New Quilter!
Hi everyone, first, I just want to say how great this website is! I just spent like 4 hours reading blogs, and I've fallen in love with your quilt shop!! And i'll probably never be able to see it in person!!!
My name is Sondra, and I'm from a very small town in Michigan, where the nearest quilt shop is at least 30 minutes away!! I'm very new to quilting personally, but I've been around quilting all my life. My grandmother was a quilter, and I spent years sitting with her around her quilt frame, watching her quilt by hand. When I was old enough to help, I'd sit and baste with her. But before she could teach me the main points, the cutting, measuring, planning, etc.... I became a teenager, and found out that there were cooler things than spending time with Grandma!!! (So I thought at that time). When I was 18, Grandma was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. At that time, I was just entering college, and I didn't get to spend a lot of time with her, so she invited me on a quilting retreat that she attended yearly. I had a wonderful time, and my longing to learn to quilt was back; for a short time anyway! I spent the whole weekend working on my project, but when it was time to go home, it was set aside and forgotten. Fast forward about 10 years. Grandma quilted when all of her other abilities were lost to her, until she could no longer remember how to thread a needle. Even then, someone would thread it for her, and she would quilt to her heart's content on many simple "cheater quilts." However, she no longer pieced or used binding. My mother, or one of my aunts would do the binding for her. after six months of this, she could no longer do anything for herself. She lived, just a shell of herself, for about 5 years, passing away on August 9th, 2007. In 2008, my mother for a birthday gift, offered to pay for me to go to the quilting retreat that my grandmother had attended for so many years, so here came the quilting bug again!!! But again, as soon as I got home, life got in the way, and i was taking care of my 2 young children, and my 2nd quilting project was forgotten. I attended again in 2009, enjoying the quiet peaceful setting of White Cloud, Michigan, and greeting many friends I had made from the previous year, but still had that UFO. I worked on it the whole weekend, finally finishing 3 blocks: yes, only 3. I was determined to do everything by hand, as grandma had done!! Now, I've spent months looking at, planning, buying tools, and just reading so much info on quilting it's not funny, yet I still have not ventured to pull out my project and finish it!!! I'm terrified! After finding the beginner block tutorials on you tube, I couldn't believe how easy it really is! Now, I can't wait to pull my fabric out, and get back to work!! Finally I'll have something to "show n tell" at the next retreat in september!!! Thank YOu!!!!
By the way, sorry for such a long story!!!
My name is Sondra, and I'm from a very small town in Michigan, where the nearest quilt shop is at least 30 minutes away!! I'm very new to quilting personally, but I've been around quilting all my life. My grandmother was a quilter, and I spent years sitting with her around her quilt frame, watching her quilt by hand. When I was old enough to help, I'd sit and baste with her. But before she could teach me the main points, the cutting, measuring, planning, etc.... I became a teenager, and found out that there were cooler things than spending time with Grandma!!! (So I thought at that time). When I was 18, Grandma was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. At that time, I was just entering college, and I didn't get to spend a lot of time with her, so she invited me on a quilting retreat that she attended yearly. I had a wonderful time, and my longing to learn to quilt was back; for a short time anyway! I spent the whole weekend working on my project, but when it was time to go home, it was set aside and forgotten. Fast forward about 10 years. Grandma quilted when all of her other abilities were lost to her, until she could no longer remember how to thread a needle. Even then, someone would thread it for her, and she would quilt to her heart's content on many simple "cheater quilts." However, she no longer pieced or used binding. My mother, or one of my aunts would do the binding for her. after six months of this, she could no longer do anything for herself. She lived, just a shell of herself, for about 5 years, passing away on August 9th, 2007. In 2008, my mother for a birthday gift, offered to pay for me to go to the quilting retreat that my grandmother had attended for so many years, so here came the quilting bug again!!! But again, as soon as I got home, life got in the way, and i was taking care of my 2 young children, and my 2nd quilting project was forgotten. I attended again in 2009, enjoying the quiet peaceful setting of White Cloud, Michigan, and greeting many friends I had made from the previous year, but still had that UFO. I worked on it the whole weekend, finally finishing 3 blocks: yes, only 3. I was determined to do everything by hand, as grandma had done!! Now, I've spent months looking at, planning, buying tools, and just reading so much info on quilting it's not funny, yet I still have not ventured to pull out my project and finish it!!! I'm terrified! After finding the beginner block tutorials on you tube, I couldn't believe how easy it really is! Now, I can't wait to pull my fabric out, and get back to work!! Finally I'll have something to "show n tell" at the next retreat in september!!! Thank YOu!!!!
By the way, sorry for such a long story!!!
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