I was big on cross stitch and did the patterns from a one year calendar of patterns.  My husband said,"we are not framing all of those!".  So, I stitched them into my first quilt as the main squares with sashing and a hand quilted pattern.  I really did not know what I was doing and a lot of it was done with a "stick - stab" cross stitch method until I found out how it should be done.  I have been quilting ever since and just love it.

My first quilting memory is the very first quilt I tried to make.  My very best friend was having her first baby and I wanted to make something special for her.  I picked out an applique pattern and started working on it while she was still pregnant.  I eventually did finish the quilt . . . in time for her second child!!!!!

Making my son a quilt (he was 14) when I was pregnate with my daughter - took me the whole nine months as he wanted it hand quilted:)

I decided to teach myself to quilt and one for a friend ar work who was having a baby.  It was a tumbling blocks pattern with a cross stitched bunny in the center. I put tiny bows where ever the points were a bit wonky.  There were an awful lot of bows.

I've made over 50 more quilts since then, but none of them have been tumbling blocks and none of them needed bows.

I was in mid twenties & my mother-inlaw & I painted blocks & sewed them into a prequilted fabric & tied it. I still use it twenty yrs later!

My first quilt was a baby quilt for my neice's baby...............I didn't know what I was doing, but finished it, puckers and all!

In the early seventies, I was working at a furniture store.  They threw out the old upholstery samples, so I took them home and sewed them into a very HEAVY patchwork top.

I joined a class that did Quilt in a Day in a new town I had moved to due to a change in my job.  It was a wonderful way to meet some (still to this day) dear friends.  Quilting warms us, not just in bed, but in the heart.  

I was flipping thru a Magazine ,can't remeber which one and saw the ad for "Learn How TO Quilt , by Maryannie and her daughter Mary. Ordered it and have been hooked ever since. thanks to both of them for getting me started. Barbara

my first quilting memory was the start of the Bicentennial and I needed a project for my Girl Scouts.  They each selected an historical event or place that was connected to their family history. Then we went about interviewing Grandparents or sometimes great grandparents who could tell the verbal story on a tape recorder. They then drew the place. most were homes, and embroidered them onto  squares that were put together into a charming quilt that we donated to the Fenton Historical Museum in Jamestown ,NY. The wonderful thing about it was it's innocence, we just did it with no idea what we were doing but worked together and created something that is worthy of a museum!

My first quilting memory is of watching my grandmother hand-piece a Maple Leaf quilt that was for me. I have lost that quilt but I have the fabric to make a new one myself. I am reminded of my grandmother every time I see a quilt that has leaves that are in the fall color range of the Ozark Mountains in Southern Missouri.

My first quilting memory is of my grandmother hand-piecing a Maple Leaf quilt for me. I loved the fall colors of Southern Missouri and she used those colors in my quilt. To my dismay I have since lost that quilt. Recently I purchased a fabric collection in those fall colors and plan to make me a new maple leaf quilt. Everytime I see those colors or a quilt made with leaves I am reminded of those days of staying with my grandmother and watching her quilt.

I don't remember how old I was, but in elementary school for sure. My mother had made a quilt with baskets and flowers. She used a sheet for the backing and had an old quilt frame set up in the living room for months as she quilted it. My sister and I where "allowed" to participate in the quilting too. I am sure we where not very good, but that didn't matter, she let us help anyway.

For some reason a bag of scraps from feedbag  and food themed material made me decide that I wanted to make a quilt.  I started cutting triangles with scissors.  I had no idea what I was doing but I made a windmill design in what I now know as a 16 patch block.  Of course, I took the easy route and made the quilt a queen size quilt.  I had to spread the quilt out over the entire basement floor to be able to layer the quilt.  When all was said and done, I had no idea how to bind the quilt so I just folded the back up over the front to make it look like quilt binding that I had seen.  I swore I had made my one and only quilt for my lifetime.  The quilt is preserved in my cedar chest and gets used periodically.

The memorable part about the whole experience was the teasing from my husband.  We kept having a similar conversation to the following.  "So, let me see if I got this straight.  You are cutting up this material so you can sew it back together again."  "Yes honey, that is right."  "Why?"  "Because that is how you make a quilt."  I finally got him to quit teasing after I walked out into his woodshop while he was working.  When he stopped the saw I asked.  "So, let me get this straight.  You are cutting up this wood so that you can nail and glue it back together again?  Why is that?"

My husband died over eight years ago and I got hooked on quilting about 5 years ago thanks to watching Fons & Porter on PBS.   The memory of his teasing while I was "quilting" still makes me smile.

When I was 13 years old (I am now 74) I sat with my mother and made pieces for a flower garden quilt.  My dad was a machinist so he made a metal template for us.  Well I found it some time ago and boy - it would never win a contest BUT I still have.  All shades of white and large stitches. It means a lot to me,

When I was 13 years old (I am now 74) I sat with my mother and made pieces for a flower garden quilt.  My dad was a machinist so he made a metal template for us.  Well I found it some time ago and boy - it would never win a contest BUT I still have.  All shades of white and large stitches. It means a lot to me,

My first quilting memory was trying to make a crazy quilt like I had seen my Mother make. I found out I liked more structure to my quilts and went on to piece many quilts for family and friends. That was 45 years ago and I still have not made a crazy quilt but have made some very simple Ohio Star quilts to Double Wedding Rings. From memory quilts for friends to designing picture quilts for grandchildren. It is a love that has not stopped.

I remember going to visit a friend and she showed me the grandmothers flower garden she was working on.  Well three weeks later she gave it to me and I was hooked, I decided if she could do it so could I so I started cutting squares and made a king size 9 patch.  It has been up hill from there I now own my own Grand Quilter 18.8, an Elna for piecing, a brother Pacecetter for embroidery and a singer surger.  I have made quilts for family, friends and to sell and have not stopped yet.  I just made a quilt for my first Great Granddaughter and her mom just loves it, so now I am getting ready to start one for my Grand daughter.

When my sister was adopting her first child, I decided that I wanted to make a baby quilt and it was the first time I ever quilted... and then I was hooked and completely addicted to fabric. Now I am making special occasion quilts and quilted projects for family, friends, and charity groups.

My first memory of quilting is very recent as I just learned how to quilt. I'm 53 years old and I guess you could say, a late bloomer. 5 years ago I became disabled and after spending 1 and a half years in a nursing home, I came home. I was bored out of my skull!!! After picking up several hobbies like painting, knitting, beading and other stuff, I still wasn't ..well. satisfied! I've always been (just slightly)lol, hyper and very busy. I don't know how many stupid questions I posted in the forums, but each one was answered by at least 10 members, all who genuinely cared about me finishing this quilt. I've found many wonderful friends here and I am truly grateful for their knowledge, kindness,understanding and most of all the way they're there for you no matter what! The quilt is finished and my husband not only loves it, but is proud of me! Best of all I'm proud of myself! And...woo-hoo...I finally found something to do that makes me feel fulfilled and happy! Now it's not so bad being stuck in the house, 24/7 or sometimes stuck in bed! I'm definately stuck on quilting, or should I say "bitten by the quilting bug"!

Snuggling up to one of my Grandmother's quilts, safety and comfort at it's BEST!  

My Grandmother who was English started me on english paper piecing one christmas when I was around 8 -10. I remember her showing me how to draw up a hexagon onto the back of the christmas cards rather than just throwing them out. I know my technique has improved a lot since then but it took till I was in my 50s before I was ready to embrace those hexagons again...LOL... Now I show people how to patchwork and quilt by machine. But as a backup I always have my box with my hexes in it for a bit of NO THINK hand sewing...My first do it on my own quilting experience was a small cathedral windows quilt for the pram for our firstborn back in the days when you didnt get to know what they were till they arrived.. so it was soft greyish background with a little print floral in both mushroom pink and a blue. They were alternated so it didnt matter what I had... Can see a trend here.... never touched cathedral window again...child is in her 30s now.... but recently started a tablerunner in this design...I dont think I will live long enough going on this record to learn a NEW technique again and have time to come back and embrace it later.... ROFL

My Grandmother who was English started me on english paper piecing one christmas when I was around 8 -10. I remember her showing me how to draw up a hexagon onto the back of the christmas cards rather than just throwing them out. I know my technique has improved a lot since then but it took till I was in my 50s before I was ready to embrace those hexagons again...LOL... Now I show people how to patchwork and quilt by machine. But as a backup I always have my box with my hexes in it for a bit of NO THINK hand sewing...My first do it on my own quilting experience was a small cathedral windows quilt for the pram for our firstborn back in the days when you didnt get to know what they were till they arrived.. so it was soft greyish background with a little print floral in both mushroom pink and a blue. They were alternated so it didnt matter what I had... Can see a trend here.... never touched cathedral window again...child is in her 30s now.... but recently started a tablerunner in this design...I dont think I will live long enough going on this record to learn a NEW technique again and have time to come back and embrace it later.... ROFL

When I was 5 yr old, Grandma sat me down at the treadle machine and had me sew patches together, but at the time I didn't relate that they were going into a quilt.  The very first quilt I remember and have a photo of is a Dresden plate I did in the 1970's when my husband's grandmother was ill. I had lost the photo and never heard if Grandma liked the quilt or not. Just the other day I received a photo of the quilt. I'll have to find time to post it in my gallery. I was so excited to see the quilt again.

When I was 5 yr old, Grandma sat me down at the treadle machine and had me sew patches together, but at the time I didn't relate that they were going into a quilt.  The very first quilt I remember and have a photo of is a Dresden plate I did in the 1970's when my husband's grandmother was ill. I had lost the photo and never heard if Grandma liked the quilt or not. Just the other day I received a photo of the quilt. I'll have to find time to post it in my gallery. I was so excited to see the quilt again.

When I was 5 yr old, Grandma sat me down at the treadle machine and had me sew patches together, but at the time I didn't relate that they were going into a quilt.  The very first quilt I remember and have a photo of is a Dresden plate I did in the 1970's when my husband's grandmother was ill. I had lost the photo and never heard if Grandma liked the quilt or not. Just the other day I received a photo of the quilt. I'll have to find time to post it in my gallery. I was so excited to see the quilt again.

My husband and I were married 4or 5 years in the early part of the 70's when a friend found these scraps of material from coats and vests. The material was nylon with the backing sewn already on.  So she told me I could have it under one condition that I make her a queen size quilt out of it.  Having never made a quilt.  I ask my mother-in-law and she told me how to make the square blocks.  And than said she wanted one.  I went and made that first queen size quilt plus my mother in law a double size, my two childrern twin size.  And my husband tryed his hand at making our queen size quilt.  We still have our quilt, and my motherinlaw's. My mother-in-law didn't use hers very much as she said it was too warm.  So her's is in better condition than all the rest.

There were no quilts in my life as a child; my first memory of any quilts is from the summer between my junior and senior years in HS. I stayed at the home of a Mennonite family that took in overnight guests. There was a beautiful quilt on the bed. Now I know it was a log cabin; back then, all I knew was that it made me feel like I was home.

I was drawn to quilting by a crazy quilt left by my grandmother who died 22 years before I was born. The stories Grandpa told about that quilt "hooked" me long before I began to make quilts. My first quilt was a king sized Broken Star, cut with scissors using templates made from cereal boxes...long before the invention of the rotary cutter and tools.

My first quilting memory (and the first quilt that I ever attempted to make) was from my grandfather. My grandmother had passed away and had started a quilt for my dad (who had also passed away). My grandfather said that he wished someone would finish it, so I volunteered. I knew absoletely nothing about quilting but gave it my best shot. It looks really bad  and most people would probably put it in a rummage sale, but to me it is priceless.

When my daughter was 8 or 9 I bought a sheet set that looked like a quilt. Knowing nothing about quilting, I bought some batting and another plain sheet, sandwiched it all together and stitched along the lines of the pattern.  It was horrible, but got me hooked and I've been quilting ever since. My daughter is now 44 years old.

My first quilting memory was born in the early 1970's.  I saw a picture of a colorful quilt in a Better Home and Gardens Magazine.  Each 12" block was an applique of a gorgeous grouping of flowers all in an abundance of pastels.  I set to work making each block using polyesters and any type of material that seemed to contain the various shades used in the blossoms.  Then I hand stiched and quilted using all the wrong materials and techniques.  It was pretty tough poking thru all that dense fabric...My daughter still has the monstrousity.  The experience spurred me onward to my first quilting class in the local Adult Education Program.  I have been going strong ever since and am still learning and taking classes.  Quilting is my passion....

