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Saturday, November 20, 2021

November '21 Quilty-Box Gift-Away!


Do I ever have a fun way to kick off the Weekend-Before-Thanksgiving!
 
The November 2021 Quilty Box was delivered to the front door at Quiltville Inn yesterday afternoon, and I just could not keep myself from opening it to see just what is inside!

This month's box features an Orbit fabric bundle (8 FQ's = 2 yards!) by Whistler Studio and Windham fabrics, and these wonderfully stellar prints are featured in the included Star Field quilt pattern by designer Carl Hentsch.of 3 Dog Design Co.

That's a mouthful!


Oooh, these Orbit fabrics are sparkly and fun!

And that's not all!


Along with the Bundles of Inspiration magazine containing Carl's pattern and more, you'll also find a 3-in-1 Mark & Trace kit, a silicone iron rest, and a spool of metallic gold thread by Wonderfil!


Learn all about Carl in his in-depth interview with Bundles of Inspiration magazine.

I was tickled to learn that he fell into quilting through watching Simply Quilts on HGTV.

How did YOU start quilting?  Leave a comment in the comments section below.  I love hearing your stories!


I love the diagonals going on in Carl's Star Field quilt design!


Would you like to win this box? We'll be drawing for one lucky winner next Saturday, 11/27/21.


Good Luck, everyone!


Things are quilty busy in the Quilting Quarters at Quiltville Inn!

And yes, it was chilly enough that we have fired up the gas fire places until things were toasty.  This morning it's only 28 out!


Our string snowball blocks were getting their corner triangles yesterday - and I'm sure I'll arrive this morning to see the design walls covered with the little cuties!


I'm so happy that Nola's Bonniacs are here and having a great time!

Today we are moving on to the nine-patch units that will combine with our snowballs to make up the center of our Indigo a Go-go quilts from String Frenzy.

This afternoon we are hoping for "Quilts over the porch rail" as it will be the least windy.  Rain is due tomorrow afternoon - so we look for the best opportunity and grab it.

However you spend your weekend, I hope you look for the best quilting opportunity and grab it, too!


Quiltville Quote of the Day -

This quilt was found at an antique mall in Idaho Falls, and I love the colors and precious prints. (and the single sashings one way, while triple go the opposite) – but I love the quote more.


I really do believe this to be true. 


Have a terrific weekend, everyone! 

 

89 comments:

  1. My Mother loved quilts but did not make them. She would buy them at auctions. Pretty sure that is what got my addiction started! Took a quilting class in a church basement in 1976, I was 19 years old! Took a short break while my 2 boys were small and have been going strong ever since! Thank-you for all you do for all of us quilters!

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    1. Susie, you and I have been quilting almost the same amount of time. In 1977, I started hand quilting a quilt that my husbands grandmother had made and they tied it! And, yes thank you Bonnie!

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  2. None of my family quilted. I wanted a gift for my first tiny niece in 1974 so I just winged it! Made of polyester no less. Later on that quilt was returned to me via my SIL. A bit worn. :)

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  3. I retired and needed something to do. Tried crocheting- nope. Tried quilting and was inspired. Went back to work part time to get enough money to build my Quilting Cottage. I have outgrown it but nowhere to enlarge it, LOL My little piece of heaven right here on earth

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  4. I was "hooked" watching Georgia Bonesteel demoing lap quilting on PBS in 1980 and have never stopped learning new quilting skills & techniques. At 86 I hit my quilt studio every day - AFTER checking out Bonnie's daily adventures.

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  5. I watched Simply Quilts every morning before going to work but didn't start quilting until I retired. I joined a quilt group and they taught me the basics, I discovered Bonnie Hunter and I haven't stopped stitching. Thank you Bonnie.

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  6. I made a quilted tree skirt way back before I realized it was quilting. I had sewn a lot in the past. Many years later my mom started quilting and I helped her some with the sewing. We moved out of state (to Minnesota!) and I took a quilting class at a local store. I was hooked! With a son's wedding approaching I started a double wedding ring quilt. What an adventure. But I'm still hooked, and in retirement I sew several hours almost every day. Love your stories Bonnie.

