Repair Vs. Restoration

Recently I have been working on a few older, well-loved quilts.  One simply needed the binding finished as someone had placed new binding over the existing binding and made it 75% of the way around the quilt, but decided she was not able to complete it.  

Here is a detail shot of the binding that has completed when I received it... along with some repairs that had been done...

I'm not sure that I would do a repair such as this because, though you are stitching (quite heavily) to close up the hole in the quilt, it would cause undue stress on the surrounding fabric.  As you can see to the right of the repair, there is additional wear on the tucks formed by the repair.

The second quilt - A Grandmother's Fan quilt - needed new binding (it looked as though a small pet rodent such as a gerbil or hamster enjoyed nibbling on it for making its personal bed more comfortable - shown below).  And it had some well-worn places needing to be stitched up, replaced or covered up.

Not long ago I enjoyed book #18 in the Patchwork Mystery series from 2011 - Torn In Two.  The main character of the series, Sarah, does quilt restoration and I have picked up several good tips in the series regarding quilt repair and restoration.

It got me thinking... Is there a difference in the terminology used?  Is it interchangeable?? Does it matter???

After a quick search this is what I learned...

Repair - 
to restore to good or sound condition after decay or damage;mend.
to restore or renew by any process of making good, strengthening, etc.
to remedy; make good; make up for.

Restoration - 
the act of restoring; renewal, revival, or reestablishment.
the state or fact of being restored.
a return of something to a former, original, normal, or unimpaired condition.
restitution of something taken away or lost.
something that is restored, as by renovating.

"Repair is the act of repairing something or repair can be the act of repairing or resorting to a place while restoration is the process of bringing an object back to its original state; the process of restoring something." 

So, from what I found... No, they are not the same.  They can often be interchangeable, but in the quilting world they (probably) are not and yes, it really does matter.

What I am doing to these two well-loved quilts is not a restoration.  I am not using fabric that was a perfect match... I am not using fabric from the same era or a reproduction fabric... The tropical print fabric that is in the center of the fan came from the double-fold (5" wide) binding that I was able to salvage with no holes.  The blue is simply what I found available as the closest possible match. I pre-washed the blue fabric so that once in place it wouldn't shrink up causing additional stress on the surrounding fabric.

  

I appliqued the blades onto the fans with a hidden stitch and then used hand-quilting thread to give the outline quilted stitch look by catching just some of the batting and without going all the way through the quilt.

Over some of the smaller holes I used an off-white tulle and nylon thread to cover them.  You can see this as indicated by the arrow in the below picture.

The new binding is a black background with splashes of color... It was the best choice available.  You can see that the colors match well with the tropical print.

In Torn In Two a quilt ended up stained with coffee... Sarah explains in the the book that coffee was classified as a protein stain and "one method of treating the stain was to mix a thick paste of cornstarch and water."  

"She daubed the paste on a small, inconspicuous spot and waited for it to dry.  When the paste was dry, she carefully brushed it away.  Most of the stain was removed with no new damage from the paste.  This method would take a while, but it seemed to be working."

What repair or restoration techniques have you used?

What stain removal methods have you used?

I have used Retro-Clean and am simply amazed at how quilts look after using it!  Leave a comment... I'd love to learn from you!

Quilt Happy!

Melva

Melva Loves Scraps - Home of the Quilters Through The Generations series

UFO Busting at Tish’s Wonderland

Sunday Stash at QuiltPaintCreate

What I Made Monday at Pretty Piney

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Moving It Forward Monday at Em's Scrapbag

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Colour & Inspiration at Clever Chameleon Quilting

Mid-week Makers at Quilt Fabrication

WOW at Esther's Quilt Blog

Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

Magic Crafts at Ulrikes Smaating (1st Wed of month)

Put Your Foot Down at For the Love of Geese

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Off The Wall Friday with Nina Marie

Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

July 2019 Color Challenge Block - Jade Vine

Jen over at Patterns By Jen chose aqua as the color of the month and a flower called Jade Vine is the inspiration.

The block pattern truly reflects the flower...

Here is what I learned about the Jade Vine...

"Strongylodon macrobotrys, commonly known as jade vine, emerald vine or turquoise jade vine, is a species of leguminous perennial liana (woody vine), a native of the tropical forests of the Philippines, with stems that can reach up to 18 m in length. Its local name is Tayabak. A member of the Fabaceae (the pea and bean family), it is closely related to beans such as kidney bean and runner bean. Strongylodon macrobotrys is pollinated by birds and bats."

Isn't it gorgeous?!?

The moment I saw it I immediately thought of my Grandma Teegarden, the Squash Blossom necklace that she had, crepes and a family reunion.  Now what in the world do these things have in common?  

Come with me as I take a little stroll down memory lane...

This is a photograph that my Grandpa took for a photography show/competition.  (He was active with the Tucson Camera Club for years, as a member and an officer) This photo of Grandma and her Squash Blossom necklace and Concho belt earned him a first place ribbon in A Class in 1975...

As I pulled fabric for this challenge block I was really tempted to use a copper or sepia toned fabric as the background to help make the aqua color pop, but since this challenge is all about shades, value and color family, I decided that I best stick with the one color family.  However, the copper and aqua color combo is currently on my design wall as I complete a pattern test for Jen.  She happens to be the hostess with the most-est of this color challenge...

