cjomomma

Ok here's the deal I know most quilters have a story behind what got them started down the road to quilting. I would love to read your stories.
I will start.

5 and half years ago we moved from California to Kentucky. had to get out of Cali cause the area we lived in had a crime problem that was getting out of hand and we really felt like God was leading us here.
We rented an old house with no insulation in the walls. It was hot in the summer so I knew it was gonna be cold in the winter, even people were telling me it doesn't get that cold around here. Maybe a dusting of snow but that's it. I refused to believe them and decided to make quilts instead of buying them. I had jeans from the kids that were too small not enough tho. Found a second hand shop and bought 40 to 50 pairs of jeans for .25 cents a piece in many different colors. I made 3 quilts to start with. These quilts were crazy cause nothing lined up. I had 2 months from start to finish to get them done. I just threw them together, not caring how bad they looked. If you have ever ripped a pair of jeans apart you know it takes a lot of time. Any way I got them done and bygolly it turned out to be the coldest winter they had in 20 years according to the news. We had 8 plus inches of snow on the ground for Chrstmas and it was so cold. My kids still use thier quilts even during the summer, they love them. That got me hooked. I had enough jean material left to make 2 or 3 more in fact I gave some away on here. That started my stash and quilting life. I will quilt til I can't any more.

Now tell me your stories. Don't worry about how long it is I want to hear it. :thumbup:

CAROLJ

I've sewn since I was about 8. I made baby quilts, appliques for my nieces and nephews. But I really didn't get into quilting until about three year ago. My son died and I couldn't throw away his old clothes so I made a crazy quilt out of them. I cut up everything from knit shirts to underwear for the quilt. It kept me sane, and kept him near to me.

cjomomma

Thank You for your story. I would do the same thing if something like that happened to one of my children. My heart goes out to you.

Pamela Artman

I grew up watching my grandmother make quilts. My mother made a baby quilt for my first born by embroidering blocks traced from coloring books. When I was expecting my second, I was staying with her until the baby was born while my husband went out of state to finish college. She was working and quite busy, so she said, "If you want to start embroidering these blocks, I'll help and then make you a baby quilt." So, I embroidered them all and she said "If you want to sew those together, I'll quilt it." So, I cut the sashings and sewed the blocks together. Then she said, "If you want to start quilting it, I'll help and together we'll get it finished. So, I started quilting it. I can't remember for sure, but I think she may have sewn on the binding when I was done! LOL But it got me hooked. That was 35 years ago! There was a period of time when I was busy raising a family and was not actively quilting, but when my kids were grown, I jumped back into quilting and haven't stopped since. About 10 years ago, I joined a guild, met my best quilting friend and about 7 years ago, we started taking a quilting vacation every year. About 4 years ago, I started teaching a class at my church. Now, I'm starting a private quilt retreat business to combine my 3 loves, quilting, teaching and traveling! I will plan a retreat for 6-8 women in different locations around the midwest.

MadQuilter

When we bought our house in '89, I decided that it needed a quilt. I signed up for a sampler class at a local quilt store and after I paid the fee, the nice lady said: Don't forget to bring your stash. Stash? I didn't have any stash. In my eager-beaver mode, I had totally missed the part where it said "scrappy STASH sampler" Oh well, since I had to buy all the supplies anyway......about $150 later, I had the beginning of a stash and a beautiful friendship was formed. The irony: That first quilt never got finished. "The house" still doesn't have a quilt.

sewcrafty

I'm soo sorry! I'm going to be helping a friend do a memory quilt, her son died last August.

I started sewing when I was 12 in Home Ec. (just dated myself). Made clothes for school for years, even on my grandmothers treadle. Then when I got my own place started doing home decor items. About 15 years ago, when my son was 3, I needed a mommy thing. I had no family nearby, didn't have very many neighbors around (lived out in the country), and a husband that worked very long hours (6 days a wk atleast 12hrs/day). Met a couple women from a kid's playgroup, and since I never did quilting. Why not! Mommy night out!!! YEAH!!! Got hooked!!

I've made all kinds of quilts and not one for myself yet!!! Keep giving them away. That's OK though. One that sleeps under a quilt is comforted by love!!!

Few more to do before I can actually start working on mine. Have the material (good start), had a pattern for it and now I can't find it or my taste has changed. But, atleast now its on my list!!! :lol: :lol:

Gal

I learned to sew from my Mother who sewed our clothes and made curtains for the house etc, she loved to embroider and make her own designs, both my Grans did much the same thing, they also made scrap rugs. When I left school I went to work in a fabric shop and used to sew all my own clothes. I pretty much stayed in that trade all my life, apart from my painting, I have worked in every kind of fabric dept, sewing for weddings and even cutains and home furishings, but I had never made a quilt. Back in the seventies I made a pile of hand sewn Grand Mothers Flower Garden paper pieces, I still have them, thought I was going to make a quilt but I did not know how much work was involved!! Perhaps one day I might get them out! I have always loved quilts and one day when I retired I thought that is what I am going to take up doing and I am in the process of learning quilting skills now. Having been a sewer all these years is a big help. I thought I would be machine sewing everything untill I tried hand quilting and now I am hooked!!!! I shall be machine piecing and hand quilting in the future. I would like to make some of my own designs since I am also an artist, and can make my quilts unique, but I have a lot to learn yet.

Gal

BellaBoo

Growing up all my clothes were made by my grandmother then by me as I got older. I made many of my children's clothes too. My ex MIL gave my DD a quilt she had pieced and tied. My DD asked me if I could make her one using different colors and not tied. I said sure! I started out with a small cutting mat and rotary cutter on my coffee table using a yard stick for a ruler. I bought the cheapest fabric WalMart had because I didn't want to mess up good fabric. That quilt is my DD's favorite and I sure wished I used good fabric! It's falling apart. All it took was a few quilting magazines and I was hooked.

LoisN

When I was a teenager (many years ago), my Mom bought me a pre-cut kit to make a Lone Star. I pieced it and had it hand quilted and used it for a long time. Then as I was graduating from high school, Mom started 2 cross-stitch quilts...one for my sister and one for me. She got my sister's quilt done, but was about 1/3 done with the cross-stitch on mine when she left it as a UFO and I inherited it when she died in 2000. I finished it and hand-quilted it. Then didn't do any more quilting until about 2005 when I saw a sampler in a museum and decided that I could do that if I picked out simple block patterns and then could see if I really liked it. I'm hooked.

I've made 2 memorial quilts for friends who lost teenagers and now have a 3rd memorial quilt to make for other friends. Those memorial quilts mean the most to me, and I hope mean a lot to the families. I incorporate pictures of the teen and try to come up with something that reflects the loves of the teen. I had an opportunity to take a machine quilting class just before I finished the first memorial quilt and then (mysteriously) my quilter that had agreed to quilt it for me was booked for several months. That propelled me into the realm of machine quilting. I got lots of advice from my friends and I DID IT! I was proud of myself for tackling the project, but think there may have been some purpose in my preparation to be able to make those quilts and machine quilt them myself. It has been a gift of myself that I can offer to friends who are grieving.

sewingladydi

I started sewing as a kid. Made a lot of my clothing into my '30's. Then life just got so busy that I rarely sewed anything other than to do mending. About 12 years ago, my mom bought several quilt books at a garage sale. The quilts were so pretty that I got hooked.
Now, I am so happy to be retired and have the time to try all those quilting things I didn't have time to try before!