Quilts have always been a special part of my life. My grandmother quilted and I have one of her quilts on my bed today. It was put away by my mom until I had graduated from college. I was always fascinated with quilts, longed to learn to make them, and spent a small fortune trying to win one (unsuccessfully). Now, nearly 50, I'm finally learning!

When I was 8 mos. pregnant with my first child my mother in law gave me a quilt top made by my husband's grandmother.  I had never quilted and had no idea how to start, my mom volunteered to take it and quilt it.  Loved her for that and was so excited to have something done by both sides of the family.  A true treasure.  My mom talked about her learning how to quilt which inspired me and also gave me tips to get started.

1977, pregnant with my first child, I walked into a quilting class being given by the local recreation center.  The teacher took one look at me and said "let me guess, you want to make a baby quilt."  I'd been sewing clothing for 10 years but finding out about quilting felt like coming home.

My aunt & uncle were snow birds, spending the summers in Maine & the winters in Florida.They would drive most of the way visiting relatives all along the Eastern seaboard. My mom was a sewer and she would save all her scraps. My aunt would pick them up going south and when they came north again, she'd have crazy quilt squares that she'd give back to Mom. Mom would put them together to make utility quilts for our beds or the car or where ever else they were needed. I always had so much fun picking out my fabrics! I still have one of those quilts & I still know what Mom made with those fabrics!

Grandma always had a quilt in a frame in her kitchen. All the grandkids could quilt on it; there were 21 of us! I don't know if she took it out later or not, but I remember quilting on more than one quilt. I probably was a young teen, over fifty years ago. Warm memories.

Watching my grandma make her quilts and see the magic she made. She was not perfect, she mostly did not cut quilt pieces, she ripped out squares, strips and scissors were for cutting thread, but the quilts were wonderful and special and made with love. I miss her so much!

In college, I lived with my grandmother, an avid hand quilter.  She kept her frame set up in a 2nd bedroom and would work with me to do the quilting of the tops she had finished - usually embroidery.  I was already fairly good at working the tops BUT had a hard time making my stitches even and small enough.  The quilt she made for our wedding is still used in the spring and summer.  

I've only been quilting about a year, so it's a recent memory!  My first quilting project was making potholders out of scrap cut into strips.  My mentor showed me how to sew them together, make a sandwich, and stitch-in-a-ditch, but when it came time to learn how to make the binding and sew it on, she left for a cruise!  It's been a year and my new mentor is showing me how to do the binding and I expect I will have those potholders done in time for the church's quilt fair in a few weeks.  They will be my first contributions to the quilt fair.  Next year, I hope to have a couple of quilts to donate!

I started quilting as an adult.  I had already sewn for years.  My late Mother's friend called & asked if I'd like to try a beginner quilt class at a nearby lqs.  I'm glad I did.  I've met some talented people & learned a lot.

My first quilting experience came at the age of 65 - my granddaughter wanted a T-shirt quilt made, and her mother did not sew, and the only sewing I had was in high school and 4-H. So I found a pattern, cut the T-shirts which was very scary, and added sashing, binding and backing - looks pretty good for a first attempt, some corners don't line up eactly, but she sure loved it. I'm glad I did it, and have joined a quilting community and taking lessons so I can do more as now daughter needs one and grandson too. Maybe someday I'll get one done for me.

My 1st quilting memory was making place mats from kits I picked up on sale at a local store because they were on sale.Though I had been sewing my own clothing for many years I did not have a stash, When i found out how much fun it was I made everyone placemats for Christmas, but didn;t make my first full size untill my nieces wedding 12 years ago (a disaster as I didn't know how to buy material for quilting ie.values etc.).

My first memory of a quilt goes back to when I was about 4 yrs old.  I remember being under this warm fluffy pink quilt on my grandmothers bed; my Mom tried to save it for me but without proper care, it deteriorated.

My next memory was around age 9 when I would spend a few summer months at my Aunts home in the country.  She would quilt and patch by hand.  She also did garment sewing on an old Singer threader machine.  I still have a couple of her quilts, restoring and caring for them and praying that the ones I make will be here for many years for my granddaughters.  

My first memory was when I was about 10 years old.  My Mom received 4 quilts in the mail from my Grandmother.  One was for her and one for each daughter.  They were some wonderful 9 patch block quilts.  Both of my sisters and Mom, lost theirs years ago.  I still have mine, but it is packed away at the current time.

goodmorning, my first quilting memory was about ten years ago when I commented to my husband that I wanting to learn how to quilt. I have been married now for 24 wonderful years to the most incredable man on earth. He went out and got me books from the library on how to quilt, then he took me to every quilt shop in Orange County, California and bought me enough fabric to quilt my whole house with. Now my first quilt is a wall hanging and I made every mistake I could make on this this and it is everyones favorite quilt. It hangs over our fireplace in the living room and everyone who comes into my home just stands there and stares at it in awe. You can't ask for more then that. It is a log cabin with applicate leaves falling. I call it before and after. Meaning the log cabin was a tree before being cut down and turned into a log cabin. Well that's my story and I am happy to say I am still quilting and loving it.

My first memory of doing any quilting was piecing with my grandmother when I was a little girl.  I went to spend a week with my grandparents and stayed all summer!  She started teaching me to make nine patch blocks.  I made enough for three bed quilts that summer!  Quilting, in my mind, brings back all the precious memories of my time with her.  There were three grandchildren and each of us thought that we were her favorite!  But the other two never did any quilting so I know that I truly was her favorite!  What a precious gift she gave each of us!

I have been sewing since my teen years and knew a little about quilts as heirlooms. Then as a young adult I was given a handmade grandmother's flower garden quilt done with knits and wasn't real pleased- knits? How unauthentic! I used it casually on my son's bed. It wasn't until almost 30 years later when I began quilting that I realized what a gem this quilt is. Imagine making hexagonal blocks with knit fabric!! And the entire quilt was done by hand. It's being treated more gently now!

My first quilt was a doll quilt for my daughter when she was about two years old.  Still have it hanging in my quilt room.  I bought all kinds of fabric--cheap cause I didn't know any better.  I still have that too.  I didn't start quilting again until about 20 years ago.    I have made many and my choice of fabric is only 100% cotton now. So many quilts and so little time!!

As a young girl, I never tired of watching my great-grandmother magically transform tiny fabric hexagons by hand, into a glorious works of art. It wasn't until 8 years ago that I personally picked up quilting. I had an array of left over cottons and began cutting 4-1/2 inch squares with my scissors. I sewed them together in groups, making 24 x 30 inch blankets for the animals at our Humane Society shelter. I had fun, and the animals got to take their blankets to their forever homes. Since then I've honed my craft. Occasionly I still make blankets for the animals, but now I mainly make quilts for the Veterans at our local Outreach Center.

My first memory of quilting is when i was probably 7 or 8. My great grandmother always had her quilt frames up in her dining room.  They would meet once a week to quilt. I would go to my grandmas after school.  She would give me cookies and a coloring book, I would sit under the quilt frames and color so that she could keep an eye on me.  I am a 4th generation quilter, my grandmother taught me to crochet, and when my mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2002, quilting became her therapy and a way for us to bond.  When my mom passed away in 2006, her large sewing room, became my sewing room.  I do alot of sewing and quilting for family and friends, and being in my sewing room gives me a lot of comfort on those days that I really miss my mom.

My first memory of quilting is when i was probably 7 or 8. My great grandmother always had her quilt frames up in her dining room.  They would meet once a week to quilt. I would go to my grandmas after school.  She would give me cookies and a coloring book, I would sit under the quilt frames and color so that she could keep an eye on me.  I am a 4th generation quilter, my grandmother taught me to crochet, and when my mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2002, quilting became her therapy and a way for us to bond.  When my mom passed away in 2006, her large sewing room, became my sewing room.  I do alot of sewing and quilting for family and friends, and being in my sewing room gives me a lot of comfort on those days that I really miss my mom.

My Grandma Guthrie was a hand quilter and whenever I stayed the night with her we would listen to the radio and cut little pieces of scraps useing cardboard templates. That was about 60 years or so ago.

I had an embroidery painting hobby and painted some quilt blocks of birds.  Then I put it together and wanted to quilt it on the sewing machine.  My sister Irene helped me as she made quilts.  Well we were in a hurry as it was being entered in the painting embroidery show.  The quilt bunched up on the ends as we did not know how to smooth it as we go, never having done this machine quilting before.  The painted quilt blocks won a ribbon even though the borders are bumpy.  This is a memory of my first quilt and of my sister Irene who is now gone to her reward in heaven.

A group of ladies from my church were starting a quilting group.  My good friend encouraged me to join even though I had never sewn on a machine before.  As a group we all made the same quilt pattern with our own fabrics.  When I finished that I decided that I would make each of my children a quilt for their 16th Birthdays.  I had about 6 months to make the first one.  I couldn't find a pattern that jumped out at me so I designed my second quilt with the help of my friend.  It had a lot of flying geese.  My daughter  loves her quilt.  I am hooked on quilting.  November marks my 3 year anniversary of sewing.

No one in my family ever quilted.  I was a seamstress and when I found that I had a lot of fabric scraps I decided to try to make a quilt.  That was in the days when there were no classes and only a few books.  I purchased batting which came with a quilt pattern.  My first attempt was 2 Double Wedding Ring quilts, one for each of my twin beds.  Needless to say, they were very amateurish, but one of those quilts (made in the 1950s) is still around today.  It went to college with my daughter and now has a treasured place in my home.

My great grandmother and both grandmothers were quilters.  Even though I wasn't quilting, I remembered the quilting bee's they went to at the church basement sometimes and in friends' homes.  Also, seeing them had piece in the evenings. Then I got to make small quilts for my dolls. So my memories of quilting are from the time I was old enough to start remembering and I feel very fortunate to have those memories.

I was 20 and I was pregnant with my first child. I had been sewing since I was 4, and I wanted to make my baby a quilt.  

Using my all purpose scissors (I only had the one pair and I used them for everything), I cut some 6"squares from a baby themed fabric and sewed them together to make my quilt top. I only had the one fabric, so I turned the squares in different directions.  I used the same fabric as my backing, and cut a single large rectangle.  

I had never heard of quilt batting, but I had plenty of pillow stuffing since I had made tons of pillows over the years.  So as you might imagine, I spread out pillow stuffing all over the backing, stretching it out to make it as even as possible!!  

Then I put the quilt top on and pinned the sandwich together.  I quilted it with my sewing machine, turned up the backing to make a binding (I didn't know that's what it was called at the time) and was quite proud of my puffy little quilt.  

Then I washed it!! :0  Oh my what a little lumpy quilt it turned into!!  

I still have that quilt 32 years later! I've made hundreds of quilts since and have been teaching quilt classes for over 10 years.  But I still get a smile when I think of my humble beginnings!! :-)

My first memory of quilting was about 60 years ago.My grandmother had severe crippling athritis. Her fingers looked like the letter 'W'. She could not use scissors. She used a treadle machine to make scrap quilts. The scraps were sewn onto about 6 inch squares of newspaper. My job as a 6 or 7 year old was to sit at her feet and cut the newspaper squares and trim the fabric after she had sewn them. Of course she could not quilt them when finished making the top. I watched my mom and aunts 'tie' the quilts for her. I still have one of them. :)

I first experienced quilting at about 7 (now 54).  My grandfather made my grandmother gigantic quilting frames that were too big for her house so we had them at our house.  I wasn't aware that Mom and Grandma worked on piecing tops, but several times a year they quilted.  All their quilts were backed with sheets, and "batted" with flannel sheets. My "job" was to sit under the table and hand the needles back as they hand tied the quilts.  Now I can see what a valuable position I had.  Then it was just fun to play "duck the needle" as mom and grandma poked them through for me to hand back.

in 1982 I took a quilting class. I was married and had had 3 children in 4.5 years and was a stay at home mom.  I needed some me time.  I had some fabrics left over from Mom and Grandma and picked the 3 required colors to make 6- 9-patches into a throw for my oldest who was to be going off to kindergarten soon.  Turns out some of the fabric was cotton some poly. There was this batting "stuff" they all talked about, but mom said flannel was best.  While I was pretty pleased with the outcome, the fabrics were ugly and didn't go together.  When my now 35 year old daughter had a fire in her home last year, she wanted to go in to look for the quilt.  She even had it in her arms to cuddle with while she was in labor with her daughter. She was not allowed back in, but the quilt did survive the fire.