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  7. I was into sewing from a young age and then worked in a fabric store after college. But I only started quilting after I bought a magazine that had an article on Eleanor Burns and her "Quilt in a Day" method. I ordered the pamphlet for the Trip Around the World quilt. For the longest time I thought that I could only make "Quilt in a Day" quilts in baby quilt size! It wasn't until 2000 that I tried a larger "Learn to Quilt" quilt and learned a variety of different methods to put a block together.

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  8. My grandmother seldom still without some kind of work in her hands, often hand piecing quilts. When I was 9, I was diagnosed with rheumatic fever and confined to bed. To help occupy my time, she taught me to make simple nine patch blocks. Now, at age 76, I’m still piecing quilts.

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  9. Some of my earliest memories are of the big quilting frame in the ceiling of my grandmother’s dining room. Perfect place for a little girl to play. She started me sewing on her Singer treadle machine when I was about 5 and I’ve never slowed down. Made my school clothes when I was 12, sewed for others at 14, and equestrian show garments for many years. Quilting became focus about 15 yrs ago and I now help lead a group who make Quilts of Valor and quilts for charity.

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    1. I can remember a quilting bee in the dining room of my Aunt's farm when I was very young. I was sent under the frame to retrieve things since I was so short.

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    2. Libby, my quilting story is about the same as yours. Thank you for sharing.

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  10. My sister-in-law got me started quilting. I was doing a lot of garment sewing and she asked me to make a few log cabin blocks for a king sized quilt she was working on. And that got me hooked on quilting.

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  11. Several years ago I was at a juried art fair in Ann Arbor, Michigan. One booth had quilts. The first one I saw was a Log Cabin but done with a Victorian feel. Some strips were satin, lace was worked in and it was gorgeous (albeit not my taste). The price was so far out of reach for me I had to leave it behind. When I returned to the UP I took a beginner quilting class through the Community School with a very dear friend and the rest is history. I now have so much fabric, am trying to channel Bonnie to use this up !!!

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  12. ha, I was in this medical experiment as my first job after graduating, as a test subject in some random drug trial, but the kicker was we had to stay in the hospital for 40 days (30 of us, plus a few alternates). So most folks had brought something to occupy their time - I was finishing a college course by CORRESPONDENCE (this was the time before most folks had laptops, so it was all by hand and **mailed** to the prof) and one of the women in there had brought some hand quilting to do. I remember it being pretty amish looking, black with vivid purples and I think she was doing a Baptist Fan, though I wouldn't have known that at the time. Anyway, that got me intrigued but it would be another 15 years before I took a class and started it myself!

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  13. I started by taking an Eleanor Burns Log Cabin class in 1980. In the middle of making the queen size Log Cabin quilt, I was planning for the next three I would be making and who they would be for. I knew right then I was hooked!!

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  14. Mrs. Mina Barta made a quilt with my mother when I was about 7 or 8 that piqued my imagination. It was not until my 50's that I became a maker of I have been quilting strong with Bonnie as my favorite designer...

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  15. My mom is a quilter. When my best friend was pregnant I asked her to make me a baby quilt for her, her response was I'll show you how to make one. My first quilt was a piece of fabric with baby animals on it that I hand quilted around. That baby is now in his 40's and mom and I are still both quilting

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    1. Your first quilt sounds like the ones I used to make for friends when I first started too!!

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  16. looks like lots of hard work going on. By the way, Nov.27th is my birthday. That box would be the best gift ever!!!

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  17. My grandmother was a quilter, using scraps from all of her double-knit polyester fabric she used to sew her own clothes. And sheets were the backing of choice. I miss my grandmother very much. I inherited many of her crafty ways, but I do use quilting cotton and have a hard time keeping up with all the scraps I create!

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  18. My BFF found an unfinished top in her mom's attic and asked me if I would take a class with her at the local community college so that she could learn how to finish it. Life got in the way for her, but I've been quilting for 15 years now. Wow! Didn't realized it has been that long!

