A Favor of you Please

Yep, just like my sewing and cross-stitch.....With those, I started with only wanting to do one project, but enjoyed it so much that I just kept going. Of course, I alsodo the odd thing of putting puzzles toether, gluing them, and frmaing them as "artwork" LOL......Actually, DH thinks it is pretty cool, and it *does* cost a lot less than real art, and it gives me something to do during my restless periods (DS, age 3, is pretty good at helping me sort pieces).

I picked up my State Fair reject this morning, and found a quilt that I have set my sights on.....it is lovely beyond words, looks like the basis is a whole cloth quilt, with added applique of flowers and such on it....When I first saw it, I just stopped and stared...

Larisa

Diana Curtis wrote:

Very sad tale indeed. It moved me to tears to know you had gotten to meet so many nice RCTQers and to make quilts, and the part about the teddy bears bringing you to quilting touched me in ways only another teddy bear lover could be touched. :-) Thank you so much for sharing your tale. Im glad for the time you can find to spend here with us. Diana

Thank you. With these great stories to read its going better now. :-) Thank you too for sharing your story. Its amazing to me the many ways people have come here and why.. ok.. its one reason really, with infinite variations. Im glad youre here. Diana

Thank you Bev, That is so beautiful that you got to learn this wonderful craft at the side of such loving women. I love the story of the quilt you made for your parents and how you presented it to them. How ever did you manage to do that without bursting out laughing?? Thanks again Diana

I have indeed Mel! Id love a website of our tales and pics.. and quilts..favorite recipes. It would seem to be a huge undertaking tho...a book would be interesting too! Thank you for sharing your story as well. I think you got the last laugh on your sister! Most of you dont know but Mel surprised my new grandson with a most beautiful totally hand done GFG quilt. It was amazing! Mel, may I post a picture of it? Diana

Well said! I hope you find your ventures into new quilting worlds fun and exciting. Remember, it is all just fabric! :-) Thank you for sharing! Diana

Not a bad thing at all! Friends are priceless and its so lovely to hear of yours and Roses. Im glad RCTQ could bring you even closer together. Hugs, Diana

That is a wonderful bonus to RCTQ, that chance to meet wonderful people who might ordinarily never cross your path. That is a wonderful thing, as well as what these people can help add to your quilting scope. Just think if we only quilted with people who made tradional quilts and ONLY that. How limited we would be. Here, we get folks creating anything and everything and sharing the fun they have, lighting fires of desire under others, spreading the madness! lol thank you Pat for using your tender wrist to tell your tale. :-) Diana

There is Always enough stash to bother thinking about a raid. I can hardly wait to see where you go next with this craft. Your sense of colors is wonderful. Ill help J come over and we can finish your UFOs. How does that sound? Thanks for coming out of the shadows to help keep me amused and sane! Diana

Thanks, I think. Actually, my grandmother also was a quilter. My Mom doesn't remember it, but I do remember seeing some of the quilts that she finished. But I never really *looked* at them. Then Mom found a top, that Grandma had pieced, when going through Grandpa's stuff after he died. I have it to quilt, and it has to be hand quilted of course since she hand pieced it. It is a Boston Commons set, but no wide parts, all 2" (?) squares. Mom recognizes some of the fabrics as being from her kindergarden dresses, and some of her sister's dresses and aprons and such. I will do simple quilting and get it finished. soon I hope.

I guess I do have a rather warped outlook on life sometimes . Must have something to do with living with a writer who is a born punster for the last 20+ years.

Keep healing Diana, I want to know more about this BOM thing that keeps being mentioned.

Pati, in Phx (who really needs another project to keep up with.........)

Diana Curtis wrote:

I started quilting only this year. I have been sewing (and loved it) since I was 14. Once my kids grew up and moved out I stopped sewing so much. When my daughter got pregnant last year I began sewing receiving blankets and bibs and "cheater" baby quilts--just sewed a ruffle or binding and called it a quilt! Decided I could do better so I began looking doing my research on the internet last fall about how to make a real quilt. I tend to research first then do :) I knew about newsgroups already so I did a search for one on quiltiing. And so here I am :) I continues t read this newsgroup 'cause I learn interesting quilting tips. I work for for my ISP as tech support so I am on the internet 40 hours a week. I can pretty much do what I want between call so I read several newsgroups (quilting, genealogy, recipes, and sometimes sewing), browse the web, and occasionaly have something to crochet.

family---although

Lovely story, and what a great tale of perserverence and growth in quiltmaking! Im glad you didnt give up after the first fiasco! Diana

oh.. is this how it goes, high as a kite, miserable, bored, crabby, well? Whooohoooo! Im almost there! LOL What an interesting story you bring here. We are family, a weird, loving family. Im glad you stayed. Diana

Mom,

I will be getting a picture of the quilt when the fair opens. We are going to try to get more pictures of my entries as well and then I have to convince DH to upload them for me. I *did* glare at it, though, so hopefully, it got the gist of what i was thinking at the time.

