I Guess I Was Wrong

In my first blog, I stated that I started quilting in 1989.  While going back over some old quilt pictures, I realized that it was even earlier than that.  The very first quilt kit I bought was for a log cabin quilt, probably around 1985.  I put one block together and decided that it really was not something that I wanted to do and gave it to my mother.  She elected to put the blocks together using a quilt as you go method.  Unfortunately, when she passed away in 1987, she had only completed eight of the blocks.  I took them and made it into a wall hanging and gave it to my brother and his wife as a 'memory' quilt. The only picture I have of it is not real great but you get the idea.

 

So, apparently, I started quilting earlier than I had remembered.  After giving it some thought today, I realized that I purchased the fabric for my first quilt when we still lived in the Boston area.  Since we moved from there to Atanta in 1986, that should have given me a better timeline.  It surprises me to realize that I've been quilting now for almost 30 years and I'm still as enthralled by it as I was as a newbie.

 

I liked living in the Boston area but in six years time, although I had many acquaintances, I realized that I really didn't have any close friends.  After our move to Atlanta, I needed to make some new friends.  But where to find them?  The Internet was relatively young in those days but I was technically savvy and soon found a group of quilters in a chat room on Prodigy. It didn't take long before I had a whole slew of quilting friends spread across the U.S. including a couple in Atlanta.  For 10 years or more, we chatted every night and then started meeting in one city or another and became fast friends.  It was then that I realized that those quilters were a whole new family that I had acquired.  Spurred on by their warm welcome, I started looking around for a local quilt guild and found two that I joined.  Soon I had another quilting family and was in Seventh Heaven  (do you remember that old phrase?) and was quilting with a vengeance. 

 

 

 

Then I discovered quilt retreats!  A friend rented a condo on Hilton Head Island and invited 5 friends to come and spend a week quilting with her.  What a great idea...uninterrupted quilting with friends for 6 whole days.  She had designed the above quilt and taught us how easy it was to make.  Within two days, I had the entire top completed. The background was a pale grey and the entire quilt had a lavendar look to it- probably because of the deep purple border and lots of pinks and purples in the scraps that comprised the triangles.  I love that quilt and it has gone to a good home.