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  19. QUILTING? Seems I've been for EVER!!! I do not know why Barbara (Home Ed Teacher at Imperial Jr. High-- they're now called "Middle" schools), asked me if I could finish a quilt her mother had started ... it has all the parts she said. "Sure", I said... I didn't know a thing about quilting and am stumped to this day, why she asked me, but not knowing i couldn't, didn't have a clue, armed with the courage of ignorance, I plunged ahead... got a few books from the library and her pillow case full of 'parts' -- That was the beginning, I figured it out somehow and for the next couple of years, word spread and I was 'employed' finishing quilts found in attics and cedar chests all over so Cal... I acquired a quilting frame and learned how to baste the "sandwich" and started hand-quilting -- $200 for a reg. size quilt!!! Eventually, I thought I'd like to start making quilts for myself & family and started tracing templates and parts and hand sewing and quilting... FINALLY, I thought maybe I should take a class at the little store in downtown (poly/cotton blend fabric, people!) So, the first quilting class I took was a sampler and it was quite a challenge;however, i had no clue and plunged ahead!!! Next class was with the as yet un-discovered Eleanor Burns and her stripping method... oh boy! off & Running, some time after that the rotary cutter and mats and lovely rulers evolved and there you have it... thousands of $$$, MILES of fabric and tools and machines, oh my. Now I am so blessed to have "found" Bonnie Hunter and her methods and contributions, and a grateful girl is surrounded with her favorite things!!!! Cats in Carlsbad CA

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  20. My sister was an inspiration to begin this journey. When I retired and knew I needed to be more productive she gave me a kit to piece. I fell into the quilting rabbit hole hook, line and sinker! I have completed 2 mystery quilts (Frolic and Grassy Creek) and Unity. Not to mention the many, many charity quilts for children and church auctions. This Quilts Box is screaming to me for my great-grandson! Thank you Bonnie for the excitement of mystery season!

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  21. I started quilting as a young child. Cutting patterns out of "Farmers Journal" and sewing on my mom's threadle machine. Bought my first electric sewing machine at 14 when I went to work at a Tasty Freeze. Then during years of raising children sewed clothes more. Now that I'm retired I quilt most days.

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  22. I watched Quilt in a Day and Simply Quilts every Saturday morning. I found an easy looking quilt pattern in a Woman's Day mag and made it. Not knowing any better, my seam allowances were 5/8 inch. Ha Ha! My youngest son still has that quilt.

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    1. WOW... it's hard for me to maintain 5/8" seam allowance now making a garment after so many years at 1/4" LOL

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  23. I began quilting as a lesser of two evils. Once a week a group would meet at a friends house. I was learning to hand braid wool rugs and everyone else was quilting. As my rug got larger and much heavier I would roll it up to fit in my car, it was beginning to feel like I was lugging a dead body around. I looked at the cute little baskets everyone else was carrying over their arm and decided I would leave the rug braiding at home and learn to quilt.

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  24. I grew up sleeping under quilts. My grandmothers and great grandmothers made them and my mom was fortunate to have many of them. There's no better sleep than under a quilt. I always loved them and inherited them from my mother. I sewed clothing as a child and teen but knew I wanted to make quilts. I made just a few during my working and childrearing years, but once I retired, I started in earnest! If a day goes by that I don't sew, I feel something major is missing. My favorites are bright and scrappy!

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  25. I always loved watching people make things on TV. I started watching Eleanor Burns Quilt in a Day on PBS. I bought a cutting mat, rotary cutter, and ruler and decided I wanted to learn. It sat in the closet for 5 years while I continued to watch the show. I finally found a beginning quilt class at Cloth World (before JoAnn’s) and I got hooked. It’s the one craft I have stuck with.

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  26. My grandma was a hand quilter, I loved the quilts she made but for me was too labor intensive. Then I saw Elinor Burns on PBS, my 1st quilt was a Trip Around the World quilt. That was in 1989 & I've been quilting ever since. I try to challenge myself & learn something new so I really have enjoyed your MQ & just know I'm going to love the upcoming one too! Thanks so much for this opportunity.

