Cagey

I made my first quilt when I was in my early 20s. My aunt worked in a textile factory and had cut out blue polyester prints (fabric from men's pants) to make a bowtie quilt. She gave the pieces to me in a large garbage bag with the directions and I toted them home from Oklahoma. I remember quilting them while my baby girl took naps. When I finished it it was so heavy and not cuddly that I think I must have tossed it. A few years ago someone at work told me that I would never be able to quilt as I wasn't "detailed orientated". Of course, that's one way to get me to try something. We now have one of my quilts hanging in the lobby where I work. I'm hooked this time around.

LadyElisabeth

I started the day my niece was still born. My brother came over and we sat and cut out squares of fabric and I started sewing them together. Knew nothing about making quilts but it was comforting. That was in the early 70's. Since then I have sewn, designed, taught, and now have a TV program about quilting.

Roberta

I would watch, sorry I most likely have her name wrong, Georgia Bonstell on PBS on Sat. and longed to learn how to do it but never could with our tight budget. Then a super gal Pat gifted me with bags of material she no longer had need for and I was off. Of course 40+ years in between though.

gramquilter2

I was going to quit teaching and decided I needed a hobby, knitting maybe...But then I saw a quilt in a quilt shop window and thought that's what I need, an embroidery machine so I could make THAT quilt for my granddaughter! And here I am 5 years later and still quilting for the grandkids some are getting a 2nd quilt now!

karate lady

I have been sewing since I was big enough to reach the pedal on my mom's treadle. Have done all kinds of hand crafts (I love counted xstitch), but last year I decided to try making a "real" quilt. You know...piecied and stuff....Am now able to say......HI. my name is Elaine and I am a quilt addict..........

captlynhall

My brother and I was raised by my grandmother. Whenever she had a moment to sit down she always had a basket of fabric pieces she had cut out with scissors and would piece quilt tops. Then in the winter, she set up the quilt frames in the den and would quilt all winter. Sometimes my aunt Agnes would come over and quilt too. The frames set on the back of chairs and when we were little, my brother and I would play under the quilt. I think we pretended it was fort. As I got older I begged her to teach me to quilt, but for a while she balked because I was left handed. Finally I was persistent enough and she showed me how to pull the knot thru and how to rock the needle back and forth to make the stitches. I loved it. Couldn't wait to get home from school so I could quilt. After I grew up, married and moved away, I didn't try quilting again until less than two years ago. I'm 63, so it was quite a dry spell. Now that I am doing it again, I love every aspect of it. I feel close to grandma when I work and hope that she is proud of what she taught me.

Central Ohio Quilter

I love this topic! Every one of these stories is wonderful! Thanks to everyone for sharing!

kateyb

My mom's Aunt Laura made quilts. She was chair bound but had a basket with scraps from men's wool suits by her chair and pieced tops. She passed away when I was 10 but she had 22 pieced tops in a cedar chest. My mom and her daughter, Mae, would tie them on a frame under a big shade tree in our yard every summer. They are long gone because my dad, a germaphobe, washed them in hot water with bleach while my mom was visiting her parents out of state.
Mae taught me to sew when I was 12, and she also made quilts. When I was 19 I traveled to California and met my mom's Aunt Stella. She had a crazy quilt she made. I was fascinated by it.
I made most of my clothes and many of my 4 kids cloths for about 40 years.
My first quilt was an Eleanor Burns log cabin quilt in a day back in the mid '80's. I didn't become a serious quilter until '99. I've been hooked ever since.
My baby brother teases me that it took me until I was 52 to find my passion.

barri1

I started quilting, as I was working in stained glass, and ran into a problem in a studio apartment.. I had a hard time controling the glass shards from going all over the place.. There was a fabric store a couple of towns over, and I fell in love with the hobby.. My mom doesn't have a clue how to sew, but my grandmother used to make duvet covers for our down comforters.. We are talking over fifty years ago, but I remember her using a black singer with a treadle.. I self taught myself.. and my first quit was cut using scissors.. I sort of tied it, but bought buttons, and sewed them on in the intersections.. I used poly batting, and it's big, and soft..

stormwater

My grandmother and mom worked part time in the L.A. garment district, so I played at sewing during my childhood. During college I sewed myself a down sleeping bag, backpack, wool parka and down vest from Frostline kits. Post-college, got into stained glass, a kissing cousin to quilting. But it was when my mother-in-law, a quilter, was visiting us and I went with her to the old Calico House in Yorba Linda, CA (when it was in a Victorian home) that I saw a Wheel of Mystery quilt as a display for a class and fell in love. I signed up for the class and thus started my addiction.