Now her daughter loves to go with me on shop hops, and she and I recently made a quilt together.

While I have many hobbies, quilting is by far my favorite.

I grew up with a grandmother who made patch quilts and an aunt who made beautiful Dresden plate patterned quilts that she pain-stakenly hand quilted into works of art.  I didn't think I could ever do anything so beautiful but loved to sew and did a lot of crochet and cross stitch.  I used to crochet baby sweater sets for craft fairs and decided to start making tiny things for a 'hope' chest for future grandbabies.  I love gingham fabric so my first quilt was made of gingham squares cross stitched with baby bottles, rattles, toys and ABC's in all shades of gingham.  It was tied in the old fashioned way with strands of cotton embroidery thread in variegated colors.  When my first grandson was born I couldn't find the quilt as it had been packed away when I moved.  I thought I had lost it and was heart broken.  Then along came baby #2, a precious baby girl and I found the quilt packed with fabrics.  By that time I had also made my baby granddaughter an afghan of granny squares.  She is now 16 and when she was 14 I made her another quilt to wrap herself in of Grandmother's Garden squares.

I started sewing when I was 8, clothing for me and my youngest sister. I was a winner in a fashion show in High School...quite an honor. Throughout the years I was busy working, college courses and raising my two children and purchased my first quilt in the 1990's and became hooked to the beauty of quilting.

However my daily activities didn't allow enough time for me to pursue my hobby. I retired in 2004 and started investigating what I had to do to make a quilt. I eventually found a beginners class in quilting and was now hook, line and sinker caught and mesmerized by quilting.

My first quilt was a lap quilt, and it is still in use today. I have completed blocks for several quilts and now I am now learning to do quilting and am happy to finally see the end results of all my efforts.

My first quilting memory is when my grandmother taught me how to quilt and we made a simple 9-patch.   We even hand-quilted it!   I was in my late 20's at the time.  I was so busy raising kids, going to college, working, and gardening that I didn't really do much with my new knowledge until about 8 years ago.  I was out of college and my kids grown.  Now quilting is a hobby that I play with several times a week.

Grandma!!! Quilting is just a constant reminder of my love and admiration for my Grandma! The first of her quilts I remember was one made from left over men's suit pants and velvet fabric.  It was muted colors, tans, browns, greys and blacks with deep red & blue & black velvet pieces.  It was crazy quilt style and it was tied with a flannel back.  It was on the bed my sister & I shared and when we were awake but had to stay in bed til the wood/coal furnace heated up the house we counted who had the most velvet pieces on their side.

  Grandma always had a quilt on a frame to work on and alot of her quilts had yellow in them which became my favorite color.  She made quilts from leftover fabric from her sewing, from feed or flour sacks or from old clothing.  All of her kids had quilts when they got married and as new babies arrived. When I was engaged she helped me make a quilt for my bed by giving me a pattern and cutting pieces for me to use and helping me tie it.  The Christmas before she passed away  in 1965 she gave a quilt to all 15 of her grandchildren.  Mine was an embroidered state flower/bird quilt on white squares with yellow sashing. I now have one of her own quilts and the one she made for my Mom when she got married.  All have yellow in them and I usually have yellow in my quilts, too.

  I took a quilting class in 1991 and made a sampler quilt.  I also made a hand quilted pillow top.  I made some simple things but didn't quilt in earnest until I joined a quilt guild in 2005.  Since then I have made mini quilts, table toppers, baby quilts, "I Spy" quilts, flannel rag quilts and TV quilts.  My biggest projects were a memory quilt for my grandson's graduation in 2009 and a T shirt quilt for my granddaughter's graduation in 2010. I am now working on a quilt with fabric I bought on vacation in Hawaii last year for our queen size bed.

  My areas for improvement are hand and machine quilting. They never look good to me so I'm always looking for tips in those areas.  I recently joined a small group doing art quilting which has fascinated me for quite a while so am looking forward to doing some landscape wall hangings.  Quilting is such an exciting, everchanging hobby for me and now that I am retired I have tons of ideas and a little more time so looking forward to the pleasure and enjoyment I saw in my Grandmother's quilting.

I was about 6 and my grandmother was doing some crazy quilting.  She would sit with me and show me how to piece them  --- ON BROWN PAPER BAGS.  Took me a lot of years to start up on my own, but now I've added another generation to quilting in our family.  I know my grandmother, great grandmother, great-great grandmother quilted.   I have quite a few of their quilts.  Making new memories now  - teaching my 6 year old grandson to quilt.

A crazy quilt my parents had on their bed.  I think it was from my great grandmother.  It was beautiful.  I don't know what became of it.

Well, growing up we used thick woollen comforters on all of our beds.  I remember helping my mother wash and card the wool, then lay out the quilt and quilt it with large running stitches using a yarn or heavy thread.  I still own several of these quilts and they are the best for keeping cosy in our Manitoba winters.

When I was a young child, I remember seeing the crazy quilt that my mother had made before she was married.  I much admired the look and feel of the various fabrics and the embroidery around each piece.  I vowed to make one for myself someday.  I have made several quilts, but not my crazy quilt yet.  Maybe when I get a quilt made for each of my grandchildren's graduations, I will do one for myself.

My first quilting memory is of how leery I was of using 1/4" seams. I used 1/2" seams for about ten quilts before I got brave enough to use 1/4" seams. My Mother gave me some booklets (still have them) that were printed in the early to mid forties and that was when I saw my first quilt pattern and it stated 'add seam allowances' and so I added 1/2" seam allowances. lol

My first quilting memory is taking a "Beginners Quilt Class" with my mother-in-law about 10 years ago.  I have made a few baby quilts since then but, I still feel like a beginner that still has so much to learn. :)

I remember being at my grandmas and looking at the quilt on my bed I was staying at and noticing that within the quilt were fabrics I'd seen before - like from my grandpa's shirt or my grandma's apron.  When I asked her about it, she said that she always saves old clothes and uses the fabrics for her quilts - comes from the days of the depression.  Even in the wedding quilt she made for me (which was her last quilt she made), there are many pieces of fabric I recognize!

The first quilt I made was a Pinochio quilt from a woman's magazine.  I made templates out of cerial boxes, folded the fabric around the templates and then pinned (with plain old sewing pins) so closely together that I could barely take a stitch.  As I recall my quilting was about a 6" or more grid.  My daughter, who was the recipient, loved the quilt to death, literally.  I made a second one when hers had dissolved from too many washings, and it was so different: freezer paper templates, good scissors, and small pins.

I made a Child's World Quilt in 1978 using the pattern from McCalls magazine.  An elderly lady in the Welcom Club in Johnson City, TN was teaching a group of us how to quilt by hand.  I did the applique quilt for my nephew, Steven Cox for his 4th birthday.  I made each block using toys, a birthday cake, sport items like a football, base ball, toys, a clothes line with his clothes on it, etc.  She taught us from the begining & I even quilted it by hand.  McCalls published the picture & write up about the quilt in their magazine which I have framed the article.  Steven is 30 some years old now & still has the quilt & his daughter, Chloe has used it & loves to look at the pictures in the different blacks.  I can't believe he still has the quilt & it looks great.  I am so proud of the first quilt I made.

my first quilting memory is going to my  maternal grandmothers house and sleeping in the bedrooms uptairs (where there was no heat) and cuddling in her old metal spring bead under her hand made quilt..

.I'm almost 63 year old now and I can still "smell and feel" the coldness of the room and the warmth of the bed.....I really miss her she been gone for 46 years now but I still feel her spirit and have her picture in my quilt room....I'm the only grandchild of 50+ grandchildren who ever took up quilting.. miss you meme

I made my first quilt for the baby of a dear sister-in-law nearly forty years ago.  It survived many years of  use, was washed and tucked away by my mother-in-law, and was returned to that baby nephew when his first child was born.  While going through a box of old fabric, I found a zippered bag of the leftovers from that project.  I made a doll quilt for the little girl who is now the caretaker of the original quilt.  There had been a thirty year break from quilting, but after I retired five years ago, I started quilting again and I truly enjoy it, although the stories of the new quilts are not so dramatic as the first!  

My Nana's velvet quilt always on her bed. I now own that quilt which I later found out her Mother in Law made her for a wedding present in 1917. My treasure!

My sister had me help her tie my parents anniversary quilt and that had me hooked. We go to quilt clubs and classes together.

y grandmother cut down her Dresden plate pattern to doll-size and made a quilt for my doll. I was about six years old at the time.

My favorite quilt moment i'd have to say is when i first started taking quilt lessons from a Guild member, I took these classes with a co-worker who became a good friend of mine, she ended up getting parkinson disease and has since passed away but i have good memories of us taking those first steps into quilting together. God rest her soul. I even made her a lap quilt with bears on it and one of the bears name was Daisy, just like hers. I have that quilt now that she has passed, so it helps keep her memory alive.

My first quilt was an art quilt.  I did not know it was that at the time.  I was about 15 years old and very bored.  My family was living overseas and there was nothing to do one day.  I got out a copy of McCall's magazine (the one that was over-sized, way back in the 60's) and saw a picture of a butterfly.  There were detailed instructions on how to make it with certain fabrics but we didn't have any of them.  I dug into Mom's stash (didn't know it was called that either) and found some I thought would work.  Took me the whole day to finish it.  Surprised Mom with it that evening.  She had it hanging on her walls, and kept moving it from house to house.  It was still hanging until she passed away in 2010.  It spent 40 years on her walls.  What a Mom!  

My very first quilt was a kit I made for my baby daughter.  It was a small Noah's Ark, light blue background with an ark and a rainbow.  I loved making it, but our finances were very tight for many years, and most of my time was spent sewing clothing for my family.  I started a quilt made with scraps from our clothing about 20 years ago, but put it aside in boredom and frustration - those were the days of cardboard templates and scissors.  It's still in the garage in a box.  I'll dig it out now that I know better.  I became reacquainted with quilting when I worked for a friend in her quilt shop, and I fell in love with rotary cutters and mats, and all the wonderful fabrics and techniques.  

My parents separated when I was 3 and my Mom, little brother, and I went to live with my grandparents.  That next fall I turned 4 and my grandmother set up her quilting frames in the dining room and invited me to stitch along with her.  She was very patient.  She had perfect stitching while my stitches were quite long and didn't follow the pattern she set up for me.  We would quilt during the day and at night after I was tucked away in my bed upstairs, I could peek down and watch her gently take all the big stitches out that I had made and replace them with the tiny ones she wanted.  I never told her I knew what she had done.  I always knew I wanted to learn to quilt properly but never had the time until I had retired.  I don't do things quite like she did, but my quilts, every one of them, are because my grandmother let me help her over 60 years ago.

My parents separated when I was 3 and my Mom, little brother, and I went to live with my grandparents.  That next fall I turned 4 and my grandmother set up her quilting frames in the dining room and invited me to stitch along with her.  She was very patient.  She had perfect stitching while my stitches were quite long and didn't follow the pattern she set up for me.  We would quilt during the day and at night after I was tucked away in my bed upstairs, I could peek down and watch her gently take all the big stitches out that I had made and replace them with the tiny ones she wanted.  I never told her I knew what she had done.  I always knew I wanted to learn to quilt properly but never had the time until I had retired.  I don't do things quite like she did, but my quilts, every one of them, are because my grandmother let me help her over 60 years ago.

I remeber my brownie troop make patches by hand sewing.  I didn't stick with it all those years ago, but I do remember loving the idea that you could make something wam and comforting (like my granny's quilts) and You could choose the fabric and pattern you wanted.  Today I like to choose fabric and patterns that I know the recipient of my gift will love.

My first memory is of me sitting on the floor under my grandmother quilting frame catching needles and sending them back up to the many ladies who were quilting with us that day.  I still have grandma's quilt frame at my house and I use it.

