it ,love it. Machine and hand piecing and quilting. Due to age and being alone,I live with my DS and DDIL , they do their thing and I do my quilting. Made so many have given up counting,give to charity and friends and relatives, My ggc now are saying Nana that one is mine.lol Jolo

dakotamaid

I learned to love and make quilts from my adopted grandmother. I made one with her helping, than went on to college. Around that time my siblings started getting married and having kids. I've always sewn my own clothes and it was a natural progression to baby quilts as gifts. I have 33 nieces and nephews (10 siblings) so I made alot of baby quilts. Once my own kids started school I had more time to quilt and made a quilt for myself and have been quilting ever since. BTW I'm now doing baby quilts for the babies of all those nieces and nephews!! I'm eagerly awaiting my Fun Quilter so I can finally finish all those tops I love doing.

sewmom

I remember when i was a little girl, playing under the quilting frame at Moms 'sewing circle'. then in HS i made a quilted tweety bird purse. it was pretty awful. when my kids were small, i made them big floor pillows with quilted fronts. then about 10 years ago i made my first baby quilt. it was a latge strip log cabin from an easy baby quilt book. i have used it often and bought the sequel and have used it too.

Troutbabe

It's all my daughter-in-law's fault.
Been sewing for eons-hand, then on a treadle, then on a Featherweight(didn't know how wonderful it was until later). Kinda quit sewing as my kids grew. Then comes Millie (DIL) who wants to learn to sew. So I help her make mother-daughter dresses.
Then about 7 yrs ago she says she wants to learn to quilt, so I bought her a basic quilting class and the fabrics. And, since she isn't that strong a seamstress, I decide to take the class as well.... but I KNOW I won't like quilting 'cause it's too picky and detailed.
WELL, once the teacher said it really wasn't necessary to correct a mistake unless you could see it while galloping by on a horse going 30 mph, I thought, OK. Then my DIL, who was over-doing some of her 1/4" seams, had a gap at the end of one of her rows of blocks (a friendship star pointing at the error, no less). So the teacher said 'do you have more of the background?' and they sewed the strip in and then put on the border. Someone else in the class looked up and said 'what was the problem' so we held up the 4'x4' sampler.... and no one could see the problem! Now does that inspire or what??!
Since I have done several queen quilts, jackets, and 'stained glass' hangings. Looking forward to pushing into more art quilt work. Love the color, the sewing, the TACTILE nature of the work. I also paint and hope to join the two someday
And I have my grandmother's featherweight (along with 4 other machines.) Life tracks on forever.
Troutbabe