The Quilting Cottage

Hi everyone, I am new to the forum thing but looking forward to piking up some new friends that love fabric! I am a fabaholic as I call myself, I can't pass by fabric without touching!!  As for quilting have been sewing since my first button at age 5, my grandmothers both were very crafty with needles and hooks, all hand work from my mothers side, knitting and hand embroidery, as well as lace, Irish to the end.  My fathers mom would sew clothes and household things like slipcovers and window treatments.  So I have a great passion for the old ways.  When my kids were little, they are hitting 30's and upper 20's now, I would make my own clothes so they could have the clothes from the store! God did not intend them to have homemade clothes that is why he invented stores, or so they would tell me.  I live in New Hampshire now and the fabric stores of old are no more, yes we have JoAnn's and a few quilt shops but to find the fabrics I would look for is not very easy. JoAnn's is limited, so I think, to what they think we would like to have.  I have a dream of owning a fabric/sewing center like the ones I would go to when I was a teenager, with every fabric that you could think of on two floors.  Boy do I miss the old days, we don't even have a five and dime store anyware within 50 miles!  (I live about 40 miles from Boston MA, were we grew-up).   I have made some quilts but not big quilts, mostly wall hangings and baby quilts, I have a twin quilt hanging on my wall waiting for me to finish it, it has been about 2 years ago that I peiced it together then we got the grandkids 3 all under 5 and have not been able to sew much. This year though I will finish the quilting since the youngest is now 3 I should be able to sew again, I have been having withdrawal symptoms!!  Hope to be able to connect with others.  Thank you for listening to my rambles.

LauraB 

Hello quilters, I don't do the forum thing much, probably my lack of know how with it all; anyway, everyone seems so friendly I just had to jump in.

I have quilted for about 5 years but have sewn forever.  When my kids were small I sewed for them until the tween years and they wanted everything store bought.  Now at 26 and 27 they actually appreciate the "homemade things." 

I got started quilting when a friend asked me to join a BOM club.  Since I didn't have a clue what a BOM was I thought she had went crazy as I took it she was referring to a bowel movement.....DUH!!  Now it seems I love BOM's and I'm doing 3 of them this year. In addition I quilt mostly for charity (Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative) I also do birth quilts for all the new babies in the family. Art quilts are for sure my favorite but there is nothing better that giving someone a quilt when the receiver really appreciates the love, time, expense and attention to detail that goes into a quilt for that reason alone I love doing the birth quilts new mother's generally have tears in their eyes when they see all the birth related information about their new bundle of joy.  I also like to garden and spend time with my grandchildren and 3 dogs as well.

Thanks for reading my thoughts.

Kris

It's not what you gather; It's what you scatter that tells the world the life youv'e lived.

This is my first ever attempt to join an on-line forum.  Just recently I discovered this site and today was the first time I explored the site.  This looks like a safe and happy place to share, so here I go.

When I was a little girl my aunts would join my grandmother on the back porch around the quilting frame that was lowered down from the ceiling and they would have such a wonderful time chatting and laughing.  I was the 2nd oldest grandchild; therefore, there was no one to play with.  One day as I hung wistfully on the fringes, my granny asked me if I wanted to try my hand at quilting.  Wow! was I ever excited.  My stitches were huge and uneven, but my granny complimented me and actually left those horrible stitches in the quilt.  I was hooked from that day forward, even though it was many years before I actually made a quilt of my own.  I have been quilting now for over 43 years off and on - more on than off the last 15 or so years. 

Nonnie

Hello Everyone. Sorry I haven't had a chance to jump in here... Been busy with the Website. For those of you who do not know me, I am Avalon. I run the website for The Quilting Cottage. And with everyone talking about quilts I had to jump in .... Finally. =0

 I am a new quilter. My mother always tried to get me to sew clothing, but I was never interested in that. I am now 21 years of age, almost 22. Now that I am older and have a child of my own, I am beginning to appreciate all of the sewing my mother did. Although I still do not want to sew clothing, I have been starting my own legacy in my family of starting to quilt. My Grandmothers, on both sides, did crochet. I usually do crochet in the car when on a road trip. But my passion is quilting. I have recently finished my first quilt top. I have started on many, but didn't have a chance to actually sit down and finish one. With my Grandparents coming into town, I decided to make them both Lap Quilts. I just finished my Grandfather's on Wednesday and couldn't be happier with it. Diana's last rambling about the excitement and the just sheer energy of finishing your first quilt couldn't be closer to the truth. For anyone else out there who is new to quilting, you will see what I mean when you get your blocks put together into a row.... Then you put 2 rows together, then 3. I didn't want to come to work because I wanted to finish that quilt to see what it would look like. Granted there was a lot of mumbling and grumbling because I had to take a lot of this quilt out and re-do it. But it was a great learning experience. With my Grandparents going to be here tomorrow (Saturday) I have a couple of blocks done on hers. I am going to be working on it and cleaning my house (as we all would do) Saturday morning. Thanks to listening to my excitement and my joy. I hope that all of you experience my joy atleast once in your life time. I will write again after they see their quilts to tell you of their response. =0

Avalon from The Quilting Cottage