...as you've probably already guessed.
I grew up with quilts. I actually never slept under a blanket until I was 12 years old and spent the night the first time with my friend J.A. They were Yankees, recently moved to Leeds from Ohio. J.A.'s mother didn't quilt, so they only had blankets. I thought it odd.
Some of my first memories involve quilts: Mama and Mrs. Patmon quilting at the big frame on the front porch; Mawmaw's heavy, scratchy quilts; playing on top of the quilts with my paper dolls; spending a week in bed with my sister under quilts when we had the measles; quilt pallets; quilts hanging on the clothesline in the summertime. Quilting wasn't a big thing then, it was just part of life. Not a hobby for my Mama, just something she did to be sure we all had warm covers for the beds. I guess she could have bought blankets; maybe it just never occurred to her.
I made my first quilt in about 1968 or 69. I copied a pattern from a quilt that my husband's grandmother had given us; it happened to be a LeMoyne Star. I didn't know anything, so I didn't know that a beginner wasn't supposed to start with an eight-pointed star.
Back then, there weren't a lot of quilt patterns to be found, not like today. And I don't believe there was any such thing as a quilt shop. There were a few fabric stores that sold fabric for clothing and home dec. Since I had been sewing garments since I was in high school, I had a pretty good bag of scraps, and that's what I used to make my first quilts.
The fan quilt in the photo at left is the first quilt I made using fabric that I had bought specifically for a quilt. I bought it at a little shop in Springville, the first "quilt shop" I ever knew of. I think she had about 20 or 25 bolts. That was in the late 70s, I think.
I made the Card Trick quilt at top in the early 80s from fabric I bought at Wal-Mart. The "Quilting Revival" was just getting started; quilt shops were popping up, Oxmoor House and a few others were publishing quilting books, and Leeds got a Wal-Mart.
My love for quilting and my career merged in 1988 when I began work at Oxmoor House as a quilt/craft book editor. You can find both of the quilts at left in, I believe, Quilts for All Season, published by OH in the early 90s.
I'm a member of Birmingham Quilters Guild and Piecemakers Bee. When I retired from OH in 2001, I was looking forward to much more free time to make quilts. Things haven't worked out exactly as I had planned (mostly because I have not learned, as Cait says, "the value of the word NO), but I do get into the sewing room a little more frequently than when I was working.
In addition to full size quilts, I also love to make journal quilts and fabric journals. A little more instant gratification there. And after all, how many big quilts does one need. I also like making baby quilts: charity quilts for my guild's Cuddle Quilt program and quilts for family and friends' babies.
This post is hastily and not very well written because I'm sitting here at the computer with an empty coffee cup. Poor planning. So don't be surprised if I come back later and do some editing, after I've refilled my cup.
This post was migrated from the old blog. To see the comments on the original post, CLICK HERE. To add a new comment, click "Post a Comment", below.
On 09/01/2007, Deb said ...
I think when I get to Q it will definitely have to be Quilts! And...I will definitely have to go look at all my Oxmoor Hours books to see if I spot your quilts in them! Wow!
On 09/01/2007, Rian said ...
That's an enviable stack of Quilts.
You may be shocked to learn that I didn't even know quilts existed until I was nearly 50. Mother was a career woman and Grandma crocheted zigzag afghans in odd colors.
I had never seen a quilt before, and one day I was in Amish country and saw them hanging in a restaurant. I wondered if they had quilting in California, I'd have to check to see when I got home. I didn't expect to find anything under "Quilting" in the yellow pages, but boy was I surprised. Who knew?
On 09/02/2007, mom2fur said ...
Oh, my gosh, I wish I could quilt like that. So beautiful! You're really talented, Susan!
Your comment on my blog made me laugh. I don't consider adulthood a punishment...mostly because I live by the saying, "I may grow older, but I'll never grow up!" (Well, not unless I have to!)
And wow...you put a picture of my book over there in your books column! Thanks!
On 09/03/2007, Georgina said ...
May be your cup was empty, but I enjoy reading your posts: every time a nice story is waiting to be read.
On 09/07/2007, Nicole said ...
Loved this post Susan. Quilts are a part of life.
-----
No comments:
Post a Comment