I've been thinking a little the last days. Thinking back, back to when I started quilting, and how I got started! I found this old Quiltmaker dated spring/summer '88, and it brought back some old memories! There were no photos of the quilts, only drawings, but very good drawings in colours! I don't know how many times I've been looking through this mag. I never made anything, guess it was too difficult!
I think I was dreaming of making this one, because I had marked it!
My mother has never been quilting, and no one else in my family did. She always made our clothes when we were little, and dresses for herself, because it was cheaper than to by them.
I discovered patchwork and quilting in 86-87. A friend had made a few pictures using machine-appliqué. It looked fun! I wanted to try, but first I needed a sewingmachine!
My husband and I had been married only a few months. I had finished my studies and was working full time as a nurse. My husband had two more years of studies left. During his summer holidays he went far away to work, leaving me home working and feeling sorry and depressed because I couldn't go with him! So I did what women do when they feel sorry for themselves! I went shopping!
I had been tempted to buy me a sewingmachine for a long time, and now I did! I bought a Bernina, not very fancy or big, but good enough for me, and I knew it from my mother!
Patchwork and quilting were not very known in Norway, but it was coming. Then I discovered a shop offering patchwork fabrics and supplies. I was sold! It was a heaven in fabrics and colours! And they had classes! But I had to make a choice! I couldn't afford to both join a class and buy fabrics.... so, the descission wasn't very hard! If I wanted to sew, I needed fabrics, so I bought fabrics and skipped the class! I think they got tired of me in the shop, because I was always asking how do I do this, and how do I do that! I asked, got the answers, and went home to try! This is how I made this blanket. Yes, it is a patchworkblanket, because I didn't learn properly how to finish the quilt until later!
When I made this, I was thinking of making a tablecloth, but if I bought a little more fabric, I could make a big wallquilt! I made some more blocks and thought, well, if I could buy a little more fabric, I could make a bedcover! The end of this story is that I had enough fabric for the bedcover, a wallquilt, two small tablecloths and a tablerunner, and still have some fabrics left!! LOL!
The "blanket" is not very well made. There are a lot of thread-ends still to be cut off. Hmm! And look how I finished it! I am not very proud of that, but I didn't know better! Hopefully I have improved my skills since then. I have learned a lot, and thankfully I know there is still a lot to learn!
Are you still there? You haven't fall asleep yet? Good for me!
So, when I am surfing around looking and reading others blogs, I see a lot of wonderful works, and read both sad and happy stories. You may have a problem, and there is always some one out there who is able to help you solve it, or to give you the support you need, and to share both your happiness and sorrows.
When I am on my "trip around the world", I can't help myself thinking and wondering. Here we are, thousands of women, women from different coutries and culture. Women with a different childhood, religion, jobs and daily life, in different stages of life. But we all have ONE thing in common, the passion for quilting and all that that includes!
My question to you is, why did you start quilting? What got you started, and when? And why are you quilting today? It would have been so fun to know!
Please, leave a comment on this post and tell me! If you do, I will put you in the draw! Yes, I am having a giveway to celebrate my 50th post! (Hmmm, this is my 55th, but I don't mind!) May be I could challenge you to write a post on your blog, telling a little more and showing photos? If you do, please let me know, and I will put you in another draw! If you do both, you have a double chance to win! LOL!
I will do the drawing on monday the 4th of february.
Why am I quilting today? It gives me a lot. I have made friends I know I never would have made if it wasn't for the quilting! I have had the opportunity to meet a lot of new people, including you! I love to create, work with colours and fabrics, to see things grow from my hands! And it is FUN!
Take care, May Kristin
PS. You may also just comment, if you like!
35 kommentarer:
Now this is going to date me but never mind. I made my first quilt 29 years ago, when I was pregnant with my son. No rulers or rotary cutters. I did the cutting on the floor with a pair of scissors. Didn't know about using only cotton fabrics, didn't know how to quilt it, but that cot quilt lasted almost 10 years of being thrown up on, dragged around the house and cuddled under. About 12 years later I took it up seriously and had classes, I was hooked.
Why do I quilt, because I love to see the quilt grow from yardage to cut squares to joined squares to a quilt, and I love to give my quilts away. I've made a lot of friends that I would never have met if it wasn't for quilting and I've tried a lot of new methods.
Good questions May Kristin.
Congrats on your 50th post.
Hi May, can I first say that I really enjoy your blog and it is people like you that inspired me to get my own blog.I started quilting in 1990, I had a late baby and after 18 years of 2 children and working I felt very bored when this baby came along. I had mastered the art of getting things done around the house quickly having a full time job and this little one fell asleep for a couple of hours every afternoon (he did not always sleep at night mind you). At the library I found a book on patchwork and in the next couple of years I made two double bed quilts by the hand piecing method and then hand quilted them. I have never been bored since although I rarely hand piece now. I have so many friends because of patchwork and quilting and now work in teaching others.