My mom had several quilts sewn in the 1920's to 1930's by her grandmothers.  She had them on her bed and used them on our beds, then I used them for my children and wore out a few in the process.  in my early forties I found letters from Grandma Mabel from the 1910's about swapping blocks with her cousin, and that piqued my interest in making my own quilt, using some cheap fabric from Woolworth's.  I made a frame out of one x two's and c-clamps that took up my whole living room.  Even though it wasnt perfect, my  still argue over who gets it when I am gone.

My first quilting memory was in 2010. I was watching an online video of Elinor Burns. I was so impressed by all the quilts I saw. It made me want to learn. I  went out and bought fabric and got started right away, even though I had no idea what I was doing. I fell in love with quilting at that moment. I've come a long way sense then.

Soon after we were married 32 years ago, I tackled a log cabin quilt for my mom for Christmas. It turned out so good that I made another one for my sister. Those were great memories!

I began looking at the fabrics I had left over from sewing dresses and items for my grandchildren and great grandchildren.  I then folded them and put them on my shelf according to lights and darks.  I had so many beautiful colors and patterns that I decided to put all the fabrics I used for each of their individual dresses into quilts for each of them and that was 3 years ago.  Haven't stopped quilting yet.    

My first memory was just a year ago! My daughter turned 1 and I was boxing up all her small baby clothes. I wanted to make something to keep them still and decided I needed to learn how to quilt so I could turn them into quilts for her grandma's. That was a little over a year ago and I am still going strong! Now I am making quilts for my newest nephews and nieces!

My first memory of quilts is the baby quilt my grandmother made me--a Sunbonnet Sue quilt. My next quilting memory is watching my mother make baby quilts for each of her grandkids. The first memory of my own foray into quilting is a free quilt class being offered by a new quilt store in my town. We made a sampler wall-hanging quilt by hand. We picked out four different blocks--I chose Monkey Wrench, Grandmother's Flower Garden, Appliqued Hearts and Drunkard's Path. After that class, I took another one where we made a Log Cabin Heart sampler which we rotary cut, machine sewed and tied.

I learned to quilt as an adult, when my daughter was about 8.  I had my fabrics laid out on the kitchen table, trying to figure out what design would highlight the Sunbonnet Sue redwork in the main fabric.  My daughter had been watching me from another room, and after I had sat there for a while looking at the fabric, she asked me what I was doing.  I told her I was letting the fabric speak to me.  She thought I was crazy!  But once she learned to quilt herself, she always told that story as her introduction to the joy of quilting.

When I was growing up I lived in a two story farm house.  The upstairs of course wasn't heated but what did that matter.  Having six brothers and 4 sisters all the blankets were put into good use.  I remember a yellow and cream Irish Chain quilt on one of my brother's bed.  Well I am happy to say that I now have that quilt and two others that were made by my mother's mother.  One of them is a beautiful variation of the Grandmother's Flower Garden.  So this is my first encounter of being around quilts.  I hope someday to remake the same quilt.  I should get started soon.

I had a close friend who was very craft-oriented.  She invited me to go with her to the International Quilt Festival in Houston (alsmost 30 years ago now when it was still being held in the old Shamrock Hilton hotel which was later torn down).  I had never had any interest in quilting but just went with my friend for a fun day out.  Boy was I in for a surprise!  That was the year the Olfa Rotary Cutter was introduced.  OMG, it could cut through 8 layers of fabric at one time!!!  They demonstrated how you could cut all these strips at one time and make a quilt in a day!  So, I bought the cutter and mat and ruler and fabric and thread and batting... and made my first Log Cabin Quilt in a DAY!!  Awesome!!!

My first experience of quilting goes back to 1965 when visiting my inlaws. As I walked in their front door I saw an elderly lady standing at a very large wooden frame and on the frame was a beautiful wedding ring quilt that she was hand quilting with very tiny stitches. I stood in awe of her work and would have loved to chat with her about quilting but she didn't speak a word of English. I later learned that she and her husband had immigrated to the United States from Germany.  I couldn't get the idea of quilting out of my head and knew that some day I would in fact be a quilter. That day came ten years ago after I retired from full time work and now I am the happy owner of a frame, long arm machine and robot.

I had been watching my cousin quilt these wonderful beautiful patterns and I thought I can do that. I attempted a fairly simple pattern with a turtle applique. What a disaster. I had no idea what I was doing, but I was hooked nevertheless. That was only ten years ago when I was forty.

My first quilting memory was going to a small quilt store in my city.  It was my introduction to quilts.  I fell in love with the huge array of fabrics - the colors, the patterns, the possibilities.  I signed up for a class and was hooked for life.  

As a young child I remember watching the ladies quilting on what I then thought was a massive frame in my Grandmother's living room.  I had no idea what they were actually doing, just as I had no clue what I was doing when in my 50's I had to buy fabrics for my first quilt class.  So many fabrics, so many choices, so little knowledge.  It all makes sense now, but it sure didn't at the time.

As the bicentenial approached [1976], I was asked to make an applique block depicting our town's landmark.  I had sewed but never appliqued.  I could not find any instructions at the time so I winged it.  The blocked depicted a favorite sledding hill.  I tried to make it 3-D, with a little girl's braids flying in the wind. the quilt hangs in Topsfield , Mass town hall.

I began quilting in 1978 after visiting Amish country in Pennsylvania. I fell in love with their quilts and wanted to make one. I went to our library and there were exactly two books .Both of them had only hand quilting so Imbecame a hand quilter. My first quilt was a grandmother's flower garden but I made the hexagons very large resulting in an extremely large quilt. But shortly after that I found quilting programs on tv and have progressed to a quilt club with some wonderful quilters. I now frequent quilt shops and have made many quilts for friends and family. Quilting has become my passion!!!

I watched my mother in law make quilts & helped her tie them , I saw a quilt I liked in a magazine it looked easy, Soooo I went to work the fabric was on the streight (I was Lucky. or maybe not that was 24 yrs ago) I tore my stripes & squares then pulled the strings that were hanging used rolled batting from the snowmobile factory, which was very very high loft, then tied it. (We used to live in Mn, & had asno suit factory close to us & they sold thier batting) it was light & fluffy & I still have it, & its still fluffy. The bug bit me & i'm still making quilts.

I watched my mother in law make quilts & helped her tie them , I saw a quilt I liked in a magazine it looked easy, Soooo I went to work the fabric was on the streight (I was Lucky. or maybe not that was 24 yrs ago) I tore my stripes & squares then pulled the strings that were hanging used rolled batting from the snowmobile factory, which was very very high loft, then tied it. (We used to live in Mn, & had asno suit factory close to us & they sold thier batting) it was light & fluffy & I still have it, & its still fluffy. The bug bit me & i'm still making quilts.

My grandmother lived with us throughout my childhood.  At age 4 or so I can remember the quilting frames that were set up in her room.  They were made of wood and there was a hand crank to move the quilt as she hand quilted each section.  I still have those quilts and they are well used.  I watched as she used cardboard templates to hand quilt her designs in the white background areas of the quilts.  I was amazed that her stiches were so tiny and perfect.  It is too bad I did not begin quilting until after she passed away and I have no idea what happened to the quilting frames after my family made several moves and I left for college.

I was a late bloomer when it comes to quilting.  Didn't start until I was in my 20's.  My first memories is panels.  I just did the quilting on them.  Then I wanted to learn piecing and it was all over from there.  Been quilting for about 15 years now and I can't get enough of it.  I am so happy that two of my friends talked me into taking an adult education class to learn.

My 1st quilting memory is when I was around 12 years of age, my grandmother would have me sit on the floor under the quilt that was stretched out on a wooden frame that was balanced on the tops of chairs. She would take her threaded needle and poke it through the quilt, I would take the needle and poke it back through the area that she had pushed down on above me with a spoon, this way the needle came back up where she wanted it and her finger didn't get stuck. I spent many of hours down on the floor, one might say I was killing 2 birds with 1 stone, ( intertaining grandma and dusting the floor with my butt at the same time.)

My first memory of quilting is the thick pieced quilts on my grandmother and aunts beds, although they fascinated me and my mother made quilts by hand I never thought until recently that it was something I could do.

I remember threading needles and combing raw cotton with cotton card combers to remove the cotton seeds and pat out small blocks of cotton for batting. I can't remember if my father's mother had a sewing machine but I know she hand stitched the quilt on a frame that hung from her bedroom ceiling in the summer because the windows could be opened and over the dinning room table during the winter where it was warmer (gas space heaters back then...1950's).  My sister infected me by giving me a small (placemat size) patriotic flag around 2010 I said to myself...I can do that!  I sewed clothes for myself and 2 daughters but quit when I had to start altering the patters.  I visited a quilt shop in our community in order to see about borrowing some quilt tops for a display of quilting books in my library.  I was absolutely stunned by the 'eye candy' of beautiful fabrics.  I realized I had nothing to show for the past 10 yrs. while working my first prof. job (librarian) and signed up for a rag quilt class.  I was shocked at the total cost after not sewing for a good 20-30 yrs.  My 13 yr. old grandson loved it and still loves it along with a couple of quickie Aggie quilts he wanted for college. Quilting has/is an addiction that warms the heart and spreads love.

My first quilting memory: following my first quilting course, I made a couple of pillows to place on my daughters' beds.  Soon after, I discovered one of the pillows on the floor, close to my daughter's hamster cage.  The hamster admired the pillow so much that it had chewed through the material to get at the stuffing inside with which it made a cosy bed ....

I went to sleep under a Sunbonnet Sue quilt at my grandmothers, and I vividly remember that quilt from the time I was about 8 years old.  Grammy didn't quilt, and I don't think she even remembered where the quilt came from, but I was hooked.  I started quilting at 18 and its been 38 years now and I still dream quilts....

In the beginning, for me, was Eleanor Burns. And Alex Anderson. Those 2 ladies opened up a whole new world for me.  Quilt in a Day made me believe I could do it, & Simply Quilts wowed me with all the possibilities.  My first attempt was an enormous, (105"x99") hand quilted, denim & flannel project that kept my lap warm for 2 whole winters. It was made from old jeans & old flannel shirts, (mostly donated) & I just kept adding to it.  I never did learn how to quilt in only 1 day!  lol  I still have it today. MANY years later.  And, I'm addicted!

I learned of quilting as an adult. I was a home aide and I went to a client's house and her aunt was hand quilting a quilt. I asked her what she was doing and she told me. I told her that was great and that one day then I wanted to learn. Approximately four years later I started quilting by buying Joann's Block of the Month program and then learning and growing from there ever since.

What a heart warming question. My Grandma Mae was so much to me, She helped raise us kids. She taught me work ethic, she gave me my Christian Heritage,how to bake pies, clean strawberries,elderberries,snap green beans,peal apples,peaches,can vegetables like tomato's,ect. She is my first memory of quilting, she had a huge quilting frame in the living room, one day she asked me if I would like to help. Of course I wanted to learn so much. She sat me down, threaded a needle and showed me how to rock the needle. Looking back now I have to laugh. I rocked the needle all right about 1/4 inch stitches, upon running out of thread, I threaded some more thread on my needle,about 2 feet long, I could not understand why my thread keep getting tangled up. She corrected me on that, but never corrected me on my huge stitches. She told me what great hand work I do, and if I keep it up I will be a great quilter. It is amazing how much we remember from our family past, I know she is looking down at me and I am so thankful she got me interested in quilts.

Thank you Grandma Mae for being the great teacher and mentor you were to me and my sister...

What a heart warming question. My Grandma Mae was so much to me, She helped raise us kids. She taught me work ethic, she gave me my Christian Heritage,how to bake pies, clean strawberries,elderberries,snap green beans,peal apples,peaches,can vegetables like tomato's,ect. She is my first memory of quilting, she had a huge quilting frame in the living room, one day she asked me if I would like to help. Of course I wanted to learn so much. She sat me down, threaded a needle and showed me how to rock the needle. Looking back now I have to laugh. I rocked the needle all right about 1/4 inch stitches, upon running out of thread, I threaded some more thread on my needle,about 2 feet long, I could not understand why my thread keep getting tangled up. She corrected me on that, but never corrected me on my huge stitches. She told me what great hand work I do, and if I keep it up I will be a great quilter. It is amazing how much we remember from our family past, I know she is looking down at me and I am so thankful she got me interested in quilts.

