Sunday, February 26, 2012

WHAT'S THIS ALL ABOUT?


Quilts have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.  When I was young, we always kept blankets in the basement for snuggling while watching TV.  Those blankets were all quilts or afghans made by my grandmothers and my mother.

When I was ten or twelve, we visited my grandparents in Utah on summer vacation.  My grandma was working on a quilt for my brother and had set up a quilt frame in the backyard.  My grandma, my mom, probably my sisters, and I were all sitting around the frame hand stitching the quilting.  It was my first experience with a "quilting bee" and I wish I had a photo or at least a list of the women who were there.  At one point, my grandma gave her needle to my brother, who was probably six or seven, and he sewed a line of quilting that didn't follow any of the lines.  I remember thinking how silly it was that my grandma didn't rip out the stitches and quilt it "properly."  Now I understand that his stitches recorded the history of that day.  If she'd fixed the stitching, I probably wouldn't have any memory of his participation, but now I remember that day whenever I see the rogue stitches on his quilt.

I've been sewing all my life, but I took my first quilting class about three years ago.  It was a hand quilting class and although I haven't finished the sampler I started in the class, I think I've finally found my crafting passion.  Thanks to my mom, I can crochet, sew, embroider, and knit, and I've learned to bind books, make leaded glass, and lay laminate flooring, but perhaps the family gene for quilting has found a voice in me.

I hope to use this blog as a way to record my experiences as a quiltmaker -- quilts I finish (or don't), fabrics I love, techniques I master (or don't), and other quilters who influence me and my work.  I just can't quit quilting.