We have decided to start posting a question each week, to see what everyone thinks or knows about a particular topic. If you have questions you'd like to see asked, e-mail them to bakersfieldmodernquiltguild@gmail.com. Our first question of the week is:
When did you start quilting, and what prompted you to start?
I've been sewing since I was 13 (almost 50 years now). I started quilting about 4 years ago. My eldest was expecting a baby and my sister had said how much she loved quilting, so I thought, why not! Haven't looked back since. Now my sister long-arms all my creations and we have a wonderful time talking quilting.
ReplyDeleteMade my first quilt 16 years ago for a new nephew.
ReplyDelete5 or 6 years ago...bought a new sewing machine. I had always been a garment maker.
ReplyDeleteI started quilting about six years ago. I'd done cross-stitch to death, and had a Bernina that I'd only sewn small projects on. I love color and fabric, wanted to make something useful, and quilting seemed to fit the bill!
ReplyDeleteLaura, I think you and I started at the same time!
DeleteIn 1973. I was a junior in high school. I come from a family of sewers and quilters, and since I had been sewing for many years already, I had a good stash of scraps, so I decided to make myself a quilt. No strip piecing or rotary cutter back then, mind you....every piece was traced around a cardboard template and cut by hand. One quilt was all it took. I was hooked.
ReplyDeleteI made my first quilt about 20 years ago. I wanted to make something for my Grandmother and decided to try Eleanor Burns' book "Quilt In A Day". The stip pieced log cabin was fairly simple, but it took me a lot longer than one day!
ReplyDeleteMade my first quilt in 2000 after many many years of garmet sewing for my daughter and really resisted making a quilt. It's Bakersfield for goodness sakes, and why would take beautiful fabric, cut it into a million little peices, and sew it back together? It's hot here...who needs a quilt? I took a class at Strawberry Patches to make a small double Irish Chain with applique (of course), and have been hooked ever since. Since I have more time to sew now, I am busier than ever. Modern quilting seems to suit my current interests but I like all kinds of sewing and love handmade functional art!!
ReplyDeleteI grew up doing a lot of garment sewing. After quitting work to stay at home with my sons, I picked up a Quilt in a Day booklet to make a quilt. I was terribly frustrated that it took more than a day, then had problems quilting it on my old Kenmore sewing machine. (No walking foot)I threw everything in a box and decided that quilting wasn't for me. That was in 1996. In 2001, I happened upon a quilt shop that was in the same shopping center as my grocery store. I had some time to burn, so went in. Both of my grandmothers quilted, and one of the shop sample quilts reminded me of my grandma Faye. I loved every piece of fabric in that quilt, and I knew I had to make it. Besides, it was going to be part of my recovery therapy after having knee reconstruction surgery. That was my excuse, anyway. That was the quilt that hooked me! In 2004, I bought a longarm quilting machine and started my home-based business. Wow, that was almost 8 years ago! A year ago, I joined the new quilting group in town, The Bakersfield Modern Quilt Guild. I am now the president of our MQG, and I'm thoroughly enjoying the exploration of a whole new way of quilt making!
ReplyDeleteI started in 1976 during the bicentinial (yeah, I know many of you weren't even born in 1976!). Anyway I was a SAHM with two little boys and a love of sewing. Quilting was a wonderful addition to my garment sewing and eventually lead to a home based business and later to starting a quilting department for a local yarn shop. Nine years later I started my own quilt shop and the rest is history. I must say you meet the nicest people in a quilt store!
ReplyDeleteI sewed a little starting when I was a girl. Made my own cheerleading costume in 8th grade (with the help of a friend's mom) A prom dress and bridesmaid dress later (also with the help of others), it seemed too hard and tedious for me! When my oldest was 4, I think I must have borrowed my mom's singer (hardly used!) and made him a blue and gold "Beast" tuxedo from "Beauty and the Beast" for Halloween. It was fabulous! I was soooo proud! As he grew older and became involved in Jr. Theater, I began making his wonderful and sometimes extravagant costumes myself.
ReplyDeleteMy mom had given my her Singer by now. That poor thing cast me $100 bucks to repair and service 2 years in a row and that's when my husband bought me a new sewing machine from Sears.
4 more kids and many more costumes later, I finally joined a "Strip Club" meeting at Quilter's Haven a little less than 2 years ago. I had NO idea how to do any of it! I had been basically self taught by trial and error up to this point. Mostly Error! Hahaha! I knew how to thread my machine and bobbin and that was about it! I had finally discover only recently that I needed to use different needles for different fabrics! Wow! What a difference that made!
I had always admired quilts that I had seen given as gifts at baby showers etc. My younger sister had received a beautiful quilt from her mother in law at her baby shower. Hand quilted and labeled. I was completely taken.
I had been given a blanket by my aunt when I was a little girl. It wasn't really a quilt. Two pieces of fabric sewn together with yarn knots in it. I had always treasured it. I wished that I could make blankets and give them to people to treasure!
Making that first quilt made me soooooo happy! The whole process! I am in loooooove with it! I enjoy sewing everything now!