mjsylvstr

I lost my Mother when I was 18 so I never did learn from her and so wished that I had since she could make her machine talk......after she passed, I would go each week for dinner to my sister's home with my dad, he and BIL were in the Guard. While they were drilling, I was learning to sew.....which came in handy a few years later sewing clothes for my children and items for the house.

My older daughter decided she wanted to make a quilt for her expected niece and went for lessons at a LQS. She asked if I wanted to join her and learn the craft, so along I went.........

............and that's the story in a nutshell....still quilting, still loving it, still meeting new friends daily on this QB and plan to continue doing the same until I can't no more !!!!!!!!

MaryJane

thequilterslink

i grew up surrounded by quilts, my gram made them, my aunt and my mom made some tops. My aunt worked at a plant in town that made corsets and baby clothes lol, she would bring home all the cutaways and my gram made quilts from them. Gram would be truly amazed at how quilting is done today with rotary cutters and mats, no cardboard templates.
I did not start quilting until the 3 of them had passed on, i wish i had started earlier, they would have been amazed lol. I have one of my moms postage stamp tops and one of my aunts carolina lily tops. I wonder what they would have made with my stash. when we visited Gram, she would call us over, feel the fabric we were wearing and say , do you have any of that fabric left? I've gone thru a lot of hobbies over the years, but quilting has hung on for over 20 years now. Looks like it is here to stay. Love this board!

sylviasmom

I started quilting 13 yrs ago. I made a baby quilt, Tumbling Pandas, for My Boy Mikey. Didn't know a thing about quilting, proper quilting that is. Used a metal ruler, zig-zag stitching for applique and hand quilted the whole thing. That quilt held up for about 3 years. Then I had to remake it, because Mikey asked me to. Going on 14, he still has it! Then I learned the adult school(I lived in Salinas, Ca then)had quilting classes. So I spent 11 yrs there meeting once a week. The class cost me 75.00 yrly. Had the best teacher and friends. We woud start a quilt maybe once a month or every six weeks. The all around fave is the stack and whack, which is my personal fav. So what are the chances a person having the same quilt pattern, same color, I would say about 1 in 20. Thats how big the class was. I made a pink and black floral s&w and 2 yrs later a classmate, who had never seen my quilt made the same one!! I loved that class. Salinas has only one fabric store, but hey, Monterey and San Jose are not that far. I have about 40 quilts, half need to be quilted. One wip is a peony pattern which I am making for an older sister. Mostly I keep my quilts, but my dghtr know who will get what.. when.
Now I am living in Co. Quite a change. Fabric, prices about the same. I am getting to know the shops. My goal to visit the Great American Quilt Factory.
And as for that fabric stash, I have 2 dressers, drawers in sewing cabinet are overflowing, 4 bins. Not enough, huh?

ejudy

What a wonderful bunch of stories. So similar, and yet each unique.

I wanted to use the sewing machine when I was 8, so mother showed me how to cut the squares for a 4-patch and then put the blocks together. A couple years later I made 9-patch blocks. She quilted them for me.

Mother made all our clothes and made quilts for all the extended family. Everyone knew they would get a quilt when they got married. At her funeral last year, we used some of these quilts in place of flowers and put her Kansas Centennial Quilt on the casket. I know she would be proud. She made her last quilt at age 90, and died at 96.

I got a machine when I graduated college and continued making my clothes and the boys' clothes until time just wouldn't allow. But I really love to do crafts and embroidery. So all my friends started getting baby quilts. I think baby quilts are still my favorite thing to do - when I can find the time. I hope when I retire, I'll have time to quilt some of the many UFO's I found in Mother's cedar chest, and those at my house.

I'm one of those that finds it more fun to make the quilt blocks than to finish the project.

