Happy Mother's Day

When I was a little girl, my mom had a special box that she kept in the linen closet at the top of the stairs. Inside the box was a 
1930’s Dresden Plate quilt made by her grandmother. From time to time I would rummage around under the stacks of sheets and towels to find that box, get it down and carefully unfold that beautiful old quilt. I loved it. It captured my imagination. I loved to pore over the vintage fabric and trace the stitching with my fingers. I used to picture my great great grandmother stitching it and when I grew up I knew that I wanted to make a quilt just like it.

 Years later, living in England with 3 children under three, my mom treated me to an Adult Education course on Patchwork and Quilting. The course kept me sane and I became well and truly hooked. Over the next 10 years we had 3 more children and I managed to make lots and lots of tops. I loved collecting fabric and playing with colour and pattern. But I struggled with the quilting. Life was busy. I felt guilty about rarely finishing my projects. Quilting by hand was not remotely possible. I was bored with stitch-in-the-ditch but found free-motion quilting a pain the neck. My collection of un-finished-objects grew and grew and I felt stuck. In 2003 my mom gave me a table top quilting frame for Christmas, probably the best Christmas present ever, and I’ve been happily free-motion quilting ever since. 

Looking back at my first ever blog post I realize that most of my quilting milestones were instigated by my mother.  My mom is an amazing woman and I have lots to be grateful for. 
So thanks mom! Thanks for all you are and all you do! I wouldn’t be happy or here without you. 
Happy Mother’s Day!

Source: machinequilter.blogspot.co.uk via Martha on Pinterest

The Quilt in the Closet

When I was a little girl, my mom had a special box she kept in the linen closet at the top of the stairs. Inside the box was a 1930's Dresden Plate quilt made by her grandmother. From time to time I would rummage around under the sheets and towels to find the box, get it down and carefully take out the beautiful old quilt. I loved that quilt. It captured my imagination. I loved to pore over the fabric and trace the stitching with my fingers. I liked to imagine my great grandmother making it and I decided that when I grew up I would make a quilt just like it.

Years later, I found myself living with my English husband in the UK with 3 children under three. I took an adult education quilting course to keep sane and became well and truly hooked. Over the next 10 years, I had 3 more children and made lots of tops. I loved collecting fabric and playing with pattern and colour. But I struggled with the quilting. Life was busy. I felt guilty about rarely finishing my projects. Quilting by hand was not a remote possibility. I was bored with stitch in the ditch but found free motion machine quilting a pain in the neck. My collection of UFO's (Un Finished Objects) grew with my guilt.

In 2003, my mom gave me a table top quilting frame for Christmas, probably my best ever present. I've been happily free-motion machine quilting ever since. Most of my UFO's have disappeared but I still haven't made my Dresden Plate. I will soon, I have a great collection of 1930's fabric!