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.
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Quilting has been part of my life ever since I was little and my grandma let me crawl under her quilting frame when she was tying a comforter and “accidentally” poke her needle all the way through so she would “need” me to poke it back up through the layers, close to the spot she had poked it through. When I was a little older, she would let me sew a few tiny stitches in each real quilt she put up. When I was a young adult and took up trying my hand at piecing a full-size quilt top, we made a deal that I would make 2 tops, she would quilt them, and one would be hers and the other mine.
Although I use different techniques and materials, I can’t separate my love of quilting from my family heritage. Every time we have lost a family member over the years, the rest of the family knows I will say, “You can have the china and glassware. I want first pick of the handmade textiles.” Today, grandma’s quilting frame and the quilting patterns who knows how many generations carefully traced in pencil on huge rolled up sheets of paper can be found in my own sewing studio.
I have been a sewing nut for years: clothing, curtains, drapes, slip covers, etc. I never thought I could stick to quilting. I fell in love with Alex Anderson and tv quilt shows. I started buying quilt magazines. Then it happened: McCalls Quilt mag had a quilt kit I absolutely fell in love with and had to make. It was my first in 2010. It was a kit complete. I just retired and am learning to free-motion. Thread painting is next!
I did not come from a family of quilters. I first got interested watching PBS in the early 1990’s. I collected fabric and bought one book but it still took months before I tried making a quilt. I admit, I don’t like reading instruction of any type, so I did not know about the magic of a 1/4" seam. My first sampler was a mess when it became time to sew the blocks together. Points didn’t match. I finally signed up for a class and that was my ah-hah moment.
My grandmother quilted, although I was never able to see her do it. I still have some of her quilts including one with fabric from my childhood curtains! I never had the urge to sew after a horrible experience in high school home economics and hated the very idea. Three years ago, I traveled to California to stay at a friend’s house. She had it decorated with quilts! I fell in love with them. As soon as I got home I bought a sewing machine, fabric, and all essentials. I started watching Youtubes and quickly became hooked. This past spring, I bought a longarm and updated my sewing machine. I have made about 40 quilts, I have a wonderful stash, and I am totally addicted!
20+ years ago my nephew called and told me they were having a baby – a boy – and he wanted me to make a quilt for his nursery. I had never quilted before, although I had been sewing most of my life. I asked what theme for the nursery was and was told there was not a theme but he was into woodworking. I made my first quilt by drawing pictures of hand tools (hammers, screwdrivers, saws, vices, etc. ) and machine appliquéd them to a background of sky blue. It turned out really cute, they were happy, so the journey began. I’m still traveling.