How many quilters among us?

[JaneE]

So as not to hijack Chicago's thread showing her beautiful quilt, figured I'd ask the question: how many among us are also quilters (and for how long?)? Have any pictures to share?

I've been quilting since 1977. Yeah. A long time.

How about you?

[Blueberry]

Not a quilter, but a knitter and crocheter. But - wanted to say that your quilts are beautiful!

(slight hijack - anyone else on ravelry?)

[chicago]

oh my gosh... those are beautiful!! You must have done alot of sewing since 1977!!!, good job!!

Here's my 2nd quilt... squares. It was easy and fun... something I threw together on a boring Friday night, LOL.... and as you can see... my cat likes it too





I don't have a pic of my first quilt... I'm still looking

[Irulan]

Me three.
I am an anomaly in the world of quilting, I only do one project at a time...

feathered star sampler:






there's kind of a story behind this one, I did four of the blocks and that is Alex Anderson with me:

[Irulan]

oh, for how long? MIL who was a master, taught me about 22 years ago. I'm not terribly prolific. Jane, do you hand quilt yours?

[gingerale]

I've been quilting since 1999. Here's some of what I've done:

Quilt Diva:

Niece's bday quilt:

Son's birthday party quilt:

Quilts of Valor quilt I donated:

My favorites:

[salsabike]

Oh, I love this! Please keep posting. I am a weaver, knitter and crocheter, but can't sew for beans. But I love quilts and even joined the Contemporary Quilt Association here, because they have such great programs and do such beautiful work.

The stuff you've all posted so far is spectacular.

[JaneE]

oh, for how long? MIL who was a master, taught me about 22 years ago. I'm not terribly prolific. Jane, do you hand quilt yours?

Wow! Some beautiful quilts pictured here!

Chicago, LOVE your rag quilt (that's what it's called, right, with the "fluffy" edges?)!

Irulan, your work is lovely! My closest encounter with Alex Anderson was seeing her a few years ago in Houston at their big show in November. She was shopping the vendors just like a tourist. I'll be attending an Alex Anderson/Ricky Tims seminar next month, which I'm very excited about!

Yes, I mainly hand-quilt, though if I don't start learning to machine quilt at least a little (I've taken a few classes) I'll never in my natural life finish the un-quilted tops I've accumulated! lol!

This is the closest I've come to a Baltimore Album quilt:

[gingerale]

Ya'll have some absolutely stunning quilts!

[JaneE]

Beautiful work, gingerale!

I'm always fascinated by the fact that two people, using the same quilt block patterns and sometimes the same fabrics (but their own imaginations) can come up with such wildly differing finished quilts. That's what really keeps me interested, for sure.

[GeoCam]

Wow, so gorgeous!!!

When I first saw this thread, I though it said "How many QUITTERS among us?"

[gingerale]

Thank you, Jane. But I'm such an amateur compared to you all. I've decided recently that my quilting goals are not as high as they once were. I think I'm happy with the easy to medium quilts. lol

[Irulan]

Irulan, your work is lovely! My closest encounter with Alex Anderson was seeing her a few years ago in Houston at their big show in November. She was shopping the vendors just like a tourist. I'll be attending an Alex Anderson/Ricky Tims seminar next month, which I'm very excited about!

OK, here's the story. Get out your kleenex. Like I said, MIL was a master quilter, very well known in SF area. We moved back to CA when I was pregnant with #1. Hubby was unemployed and since I couldn't afford her class, she gave me one on one lessons every week, complete with taking me to her favorite quilt stores and footing the bill. Now, her quilt group was a whos-who of quilting famous people: Alex Anderson, Diana McClun and Laura Nownes, Beatrice Stone and a few others. I actually met Alex when she was a new mom and a beginning quilter. They all knew me as the daughter in law with the first grandkid.

(pasted from my website)

Fast forward 10 years. . My mother in law, mentioned above, took on this project as a Piece de Resistance of her quilting career. The patterns for the blocks, (now out of print) were designed by Adele Ingraham, duplicating a quilt that resides in the Smithsonian. Mary Helen had very particular ideas about the fabrics and design of this quilt, and the idea was that she would do the main blocks and that members of her quilt group would do the others. I took on one simple block as my contribution. Someways into the quilt process, Mary Helen was diagnosed with colon cancer. It ultimately took her life, but she continued to work on her large, intricate blocks day in and day out until the very end.

After her death, her sister Janet, also an accomplished quilter took it over, but Janet had an untimely death from a stoke and the project came to a standstill. The quilt blocks, what were completed, ended up in a box in a California garage for a while. I had my hands full with toddlers, but I couldn't stand the thought of it not being done and went to California to retrieve everything and see what was what.

It took some detective work but I was finally able to track down the last few blocks that had not been completed and get the patterns back. I enlisted some friends of mine who applique to help me complete the last few. I either did three or four of the block. As for the rest done by MH's quilt group, they were beautiful. I was finally able to assemble the top in 2002 or so. Mary Helen had many of her group sign their blocks, and those blocks include Alex Anderson, Adele Ingraham, Bernice Stone, and other well known Bay Area quilters.

Alex Anderson came to Spokane several years ago, and I contacted her about the quilt top, to let her know the story and progress. I had met Alex briefly way back when; she was a young member of Mary Helen's quilt group that I had met in the process of bringing the grandbabies around Mary Helen's home. Anyway, Alex asked me to bring the finished top to her talk, where she and I were able to share the story of Mary Helen Schwyn as a quilt teacher, mentor, and loved one. Here is the quilt top, followed by some of my own quilts which pale in comparison. Right now, it remains a top. Mary Helen did beautiful quilting: tiny, accurate, even. There is no way I would ever attempt to do this top.

[Aggie_Ama]

Wow ladies, gorgeous! I cannot sew but I am slowly putting away pieces of fabric anyway. In my family quilts were not necessarily works of art but for warmth and necessity. My Mammaw is very carfeul to not waste anything, she was raised on a ranch through the depression and even lived in a tent the first year of her marriage, quilting was not for art in her world. Although with crocheting and knitting she is an artist.

I have a lovely quilt my Mammaw (mom's mom) found at her mother's after she has passed. The quilt is a patch work of odd fabric cut to look kind of like a double sided axe head (that is what I see anyway). My mammaw dug out her own scrap fabric and finished the quilt around the summer of 1990, a year after her mother had passed. She gave it to me because the backing was pink and I was the only grand daughter. Some of the scraps there is only one of, some there are many blocks of. I just love the personality of Mammaw and my Great Grandma Ellen coming through in the mismatched blocks. One day I will learn to sew and make a quilt of necessity and scraps.

[wildhawk]

Beautiful quilts everyone!! Like Aggie, I keep putting away scraps of fabric and have purchased books on quilting and various supplies. I keep thinking I Will start one someday - you all have me inspired! And they are all works of art too! My sister is the hand-quilter in our family. After my precious grandmother died my sister took three quilt-tops that Granny had started and hand finished one for each of us girls. I have mine hanging in a place of honor in my living room. Growing up in Virginia, quilts were everywhere! They hold so many memories too. Keep up the awesome work ladies!!