I HAVE A NEW PROJECT

This is sort of a quilting project - at least it is quilting related.

I am always interested to learn just how someone got interested in quilting - or who influenced them. Often it is our mothers and grandmothers, aunts or close friends - and sometimes a stranger that became a good friend.

I'd love to hear your stories - as I am collecting the stories for a publication, and I know you'd love to be included. I would really like to hear the stories - but also to see photos, perhaps of the person that influenced you the most in quilting - or pictures of the quilts they inspired you to make and quilts you have made since you started this journey. If you are interested in joining the others I have interviewed - please send my your pictures and stories to

joann.bayne@gmail.com

Nothing will be published without your complete approval - both of photos and of stories.

We are a country full of wonderful quilters who come from different backgrounds, love different styles and colors and express ourselves through our quilts.

Part of my story of beginning to quilt is from Wisconsin. But first - I grew up in Southeast Alaska - the daughter of a commercial fisherman. In the winters our dad was hired as a watchman for fishing villages and we often didn't see other people for months at a time. I had a doll and made a quilt for her from scraps of fabrics - and that was my "first" quilt. Then later, when we were expecting our first child, I made her the darling pink quilt in the last blog entry - and nothing much for a couple years.

We had moved to Wisconsin to be near Don's family a couple years later and I met and Old Old Old Old farmer's wife, who made beautiful quilts. I mentioned I would love to quilt like she did, and she said "Deary, it is easy, just get some scraps, a pattern and bring them out here so we can get started". So I did just that - got scraps from my own sewing (I made all our clothes at that time), and scraps from friends. The pattern I picked was a windmill, again purchased from a newspaper ad, and no one had told me a pattern with curved seams was too hard for the "first" quilt - so away we went.



You can tell by that neon green when this was made - in the late 60s - and the prints are not the kind we would pick these days - but they certainly represented the time the quilt was made.

I hand pieced the entire quilt - good thing I didn't try to machine piece those curves. I sure learned a LOT about unstitching on this quilt. I started it when I was first pregnant with our son - and finished piecing it the day I went to the hospital. We still use it on our bed and someday it will belong to him and his wife - but I'm not ready to give it up just yet.

And about that very old farmer's wife - I realize now that she was probably not as old as I am now - but when you are 22 I guess most older adults seem VERY old. The other day we were driving past a car wash, put on by a junior high soccer team. I waved to the darling little boys holding the signs and heard one say "Wave to the old lady" . That really cracked me up.

So let's hear your stories joann.bayne@gmail.com