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  27. My friend had started a charity to make quilts for kids at a school where 100% of the students qualified for free lunches. I asked how I could help, never having made a quilt. She asked me to cut 42 6 1/2" squares out of whatever I had. When I had done that I called her and offered to deliver them to her. She said, "No, no. Sew them together in seven rows of six." I was a little surprised but I did that. She said, "Now you can make quilts. You just made one." I was bitten by the bug and have been making quilts for the past ten years. That first quilt was really ugly!

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  28. I loved the quilts that my grandma had left for me and always used them. I tried to do a small baby quilt on my own and it was ok. Then I took a class and then I fell in love with the process. So 36 years later still love quilts and making them, reading about them and belonging to groups where we share ideas and learn even more! Thanks so much for your inspiration.

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  29. Both of my Grandmothers quilted and just loved to see them work on them. It was so inspiring. In our church when I moved out on my own they asked for volunteers to hand quilt a piece so women got together to quilt. That is how I learned to hand quilt and then the addiction started, took some classes and loving it ever since

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  30. I got hooked on “Fons & Porter love of quilting” and “Simply Quilts”. I have recorded programs on VHS of both that I still get out and binge watch.😂😂. I was hooked and took a beginning class at a local quilt shop. It was all downhill from there! Quilting is still my favorite sewing craft, even though I do sew more garments than quilts these days…out of necessity. Losing weight and shrinking out of all my clothes…👍. But, I at least have my quilts to keep me warm as a lose all my insulation!

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  31. My great grandparents on my dad's side were Amish and that initially peeked my interest in quilts. I made some wall hangings as a young mom and a twin size quilt when my sons were older. But it took my sons beginning their own families before my interest soared 😊 12 grandbaby quilts later and now I've been able to branch out and make other types of quilts. Bonnie, I found you after "stumbling" on your "Addicted to Scraps" book made it's way into my Kindle!!! I am in the process of making 2 quilts based on your wonderful patterns. Thanks so much!!

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  32. I learned quilting by osmosis. My mother was a quilter, and my younger sister and I liked to play under the quilt in its frame. That caused so much disruption, Mom taught us (ages 4 & 5) to embroider and we were off to the needlework races. Serious quilting began in the 90's when a neighbor invited me to a beginning quilt piecing class. My sister is a quilter as well.

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  33. I remember my grandmother hand quilting patches together when I was a little girl. My Godmother was a seamstress and had a treadle machine that she sewed everything on. She made clothing, wedding dresses, slipcovers, curtains, etc. Then in high school we were taught to sew and I made my own prom dress. When I married and became pregnant I made my own maternity clothing. I still was always intrigued by quilting. One day my employers wife (also my friend) told me about a beginners quilting class that she had taken at a local fabric store. That was my beginning! I took the class and made a cute baby quilt for my new granddaughter who is now 16 years old. I have made quilts for every grandchild, child, sister-in-laws, sisters, brothers, Mom, etc. since that day. I discovered Bonnie and her scrappy obsession and now that is my love. I have made Orca Bay, Easy Street, Frolic and a few others so far. In fact I just last night gifted my Easy Street to my 17 year old granddaughter who moved into a Full size bed from her twin. She loved it!! Thank you Bonnie!

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  34. I'm a 1st generation quilter. I started following you in the 2007 ish time. I have a son who is not interested in quilting..so no one to pass my craft onto or my studio!
    Debra in western Ma.

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  35. My grandmother started out teaching me embroidery when before I started school. By the time I was seven or eight She had me drawing around a piece of cardboard and cutting out squares which I sewed together by hand. I wish I still had it.

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  36. As a newlywed 1981 in a new country, I said yes when my neighbor asked if I wanted to take a quilt class with her. I figured I should learn an American craft. That class was a Lone Star with I think her name was Blanche Young .... had I known how complicated it was I never would have done it! Cardboard templates and scissors, set in seams and all those bias edges that stretched.... The star part came together and luckily I chose a very busy print for the middle so it doesn't show that I just sewed across the points to get it to lay flat. I should find it and finish it. Well, the rest as they say, is history!!! I was hooked!
    We moved back to Sweden 1990 and then there were hardly any decent quilting fabric in my town so I bought, bought and bought every visit to the US and now we live in a padded house! I have been on a fabric diet for years now but my stash is still not getting smaller no mattter how much I sew!

