I remember it very distinctly.
I was wandering the rows at the International Quilt Festival in Houston my junior year in college. I had made my first quilt a few months prior, on a whim, and my mother thought it would be fun to check out this quilt show that was just a short drive from their house.
If you've been to the festival, you know the quilt gallery is huge! Aisles and aisles of masterful quilts, organized, more or less, by styles. I've never been good about sticking to a straight path-- I'd walk up a row, spot something pretty a few isles over, head over to that, turn around, walk up the next aisle. All of a sudden, after about 30 minutes of meandering, I spotted a quilt a couple aisles over that I had to see closer. I bee-lined to it and gasped.
The vibrant color, the texture, the intricacy-- I had never seen anything like it.
It was a garden scene with a bench, a stream cutting around the bench and down the quilt, a tree in the background full of leaves, and a fiery, spiraling sun overhead. I didn't know of the technique at the time, but it was all done in raw-edge appliqué. I could not stop looking at it. I got really close, put my hands behind my back so I wouldn't be tempted to touch -- those women in the white gloves walking up and down the aisles looked ready to scold a handsy college student.
I stood in front of this quilt for at least 20 minutes, trying to figure out how the quilter made this, and marveling at the movement and life she was able to create with fabric!
My mother looked at it for a reasonable amount of time, then moved on to look at others. She came back a while later, insisting we really needed to go, they'd be closing down soon, and she wanted to beat the rush out. She had to practically drag me away.
This was the first time I saw that quilting could be an art form. It could be expressive and evocative. It could be as detailed as a painting, but no painting could ever match a quilt's texture. It went beyond inspiration. My heart was beating quickly, I had a dozen ideas spinning in my head, I could not wait to go buy some more fabric and begin playing.
That quilt changed everything. I had fallen head over heels in love with this craft.
I wish I could find the picture I took of the quilt, or knew the quilter's name, but I am eternally grateful for that piece of art, because it inspired everything I've done since.
What was it for you? What made you start quilting? What made you come to love this craft? Leave a comment below-- I'd love to hear.
P.S. If you think you might know the quilt I'm talking about, I'd love to try to track down the quilt/quilter to thank him or her. It was around 2006.
50 comments
I had been a sewer for many years before I started quilting, one day my son and I were at a market and we saw a quilt that he was very taken with, sad to say owing to the fact that I was a solo mum I could not buy it for him, anyway, I stood and looked at it for a long time and figured that as I had designed mine and my two children’s clothes I could make the quilt my self, so when we got home I set about draft up the design, bought the material after discussion with my son as to colours and made the quilt, looking back it wasn’t of a very high standard, nevertheless, he loved it, it was then that I thought this is great and set about learning more about quilting, I might add that after many years I am still an eager learner.
About 6 years ago, my neighbor asked me if I wanted to go with her the next day to a huge quilt show in Cincinnati. She had an extra seat left in the car. At the show, I saw a simple quilted wall hanging that I thought would make a great Christmas gift for my daughter. I had sewn for years and she said she could help me get started. That was my beginning!
I was probably 7 or 8 and would spend time with my maternal grandmother as she quilted. She would let me pull fabric from her stash and sort and organize them according to “kid logic.” I probably made a mess of her stash, but I definitely caught the quilting bug from her.
Quilting was something that my paternal grandmother did all my life. When I was 8 or 9 I broke my arm (July 4th weekend) & evidently said “I’m bored” one time too many for my mother as she had me on a bus to Gma’s house in no time flat. While I was there I learned how to make doll clothes, and doll bed quilt & quilted placemats to take home for my mom. It was the best summer EVER! As a teenager I didn’t quilt, I made CLOTHES! As a young mother, I made baby quilts & more clothes for my kids & it wasn’t until my 1st born was going off to college that I decided to try quilting again. She, of course, had very specific ideas of what she wanted (jean quilt, UGH! Sure wish T-Shirt quilts had become the “in” thing then). But that quilt got me back into quilting & I loved all the applique quilts that my Gma made but I didn’t have the patience to hand applique, so I machine appliqued on almost all of my quilts. BUT it was Sharon Schamber’s Piece-lique that made me fall head over heels with quilting! I loved the flowing seam lines and the breaking the rules of everything having to be exact. Flying geese had never been so fun until Sharon’s technique was revealed! I attended 2 of her classes at Quilting in the Desert and came back & visited a couple of years later. She would always laugh & tell me that she could tell that she had changed my quilting passion from the very 1st class. I’ve gone on to explore many other techniques, but I still use a little piece-lique (or a lot) in almost every quilt I make! On the other side, Judy Niemeyer, Shannon Brinkley, & Laura Heine have also been a very big influences too. I am a quilt “wanderer” as Shannon stated in her “moment” essay. I’m just thankful that I have so many great quilters and all their wonderful techniques to choose from! I’m in my 60’s & have so many ideas and fabrics that I’ll be arguing with God that I can’t die yet as I haven’t made them ALL!!!!
I had always thought quilts were beautiful.
I had never sewn but when I retired from teaching school 31 yrs I needed a hobby. So I attended a quilt guild meeting and said I was interested in quilting. The ladies welcomed me. So that was March 2003 and the bug bit me. I love quilting every day. When I cannot go upstairs to my studio, it is not a good day. Quilting helps me destress and calms me..SO GRATEFUL FOR QUILTING.
I enjoyed taking your workshop in 2017 in Georgia.