I started hand sewing clothes for my Miss Revlon doll, then, of course, Home Ec. Made clothes for myself & my children. My grandmother gave me a beautiful 1930's wedding ring quilt top that someone made for her. In 1976, I bought an issue of Ladies Circle Patchwork Quilts (I still have that issue!). In 1983, I took a quilting class at our Adult Community School, and I've been hooked ever since! (BTW, I finally hand quilted the quilt top my grandmother gave me--it's on my profile)

If you want to know my actual beginnings, I've sewed since junior high - took every Home Ec class, thru high school! My first quilt was a laugh - I used some of my old clothing, cut out squares and sewed long columns together. Then I decided it needed to be more interesting, so I staggered the blocks by 1/2! I put some sort of ruffle (made from a sheet) on it instead of a binding. It had a blanket for batting, and the backing was a sheet. Then I tied it with yarn. It's long gone now - I think it was a dog's bed, at one point in my life! I guess the desire to quilt has always been in me; I just got immersed in quilting since Feb 2000.

PattiSure wrote:
Thanks, Patti! Actually, they are friends from a different adventure - a cruise my DH and I took in 2002 (my 50th birthday!) We've remained friends with 3 other couples who were seated at the same table as us, each night for dinner. We try to get together annually. The pic was taken in my sewing room, and they were checking out the quilts I was working on at the time! The quilt is "Isabel's Garden" which was a pattern offered on the HGTV/Simply Quilts website. It is a sampler style, and was fun to do.

I took home ec in high school and made the little peasant blouse etc. I used to thread my mother's needle when she couldn't see to do it so she could mend clothes. Stopped for 10 years or so. Started sewing my own children's clothes, one piece overalls and dresses. Stopped for 30+ years until I had retired from teaching at the age of 60. I volunteered at school and watched a colonial craft day where a quilter was demonstrating how to make a block with colored construction paper. I thought to myself, I CAN DO THAT The next day I bought a sewing machine, an Elna and went to Ben Franklins to buy fabric, tools, patterns since there were no actual "quilt" stores anywhere. The clerk wasn't a quilter and had no clue what tools I needed but a customer, who was a new quilter, helped me out and we picked up a sampler pattern, who knew? It took me a year to make that quilt and hand quilt it with really big stitches. And I have never looked back. Judy in AZ

I was a home ec. major and had sewn since I was ten, however my sewing was mostly clothing and a little home dec. A co-worker took a class and learned to make a log cabin quilt and she shared her hand-written instruction sheet with me. I made the quilt although I didn't have a clue what I was doing. It was another ten years or so before I dropped in on an online quilting group and started reading posts. They decided to do Quilt in a Day's Christmas Traditions quilt and convinced me that if I knew how to sew, I could do it. I did, loved the quilt, and have been quilting off and on ever since.

This thread has been the coolest thing to read! Everyone's story is so unique.

I started quilting because I love to sew in general. And I saw a lovely quilt and balked at the price. I started quilting and told my husband it would be a cheap hobby because I can use my scraps from sewing.

It wasn't cheap. But it has been the most creative thing that I have ever tried. I have done other crafty things but there is always something new in quilting. New techniques, new color theories and ideas as well as what new technology offers!! After 20 years, it's still a brand new world.

BTW, my most gratifying project was when my grandmother gave me a quilt top that was made by her mother when my grandmother was about 10. The top was very "ordinary" and consisted of scraps from my grandmother's clothes. One year I quilted it and entered it into a local quilt show. I got a blue ribbon for something...it wasn't best in show or anything like that. I sent it all back to Grandma for Mother's Day so she would have something made by her mother, quilted by her granddaugher and enjoyed by her. That was years ago and it still gives me pleasure.

Linda your new profile picture is great. Those are your quilting buddies from your blog, right?

Since I was a teenager, I had always had an unusual desire to make a quilt. 'Unusual' because I didn't know anyone who quilted and I hated sewing. Every attempt at sewing ANYthing had failed miserably and ended with me in tears. When I had my 1st child, I bought a sewing machine because, to me, every mom should have 2 things - a stand mixer and a sewing machine. The mixer made sense - I like to bake things and make/decorate cakes. But a sewing machine? Then in 2003 (I was 31?) when I was expecting my 2nd child, my sister showed me a 'cheater' way to make a watercolor quilt. That was good. I thought, I'll probably do this again someday - but JUST THIS technique. Six months later, she said, "Let me show you foundation piecing." No no no, not something new! I fought it, she dragged me kicking and screaming - but it was so fun! Ok, I thought, now I'll just do small watercolor and foundation pieced quilts. I saw a show on PBS and they were sewing 2" squares together and I thought they were crazy for sewing something that small without a foundation. LOL. Then I started watching Simply Quilts and I was hooked. Couldn't get enough. Started making large pieced quilts. I love color and fabric and triangles and quilt books. Then, last year, I pieced a 1" -finished-sized!- Sawtooth star (no foundation) and I knew I'd crossed over into Crazyland! LOVE it here!
-Tina

