I learned the basics of sewing from my mom. How to use a sewing machine, threading a needle, hand sewing, picking fabric, etc. She made us several halloween costumes over the years and even once helped us follow patterns to make our own pajamas!
I don’t recall ever seeing my dad sit down at a sewing machine, but it was my dad who taught me about piecing and quilting. I can’t remember how it came up, but one day when I was in grade school, he showed my little sister and I how to make quilts. We made one (or maybe even two) small 1 foot by 1 foot tie quilts. Mine was a 3 by 3 block square with blue fabric with frogs on it. I recall proudly laying it out on the top of my dresser as a decoration. I’m not sure where it went, but it’s possible that we sent it to his mom, my grandma. She is the “original” quilter in our family so my dad picked up a few things from her.
On a trip to see my grandma when I was in high school, she was showing me her fabric stash and she pulled out a stack of pre-cut squares that she had leftover from a recent project and asked if I wanted to make a lap blanket out of them. As I do, I spent pretty much every next minute of my life working on it until it was finished (mostly because it was the end of the trip and I had limited time to finish). Grandma hand sewed the binding for me and I was so proud of it. I was hooked and thus began my unhealthy obsession with putting my life on the back burner while trying to get huge projects done in as little time as possible. Yay!
Quirky Quilts 