Jill R

I can remember my Grandmother she was always quilting,crocheting baby clothes or sewing. In fact I have a quilt that she made and gave my mother and when grandmother passed away Mom got her other quilt so she gave me the one she had. My grandmother had made my son a quilt when he was born and knitted him sweaters. I always like watching her and seeing her stuff she made. Have most of it now, but it wasn't until about a few years ago. When I was working a night shift, that a lady I was working with wpuld bring in her quilting stuff and when had spare time she would be cutting blocks or arranging blocks. That I decided to give it a try. So I took a quilting class in which we did the bowtie quilt and really enjoyed it. I have not tried another quilt yet, but have made several tablerunners as I needed to practice more in getting the binding right. So basically I have been working on getting a little of a stash of material and I plan to start quilting in the next month or so, as right now I have been busy, since we will be moving soon.

tryitall

My mother-in-law quilted all of the time. I had always done crochet, knitting, crafts, embroidery, ect. but have NEVER been much of one to sew. His whole family were quilters. The quilts were so pretty. His mother made our 2 boys quilts. I decided I REALLY wanted to learn to do this. So that is just what I did. All by trial and error . And believe me, there were loads of errors.! I have been quilting for about 10 years now and I am no spring chicken! There have been some real challenges for me. One of the hardest things is to match points on odd shaped angles. I like instant qratification, so all of my quilts have been crib sized or twin sized, lap throws, etc. But now I love my quilting. I don't think of myself as beginner, intermediate,or an advandced quilter. If I like a pattern, I go for it! I want to make a double wedding ring, and a star pattern quilt. ( someday).

Sewnique

I say go for whatever you like! That is all that matters, if you like it. If you don't, pick it apart and use it for another project. Bootsie

tryitall

been there and done that too!

franie

This seems to be a common thread here. I feel the same way. Until I can't any more....

yourstrulyquilts

The true story of two quilters, part one.
My mom was a quilter and being the only child (I lost my brother when he was 17, and me 19) she gave me quilts. These were utility quilts made with polyester from clothing. In those years she didn't buy fabric like we do now. She went to rummage sales, and later, garage sales, and found used polyester clothes, which she washed and tore apart at the seams. She used simple patterns, and with puffy batting, tied them all. As my children were born and growing up, they all had quilts from Granny. Different stages in their lives got them a new quilt. For my son, who grew to be 6'5" at 16 years old, she made a very long one. My daughters got pretty pink and orange, blue and pink, with greens thrown in. As time passed and quilting changed~ think rotary cutter~ so did Mom's quilting. She found a pattern called Sunshine and Shadow, and we all got one of those, in cotton fabrics that she bought at Joanne. They were beautiful! She had great color sense. Her bindings were always zig-zagged on and there was little to no batting out that far, so it was usually just a strip of fabric folded in half and sewn on to the edge to keep it all together.
During all this time I never quilted. I was busy being a single mom with 3 or four kids, depending on who was living where at any given time. I worked full time and when the kids were little made all their clothes, plus my own. I would sew late at night and early in the morning. I thought quilting was a waste of time. Mostly because I didn't have any left over at day's end!
But I did do craft things. I taught myself to crochet at about 9 years old~my grand mother had crocheted and so I wanted to do what Grandma did~ and was producing doilies for my "hope(less) chest", as by brother called it. As I got older and babysat for people and had my own spending money, I bought yarn and made afgans. I did embroidery work on towels and pillow cases.
I crocheted until the 1980's and in 1986 I saw a pattern in a magazine that caught my eye. It was beautiful. It was a Grandmother's Fan in a queen size, green and lilac, my favorite colors! I immediately went shopping for fabric, armed with the requirements for yardage. The fans were assorted pinks, greens and lilacs. I bought waaaay more than necessary to make them. I also bought the wrong kind of fabric. I got all silky prints. No rotary cutter, none of the neat thing I have today. But by May I was finishing the quilt with hand quilting. It was done! It was lovely! (Since then I have learned a thing or two about hand quilting. My stitches then were three per inch! Not quite right, but it's still together.) I had hand stitched each fan spoke with embroidery and I loved it. I used it for years, and every morning the bedspread would be on the floor because of the quilt being silky.
But after making that one quilt, I went back to my crochet and other crafts that I had picked up over the years. And I went back to work full time, as a florist at a major grocery store. So time was once again limited.
My mom, however, kept on quilting. Over the years she has made 451 quilts. In these later years, she's had her quilts quilted by a long arm quilter. She has macular degeneration and is now not able to sew any more. Just last month I went to her house and took away all of her quilting stuff. She had boxes of fabric and she wanted me to take it to the Guild to make quilts for kids, because that's where so many of hers had gone, was to children. She is now legally blind and I'm sure she will expire before long because of not being able to quilt. She bemoans the fact to me every day, and she's going downhill. I will miss her when she is gone.

I will tell more later, about my own quilting experience.
Diana