My quilting start

I first learned how to quilt at 8 from my mom. She taught me and the other three girls who were in my local girl scout troop. Mom taught us how to pick fabrics, cut and arrange them to make a small quilt just under a yard square. It was a simple rail fence quilt, but I learned. I remember deciding to make mine a theme quilt. The entire thing was made from strawberry fabrics.

I have tried at other times in my life to pick up quilting again, but it was not until college when I met H. (she is from a very traditional family and grew up quilting) that I started up quilting again. I had always been interested in quilting, but it really was not until I allowed myself to use the sewing machine to work on quilts that I started getting anything done.

Quilts have always been a part of our family, but my mother is a die hard quilt snob, who believes that everything needs to be done by hand, 100% cotton and that perfectionist style just does not work for how I quilt.

I remember when I was really little, watching my mother finishing up my sister's Christmas quilt. I still am slightly grumpy that I never got a quilt made for me. My mother likes to say that she has always known what she wants to make for me, but she doesn't know how to make it. She wanted to make me a rainbow grandmother's fan quilt, but she didn't know how to make curves. Honestly, I resent this a little bit because it would not have been hard to take a class or make an effort to make it for me. Though, I do understand, it still stinks.

I have been making quilts as gifts for awhile now, and am focusing on making some for myself now. I have several tops that I need to finish up but will do so eventually. In response to my never getting a quilt from mom I made myself a Christmas strippie. I still don't know how I want to finish it which is why it is still just a top. I struggle on this one. Sometimes, I think that I would like to do the back like graffiti in embroidery with clear thread on the top. However, I just don't know. I want it to be a comfortable quilt so maybe not. Perhaps instead I will make a graffiti quilt and work on that idea later.

I have quite a few quilt tops that I pieced from old t-shirts. I cut out the logos and fronts that I wanted to save for a t-shirt quilt and cut the rest up into blocks. I arranged these blocks into designs and sewed them into larger blocks of nine. I started quilting one of these t-shirt block quilts in grad school. I found a nice fleece and used it for backing without batting. Originally, I wanted to use a really thick batting and either tie or sew the quilt to make it a comforter. However, I was talked out of it by my mom and sister and have instead arrived at a summer weight quilt that has been quilted in the ditch. I really need to finish the quilting.

I stopped quilting it, due to my nickel allergy. I lost the platinum needles I took to school with me and picked up a normal needle but had to stop quilting when my allergy got too bad. I really hoped to have it done, but wound up having to spend time on my knitting (another craft I learned in girl scouts only to pick up again in college) instead.

I think the biggest factor in my quilting interest is that I figured out how to design quilts on the computer. I spend a lot of time designing quilts and layouts on the computer and then later on making my favorite designs.

I use a mac and Appleworks to design all of my quilts. I used Appleworks because it had a graph background, making it easy to draft blocks. Plus, I really appreciate the ability to manipulate the size while maintaining the look of the block. Though I have learned the hard way that I need to back up everything. I lost something like 30 original designs for quilts when my hard drive crashed. I was devastated, the designs hurt, but loosing my photographs was terrible. I lost some of the only photos I had of college friends and loosing my cell phone at the same time really stank. I not only lost photos, but my records, and the ability to get in touch with them. Seriously, if you keep anything digital, back it up!

I have only ever quilted on my own, and I think it would be really cool to get involved in a guild or quilting group. However, I am currently trying to relocate and don't really want to commit to something local, when hopefully I will get a job and move soon.