Thank you Grandma Mae for being the great teacher and mentor you were to me and my sister...

My first quilting experience was as an adult. For years I thought that I would never get interested in quilting. From a garment sewer's perspective, I could not see the the enjoyment of cutting a whole bunch of fabric into strips and pieces and then sewing them all back together and still having a flat piece of fabric. An employee of a fabric store that I frequent asked me to make a display piece using some of their Christmas fabric. They happen to have some with dogs in the design and I found a small wall hanging that had a dog head and bowl, so I combined the two. The contrast wasn't very good, but everyone thought it turned out cute. I really got hooked when they asked me again to do a display and picked out a log cabin design from a book they were promoting. It was so much fun picking out colors and seeing the mix of shade and values make the quilt come alive and change. I have stopped picking out colors since.

My first quilting memory is a partial quilt left from a fire in our house.  It is one that my grandmother had made for me but she died before I was old enough to know her.  My first quilting project was a hand-quilted pot holder.  Hey, I finished it!  I have moved on to larger items.  

When I was young we would stay in a mobile home that my parents had on a piece of property in southern Georgia on the weekends. My Dad would hunt and we kids would just take walks and get to know the kids who lived in the neighborhood. We woud usually be there during the fall and winter time and the mobile home didn't have a great heater, so we would use some quilts that my Father's aunt had made. We would have to lie down in our bed and have our Mom put the quilts on top of us because they were so heavy. It wasn't until I was older that I realized that quilts did not have to be so heavy. Even now, I still don't know what my Great-Aunt used for batting.  :)

I started sewing in middle school, made almost all my own clothes.  Made all my daughters clothes when she came home, she is my youngest and was in 6th grade - told me her friends Mother made quilts and since I sewed I should make her a quilt.  I went to her friends house and yes her Mother did quilt but she sold her quilts none of her kids had any - I truly thought that was sad and told Tonya I'd make her a quilt.  She helped me pick out the fabric and we drew a block on a piece of paper - whie I knew how to sew, I put a 5/8" seam on every block and all seams in between.  The block and quilt came together quite well, so now I had a quilt top but didn't have a clue how to quilt, another trip to her girlfriends house and I finished her quilt about 3 years after starting.  Not bad when you figured I could not get the needle to rock so I pushed it in and pulled it up manually for over half the quilt until I could make the stitches look right without having to do a push and pull - I still laugh but the quilt is pretty, huge seams and manually pushed down and pulled up stitches - I'm still proud of that first quilt.

My first memory of quilting is my first quilt I made.  I use to sew clothes many, many years ago then for some reason my sewing machine went into the closet and I forgot about sewing.  In my late fifties I got a new sewing machine and decided I want to learn to quilt.  I took a class to make a pumpkin quilt how hard could it be.  That was my first awaking to 2-1/2" really means 2-l/2".  If it didn't fit I figured I could just stretch the fabric a bit.  I still hang that quilt every halloween even thought my quilt was lots bigger then everone else in the class.  But you know if you see it hanging on the wall and you don't quilt you would think it was suppose to be that way.  At any rate that's what I tell myself.

JJ

My first actual quilting memory was not actually when I was making a quilt. it was when I was in elementry school and during summer break I was visiting my grandmother and aunts and they were piecing one and quilting another (by hand - my grandmother's hands would get tired and piecing was more "fun". Kind of like putting together a puzzle.) My grandmother had kept all 7 of her kids clothes from growing up and would tear them apart and put them in a quilt. I didn't put my first on together until high school home ec class... Big 12 inch squares sewn together.

At about age 5 or 6, my mother "let" my sister and me make quilting stitches in the corner of her quilt. We used yarn, and these were amateur stitches. My sweet mother left them there.

I was eight years old spending the summer with my paternal grandma.  She was teaching me and my cousins how to sew and some quilting.  Near their farm was a factory and my cousins and I would go "dumpster diving" for fabric to use in making our quilts.  Grandma did not have rotary cutters, rulers, templates, etc.; just scissors, thread, sewing machine and those were the best made and some of the most beautiful quilts.  

My first memory of quilting is joining an adult Education class at a local high school some 25 years ago.  The instructor was a lovely women who insisted that our very first quilt be totally hand made.    We continued meeting as a group long after the class was over and joined the smae quild that this nice lasdy founded some 40 years ago. I still have that first quilt to remind me where I began and and how much I have leaned and improved over the years ,I am proud of that first quilt with large quilting stitches.  Since then I joined another guild and met so many more wonderful talented people.  I thank that very nice instuctor (Eleanor) for sharing her love of quilting.

I regret I did not join in but watching my mom and Grandmother make a quilt from my Great Grandfathers shirts..they were on the floor working and exchanging memories ..my mom never saw him but Grandma still shared things about her father. They were having such a good time.

When I was little, my sister and I would stay with my paternal Grandmother.  In a real small town.  She quilted.  She made us matching quilts for our beds. But, when we stayed with her, the bed was high.  She used the a-frame legs from her quilt frame to put alongside the bed so we wouldn't roll out.  Now, not sure that would have helped, but at the time we thought it did!  I was maybe 3, my sister just 16 months older.  We would spend a week every summer.  My own first quilt, was for my son after he was born.  I saw a picture of a baby quilt in Women's Day Magazine.  No instructions.  I went to the local fabric store, bought material (it was gingham), and made it.  Applique hearts on alternating patches.  I machine quilted it, and brought the back to the front for borders.  Now, I know better.  My son is 36.  I now own a Bernina embroider machine, and my very own Gammill!

I learned quilting as an adult at a class I signed up for on a whim. My second quilt won a contest for a sewing machine.

When I got married my Aunt Joy gave me a queen size dresdon plate quilt.  The beauty of it left me in awe!!  But it would be years before I would have the nerve to try my own quilt.  I was broke and invited to a cousins wedding.  I did however have a sewing machine.  A friend of mine had started quilting and with an "if she can do it I can do it" attitude I created a 4X4 quilt.  Very simple and in hindsight, with many technical mistakes, but a quilt.  

In the years since this first attempt - my passion has grown, my skills have improved and I can even do a dresdon plate block.  I still have much to learn but that's o.k.  Quilting,like life, is a journey and I'm having one heck of a trip!! - Debbie

When my sister first mentioned to me about quilting, I thought "oh man, that is for old people" . Finally I agreed to try it. Well after making my husband a KING size lot cabin, which I don't recommend to any new beginners to make a King size, I said...."I am opening my own quilt store"  I did and for 7 years I ran it, had quilting lessons for newcomers and enjoyed every second of it: until I got ill and had to close it. But I still quilt at home and enjoy it tremendously. What a way to enjoy retirement.

I've only been quilting about 9 years so I remember my first quilt. It was horrible. the colors were terrible and none of the points or corners met the way they were supposed to. But I was so proud you would have thought I created a masterpiece. I showed all my sisters-in law and told them "look what I did". They very nicely told me it was beautiful. None of them quilted and still don't but I love them anyway and I have loved quilting ever since.

My first quilting memory is of quilts my family owned, though I didn't know any relatives who quilted.  My Mom had 3 or 4 quilts in her cedar chest that I thought came from my grandma, but her older sisters likely made them as grandma did not quilt.  We would use them as extra warm layers in the winter or as picnic blankets in the summer.  My brother & I may have used them as tents for living room camping, too. They were so well-loved that when I got them this year, I discovered much of the top fabric had worn out on some. They are still treasures but will not be used any more while I figure out if I can preserve them.  

I started making quilts in 1994 when my first nephew was born (I used a simple block pattern from a home-ec teacher) & now make quilts for all the nieces & nephews my husband & I have as well as other quilts.  I hope I am making what will become treasured & used gifts that last as long as my great aunts' quilts!

I happened to see a quilt documentation and went in and looked around. The teacher who requested the documentation was there and I told her I had a quilt top from my great-grandmother and would like to learn to piece and quilt. She had a fall class starting at the rec center in a few days, so I joined. I started to make a butterfly quilt for my autistic grand daughter by hand. I have never sewn as my mother was a beautiful seamstress and designer. She made and repaired my clothes and my husband repaired our kid's clothing! We were living in the RV while our house was being built. The lighting was terrible so he bought me a small sewing machine. That quilt top was almost completed in the RV. It was finished by summer. It was the size between a single and double bed. I hand quilted the entire quilt. For me, it was a gigantic undertaking, but it turned out great. I had no idea how to embroider the tentacles on the butterfly so I guessed at it. A good friend asked me "what kind of stitch that was" and told her it was a Dianna stitch.

After that I made several quilts for my son and his family which they have enjoyed. My only stipulation was that they used them and not just for display.

My mother taught three daughters sewing starting with 4-H Club clothing construction. Since then we have all become interested in quilting. My mother made many quilts for her children, grandchildren and great-grand children. She had on her bed in later years, a well worn quilt she had made before she was married in the Bearpaw design. Her mother also quilted so it is going down through the generations as my daughters also like to sew and make quilts.

My first quilting memory is from college back in the mid-1970's.  My roommate came back from home one weekend and announced she had made a "Biscuit" quilt.  I had always wanted to make a quilt and she assured me that this was fun, fast, and inexpensive.  As a poor college student this was right up my alley.  Well it involved making these little squares or "biscuits" out of fabric scraps and stuffing them with one leg of old pantyhose or a pair of nylon trouser socks.  The thing weighed about 900lbs when it was done(or at least felt that heavy) and you had to sew all these little biscuits together by hand.  The back looked atrocious to say the least!!  

I have loved sewing since I was about 14 and made a lot of clothing, pillows, curtains and such.  I never tried quilting because I was intimdated and thought it would be so hard to make something as big as a bed quilt, but after going to Landcaster Pensyvania in 1998 where a friend took me to buy a quilt I became inspired and when we got home I bought a book by Eleanor Burns for a Trip around the world quilt.  I enjoyed picking out the fabrics and making the quilt.  The hardest part was doing the quilting of such a big quilt for the first time.  I still have that quilt and truly treasure it, but I have come a long way since then.   For a number of years I hand quilted.  Now I am using a long arm for the quilting and I try every pattern I can find.  Isn't life grand!!

My first memory of quilting was when I was 14 years old.  My older sister was visiting us with her new baby.  This was her fourth child and the first girl.  I was so happy that I wanted to give the baby a special gift.  I made a 9 patch crib quilt out of scraps on Mom's old treadle sewing machine.  That little quilt was my first attempt at piecing.  It became my niece's "nappy-to-it" quilt that she had to have when she was tired or hurt.  

My first quilting memory is that of the quilts covering our beds in the 1856 family farm home when I was 5. (1941)  The quilts were made out of dark fabric and tied.  There was just one bedroom out of three with a register to provide some heat during the cold Iowa winter.  Several cousins stayed with us,

so there were three beds in the room with two or more children sleeping in each bed.  

My first quilting memory is from sitting with my grandmother at age 5 or 6 watching her handpiece very small squares, triangles, hexagons, etc.   She sat in the same chair every day patiently hand sewing those tiny little fabrics together and I never understood her passion until now.  I took up quilting two years ago at age 57 and love, love, love it!  Now my grandmother and I have a connection I never knew when she was alive.

As a 30-something stay-at-home mom, I needed something to get me out of the house with other adults. I decided to take a hand-quilting class.  During the 4 wk class making a honey bee block, I wasn't sure I liked hand-piecing. The very experienced instructor told me she liked my fabric choices and that I should purchase enough of all fabrics so some day I could finish a quilt from them.  She said she knew that sometime in the future I would pick it up again and finish a quilt, even if I didn't think I liked it. Being slightly in awe of her, I bought the fabric and put it away in a cabinet.  TEN years later, I got the urge...and the rest is history.  Quilting is my passion, my joy and my stress therapy, although I like machine-piecing instead of hand-piecing. I can hardly wait to retire to really get into my very large  stash of fabric!

I just started quilting this year so the memory is fresh in my mind.  My mother-in-law surprised me with my first sewing machine at Christmas.  Sometime in January she gave me my first lesson, and I felt like it opened up a whole new world for me.  I have been enjoying it so much.

My first memory is of my wonderful Mother-in-law gave me her old sewing machine a taught me how to quilt. She is such a loving and giving person, and very talented. We still quilt together.    

