The first quilt I made was for my Mother and it was Grandma's Fan of all things. 1986. Talk about not starting out simple! And I didn't have a clue or have anyone to show me. I used one of those paper template sets that came out of one of those little cheap paper pattern books that you could buy really cheap. And I found some cardboard to trace the paper templates onto. And I used scissors to cut the fabric out! Can you imagine?? There was no such thing as special quilting fabric (that I knew of) and I bought all of it at Ben Franklin's. The quilt was pieced by machine, though. A machine that DH had bought for me back in 1971 and I had hardly used more than a handful of times because I HATED sewing. And I hand-quilted it. It actually came out pretty good in the end, for a first-ever quilt that is. My sister has it now. The next one I made for DH out of denim I had salvaged out of his old jeans and pillow ticking. He still has it. Big fat puffy batting - tied with crochet thread. By then I was hooked but my techniques remained pretty primitive for quite a few years. I didn't learn to do proper binding until probably 10 years later. I was doing that old fold the backing to the front type job. Oh, my!

My grandmother had cut rectangles out of scrap fabric and I inherited the box when she passed away in 1976. Some of the fabrics where from clothes I had made for my sisters and myself when I was in high school about 10 years earlier. I made two quilt tops, finished one and gave it to my sister. It was just tied with yarn. (I had no idea what I was doing.) She washed it and she said it fell apart. I still have the other top and now that I know something about quilting, I would like to cut it apart and actually use some type of design. I'm too lazy to rip out each seam. I always thought I would post a pic and ask you guys for some ideas.

I think I first became interested in quilting by watching Alex Anderson's TV shows on PBS. I bought a pattern, notions and fabric in about 2006 and started sewing. I knew nothing about quilting. I had an old Sears sewing machine that someone had given me, and I soon grew frustrated because it "ate" the fabric at the start of each seam. I put the whole thing aside for about 5 years. Then, after a visit to a friend in Alaska who was a beautiful quilter, I came home and bought my Janome 6600. I started in on my Christmas tree skirt again and haven't stopped since. Eighty-five projects later, I still love to quilt. My first project - started in 2006 and completed in 2011. You will notice points lost everywhere, but it was quite a learning experience.

Mom sewed, a lot! Not quilts, though. She made baby quilts using yardage of flannel front and back with a flannel sheet as batting and then tied with yarn. We ALL tied, for years! lol I learned to sew at an early age and took a beginner quilting class at the local high school around 1979 because there were quilters on my dad's side. It was a placemat and I wish I could find it. I loved it! We even hand quilted it. I was hooked but life happened and DH and I eventually had to move out of state so it was around 1983 before I could get back to it, but I did. Scissors, cardboard, ruler to mark the 1/4" seam, handsewing and I was so lonely but got a lot of sewing done. Eventually made a couple of friends and we took a few classes together. Moved again and I had a little room where I could set up my sewing machine, made quilts, moved again with bigger room, made more quilts, moved to Florida, internet quilt forums, free patterns, go crazy with quilting. And here I am. :-)

I came to quilting late in life. One day, I just decided I wanted to make a quilt - just one. It was just a bucket list item. We always had quilts at our house, as my grandmother quilted. No one in my immediate family quilted, though.

One of my genealogy buddies quilted when she was younger. So she encouraged me to actually do it. Of course, I wanted to make a log cabin for my bed. After struggling with how to get from here to there, I settled for a disappearing 9 patch in lap size. You guys helped me, the quilt shop ladies helped and youtube helped. With all that help, my first quilt was perfectly presentable. I made it for my sister, but I was late for her birthday, so I ended up keeping it for a while. Once I had made a few, I finally gave it to her. I don't make that many quilts, nor do I make complicated quilts. I enjoy the hobby, though. Children's play quilts are my favorite thing to do.

I've posted my first quilt here many times. I'm still proud of it and thankful that you ladies helped me get there.

bkay

My first quilt:

(sorry it's sideways, I tried to delete it, but couldn't.)

I'm not sure I even knew what a quilt was when I was growing up. We had wool blankets and chenille bedspreads, but my mother always had a sewing machine that she mostly used for repairs and some home decorating type of sewing. After I got married my husband and I took a road trip to Nova Scotia and I think I saw my first quilt in a shop there. I was fascinated and wanted to see more. Well as luck would have it, there was a Singer sewing machine stye in the same shopping plaza as the super market that I would go to and one day they had a sign in the window about a quilting class. So I signed up. I made a twin size rail fence quilt.. All the pieces were cut out with scissors and then sewed together. I remember quilting it with diagonal lines on that Singer sewing machine with no walking foot. It was a bear but I got it done and my daughter had that quilt for 30 plus years when I finally encouraged her to throw it away. A few months later I took another class at an actual quilt fabric store It was Eleanor Burlns quilt in a day log cabin That quilt also survived a long time. I bought Quilt Magazine and would search for easy patterns and mostly use scraps from old clothes or cheap remnants of fabric that i could find. There was a lapse of a about 15 years when I didn't do much sewing because I went to graduate school and was busy raising kids and went back to work full time.