Larisa

Butterfly wrote:

I started reading RCTQ and posting occasionally after I discovered it when messing around on the internet at work. I like the mix of personalities here so I keep on reading. Also, I don't currently belong to a quilt club, so this group serves the same function for me. I like knowing what is going on in the 'quilting world.'

I have been quilting for a long time, about 28 years. I started quilting after I bought a quilting magaizine (Quilt World?) and a book that had a chapter on quilting. My first quilt was a tied quilt for my bed, just squares of velvets, corderorys and cottons, which wore out long ago. When my son was born, I made a similar, small quilt for him, and used a old blanket for the batting. I gave it to a friend when my ds out grew it, and she used it as a car blanket for a long time.

In the future, I hope to finish the tops I have done over the years, and to make some new ones; to put a dent into my stash. . .

lisae

Diana Curtis wrote:

Snipped poor dog story!

Looks like dog is woman's best friend as well as man's! :P Poor pooch!

My mother was very proud of her new pale green twist pile hall and stair carpet... We took shoes off before entering the house! One day she went and brought home the groceries. A pink yoghurt pot popped it's lid and dribbled all the length of the hall, from the front door to the kitchen door! AKK! We did what we could, but it was still faintly noticeable when the carpets were given their final Only Mother Knows How scrubbing a few days before she moved out, some 15 years later... The yoghurt had bleached the carpet faintly.

Im glad you found us, and stayed! Diana

Diana, so glad you are recovering.

I discovered rctq a couple years ago. I didn't read the posts on a regular basis but when I stopped in I enjoyed the posts and kept thinking that I needed to jump in. It wasn't until very recently that I took the plunge, and now read every day. I stay because you are a very knowledgeable group of people and your help and suggestions are invaluable. I don't think I have come across a question that went unanswered.

My Mom taught me how to sew at a very young age. I remember cutting out patterns with Mom's right handed scissors until my poor left hand was numb. It wasn't until I was an adult that I owned my first pair of left handed scissors!!. I sewed until I got married, then made curtains, baby clothes, doll clothes and dresses from my nieces. Once my boys got into school I put the sewing on hold for a while. About 20 years ago (maybe longer) I took my first quilting class. Prior to the class we were given our supply list for the rail fence pattern. My selection of fabric was a mixture of cottons and poly cottons. What did a 20 something year old know!! I enjoyed the coming together of that quilt. I was amazed that 6 fabrics, sewn together in different order, turned this way or that way could create a different effect.

During my sons growing up years I had little time to myself, but took a few quilting classes. Classes were great because you could attend, do your cutting and sewing without the interruptions of children and hubby. I didn' t *need* a class, but I found classes to be a great motivator.

My Mom quilted and was a very good at it. Many of her quilts were hand quilted. She always had projects on the go, and at various stages of completion. She had blocks to appliqué that were easy to take along, she had pieces cut out to sew on the machine, she had squares cut out ready to sew together, quilts ready to hand quilt. Mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and the chemo treatments started shortly thereafter. It was not meant to be. From the time of diagnosis to the time she passed away was 6 months. She spent the majority of that time in hospital. On Mother's Day last year all of her family, all 13 of us, gathered at the hospital with Mom and her quilts. The nurses so kindly let us use the dining room and we set out all of her quilts. All our names were put in a hat and as a name was pulled out we picked a quilt to call our own. Everyone got 3 quilts, Mom had that many!! After she passed away, and dividing up her things, as I was the only quilter in the family, I got Mom's quilting supplies, frames and gadgets and stashes and all of her works in progress.

So, my future quilting plans involve finishing Mom's projects, or at least learning what to do to finish. Which involves techniques I haven't done before, and decisions on how they go together. I will never lack something "quilty" to do

Ann