My first quilting memory is of a quilt I made for my grandmother.  I cut squares out of my old woolen skirts, sewed them together, and tied the blocks at the intersections.  It wasn't pretty, but Nana cherished it anyway.

My first quilting memory was of my Grandmother making a Sunbonnet Sue quilt for my Mother.  I would go the block down from our house to watch as she hand stitched all the girl blocks always amazed at how many new little girls there would be each day when I arrived home from school.  The "girls" were made from clothing my Mother wore as a young girl.  I knew from those days watching and visiting with my Grandmother that I too would be a quilter.  And I am!!  Thank You Grandma.  Although she is no longer with us that beautiful quilt of little girls is still with us as well as other creations from her heart.

My first quilting memory was the Crazy Quilt my grandmother made.  I just wish it hadn't gone by the wayside.  Don't know who has it now.  Making one is on my "To Do List"

When  I first looked at a guilt and finally could see the squars

I remember playing with my cousins under the quilt layered on a frame  while grandma and her friends quilted together in my grandparents' farmhouse in Central Texas.  The frame was suspended from the ceiling and was lowered whenever they gathered together to work on it.

My youngest daughter was going to graduate from high school.  She was the only one willing to wear the clothes I "made" and I had saved a lot of leftover pieces.  I had no idea what I was doing, I made a crazy quilt out of them but I sewed them to a sheet before I added the batt and backing.  That was in 1979, she still has the quilt although it has been repaired numerous times because it is a favorite of her boys, one of them even took it to college with him so the others couldn't use it.

My first quilting memory was a quilt I made for my Grandson when he was born. It was a train applique with a red background. I had not seen him for sometime because I moved to Georgia and he lived in Ohio. On his visit here to his fathers I notice he was caring a quilt. I could not belive that he still had the quilt 13 yrs later. I was told that he went every where with it a favorite of his. I told him that I made it for him he was so thankful. He now placed it in a special storage place. On his last vist here to GA he asked me to make him another quilt. Of course I will my granddaughter also has asked for one. It is so wonderful to see something that was made as a gift so appricated even 28 yrs later.

Jacqueline Chesser

I grew up sewing clothes but never made a quilt until about 30 years ago.  Two good friends and I set out to make Trip Around the World quilts.  No one would cut any fabric until everyone was ready and we said "OK, go!"; then we started cutting the fabric.  A few years ago I found out that my grandmother (who taught me to sew) had made quilts and there was a trunk full of them in our basement when I was growing up.  My father moved them when my parents moved and I have yet to see them.  He keeps saying "we have to get those quilts so you can see them" but never does.  My sister and I are excited to see them but also scared because we don't know what condition they are in after being stored in a trunk in a basement and now in a barn somewhere; can't seem to get my Dad to get them for us.  

My first quilting memory is looking through my mother's quilting books. I loved all the patterns and colors and wanted to make one for myself.

The first is watching my mother make little bittle squares into a quilt.  The sashing was in red.  My brother and I both wanted to the quilt an I was so surprised when she gave it to me.  I take it out once a year and use it, then refold it and put it away.  When I look at it, I see the dresses I used to wear, the shirts she made for my brother and my dad.

My earliest memory of quilting in my life is part of the reason I wanted to learn to quilt now in my life. The lady next door in our little neighborhood of 5 houses was called Nanny by all of us kids. She let us come visit her as a grandma would whenever we wanted. Except for Quilting Day. She would have a quilting bee once a month or so, and when those ladies came over, we had to stay in the kitchen and quietly get our milk and cookies, and then go back out to play. Once I remember sneaking into the room where the quilt was in a big frame, and we eavesdropped till caught. When I told my parents what we had done, and wondered why Nanny didnt want us there, my dad said because while they were sewing, they were having a hen party! Took me years to find out what that meant, but all we knew was that was something we wanted to do when we grew up, because all those ladies were having a great time!

50 some years ago, my new neighbor, a sweet little old lady and her sis invited me to go along with them to their quilting bee ... there were a group of ladies circled around a large, gorgeous quilt hung on a frame suspended fromthe ceiling, chit-chatting as they plied their quilting needles.  being little old ladies, they quizzed me [i was obviously pregnant], wanting to know all about me as they taught me to quilt.   the next week, i was back to quilt at their invitation, and at tea break, they gifted me with fabric, pattern, and all the trappings to handsew a baby quilt!  i made that quilt with their help but never took up quilting again until a few years ago.  

My first quilting memory is a class at church for ladies who wanted to learn to make quilts.  It was a winning hand design in Christmas fabrics and turned out so well that I have been piecing quilts for my family ever since.  I now coordinate a group of ladies who get together with donated fabrics and make quilts for charities to give to children in need.  

My first quilting memory is sitting in my grandmother's front room watching her hand quilt a Double Wedding Ring quilt.   Months later, when she was completely finished, she gave me the quilt.   It is well worn now, but I still have it.  

My first memories are of the quilts that my grandmother made for me.  She has been gone for many many years now but I still have the two quilts she made for me a few others that she also made.  These have inspired me in the last couple of years to start making my own quilts.

In 1965, I came to Texas to stay with my in-laws while my husband was in Viet Nam.  My mother-in-law invited me to join her and other ladies from her church in making quilts for the local chilren's home.  Well, I was raised in Philadelphia and I never knew that people made quilts.  I jumped at the chance to go with her and I loved it.  At the age of 65, she was the youngest of the quilting ladies.  I treasure the memories of those ladies and what they taught me.  They would chat and laugh and tell off on each other as they worked on the quilts.  They were delightful and made me feel that my little bit of work on those quilts made them more special.  I have tried to share my limited knowledge with others.  I feel I owe those lovely little ladies that much given that they accepted me into their little group so readily.  They were priceless.

My first memory of quilting is:  I found these cute bear bandana's and thought how they would make a cute blanket my youngest, then 3.  So, without having a clue as to what I was doing (no squaring up, no trimming, no measuring...) I sewed six of those blocks together, added some batting and flannel, pinned it (mostly to my carpet :/ ) and sewed it all together.  It didn't turn out great but, it wasn't terrible, either :)  My daughter loved it!

My grandmother made me a basket quilt when I was seven years old. Then I helped my grandpa take all the furniture out of the dining room and set up a big quilting frame. All the ladies from my grammy's church sewing circle came for the afternoon and handstitched the quilt. My job was to serve tea and cookies. I still have that quilt and use it 60 years later!

I am a new quilter, and the first since my great=grandmother to quilt. I fell in love with her quilts at an EARLY age (apparently I would fuss as a baby till they wrapped me in it)! I have treasured those quilts forever. I never thought that I could sew, until this year when I decided to learn. I am now on my 3rd & 4th quilt~ >..<

It was fall of 1970, my senior year of college and I was dating a nice boy in Albany Oregon.  His Mom was a quilter and we would sit up until the wee hours of the morning with cardboard templates, ball point pens and scissors cutting out squares of whatever fabric was available.  We tied the quilts and used sheets on the back.  All the things that we cringe when we think about today.  My first quilt finally fell apart but I kept a piece of it and have it framed and hanging in my sewing room.  The relationship did not last but I think she was the best part anyway!  She passed away a year or 2 later but I like to think that she is hanging around as my quilting angel and everytime I bring a new tool or book home I have to share it with Mary.  She would have loved everything we have now.  I have gone from 4-patch blocks to making 6 or more quilts of valor quilt tops every month and designing my own blocks and quilts.

My first memory about quilting was  my first great teacher and friend Rachel Cowley. Rachel  and her family moved around alot and had moved to our area, she wanted to meet quilters so I took her class.

  I didnot know anything about quilting I justed started on oxygen and feeling sorry for myself, and she taught me how to stop thinking about myself with quilts.

She help get us started with a guild, and she always loved our quilts even when some where outrageous. Now years later, I have had a double lung transplant, and made lots and lots of quilts, and still making them.  Even tho we have lot contact with Rachel.......... Yes I am hooked on quilting thanks Rachel!

My first memory of quilting is of a great teacher, and friend Rachel  Cowley.   Rachel and her family moved around alot and she wanted to meet other quilters by teaching  the unknown how to quilt.

I was on oxygen at the time and feeling sorry for myself, when I took her class. She taught me many things in quilting and about myself. She always got excited about quilts that we made even tho some were pretty outrageous. She helped us start and guild.  Now years later I have had a double lung transplant and still make quilts. The guild which she helped start is now 100 member strong. Even tho we have lost contact with Rachel, I think of her often. Thank you Rachel for all the fun!

My first quilting project was when I was about 8 or 9, I used scraps from my Moms' sewing basket, to make quilts for Betsy Wetsy and My Littlest Angel dolls. My first class project was a pieced cover for a lace pillow. I remember much more about the pillow, but I was also 10+ years older.

I swore I would never quilt...especially like my grandmother.  Here I was a mom with 2 little children and needing to find a class at a community college to meet other women.  I needed adult conversation and a creative outlet.  I joined a beginning quilt-making class with Roberta Horton.   At the time she was just beginning her career in quiltmaking.  I was an accomplished clothing designer and could sew just about anything.  I was very precise in everything I did...after an hour Roberta came up to me and took my rulers from me and said, "You are too uptight with being perfect.  I am taking these from you.  I want you to design something on this paper with this pencil and no ruler."  It was one of those "mountain-top" moments in life!  By doing what she did...she set me "free" and I was allow to design and stitch my heart into everything I ever would make....and believe me after 30 years I am still going STRONG!  One of my "silent mentors" is Roberta who sits on my shoulder whenever I start to get to technical she YELLS at me to knock it off!  What a blessing she was and that day will always be one of those blessed moments for it set my feet onto a path full of discovery and joy!

My Grandmother gave us an "Around the World " Quilt that she had made completely by hand. Every round of fabric was different, none were repeated. She said it was called "an Around the World " Quilt because you had to travel around the county to get all of the fabrics. It was beautiful but as most things of that age was used until it wore out. I think my Mother used as a filler for another quilt whic happened to be the first quilt top that I pieced (by machine) when I was in High School).                              

Both my grandmothers and my mom were quilters so when my baby brother got married I jumped right in and decided to make him a wedding ring quilt.  How hard could it be?  This was in the 70's pre-rotary cutter, rulers, etc.  I remember cutting out 1000+ pie pieces, putting them in a testbook to keep them flat and then.....Still had the pieces in the book when our family moved 15 years later.  thankfully since them I have joined QCA, watched many quilting shows and been a faithful subscriber to LoQ and other magazines.  Have made many baby quilts and other quilts for brides but have never tried a Wedding Ring quilt again.

I remember cleaning one day and I thought "What am I going to do with all this material that is left?"  I had my moms scraps and mine plus I had a aunt who had pass away , and my uncle gave me all hers to.  So I  had three small kids by then, so I sat in the middle of the floor one afternoon while they were taking a

nap and just started cutting.  I cut them in five inch squares.  I put them back in a bag.  To later sit and sew together.  The kids each got a full size bed quilt that I took a old sheet in the middle.  I didn't know about batting back then!  I bought a nice piece of cotton to put on the backs.  I gave then each one.  And I told them this DO NOT GO TO THE BEACH !!  

My oldest daughter still has hers.  I don't know about the other two, as  they live away and I don't see them very often.  It was fun, and I remember how proud I was that I made these Quilts.  

I had always sewed since I was ten years old.  I started 4-H then.  My mon was the longest active 4-H leader in the state of Michigan!  She thought so many how to do sewing, gardening,freezing, canning. I know now what a good life we had as kids!

I am now a avid quilter.  It is my hobby.  I sew on something every day.  I love to quilt!

I was about five and we had gone to visit my mothers parents. Grand ma was an avid sewer. From clothes to quilts that woman had a way with fabric. I was always happy to watch grandma lay out her fabric pieces for her quilts. Well long story short she laid out her pieces on the floor in the family room, then headed to the kitchen. I choose to rearrange her pieces so that i was happy with what colors were next to each other. Oh my was she ever upset when she came back to the family room. I ruined about 3 or 4 hours of her working to set out a pattern. But she loved me so she sewed the quilt as i laid it out. I still haven't lived that down. That was one funny looking quilt.