When my daughter was a junior in college she did an internship in NYC and rented a room from an elderly woman who happened to be a fabric designer for Benartex fabrics. I mentioned to her that I was interested in quilting and she began to bring me fabric from work. I had charm packs, salesman's samples, fat quarters and samples of all kinds. You iknow how heavy fabric can be and she would haul bags full on the bus or walking several blocks in downtown Manhattan. Although I continue to use this fabric there is an awful lot left. I will probably donate it to my guild because I'm getting too old to use it all up. Anyway since I retired in 2001 I've been a fanatic quilter and I'm getting more so every day. As I say it keeps me out of the bars and off the streets.

"Keeps me out of the bars" must be a favourite quilters' expression. I have used it many times. And the weird looks I get LOL.

Interesting stories all.

Theresa

My mom taught me to sew clothes when I was in elementary school. She made quilts, too, but I didn't try that till I was an adult out on my own. My first quilt was a log cabin variation that I made up myself (as far as I know). Like Rita, I cut all the pieces with cardboard templates and scissors. Hand pieced and hand quilted, and it's king size! LOL

I kept sewing clothes until about 15 years ago when I suddenly lost interest in it and started making quilts. I mostly machine piece with my Babylock and quilt on my Hinterberg frame, but I enjoy hand applique and (occasionally) hand quilting. I have a Civil War-style top in progress that I am hand piecing, and I'm finding I don't really like it.

Donna

I made my first quilt when I was about 5. It was a doll quilt to fit my doll carriage. Of course, I had lots of help from my mom. My mom sewed a lot of my clothes but only ever made one quilt. I wasn't interested in quilting again until i saw a pattern in a women's magazine. It was a log cabin quilt-as-you-go. I cut it with scissors and that was enough for me! That was probably about 1976. Fast forward to 2000 and I watched some quilting shows on TV. I saw Bethany Reynolds demonstrating the Magic Stack and Whack quilt. When I saw a local shop was giving a class for it, I signed up for the class. . I had started my job at the church that year and told some of the ladies that I was going to a quilt class. They said we should start a quilting group at the church. As I was the office manager, I organized the group and we started meeting weekly. We all learned together. My love of quilting grew and now I am addicted to quilting.

I started quilting rather crudely when I was 19 or 20 yo when I was still living at home and going to community college. I made my mother a patchwork quilt with 5" squares. I was a king size because that was the size bed she had and I only tacked the corners of the squares by hand. I have that quilt now that she has passed, but I have plans to do some more quilting on it.

....and why the picture loaded sideways, IDK, lol!

Do you start quilting when you decide to make a quilt? When you chose a pattern? Buy the fabric? Start cutting and piecing? Start stitching? Finish your first one and decide to do another?

I am in the middle, and for me, it was a by product of buying a new sewing machine -- one I told them I would never use for quilting (so maybe it won't be the last machine I buy? LOL). I have always liked quilts, but never had any interest in or patience for the idea of making them until I was getting help learning my new machine (like a foreign language crash course . with some similarities). Everyone in the shop seemed to be quilting but that didn't pull me in, It was online videos showing me hoe to thread the machine and wind a bobbin and then one showing me different feet, etc. I wound up at Bluprint (formerly Craftsy) where I had bought some baking and knitting classes.

I took advantage of a free trial month and watched some of the sewing videos and classes. I branched out from presser feet and stitches to some of the quilting classes. I saw some small projects I could try with a few fat quarters or fabric I had on hand and thought I'd give it a try. Then I started looking at kits during a sale -- bad decisions if I decide quilting isn't for me. LOL . I bought a Very Hungry Caterpillar crib quilt kit as a simple first bugger than a breadbox project. The Hungry Caterpillar kit is VERY simple and a good first project -- which is one reason I chose it (also loved the books with my sons and now raise butterflies). I started thinking about changing it up a bit. I know have fabric for several quilts bought while we painted 2 rooms and moved furniture. I'm still putting things together in the room but hope to start some stitching soon. I need to hang pictures to gain surface space and then reorganizing fabrics and such will be ongoing. I hope I enjoy the stitching as much as I have the planning.

Lascatx, I did start quilting with that first quilt for my mom. I made up the pattern myself by measuring her current bead spread. I picked a floral fabric and matched other fabrics to it and the scissor cut squares just seemed logical. I didn't think about how big it was to quilt because I only hand tacked the corners while it was laid out on the floor. Machine quilting started for me about 25 years ago, well after that first quilt, and I never bought a pattern until about 10 years ago, preferring to make up my own. I still don't know what exactly prompted me to make that first quilt other than I thought my mom's bed needed a new look. I look back now and I should have been more intimidated by the size, I guess because I know more today and to machine quilt a king size is a big job. That lack of knowledge probably helped me finish it!

i continued to quilt because the people I made quilts for really loved and appreciated them. Most quilters feel that way a bit I'm betting, plus it's just plain fun to create!

Char, I have fabric to make something similar to the one you did for your mother -- just smaller squares, brighter colors and smaller overall size. I will start working on it after I do a couple of smaller things. I planned on doing a couple of placemats and baby quilts to get started on. I want to do them all -- right now!

And I have to agree that sometimes not knowing what you should be intimidated by is a good thing. My first knitting project was a pair of baby booties for a friend who was having a baby while I was in law school. I had no idea what I was doing with the shaping and such, but it worked. I might have made the hat too, but if I I had started with the basic ribbed scarf, I might never have knit anything else. If I finished the scarf. LOL .