Well done on you 50th post (55)
Hi May Kristin - a lovely post today with some good questions!
I'm not sure if I am a "real" quilter although I have made some quilts - one from a pattern and the rest from my head!
I started making blankets out of fleece with appliqued pictures when I was expecting my second daughter and didn't have time to knit one (as I had done for my first daughter). I made a simple squares quilt with my eldest daughter out of scraps of fabric I had bought for her or she had chosen (but I can't remember exactly when I did this)And then when I was expecting my little boy (6 years ago) I made a proper quilt from a Lynette Anderson design.
I have blogged about it here: http://lucylocketrecycledherpocket.
blogspot.com/2007/05/my-first-quilt.
html
It's always fun to learn where people started from!
Lucy x
Hi, May Kristin! What a special post! Thank you for sharing! And fun question :o) I think I have told you this before, but my start was when we were made to make a quarter log cabin block for a cushion in 3rd grade, I was hooked! My Mum and Dad gave me 20 kr in weekly allowance if I cleaned out the bathroom each Saturday, and with those money in my pocket I went to flee sales and picked up old shirts and other clothing that didn't fray too much - and I used my Mum's old Singer to piece together "blankets" for my dolls and my collection of My Little Pony. Since my first project was a cushion I had no idea I was supposed to put batting in between the layers, but if I was making "duvets" I put in a piece of flannel from old sheets :o) I have looked in the attic to see if I could find some of my old creations, but no luck - guess they are long gone :(
My first proper quilt was made years later - and remained a UFO for five years *lol* (se this post: http://quiltoholiker.blogspot.com/2007/08/is-it-just-me.html)
Congratulations on your 50/55 post! Keep 'em up! Hugs
My first quilt has exactly the same colors as your blue/pink one . So we migth have started the same year. I just had to try out patchwork after I had a lady make me a tablecloth for our octogon-table (8-kantede bord). While she was working on it, I had to come down to her house to pick out fabrics and colors. Well it looked pretty cool to play with fabrics like this so I took a beginners class in february 1994. I use to say this is the most expencive class I have ever taken, not because the class og fabrics I used then costed so much, but for all the costs of later buyings.
Hello :) I thought that I started with small steps of quilting after a lesson a cupple a years ago. But, after a little reconsidering I must admit that first time was at sewing/knitting-lessons in childrens-school. My first project was a huge pillow in stripes of sparky pink and black. And I still have it at mums house. Hmm, Why did,nt I just go on after those schoolprojects, Instead of having too learn it again when I now are a grown up ;)
I started to quilt because a lady I know had begun quilting. She told me a few things of "how to" and I began, it was in 1993. No pattern, no ruler and no mat just a little rotary cutter and my sewing machine. I got hooked like the rest of you and the main reason I am still quilting is the pleasure I find in creating the quilts.
I'm not sure if I qualify as a true quilter but I have always sewn. I learn in my last year at school it is most probably the most useful thing I learnt at school. Over the years I have gone through fazes sewing for myself,children,cross stitching, knitting ect. The reason I love it so much is the process of starting - seeing a pattern you like picking fabric the sewing and the finishing then usually giving it away. I love the friendships I have made along the way and now the whole blogging thing with so many ideas and wonderful people out there it makes it even more enjoyable. Great post May Kristin It is fun to read the other comments and it has made me write more - something I don't like doing. Writing and spelling is always difficult for me - things I didn't learn at school due to my dyslexia.
I started quilting just last summer, as a way to spend more time with my grandma. I'm at university at the moment and don't have access to a sewing machine, but I'm looking forward to quilting again this summer.
Why did I start quilting? It was all by accident. One day back in '97 I found a magazine that caught my eyes and I bought it. It was Quiltmaker for me too :) And since I had a few fabric leftovers from making clothes i made a quilt. I had never done it before, didn't know what it was, never handquilted before, but I finisheed my first quilt mad of squares and Dresden plate blocks and handquilted it in 1 1/2 month.
You really challenged us here... let´s see...my first struggle with pieces of scraps I did at my grandmothers place a long time a go. I have always loved colours and crafting...but I guess I was hooked in the early 1990´s when I needed something to keep myself occupied with when my exhusband was drinking! I guess(in some strange way) I can thank him for that and my lovely girls...;D I will post some pictures in my blog later...
May, I love your "blanket" and your story. Check my blog to see my post about how I started quilting and why I keep doing it. --Susan C.
www.blackberrycreek.typepad.com
Hi! I found your blog through Susan at Blackberry Creek and the link to your quilting giveaway. Happy 50th post!