In the year 2000 my husband said that I needed to "get out of the house" and find something that would interest me.  He found an ad for a quilting class so I went.  The teacher asked me what kind of quilting would I like to do.  I said, "What kinds are there".  So she decided to teach the class applique starting with a Baltimore Album.  She said "If you are looking for 'easy' you are in the wrong place."  I stuck it out.  It took 2 yrs and 3 mos but I made a Baltimore.  I entered it into the Florida State Fair (under the teacher's advisement) and it won First Place and Best of Show.  My first quilt!!  Best memory in the world.

We moved to a small village when we retired and quilting was something I was always going to do when I retired.  I had sewn all my life but never quilted.  A quilt had been set up in our community hall for anyone to come over and help with the quilting.  Thinking back now I sure had a nerve. I went over and quilted for over an hour.  I am sure they probably ripped out all I had done when I left because I still can't hand quilt. I do a great job on the tops but not the hand quilting.  Some day!!

After sleeping under quilts made by my grandmother it took a long time for me to have the time to pursu quilting myself. In 2000 my husband was diagnosed with head/neck cancer. So I dove into making a memory quilt for him to take to the hospital. It went from being a lap robe to a king size with pictures ranging from his birth to the present time. I learned a great deal in making that (my very first quilt.) I never make anything simple to start!

Oddly enough it wasn't a quilt I made or was I even sewing at the time. My grandmother had made  a crazy quilt out of velvet and satins. When I was about ten I would take it outside to lay on. I would look at it and see the rips and missing pieces and wonder why she made it and when. I started to sew shortly after because of that quilt. I made clothes for years and it wasn't till my own mother gave me a quilt she made at the age of about seventy that I started to make quilts. I saw my mother's quilt with the same eyes that I saw my grandmother's quilt. The love was there and it was touchable and beautiful. Grandmother's quilt went missing. Someone from the family took it but my mother's quilt will go with me wherever I am. I make my quilts for love only and don't need to worry about the person who has them, because they know I made the quilt for them only. Their memory of me is my quilt.

I remember my grandmother quilting.  One night I stayed the night with her.  Her little house did not have much heat and it was so cold.  She had made up the bed with 4 or 5 of her own quilts.  They were not really fancy, just simple patchwork.  I just remember how warm a and comforting it was to snuggle down under their weight that night. That memory is 52 years old and I still can feel how secure and warm I slept that night.

When my kids were small we bought a new car. To keep the back seat from getting dirty from their little feet I spread an appliqué quilt over the back seat. My grandmother was probably crying at the thought of her hard work with muddy little foot prints covering her beautiful quilt. Years later when the kids were grown and on their own I found the quilt. It was clean but many of the small appliqué pieces were coming off. I took a month sewing  the pieces back on that treasured piece of my grandmothers art. Now, after having made many quilts of my own ( all hand quilted) I threaten great harm to anyone who says they are going to use the a quilt I have given them in the way I used

my grandmothers. One has no idea of the time and love that goes into each stitch of every quilt made. I learned a valuable lesson.

My first memory was when I was very young watching my mother cut my father's plaid shirts apart after they were no worst for the wear so to speak, and so that was the beginning for me, but my actually experience of quilting was when my husband and I experienced empty nest, and my son and daughter moved on their own.  I converted my son's room into a sewing rooming making a large black and white Irish Chain which took me over a year, and it was a long year, and his girlfriend gave it away, and I was heartbroken, but again it was my first and I guess I don't blame her.  Live and learn, and I have learned so very much from Marianne and Liz, Quilty, Eleanor Burns, Craftsy website, and lessons on CDs from Liz and Marianne again.  Thanks for Quilter's Club of o America, Magazines, sites, books, so on and Thank my God for allowing me my senses to see and have my hands to work with.  Thanks All:)

When I was pregnant with my first child I bought some cheap fabric from Sears catalogue and a book on making quilts.  I remember cutting up cereal boxes for templates and learning to quilt by hand.  That was 37 years ago.  Sears doesn't have catalogues anymore and I don't hand quilt anymore either.  

My first quilting memory is watching Eleanor Burns on PBS.  She was an inspiration, and because of her, I have spent many pleasurable hours quilting.

I was "thrown" into quilting by my sister on my 55th birthday.  And wouldn't you know I picked for my first quilt, "Confusion".  And boy was I confused.  But, that was 7 years ago, it was fun to do and I have been having a blast ever since.

My first quilting memory was about 25 years ago when I found a wonderful pattern in Family Circle Magazine for a log cabin quilt.  It was a novel "quilt-as-you-go" method and I think it was my first quilt project--ever.  I finally finished the quilt last month and decided I would never use that method again.  It was the biggext pain in the rear--no wonder I didn't finish it 25 years ago!  :)

My first quilt was made with Fortrel peices I painted on them.  Our Wedding date, Birth of our daughters etc.  Colors did not blend and it was kinda dorky.  That was 20ish years ago.  Up until last summer I used it for covering tomatoes in the garden.  5 years ago I learned to "quilt for real" and have not looked back.  I Love it. Guess it kept someone warm.

I remember years ago I saw a book in a craft store. I saw the most gorgeous watercolor quilt on the cover. My grandmother bought it for me and I was going to learn to quilt! I never got around to it though. Fast forward to now, I'm finally learning about quilting and I just love it!

My first quilt memory is of a quilt on the bed at my Grandma's house in the guest room where I slept when visiting.  I don't remember the design but remember that it had scraps from the outfits she had made for me and my siblings.  I wish I had that quilt today!

I remember as a child, maybe 7-8 yrs of age, handstitching squares together for a doll quilt.  I think my mom helped me to tie it.  Don't know whatever happened to that little quilt--probably got tossed out with the dolls!!

I must have been about 5 yrs. old and wanted to make my cousin a doll quilt. My grandma helped me cut out the pieces and sew the quilt together on the sewing machine. It is one of my best memories.

My first quilting memory is of the first quilt I made. I was 27 and did and weekly sampler block of traditional blocks. I never finished it. My youngest child was born shortly after that and I put it away. He is now 28 and I have only been able to find half of it. I plan on finishing what I could find and I'll give it to him. None of my family on either side did any quilting. I have been on my own.

My first quilting memory would be learning about quilting from my foster mother when I was only 8 or nine.  She showed me how to do some hand stitches while the quilt was on the wooden frame my foster dad made for her.  I vaguely recall her sewing the blocks on the sewing machine.  I learned to quilt as an adult in 2009 and enjoy it so much!  My other crafts (knitting/crocheting) are waiting in the corner.

My first memory was learning to do 1/4" seams instead of 5/8" when I used to sew clothes, way back when. It was also hard to remember not to pull my thread back out. Sewing machines have changed a lot since I learned to sew in the late 60's. I love to quilt now and learn new techniques.

I started quilting about 8 years ago after being coxed by my sister who had taken it up.  We both have been sewing since we big enough to sit at the machine and stretch our tiny legs to reach Grandma's foot pedal.  My first memory is of course of making my first quilt which was a blooming nine patch.  The teacher told us to pick out 1 fabric that we absolutely love and pull the other fabrics to coordinate with it.  I think this quilt called for 9 or 10 different fabrics.  I bought 12 fabrics and was having a hard time trying to decide which ones to take out.  I prewashed all of the fabrics.  I remember staring at the dryer as they were tossing around still trying to pick the final fabrics.  Something about seeing all the colors and patterns swirling around brought the right choices together.  Turns out the 1 fabric I loved was one that got cut.

Many years ago (and I mean many), I decided to make a quilt for my new baby niece.  I had never made a quilt before and picked an applique pattern that was a baby scene with a great many pieces..  I had no idea what I was doing.  I had been sewing for years, so I figured I could make this baby quilt.  Lo and behold, I did it on my sewing machine and it turned out great!  I have been quilting ever since.

My first quilting memory is seeing a Drunkard's Path in poison green and bubble gum pink on my parents' bed. I was probably seven or eight. Then, my maternal grandmother made a Bear Paw quilt for me when I was a teenager. Finally, in the eighties, I decided to teach myself to quilt.  My first project was a pillow as a gift.  It turned out well(hand quilted) and I have been learning new techniques and gaining more experience ever since.  Nell Webb Oates, West Point, GA

I have always crocheted and knitted, but never had made a quilt. I am in my 60's now and I decided to try to make a small quilt, wall-hanging, for my brother's birthday. I had no idea where to even start so I just bought some quilting fabric with musical themes. I didn't measure or square up or anything. I just cut squares and half squares and sewed them up. It was really terrible. Nothing matched, no seams were the same or even squares the same size. When I finally finished it, it was the worst thing ever......all crooked and lop-sided. Then I decided to put a strip across the back so he could hang it on his wall. My poor brother, bless his heart, hung it on his wall and told me it was beautiful. I have since taken quilting classes and belong to a quilting club at my church, but I will never forget my "first" quilt. I haven't seen it on my brother's wall since the day I gave it to him. Thank God!!!!

My 'other' most favorite memory of sewing was teaching our daughters first time to sew & make themselves to sew.  It took time, love and most of all a great mother/daughter time learning not only to sew, but fall in love with the feel of fabric and what one can do.  

And, another love of sewing is my current quilting class that I teach at my church with many different religions, ALL GETTING ALONG!, quilting pieces of love for those that are to be free quilts to those less fortunate.  What my class turns out is awesome & will keep someone warm and feeling loved.

Thank you for your opportunity to win!  

My very first memory was learning how to sew on an old treadle machine with my grandma, who had placed a piece of wood on the treadle so that I could reach the pedal with my shorter legs.  She taught me to cut the chicken feed sad soft pink cotton into a skirt, with also putting the zipper in by hand. I learned also how to 'fix' the mistakes, learned how my grandmother had gotten her machine in 1910 as a gift from my grandfather.  Prior to that, she has sewn ALL of her family clothing by tiny stitchingm even making tiny pleates.  I now have my grandmother's cabinet - a singer - but best of all I have the memories of my grandmother's love.  That, I intend to pass on to anyone in my family, plus others - just because sewing is LOVE in fabric!  Thank you for a chance to win!  And good luck to your other people with good memories of their first sewing project.

i have just started quilting this year, but my first memory was going to my grandmothers and in her spare bedroom she always had a frame set up and had a quilt on it.  she would always do her quilting by hand.  i loved to see the new one on the frame.  she gave me a quilt when i graduated.  it is all block quilted and set together by hand.  i can appreciate it more since i have started to quilt.  i wish i would have had her teach me.  

thank you for making me remember my first memory.

My first quilting memory was when I was about 5 years old and helping my grandmother take the paper from the quilt top she did the fireplace in the winter time. My first actual sewing on quilt blocks was when I was eleven years old and my mother would cut about 4 inch squares for me to sew toghther on her old peddle sewing machine. I had no concept of how big a block was supposed to be or what to do when I got about ten blocks sewn together. My mother let me sew to keep me busy while she was gone to work. Later when I was in highschool my grandmother took the quilt blocks ,straightened them up and put together a quilt for me.It is well worn but after 58 years I still get it out of the closet and marvel at the work she did for my quilt.My grandmother was very talented which was a God given talent because she did not get to go to school or have parents that were educated.

My mother in law handing me a double wedding ring quilt that she had hand pieced and hand quilted is my first memory.  I fell in love with her for offering me such a huge piece of herself and the art of quilting because of it's artistic beauty.  

My Great Grandmother had a beautiful velvet and silk crazy quilt she had made on her treadle Singer Sewing machine.  It was gorgeous, I remember, even though I was only 8 years old when I first laid eyes on it.  It was hand embroidered with some lacy bits  and ribbon flowers.  I had hoped one day I would be able to make something so captivating and beautiful.  

When I married my husband 43 years ago, his great-great grandmother gave us a quilt as a wedding present and I decided that is something I would like to do.  

I remember walking into a room and my grandmother's quilting frame was hanging from a ceiling with a quilt in it and she was sitting there quilting.  I was mesmorized watching her.  She called me over & showed me what she was doing and then put the needle in my hand & let me do. A few stitches.  I didn't begin quilting until after she passed & I regret that now.  Because now I would love to sit & quilt with her!  One thing I do have is her quilting frame and I cherish it!

