Why I Started Quilting

When I was engaged to be married, my mother embarked on her mission of making a drunkard's path quilt as a wedding gift. I was the firstborn of 4. She made it clear that there would be a quilt for each of her 4 children. Eventually there were also quilts for grandchildren and all were drunkard's path quilts because these were the only templates she had. They were cardboard templates. She traced around the template in ink and cut out the pieces with scissors. Piecing and quilting was done by hand. She tried to get me to help. I found it to be so tedious and frustrating. I vowed to never willingly make a quilt. That was in the late 60's.

Years later a co-worker (Bev) told me that she cut the pieces for a quilt using rulers and a rotary cutter. Wow! That sounded way better. I thought I would like the machine piecing, but what about the quilting? There was no way I could do it with my home sewing machine. How would I fit a big quilt in that little space? I could envision stacks of unquilted tops all over the house. Then she told me about longarm quilters.

So I started quilting because of rulers, rotary cutters, and longarm quilters.

The first book I bought was At Home With Thimbleberries Quilts by Lynette Jensen. Before I purchased it, I carefully looked at all 25 quilts in the book and chose to buy it because I thought I would want to make most of them. I consulted with the shop owner about which ruler (singular) I should buy. She convinced me to get a 6 1/2" x 24" and a 6 1/2" square ruler and, of course, a cutting mat and rotary cutter. I was a bit aghast at the expense of the book and tools, but went ahead with the purchase. After all, these items were one-time expenses.

It seemed to take a long time to cut all the pieces for my first quilt, but at least it was accurate. I was finally ready to start piecing. The first night I made what felt like a million flying geese. The next day at work I reported to Bev that I hated tying knots in all the threads. She said, "What do you mean?" I knew I was not supposed to backstitch like I did for dressmaking, but I didn't know about chain piecing. After each seam, I pulled out the pieced unit and cut the thread. Then I did the same thing with the next unit. Bev told me about chain piecing and I got much more done the next night.

I've come a long way since then. I buy quilting books for the sheer pleasure of possessing them. I own rulers galore, including multiples of some sizes so I can have one near the cutting table and another by my sewing machine. I have multiple rotary cutters and mats of different sizes.

But the biggest change is that I must quilt my own tops. I can no longer stand to let someone else do it. And I do it with my Bernina, a home sewing machine.