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  37. As far back as I can remember I have always loved patchwork quilts & while there is a tradition of tailoring in my family there were no quilts in our house. In the early 70s I made leftover fabrics that were cluttering up the house disappear by making myself a quilt. Although I knew how to sew I did not know anything about quilts. I decided 4" was the right size square & cut them out by hand with a scissors. They were sewed up with the 5/8" seam I used for clothing. For the filling I used an old comforter who's covering was in tatters. Using a #2 pencil I drew circles around a dessert plate & hand quilted using embroidery floss & a chain stitch. I still have it.

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  38. My mom taught me to sew when I was 12. I made clothes and curtains and pillows and such. In 2006 a friend told me she wanted to learn to quilt so she could reproduce a maple leaf quilt her grandmother made. My kids were in HS and I knew I wanted to make them each a quilt for college. So we took a class for 6-8 weeks at night after work. That friend and I are still quilting and loving it. We plan 2-3 girls retreat weekends every year and our little group of 2 is now 5. We have Quiltville on our radars!

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  39. In college textile class went to a event at another jr colledge there were 30 min. Segments. One was Eleanor Burns with self publiahed log cabin book. Before rotary cutters and mats...we ripped strips .about 6 years later joined a quilt group. Lots of quilting adventures since then.

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  40. I'm not sure if any of my relatives quilted, but my Grandmother sewed costumes/dresses for my Aunt that was a singer/performer sewing SEQUINS on them by hand! I started quilting when my BFF from high school asked me to take a class with her. That instructor is now also a BFF. That first quilt wasn't even finished when I picked out fabric to make it again. Been addicted ever since and it was 30 years ago. That Quilty Box fabric is just WOW!!! Would love to win.

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  41. My first "quilt" was a hot mess that I made when stationed in Germany in the late 1970s. It had cotton, corduroy, polyester and wool scraps, tied together with a wool blanket as batting and a sheet for backing. I don't think it made it back to the states - LOL! A couple years later I discovered Georgia Bonesteel and her method of quilting each block and then joining them together. I got my first rotary cutter when stationed in California and haven't slowed down since. What a game-changer that invention was!! Over the years I have made friends who expanded my knowledge and taken classes every chance I could. One of those friends introduced me to mystery quilts done by a lady named Bonnie Hunter - Celtic Solstice in 2013-14 was my first and I haven't missed one since. Thanks for all you do for the quilting community, Bonnie!!

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  42. We always had tied quilts on the beds in winter. I remember my grandmother using the quilting frame in the Summer, in her summer cottage. I have always sewed and made my own clothes. The girl next door wanted to take a begining patchwork course at a shop in Medina, Ohio and wanted someone to go along. That was aprox 1997 and never stopped. Not great, but enjoy the artistic freedom it gives and last few years a distraction form what is going on in the world.

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  43. My paternal grandmother made quilts and I loved watching her sew them. But my first attempt was in 1975 my husband and I went to a church camp as counselors for our youth group. One of the course offered was a quilting class and I was asked to help since I sewed and knew how to use machines and hand sew. I got hooked and started a baby quilt for our nephew who was due that fall. I am so glad that we no longer have to draw out paper patterns and have evolved to such wonderful rules and templates now to use.

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  44. My first quilt was for my then 2 year old daughter when she moved from the crib to a big girl bed. It was two pieces of pink gingham, batting, and tied with yarn. I've come a long way since then. BTW, my now 47 year old daughter is also a quilter.

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  45. I grew up watching my mom make clothes. When we visited my grandma I always slept under about 4 quilts during Christmas in the foothills on NC. That is one of my fondest memories. Her home was before central heat and air condition so when you snuggled in bed you got toasty and warm. My first quilt was a gift from my other grandma and she said it was my turn to quilt. That is what I did, borrowed a quilting frame and hand quilted the whole thing with the help on my mom and grandma. That was another wonderful memory. I still have that quilt today and use it on my guest bedroom.