My first quilt was made in the 80s when I took a log cabin quilting class. My colors were red, blue, and bright yellow! But it turned out beautiful. The quilt was a surprise gift for my mother for Christmas. I immediately sewed another one for my sister. They both knew I had little ones to care for and had no idea I'd had time for a quilting class and to make two quilts! It was sso fun surprising them.
Now, my daughter owns the original "first quilt." My mom gave it to her to put in her hope chest for her future home one day.
(I may get a chance to blog about my first quilt this week. I'll come back and leave a link if I do.) Thank you for the giveaway!
Had anyone told me I'd be a quilter, I would have thought them mad! I was a knitter from when I was 8 years old until my mid 40s. Then arthritis made knitting something I had to give up.
I was lost without something creative to do. My cousin is a quilter and I always loved seeing her quilts, but figured that there was no way. After all, I had difficulty sewing buttons on clothing!
However, desperation took hold and I visited the LQS, got some supplies, a book and was off on a wonderful journey. Since then I have found my niche -- hand piecing and hand applique. So here I am 10 years later absolutely addicted. I try to never let a day go by without getting in a stitch or two.
Happy 50th!
Hei May Kristin..
Jeg fant ut av e-mail mysteriet mitt. Gikk inn på Profilen min på hovedsia mi. Der står det " Endre profil"?.Gikk inn og huket av på e-mail valget. Vips så kan andre maile meg!
I started up with my quilt hobby 6 years ago.I was visiting Kristiansand Quilteklub's quiltfair and was hucked right on. This hobby has given me a lot of new friends and now am I finaly out in bloggland to,joho...
I just posted a picture of my first quilt. You can find it here:
http://girottifamily.typepad.com/mountain_musings/2008/01/my-first-quilt.html
Thanks again for the idea to write about a good memory.
I just posted a picture of my first quilt on my blog -- so dreadful! But it was fun to think back and reflect on why I became a quilter. Thank you!
I have yet to show my 'humble' quilt; but I will. We all have to start somewhere and I still love all my first quilts, good or bad ones. Today, I'm just playing in my studio and will be doing some hand quilting later tonight.
Isn't it fun to look back on our old quilting projects? Yours is very cool -- especially if, as you say, you didn't know what you were doing! If I haven't forgotten by this weekend (which is highly likely LOL) I'll try to post my first quilt!
Congrats on your 50th (55) post!
I started quilting in order to put together a quilt my family had embrodiered squares for my second child. My MIL organized the quilt but after two years it was still blocks so I took a class to "learn to quilt". My MIL then put together the baby quilt and I've been hooked ever since (my DD is 8 1/2 year old).
I do quilting because I LOVE fabrics :)
Maritta, FIN
htt://blokkisis.vuodatus.net
Thanks for sharing with us about your first quilt. Nothing quite like our first quilt!
I learned about your blog thru Deb of Mountain Musings. I enjoyed seeing a picture of her first quilt too!
So now I am about to post a picture and story about my first quilt. Thanks for giving me a reason to go down memory lane.
Snow always motivates me to quilt. Too bad we don't get half the snow you do:-)
Thanks for your giveaway.
My first quilt was made 10 years ago when my first grandchild was born. For a long time she dragged it everywhere she went. Now it rests on her bed. I love to quilt and do needle work because I am amazed each time I start out with raw materials and end with something that I made. Congrats on your 50th or 55th post.
Too bad! I can't play because I don't quilt! But I guess it may be relaxing, maybe some day I'll try! :-)
Congrats for your 50th post!
Marianne
I had never sewn before, so this has been a huge shock to my family (I'm in my 50's). I am originally from Georgia, but took a job in Germany in 2001. Having always lived near family, it's been a huge change for me to be separated from them. So much has happened since my coming here. One of my daughters broke up with the boyfriend she had been dating for more than 5 years, friends and family members have have passed away, family members have gotten married...you get my point. But when I found out my daughter was pregnant, it broke my heart that I was over here and couldn't be there as she was going through pregnancy. I had made a friend over here that quilted, and I told her I would like to make my granddaughter a quilt. She laughed and asked if I was serious, and I told her I was. What a life-changing decision that was for me. I'm proud of the quilt I made and my friend even took a photo of me as I was finishing everything off - I'm siting there in the chair with the quilt laying across my lap, my glasses perched on my nose and my 'unsewer' (seam ripper) in my hands. I laugh at some of the mistakes I made, but the one I laugh at the most was when I told my friend I wanted to also make a 'blankie' that my granddaughter would be able to drag along the floor behind her. By this time, my friend had gotte a job somewhere else and had already moved. So she told me what to do and then told me how to 'quilt' the 'blankie'. (I had hand-tied the quilt). She told me to start at the middle of the 'blankie' and start quilting from the middle to the outside. So what do I do? I go to the middle of the blanket and I quilt from the middle to the left side of the quilt. Then I go back to the middle of the quilt again and start at the exact same place and quilt from the middle to the right side of the quilt. When I later told her it looked really bad because of all the threads in the middle of the quilt, she said she didn't tell me to go to the 'center', she told me to go to the 'middle'. Crazy me, I just didn't understand.