My quilting began in a parks and recreation adult ed class in CA. It was 1976 and the year of the Bicentennial. From there it just sort of grew by joinging a small group of friends to quilt once a week. I'm continually impressed with how fabric, tools, and quilting has expanded and grown. I'm amazed at my own desires and attempts at new things. I had a great-grandmother who I've been told made some quilts but no have been passed to my part of the family. My mother made a couple of Quilt-In-A-Day quilts but didn't stick with it as a passion. I'm looking forward to passing my love of quilting on to my DGDs.

I first made a Dresden Plate by hand way back when. Guess it must have been in the 50's. It was a summer project to keep me out of my Grandmother's hair as she was our babysitter all day. Not sure whatever became of that one. I must have been 8 or 9 at the time. Grandma would be working at a treadle machine doing her thing and I'd be sitting on the floor stitching away. It was made from scraps from clothing sewn by my mom for my sisters and me. That was it for quilting because I was busy making my own clothes very shortly after that. My current interest was stirred in 1977 when we moved from Pa to Ohio and I found my local quilt shop. They offered many classes and I started with a baby quilt sampler style that was tucked away until my first DD was born. It is in a poor state--was "loved" a lot! Then came a Trip Around The World all in blues that we used on our bed for many years. Then it was demoted to the family room couch and simply faded and wore completely out. I did make a large bed sized sampler back then that by the end of the piecing I totally disliked. I gave all the blocks and the excess fabrics to my MIL, who then became a quilter in her own rite. In fact she does everything by hand still and with templates only...no rotary cutting and she is still more productive than me. LOL! Along the way I found that my real passion is in applique so most of my projects are of that type. I have made most of my friends through guilds and classes I have taken over the years and really don't know what kind of person I would be if I hadn't become a quilter. Sally in rainy NE Ohio

We went on a vacation to the Amish country of PA when the kids were small. I saw those gorgeous quilts and the prices. I decided that I'd learn to make my own.
eileenkny

The story of how and why I started quilting is in my member blog, I'm Snow Quilter. So I won't detail it again but I know that I am a happier person now that I discovered quilting. And Sandy I am like you when it comes to sewing and crafts I think I have done them all at one time or another except stained glass and ceramics. Can you imagine hauling equipment and supplies for that around in a motorhome? DH better quit complaining about the weight of fabric. LOL

Ann

I didn't post my entire story but I have so enjoyed reading everyone’s story. My grandmother made quilts and we would hang all her quilt tops on the clothes line and air them out each summer. She died when I was 9 years old and I don’t remember ever seeing her quilt. My mom quilted and I remember the cardboard box of fabric scraps and the shoebox filled with whatever quilt she was working on. Her templates were cut out of cardboard or newspaper and she used straight pins to pin the template to the fabric and then cut out each piece with scissors I still have. Your stories reminded me that I did my first quilt for my daughter when she was born. I bought a quilted panel and sewed a ruffled binding around the edges. That was in 1980. My mom made her a yellow and white quilt with animals embroideied on it. A lady at church made her three scrap quilts out of two layers of double knit polyster and they were tied. I was out of work in 1985 and while between jobs I started my first quilt, a sampler. It was hand pieced and I was going to quilt it by hand. My mother-in-law gave me my husband’s step-grandmother’s quilt frame and I quilted about half of it before I lost interest. It is the one stuck under the bed. It reminds me of how far I have come.

I keep a stack of quilt magazine beside my ‘seat’ and picked one up last night and it was Quilters Newsletter from 1989 so it appears I the urge was always there and I started quilting again in 1999. In 1999 I made a miniature 20” x 20” I Spy Quilt. Finished blocks were about 2” squares made from 4 triangle pieces. That little top sat there for 3 years until I started a quilted tablecloth which inspired me to quilt the I Spy Quilt and I haven’t stopped since. I made my clothes for years, made some for my daughter, made Halloween costumes, made curtains and things for the house, cross stitched, crocheted, tried to knit, and finally gave in and embraced quilting.

Wow, this is great I started let's see, I can remember when I was 10. let's see that was 1967 :shock: Gram let us young uns use her singer, that was the best. I can remember pink and blue squares for doll blankets. :shock: Wow, how old is that. Thanks for making me think of quilting in my grams bedroom. Debbie