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  46. I was ordered to stay in bed, (no tv back then!) recovering from some childhood ailment, when my Mother felt sorry for me and brought me a brand new tablet of construction paper, that I didn't even have to share with my siblings who were busy at school. She also gave me scissors, some glue and a work surface. I discovered I could cut squares into triangles, add strips and make up new shapes and designs. I was 8 or 9?? I still remember the thrill of all the new designs I discovered, and how proud I was to invent "new" patterns.

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  47. I got started quilting after buying a vintage Singer 66 from my church's annual rummage sale, and then a little hand crank Singer 99 from ebay. I pieced an entire mystery quilt on that hand crank machine (I was too scared to try sewing on the treadle back then, but I got over it :D ). I still have the hand crank machine. And 10 years later, I finally quilted the quilt top I made on it. And I love it.

    I may bring it to Quiltville in February.

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  48. I started quilting in 1995(ish) after the diagnosis of my youngest daughter with autism. One of my best friends taught me to make a quilt, I knew how to sew, to donate the quilt to an autism fundraiser. I was hooked from there.

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  49. An aunt gave me a doll quilt which I still have and I slept under the quilts she made. There is something comforting about a quilt.
    I did embroidery and made one quilt with embroidered squares in 1962. I didn't make another quilt until my oldest grandson was born in 1992, made with poly/cotton. Since then almost every grandchild and all the great grandchildren have gotten a quilt. I have twin granddaughters who got quilts from their other grandmother when they were born, and I didn't feel mine would be as good as hers so I gave them fleece blankets instead. They are now 23 and are finally getting quilts. I wasn't quilting when my two oldest granddaughters were born, so they are next. I mostly make baby quilts and have made more than I can remember and many charity quilts. Still haven't made one for myself. Never took a physical class but I have years of quilting magazines and now follow many tutorials on You Tube. Going to start my first mystery quilt next week!
    It was interesting to read all the stories of how people started their own journey.
    Sharon

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  51. I love answering this question! After my husband's grandmother passed away, my MiL gave me some unfinished applique quilt squares her mother had started. I stored them away at the time because I had no clue how to finish them. Fast forward several years and I finally did the research to learn how to do them. It took a while but I did it. I have been quilting on my own ever since! I do have memories of that grandma sitting at her hand quilting frame in the mountains of East Tennessee. She would say sit and grab a needle. I'm grateful to my MIL for giving me those unfinished squares. I did have a great grandmother on my side of the family that quilted but she died when I was young. I'm the only one in both families that quilts.

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  52. I was pregnant with our first in 1987. I was having a rough day physically so I decided to just lay around and watch tv. I stopped at PBS and there were quilting shows on - Georgia Bonesteel, Kay (I forget her last name) and eventually Eleanor Burns. And, as they say, the rest is history!

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  53. I learned to sew in 7th grade home economics. Mom and I went to a trip around the world quilt in a day class at a local community College in the '80s. About 10 years later I became a full fledged quilter.

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  54. I’ve only been quilting for two years. I took Home Economics in high school and did a little bit of garment sewing over the years. I took up quilting about a year before I retired from teaching(well, semi-retired). I enjoyed it so much that I started my own quilting YouTube channel and online business (DKohn Designs/DKohn Designs.com). It’s small but growing and I am enjoying it tremendously! I I love reading Bonnie’s blog every morning with my cup of tea. I hope to visit QuiltVille Inn someday.

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  55. I was born in 1940, and homemade quilts was the only way we had covers . I spend many a day under a quilt frame playing . The quilt frames hung from the ceiling by ropes, that they could be wound around the frame so it could be raised out of the way when mot quilting . Our church had bazaars and many quilt were made for that . I learned to sew on a Singer treadle machine . I made all my clothes, and my five girls there clothes . Quilting was just a way of life and I started quilting as soon as I could . Love quilting now as it brings back so many memories of my loved ones . I often wonder how they would feel about all the "gadgets" .

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  56. I love quilts and we had handmade quilts as kids on our beds so I tried when I was 16 not knowing anything and it was a disaster! I watched Simply Quilts religiously and got confident to try again, got a book at the library and made a heart wall hanging and made quilts ever since, especially after my aunt showed me the proper tools and real quilting thread etc.