I have bookmarked you and will definitely be back!
If I win, please contact me at dmj53(at)hotmail(dot)com
I hate to ask you to do this, but I had bookmarked your site, and am now sitting here at my leisure to go through and read more of your blog, my bookmark is only bringing me to this comment section. Can you please (please?) e-mail me and give me the link to your blog so I can read more? Thank you so much. dmj53(at)hotmail(dot)com
I just found your blog and I really enjoy it. I will be adding it to my bloglines. I started to quilt in high school when my mom taught me. She was participating in the old fashioned quilting bees where everyone sits around the frame and hand quilts. Quilting has become my passion and my stress relief. I am the director of our Hugs Ministry through our church. We provide quilts and stuffed animals to kids in crisis who need a Hug. Take care and hope you had a great weekend. Cory
Hi May Kristin,
I found your blog from Deb at Mountain Musings and have had an enjoyable "visit" reading and looking at your pictures. I'm sure I will favoite you for later visits also.
My very first quilts were very simple baby quilts for nieces and nephews. I sewed very cute animal pictures on the squares and after they were pieced together and backed I tried my hand at quilting. My stitches were never the very beautiful small ones that some do but I was always glad to squeeze those quilts and know a small baby would be warmed by them. I later made one for my own first baby. My mom had embroidered cute animals on my squares and I tried very hard to make the quilting "just right". That baby is 27 now with a precious little girl and another on the way. Idon't think anything makes a home look "homier" than a quilt. Why did I quilt because I love quilts. Thanks for the blog. Jane
Congrats on your 50th (55th) post!!!
I made my first quilt when I was 17 or 18, about 25 years ago. It was a Monkey Wrench quilt. I made one in blue shades and hand quilted and a brown one that I had machine quilted.
My grandmother was a quilter and my mom did a little quilting. I love quilts, the look, the touch, patterns. It's so neat to see what can be done with material.
I'm work ing on a baby rag quilt right now and have a turning twenty quilt and a tshirt quilt that needs to be quilted.
I started quilting about 10 years ago because I wanted to have quilts to decorate my home. I was reading lots of country home magazines which had quilts in every picture and knew that's how I wanted my home to look. I couldn't afford to go out and buy what I wanted so had no choice but to teach myself. My first few projects were small country-style wall hangings - quite hideous when I look at them now! Then I tackled a huge foundation pieced log cabin quilt with lots of plaids and stripes. (Still unquilted)
Today I quilt just because I love it. I love the look and feel of the fabrics, I love choosing patterns and fabrics, I love seeing the quilt evolve. And now I also love reading the blogs of other quilters.
Congratulations on 50 posts.
I enjoyed your post about how you started quilting!
I began soon after completing my degree. After my last tutorial I went and purchased the materials to make a patchwork cushion. After making this, in purple and green, I thought I could make a whole quilt with the same theme. As well as the patched blocks I included applique blocks of leaves. I made the leaf templates by tracing around leaves from a tree in our yard! It took a long time to complete, and like you I did not attend any classes. Like you I dropped into the shop to ask all kinds of questions. Now the quilt is complete and it is on our bed. I completed the edging on our honeymoon!
Thanks for the opportunity to share about my quilting journey!
I started quilting to give me something to do after i had my first child and decided to stay home with her. I went to a class to meet other stay at home moms.
I was hooked! and still quilting 17 or so years later!
Kathie
ok this has to be quick as it is to late and I will have to come back and read what all the other have said..........basically it was very dry and they ran a course at the local learning centre and wanted farming women to come to it so they coudl get a break aaway from the stress of the farm......as I liked clothes sewing I thought I would have a go and am totally addicted to it and now I sew and I love to make things and I can't draw or paint to save myself........ I can cut out shapes and rejoin though.......and now blogland pushes me along to have someting to show you all and I LOVE it........
oups, I am too late I think, well I started as I was in England and there were those beautiful Laura Ashley shops with the nice fabric allover the country!
I like your 4SSQ and I still haven´t heard anything of my partner!
Take care.
Happy National Quilting Day (in USA)! I read this post today, and how wonderful it is to reflect on what made us start quilting. I blogged about my experience here: http://koolqlt.blogspot.com/2008/03/happy-national-quilting-day.html
The tulips at the head of your page look wonderful!
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