sewmary

My grandmother made quilts and I remember we had two DWRs that she made on the twin beds. There is nothing left of them. We did not live close to Grandmother and my mom did not sew. At age 13 a friend of my mom's who only had boys took me under her wing and we made a black courduroy skirt. I was hooked on sewing since then. When I was single I made all my own clothes, incuding tailored blazers. When my daughter was born she had the most beautiful dresses with pinaofores, etc.! My son had overalls and shirts to match. Then divorce came and there was no timeto sew while working and raising the two as a single mother.

So long about 2000, i was talking with my grown up daughter about wanting to quilt when I retired. She told me not to be ridiculous - I didn't need to wait - we went off to Sears and bought two Kenmores and then to Joannes for fabric. She drafted an Irish chain for me and I was hooked.

A couple of years later I got a box in the mail - she had bought me a Pfaff super machine and surprised me. (She lives two hours away.)

I of course was hooked on quilting. I also love to make Am girl clothes. (My daughter alas does not quilt. She is now too busy and has given it up - I hope temporarily.)

And I still can't wait to retire so I will have more time to sew.

Sandra in Minnesota

When I was age 55, I discovered the rotary cutter, and never looked back!

Judi in Ohio

I am enjoying learning how each of us started this quilting journey.
A family friend decided I needed to know how to sew at 12. Home Ec classes, summer classes at the Singer store and I was up and sewing. I did kids clothes, then crocheted & knitted. I got into machine embroidery and from there I made a quilt to showcase my embroidery. I was interested in quilting, but I got really interested when I got to Bonnie Hunters site. I am a thru and thru scrappy girl and I love her patterns and storage ideas. I think a quilt is more interesting the more different fabrics it has. Most of my quilts have hundreds of different fabrics in them and I love it.
I, too, am waiting to retire. I just bought a long arm set up and learning how to use it.

QuiltingHaven

My grandmothers' quilted, my mother quilts and quilted. When we lived in Amish country, I loved watching the ladies quilt and we always purchased a quilt every year for 10 years then we moved and I was teaching. When I retired a year and half ago, I decided it was time to put those fantastic puzzles together and quilt them. I love the support on this board and am having a ball learning to quilt with a call in the evening to my mother who lives 650 miles away to discuss my "issues" with the current project and the help of the local quilt stores and this great board. Lovin' every minute of it!!!

PaperPrincess

Sewed my whole life, but never quilted. No history of quilting at all in my friends or family. In 2004, on vacation went to a quilt shop with a friend. I had never seen the new organic batiks (Hoffman, Kaufman etc). Bought enough for a quilt on a whim. Retired in 2007. In 2010, decided fabric had aged enough. I figured it was a 'one of' project. Make the bed quilt, move on to a different craft. Boy was I wrong! Loved everything about the process, planning, cutting, sewing, even pressing and then there was shopping for more quilt fabric!!!!!

ube quilting

The great Alex Anderson was my first introduction to quilting. Well, My DH and Alex. He had to have a new boy toy in the form of a satalite dish which I couldn't understand but...

I found Alexs' Show while channel surffing and have been a quilter ever since. That is now 12 years ago. I think he's sorry he got the satalite. I now own a Bernina, LA, treadle, singer, tables, tools and a whole new house to keep them in. Haa- haa

wraez

Funny, I was never interested in quilts or quilting, always thought they were 'old lady / grandma' things. Then about 10 years ago I went with a friend to a Victorian Home and Quilt Show in Redlands CA ... we went to see the houses. But each house had quilts decorating rooms, hanging from porches, clotheslines etc. We were attracted to the 'art quilts' of the time, the watercolor quilts and portrait quilts and just blown away that they were so beautiful and unlike the traditional quilts. That got us hooked on learning to quilt and both of us still have not made a watercolor or portrait quilt but have made wall hangings and so many other kinds of quilts ... AND now have swung to traditional blocks too.

'Old Lady/ Grandma things" ... well we have since become grandmas and love to make quilts for our grands, LOL.

kayahr

Back in the 1980's, I watched every sewing show on PBS. I had been making my own clothing since the 60's but thought that quilting would be boring. I was 50-something when I realized it would take a lot of work to alter all my clothing patterns that had "shrunk," and I still wanted to sew. There was a geometry lesson in the 5th grade materials I was using in my teaching situation that year. One of the units had quilts. I bought the Eleanor Burns book about pinwheels so that students could color the triangles. We pushed all the classroom furniture out of the way and arranged the colored paper triangles and pinwheels on the floor to see how transformations would change the look. (One student even colored the back of his paper so he could flip the sheet.) I realized quilting would satisfy my need for handling cloth and sewing. That was in 2004 and I haven't gotten bored yet.

noveltyjunkie

Lovely thread - thanks for sharing! I honestly don't know why I always wanted to make a quilt, but I always have. Possibly because my mother and older sister sewed (not quilts- I don't remember ever even seeing a quilt!)

For years I collected ideas, but had no skills on how to make a quilt. I had some handsewing skills from my mother ( who never let me touch her machine) and I remember when I was about four years old we were learning to sew in school ( as you did, back then - it was the early 70s). I thought to myself- "well - when the teacher asked us to do a row of tacking, she did not know I can already do that stuff, so I will do something else!" You know that did not end well. I remember cutting out a square of pink felt and placing it on point on my scrap, attaching it with coloured stitches. I think I even managed a button in the middle! My teacher ridiculed me and the way I felt at that moment has fueled my determination to never let anyone else tell me that what I like to do is wrong, or ugly, or anything other than a joyful expression of my love of life!

Sadly it did not help me to walk before I run, and I am still taking up 'too hard' projects 40 years later. That's me. I still have not made a fullsize quilt, but have got great joy making smaller quilts.

Central Ohio Quilter

I had sewn for as long as I can remember, but only clothes and doll clothes. When my husband's sister was going to get married, (late 70's) I knew I wanted to make her something special for a wedding present. I decided a king size quilt would be the most special present I could make for her, even though I had never made a quilt before. I have been hooked on quilting ever since!