QUILTING EDUCATION

[Beth A.]

I learned to sew from my Mom, didn't really make much until Home Ec in 8th grade. Did more mending than sewing, but at least I knew my way around a machine. Also have done handwork since about age 10 (needlepoint, cross-stitch)

In about 1986 I wandered into a LQS and at some point bought a book and 2 sets of templates (remember those? LOL) rectangles & triangles. BUT... I never did anything w/ them. (read the book, didn't sew...) got married, had babies...life gets in the way...

Then around 2000 I saw a friend's t-shirt quilt, and wanted to try that for my boys, whose closet was running out of space!! Luckily, when I went to the fabric store to buy backing (polar fleece!) the sales girl told me about using interfacing to keep the knit from stretching all over. I designed the layout & figured how to put it together on my own. I
n some order, my memory doesn't work chronologically, I made a blue-jean quilt, found Simply Quilts on HGTV (by accident), made a 9-patch quilt using a simple method taught by Billie Lauder, got hooked, took 2 basic classes at LQS (piecing and machine quilting) and have done everything else on my own. Lots of books.

Funny thing is my favorite toys as a child often involved manipulating geometric shapes... blocks, magnets, etc. and my school doodles probably could all have been quilt designs. Thus, I say I've ALWAYS been a quilter, just didn't make a quilt until recently. :wink:

Florence