How I Came to Be a Quilter

When I was little, two to be exact, my parents moved to a duplex from their tiny one-bedroom cottage, and I got my first big bed (actually my only big bed as I used it until I was married). They bought me a double bed which could also be used as a guest bed when needed. My blankets were quilts that my paternal great-grandmothers had made. They were old and worn, well used. And they were heavy. To this day I equate warmth on a cold winter night with weight. As I grew older, I became a reader and my favorite books were by Louisa May Alcott and L.M. Montgomery. I was a dreamer and a romantic, and the "olden days" were golden in my dreams. Anything that hinted of days gone by intrigued me. And certainly no one I knew was quilting, so it seemed to be a long-lost art of the past. I made up my mind that someday I would quilt, just like my great-grandmothers whose work kept me warm.

When I got my own home and my own sewing machine, I tried to do a little patchwork, but in the '70's, cotton fabric was hard to find. And the colors, well, if you are old enough to remember the '70's, you know what I mean. I did pick up a couple of the very few quilt books published in those days, and most items were crafty: patchwork vests, placemats, etc. I fiddled, and I played, but I had no idea how to create a real quilt.

In 1985 we moved to our present town and it had a lovely fabric shop that had, be still my heart, quilt fabrics!! A whole row of cotton "calicos" actually labeled "Quilt Fabric". About the same time I met a new friend through church who quilted. Anne was about my age, and she had made several quilts. She offered to teach a class at church using Marilyn Burns' book, Log Cabin in a Day. I signed up.

About two weeks before the class, I was working up a box of peaches and was bitten on my right hand by some type of spider which had set up housekeeping among the peaches. Eventually I ended up at the emergency room and by the time I was through, we had used our extra fun money for not so fun medical expenses. How was I going to get fabric for that quilt? I dug through all my fabric and was able to find enough blue and brown to be able to go. I'm sure some of the fabric was not all cotton, having been purchased with clothing and home dec in mind, but nevertheless, it became part of my first quilt.


I actually hand-quilted this quilt; after all, that's how the great-grandmothers did it. It's not quilted well, but it's held together for all these years. I was on my way!