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  57. I started hand sewing when I was 8 years old and was always interested in doing anything with needle and thread. As I grew older, I made my own clothes to save money during my college years. My career and raising a family took priority, but after working 35 years as a registered dietitian in a hospital and was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, I became disabled. My husband, sister and Fons and Porter largely influenced the start of my quilting adventures. Quilting gives an opportunity to mark every major life event--births, weddings, holidays and life changes. I've made over 30 quilts for my family, quilts of valor and other worthy causes. Quilting has saved my life by giving me purpose and a way to show my love to others.

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  58. I was pregnant with my youngest child. A friend was doing Quilt in a Day (1980) and she drug me to an adult ed class to do a sampler quilt. All I had was scraps from all the dresses I had made the girls. I never finished it. Probably somewhere here in my ufo's. 40 years later, I am hopelessly addicted.

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  59. I sewed on the binding on Bonnie's Blue Ridge Beauty quilt today and will sew it on the back tomorrow. It sure is a beautiful quilt
    Thank you Bonnie Hunter

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  60. My Grandmother who lived across the country from us gave me a rail fence scrappy quilt (well loved but I still have it). Then my Mother started and took a quilt class. I was working full time and had three kids so I could not join her at that point. 10 years later when I worked full time and only one teen at home I started in. Scrappy of course and my first three quilt tops were rail fences.
    Never looked back and I am still quilting. Current project is scrappy beach houses in a block exchange. I am making extras. So fun.

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  61. What wonderful stories your readers have shared. Thank you for asking Bonnie. They all adore what you do for all of us, thank you again.

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  62. My maternal grandmother (Indiana, hand-piecing) and my stepgrandmother (Carolinas, applique and machine piecing) both quilted. My stepgrandma called my stepmother's quilting "toe snaggers" (snicker). I don't really remember being shown anything, my first quilting book was Roberta Horton's Fabric Makes the Quilt. I love mixed media, applique, scrap quilts, and most of the quiltville patterns. Lastly, sewing on the binding is one of my favorite parts - often I do it after basting = it jumpstarts the finished look!

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  63. It all started with "Dollie Clothes" when I was about 5 or 6. I had pieces and scraps left... and I liked sewing those better than the little dresses that never fit my Dollie! LOL I stood at my mama's elbow and watched her piece quilt blocks, and then I would imitate. My little legs were too short to reach the treadle, so I stood up and learned to push in rhythm with one foot. Had a few broken threads but after I got the rhythm down... yep... treadle it was standing on one foot and treadling with the other. Wish I had my first quilt, others in between and my wedding quilt my mama made. Lost all in a house fire in 2001. You remember them fondly, wish for them.. but they are gone in a wisp of smoke.

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  64. Yes that is exactly how I got started quilting in early 2000. I watched her faithfully until she went off air. Instructors I saw on TV were also at qulit shows, I was impressed.

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  65. I gave birth to my son in Syracuse and during his naptime I found Alex Anderson and Simply Quilts. She had me hooked. I didn't start back then but I began reading everything I could find in the library and bookstores I started purchasing tools and fabric. Started playing with fabric after 2005. I found you in Quiltmaker magazine.Love your style. Can't wait for the mystery to start. Thank you for all you do.

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  66. 40 years ago I was fortunate to study English in the gorgeous south of Ireland. My guest mother took me to the Laura Ashley shop and for the first time in my life I set my eyes on precuts. Charms, hexagons, jelly rolls, kits for Babyquilts and table runners. I started with a lot of pinning and (raised in the metric system) getting to know the 1/4 inch seam lol. Haven't stopped since :-)

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  67. Betsy K here - a little over 20 years ago, I attended a women's group meeting at my church and learned about webbing and then read an article about a lady in our area that made what she called angel quilts. Somehow a few of us started making them and onward I went and have been making quilts ever since.

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  68. I learned to sew when I bought my first house and wanted curtains

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  69. Once the kids were grown, we moved from the city to the mountains where I bought a new sewing machine and joined the quilt guild. I grew up sewing my clothes and was way past ready to learn quilting. I watched Simply Quilts every morning and I've been happily quilting for 18 years.