When I was 26 & expecting my son, I made a "quilt" for him.  It was basically two big pieces of stripped fabric that  I batted, turned inside out and tied. I was so proud of myself! I am using "quilt" very loosely!  Real quilting was also something I wanted to do before I died!  I'm not dead and I've been quilting for about 15 years.  At 62 . . .  I'm hoping to have many more years.  Oh, I still have the "quilt" to pass down to my grandchildren!

It seems odd that I don't have any childhood memories of quilting.  My great-grandmother taught me how to embroider, and she did quilt.  I've seen her double wedding ring and remember a signature quilt.  I was an adult, however, before I saw the quilts.  My own journey started with cutting up second hand wool garments.  I cut 4" squares, created a simple design using the various colors, used an old blanket for batting, flannel for backing and tied it.  My style has really changed since then, but I still love wool for small projects.

My first quilt memory is from when I was a little girl. My Dad would drive all of us, (him, me, Grandma and my two brothers, Ray and Bobby) down to visit Our Aunt Doris and Uncle John in Louisville, KY. That was my dad's sister and grandma's oldest daughter. Aunt Doris and Uncle John had 5 children including 2 sets of twins! We would get there late at night, but the adults were so excited to see each other, they would stay up until the wee hours talking. All of us kids were put in pallets on the floor in the living room, next door to the dining room and kitchen where they would talk and tell stories. We slept on many quilts that grandma and Aunt Doris had made in previous years. There would be two or three underneath us and another on top. The boys would have one half of the floor and the girls the other half. It was such great fun falling asleep listening to our favorite people talking and enjoying each other's company!

I remember sitting on my Grandma's lap as a little girl almost 60 years ago and she was using templates to mark pieces on the backs of fabric and then cutting them out one at a time.  I have her box of templates.  Lucky me!

My grandmother was a quilter.  She made quilts for each of her 7 children, then started for each of her 17 grandchildren.  When she got done with those, she made her 7 children each another quilt.  As great-grandchildren came along, they each got a baby quilt.  How could I not want to try to quilt?  I remember going to stay with her one summer when I was a teenager and made a quilt top.  My mother helped finish it so I could use it on my bed. Whenever I am working on a quilt, I think of my grandmother and her love of quilting.

I made a Rainbow Log Cabin quilt for my a wedding gift for my soon to be husband.  It was 1976 and the quilt was on the front page of Family Circle magazine that year.  I used solid fabrics and they were not very cooperative.  I ended up using a carpenter's square to keep the blocks "square".  It worked very well.  I tied the quilt as I didn't know how to quilt in those days.  I won a blue ribbon in the local fair for it, and a blue in the winter fair in another city.

I attended a Project Linus quilt-a-thon. They asked if I could sew a straight line and I said yes, so I went and made my first quilt from a kit they gave me. I have been going back ever since!

When I was pregant with my first child I decided to make a quilt.  My husbands grandmother helped me put all the blocks together and quilt it.  My daughter still has that quilt 30+ years later.  Each of my children had a quilt made for them and now I'm doing them for grandkids.

When I was pregant with my first child I decided to make a quilt.  My husbands grandmother helped me put all the blocks together and quilt it.  My daughter still has that quilt 30+ years later.  Each of my children had a quilt made for them and now I'm doing them for grandkids.

As an adult I had a paint embroidery hobby and painted some bird quilt squares.  Then after putting them

together into a quilt I asked my sister to help me quilt it on  my machine.  We did not know what we were doing as she only hand quilted an X on all of her quilts.  When we were finished the quilt had bunched up on the border ends as we had not smoothed it out as we went.

I never tried that again but I still have the quilt in memory of my sister and our laughing good time together.

My first memory of quilting was when my husband and I were planning our wedding in 1995.  My MIL quilted, but she's the only one I know of who ever did it.  I was mesmerized over the colors she used and how she knew how to sew all of those tiny squares together.  She made us and Irish Chain quilt in green and white (our wedding colors).  I always thought the combination of colors with interesting designs was intriguing.  So, a few years ago, I took a class with my niece (she was 10) and learned how to make a basic quilt.  After another year or so, I came back to it and have been learning things ever since!  There's so much to this craft, but you can't tell by looking at one quilt made by a seasoned quilter and they say, "Oh, it was easy!"

I know now it's not that easy and there's always more to learn about and try!  At least my son will have early memories of his mom quilting now! :)

Easy mine was my Aunt and I on the floor at my grandmothers pinning a quilt. She had made one for my son when he was born but fell and broke her hip so was unable to finish the quilt. My Aunt and I finished the quilt. Love watching all the video's really help with a new quilter.Thanks

My first memory was playing under a large quilt that my grandma, mother, and aunts were quilting.  We lived in west Texas on a ranch.  Grandmas house was very small, so Grandpa had rigged up a quilting frame that hung from the living room ceiling.  After chores were finished, all the men went outside in the summer, the quilt was lowered, the adult women quilted and the kids played under the quilt.  What fun!!

My first quilting memory was about 14 years ago. I saw such a wonderful quilt pattern that I just had to make it. It was a Christmas quilt with gingerbread men, peppermint candies, and christmas trees. It was so colorful and fun looking that I just had to make it. It was harder than I thought because it was throwing in applique and such on my first quilt. I loved it and my mother has it now. She brings it out every Christmas to display.

My first memory of quilting is sitting on my Great-Grandma's lap at the sewing machine, and guiding the fabric under the needle to make a seam for a quilt block under her very watchful eye.  I had to sit on her lap because my legs didn't go all the way to the floor, so she had to work the treadle!  That's how young I was!  She worked with me on piecing, and putting tops together, and I still remember those early, gentle lessons from a wise and talented quilter.

My fiest quilting memory was making my first quilt for my mother.  I knew how tomsew, but had never been shown how to quilt.  I bought a pattern at my local craft store and made the top lickety-split, but had no idea how to quilt it.  I knew how to backstitch from doing cross-stitch for years, so I hand backstitched in the ditch.  I was so proud of it, only to find out later I had done it "wrong".  I decided to leave it that way since I had worked so hard at it!  I now know how to quilt "properly", but that first quilt is still one of my favorites!

My first quilting memory is making a quilt for my first grandchild who was born in 1977. It was from a pattern published in the magazine, "Workbasket". I still have the templates for the animals that I appliqued onto the blocks. I have been making quilts ever since and hope to continue to do so for many more years.

My first quilting experience I remember is when I was about 8, however, sewing a "fabric sandwich" for my doll was not a true quilting experience.  This attempt at a quilt did start  me on my journey to the love of quilting. My first challenging pieced quilt top was for my first born son, 33 years ago. I love quilting and will continue till I can't physically do it any longer.

My first experience with quilting was when I was a stay-at-home mom of 2 boys, 8 and 4 years old and twin baby girls.  Was I ever in for the job of my life!  A neighbor gave me their first matching toddler beds (they had twins too), and I decided to make matching quilts for their beds.  I was hooked!  Even though I have made several quilts over the years and given them away as presents (along with quilted wall hangings and pictures), now that I'm officially 'retired' from teaching, I'm ready to take quilt-making head-on.  I have 7 grandchildren now...3 girls and 4 boys...I'm ready to make quilts for them and maybe even quilted jumpers/aprons for the girls.  Please enter me in your contest.  Thanks, and I'm glad I found my first quilting web-site...this is going to be fun!

I learned to sew pieces and patches before I turned 10. My first quilt was for my newborn daughter in a rocking horse pattern.  

When my mom passed she had a trunk of purchased quilts she left for us and being that iwas the baby older sibs picked first .  Needless to say my sister got the quilt i was eyeing it was red white and blue schoolhouse style thats when i said i can make one just like it and i did.

My first memory of quilting comes from when I was about 7 years old. I was home sick with the Chicken Pox and my mother figured I needed some cheering up. So, she showed me an old quilt she had, made by he Grandmother. It was old, faded and a little ragged, and it was made out of real feedback fabrics from the 30's, and the sashing was this lovely soft yellow. I loved it!

I started quilting about 20 years ago. To this day, my favourite fabrics are reproductions from that era.

My first quilting experience was when my grandparents made a quilt for me for a high school graduation gift.  Grandpa marked the hexagon template on the fabric and cut it out with scissors and grandma sewed the reversible hexagons on the sewing machine with batting sandwiched between the 2 layers. She then turned the hexi's right side out. Whip stitched the opening closed, handstitched the pieces all together and then hand-quilted the queen size quilt.  It is blue and white on one side and browns and tan on the other.  It's amazing!    

My first attempt at making a quilt was one I designed myself using 14-inch preprinted fabric squared. I added sashing, borders, and corner blocks. Somehow I didn't measure correctly and it didn't fit my queen bed, but it still was a lovely comforter. I tied the quilt because I didn't know how to hand/machine quilt at that time - during the 80s. I've learned a lot since then:)

My Grandmother was an avid quilter, she made the most perfect stitches which looked like they were machine stitches.  She had one of those oldie foot powered machines (must be why she had such pretty legs :) Her love of quilting was passed to my mother who also has the most perfect evenly spaced  hand stitches! Now that I am going to have my first grandchild in January I want to make him his (&my) first quilt. When I discovered this quilters club I am now so excited to find the cutest pattern for my little sweetheart's quilt. Hopefully it will be one he will enjoy for many years.

My personal memory of any quilt was sleeping under so many of them in the upstairs, unheated bedroom at my grandparents when my baby twin sisters were born in January 1954. My great-grandmother had made them. There were many on the bed and so heavy I could hardly move, but sure stayed warm all night.

She also made my mother a quilt top for her 8th grade graduation in the early1930's. My mother had poor eyesight and never made her quilt.  My uncle found out I was taking quilting classes and gave me the quilt top.  I repaired the frayed edges as best I could and have hand-quilted it, now it is ready to bind the edges. My husband has promised to make a display rack for me to have it out for all to enjoy, too fragile for anything other than display.

My first quilt was a log cabin. I was so proud that I actually finished it. My son was about 6 at the time. He fell in love with the quilt and claimed it as his own. That made me even prouder.  The quilt was loved and loved for many years until it became very raggedy, but still well loved.  My son, now 32, still remembers my (and his) first quilt. For me, it was the beginning of my love for quilting.

My grandmother lived 1.5 hours away, so I didn't get to see her as often as I wanted.  Occasionally, I would spend a weeks vacation at her house during the summer.  In her attic, there was always a quilt set up, that she was working on.  I used to have so much fun, sitting on the floor watching her needle magically  "appear" and "disappear" from above.  After she died, I developed a strong passion for quilting myself.  I am self taught and so thankful to the many online groups that allow me to "steal" patterns and tips from them.  When I am quilting, I can feel my grandmother's presence looking over me and smiling.    

My grandmother lived 1.5 hours away, so I didn't get to see her as often as I wanted.  Occasionally, I would spend a week’s vacation at her house during the summer.  In her attic, there was always a quilt set up, that she was working on.  I used to have so much fun, sitting on the floor watching her needle magically “appear" and "disappear" from above.  After she died, I developed a strong passion for quilting myself.  I am self taught and so thankful to the many online groups that allow me to "steal" patterns and tips from them.  When I am quilting, I can feel my grandmother's presence looking over me and smiling.    

My very first quilting memory, when I was 19 1/2 years old I was pregant with my daughter and became the perfect little homemaker, or so I thought. I took all of my husbands old flannel shirts and everything else I could find and cut it into little pieces, 2-3 inches, squares and triangles mostly. From there I painstakenly handsewed every little piece. I had no idea what batting even was at that time in  my life so I took an old blanket that was literally unsable anymore, used it for the middle and used a sheet for the back. Sewed everything by hand. It was the ugliest and heaviest quilt imaginable but I loved it and used it for years. Of course, since it was so big and so heavy there was no way I could put it into a wringer washer so eventually it had to go by-by. It broke my heart!

My daughter and I tried to make a quilt without rotory cutters.We used scissors and that didn't turn out to right,but it was something we still share and use the right tools and learned from that.We still have it.

Attemting a Lone Star. I still have it in the corner of my sewing room just as a reminder.

I remember sewing together squares that I had cut from my Mom's scraps  and making it into a doll blanket.  I know none of the corners matched up, but i was proud of it none the less.  I must have been about 8years old.  Wish I could see that "quilt" now, but I have no idea what happened to it.