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I've been sewing all my life. My mother, a retired home ec teacher, is an excellent seamstress. When
I was young, she made all my clothes, most of her own clothes, and of course, my doll's clothes.
But she never made a quilt. Her mother was the quilter. Coming from a poor family, quilts were
utilitarian, so not many have survived, and those that have are in very poor condition. Made mostly
from feed-sacks, they were never highly prized. But they kept me warm in the winter and I've always
been fascinated by their simple patterns.
I followed my mother's footsteps, however, sewing clothing. I made my first dress when I was nine.
But handwork was my trademark. In the early 1970s, I embroideried everything. My jeans
sported oversized flowers and vines -- which was fashionable at the time. But I didn't end there.
I hand embroidered everything I could, even my P.E. shirt. Quilting didn't enter my life until
my son was very young. There was never much time in those days, and although my husband surprised me
with my first sewing machine, a Singer, I still longed for something to hand-sew. I ordered an applique
kit from a catalog and made my first quilt. I no longer have this quilt and sadly never took a photograph
of the entire quilt in color, but when I donated it to raise money, the local paper did run the photograph shown below.
In 1991 I first entered the world of the modern quilter when I discovered the rotary cutter, ruler and
mat. My mother gave me a present of three books from the Singer Sewing Reference Library. "Sewing
for Style" (1985), "Sewing for Children" (1988) and "Quilting by Machine" (1990). These books were
published by Cy DeCosse Inc. and to this day remain stars in my sewing library.
Thoroughly illustrated, the quilting book taught me everything I really needed to know about modern quilting
design and technique. I've bought many books since then, but none
have ever been more comprehensive than that first book.
I am inspired by every quilt I see. I was enthralled by the first art quilts I saw in the American Quilter
magazine. I began by re-creating some of my favorites (copyrights never entered my mind), and then
quickly moved on to my own designs. I have to say that in terms of art quilts, I seem more compelled
to create pictoral designs. However, for larger quilts, I still want to make traditional patterns.
I have gifted away most of my quilts. The majority have gone to family and friends, however about
2 dozen were donated as fund raisers for my local community. Over all they did very well, and I will
shameless brag that they raised over $15,000 for local projects over the years. Three of my quilts
have been donated to our local museum and they are on permanent display there.
In 2006, a fellow member of my on-line quilt group introduced me to the Quilts of Valor, or QOV program.
As of the spring of 2007, 6 of my tops have gone to the program, the first of what I hope are many more.
To learn more about the Quilts of Valor program, go to:
http://www.qovf.org
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