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  70. My grandfather one one side was a sewing machine repairman and my grandmother on the other side was a seamstress. I got my first sewing machine when I was 6 and figured out sewing by making lots of mistakes. I started quilting in the 80's, with Quilt In A Day Irish Chain and Double Irish Chain. I have recently started quilting a lot more and when I found Bonnie and her scrappy quilts I knew I found my tribe. This will be my first mystery quilt and I a little intimidated by all the small pieces in everyone's quilts. I hope to keep up!

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  71. As a young wife I inherited 2 family quilts, one is a Lemoyne Star set with double pinks. The other is a Crazy Quilt that Grammie gave me, so I know the side of the family it came from, just not who made it. No provenance on the other one. Later in the 1980's and 90's I read every book in the local library on quilt-making. Then we moved to another state, and once again I read every book on the subject. I eventually started making blocks, many that I had figured out myself since there often were not always patterns. (hand applique) I could recognize nearly every pieced block by name(s). Lots of that memory is now lost in the ages.

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  72. When I eventually began putting blocks into quilts I had enough blocks made that the first or second year I finished 12 bed quilts. I still have some embroidered applique blocks to dig out from then to figure out what to do with them.

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  73. I went to a quilt show with a girlfriend who quilted. I walked out w/ 100$ worth of fabric and patterns. That was back in the late 1980's. It has been my hobby and relaxation since then, my happy place! And I have taught my niece at age 5, my great nieces at ages 9 & 7 and my grandsons as early as 5 and 7 years old to quilt/ sew. They all make quilt type projects each year for their parents for christmas.

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  74. My sister and I started to quilt about 20 years ago when we saw a quilt and figured we could make one like it, since we had sewn dresses etc! Early on we discovered Bonnie, attended one of her retreats and have enjoyed quilting ever since. Thank you Bonnie for your inspiration!

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  75. The love and knowledge you pour into all us quilters is amazing. Thank you Bonnie for the past, present & future things you do! Grateful for you!

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  76. Oops, kids made fun of my clothes so I started sewing clothes for myself. I then wanted to make a pretty blanket.I didn't know it would be a quilt! My great grandma was an avid quilt maker but this was not told me til I was into the thick of quilting. I have since inspired 3 relatives to start! Simple multiplication!❤

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  77. Simply Quilts was my start too! When I decided to "Mom Full-time", I figured I'd need a hobby to help fill the days (foolish woman!). I watched the show every day (and it aired 2x a day back then) for a full summer before deciding to jump in. Even then it was another 6 months, two starter quilt books and a trip to a quilt exhibit (shoeing antique, mid-century and contemporary quilts) before I got up the nerve to hit the machine with fabric. That will be twenty years ago in January and it's still an exciting ride!

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  78. I got interested in quilting watching my mother make a quilt for each of her grand-kids. Then when a new quilt shop opened near me and offered a couple of free classes, I took them. The rest is history.

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  79. I would love to be included in your drawing. I learned to sew on my own at 12 when dad brought home a machine that mom never liked using. I learned to quilt when I designed and made my first quilt for a friends baby. I finished it in time but couldn't bear to give it away so I STILL have it... almost 30 years later... and I am still quilting.

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  80. My grandmother's both quilted but they didn't live long enough to teach me. So, I learned by reading, reading & reading & trial & error. And I love it so much!!! I hope to have lots of fabric one of these days, so that I can sew & sew & sew quilts together! 🧵🪡🧵 angielovesgary2 atgmail dotcom

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  81. I became attracted to quilts when I was 38 years old (now 74!). I went into the local quilt store and said to the women who were gathered there for a quilt day that I wanted to learn how to make a quilt. They said pick out a pattern and some fabric and we will help you. I had sewn clothes for years and made alot of my kids clothes. But sewing with a 1/4" seam was all new to me. But I got the hang of it very quickly and made an 8 pointed star queen-sized quilt by hand and hand quilted it in eight months. I doubt that I could do that again! I absolutely love sewing by hand and applique is my favorite thing to do.

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  82. WAtching Georgia Bonesteel on PBS 40 some odd years ago! I wasn't lucky enough to have quilters around me when I young.

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