Not that the "challenge police" would call foul on my fabric selections... but I have been known to bend the rules in quilting to make a pattern or kit original... I considered the two-color temptation and whether or not the block would fail to fit in with the remaining 11 blocks at the end of the year and in a completed quilt.

I do not like "disruptive students" that draw the teacher's attention away from the class... lol!  And had I gone with a two color block, I suspect it would have done exactly that... causing one's eyes to stall on only one block.  I am simply thrilled with the look of the finished block!

Back to my Grandma... she was an artist and earned her BA from the University of Arizona in 1983.  She also had a great interest in family history and traced her family as far back as she could... which was waaaaaaaaay back. She discovered that there were ancestors that came to the US on the Mayflower, along with many other details.  She had notebooks full of family info that nearly  filled a built-in bookcase in her china painting room.  I mean FILLED it... and it was six feet wide and went from floor to ceiling!  She had photographs, family sheets, birth certificates, death certificates, pictures of grave makers (and maps of cemeteries - she once tried to use a map to a cemetery as a map to our first home in IL), and stories from family members sharing what ever details and stories they could remember about Great-Aunt So&So or Great-Great Grandpa...

One time she decided to organized a large family reunion, in 1980... I wasn't really involved or interested in it, other than the fact that I got to spend a weekend with my cousins. :)  Family members came from far and wide...

There was a picnic lunch on Saturday and a brunch on Sunday morning...  She wanted crepes at the brunch... I had a hand in that.

I remember helping to cook the crepes... and filling them.  I think that there was pineapple, orange marmalade and macadamia nuts involved, but that is about the extent of what I remember... Oh, and it took forever to make them!

I don't remember being overly impressed with them, but maybe that is because they were so slow and tedious to make... and we made at least 100, maybe more!  

So you now understand how the challenge block reminded me of my Grandma, her Squash Blossom necklace, a reunion and crepes... it all makes sense... Right?

Dave and I are preparing to spend a weekend away with a few other couples and we will be in charge of making Sunday Brunch.  As I considered options for the meal, and keeping dietary restrictions (mine, as well as others) I think that an English omelet may be in order.  This is an excellent No Guilt::Go Quilt recipe.  It can be cooked in the crock pot (remember the liner for easy clean up!) As an early riser I will get up and get the crock going around 6 a.m. and it will be ready to serve by 10 a.m.... just in time for brunch! Of course, you can do it the traditional way as the recipe states and bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. 

As a fancy little extra, I will be making crepes - just not 100!  I have a gluten-free no-roll tortilla recipe that is very much like a crepe.  I will make a simple apple-berry compote for the filling and have some whipped cream and powdered sugar to garnish.  YUM!  I can hardly wait!

What sort of crepe filling would you want?

Leave a comment... I'd love to hear your choice.

Piece Out,
Melva

Melva Loves Scraps - Home of the Quilters Through The Generations series

Linking with:

BOMS Away at Katie Mae Quilts
Sunday Stash at QuiltPaintCreate
What I Made Monday at Pretty Piney
Main Crush Monday at Cookin’ Up Quilts
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt
Moving It Forward Monday at Em's Scrapbag
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Colour & Inspiration at Clever Chameleon Quilting
Mid-week Makers at Quilt Fabrication
WOW at Esther's Quilt Blog
Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter
Magic Crafts at Ulrikes Smaating (1st Wed of month)
Put Your Foot Down at For the Love of Geese
Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
Can I Get A Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Off The Wall Friday with Nina Marie
Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts
Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty
July Link-up at Patterns by Jen

Quilters Through The Generations - Anne Sidell

In one of the quilting groups on fb there was a conversation or question about what thimble you use.  I shared that I use one of the thimbles that belonged to my great-grandmother, as did several others.  Anne Sidell, was one as well, and bravely stepped forward and said yes when I asked her if she wanted to participate in my Quilters Through The Generations series.  

She, like last week's feature, Susan Nixon, is actually not from a long line of quilters, but of proficient seamstresses and textile lovers.  Again, making my point that her love for quilting is hereditary and passed along in the DNA and genes that make us who we are.

Beyond quilting Anne has degrees in Archaeology and Cinema History, but has not worked in either field since the 80s.   After college (graduated in 1976), she took a position with the Internal Revenue Service and worked only part time as an archaeologist (weekends mostly).  

"I have held a variety of jobs and owned two businesses since leaving the IRS, but I am now retired, and loving it.   I am a dedicated gamer.  I have been playing Dungeons and Dragons (and similar role-playing games) since it came out in 1974.  I still play at least once or twice a week, usually with my husband but sometimes just with friends.   I am also a bibliophile, devastated by having to divest myself of over 10,000 volumes when we moved into our 'retirement home' a few years ago.  I'm sure the Friends of the Library loved the huge donation though.  I collect mid-century modern furniture and art as well."  

Have you ever made a quilt?  Yes, many.  

Who got you started in quilting?   

A friend wanted me to go with her to a quilting class, because she was afraid to go alone and wanted to make her mother a quilt.  I agreed, a bit reluctantly at first, but I went… I got hooked, she didn’t, lol!

Who taught you to sew?  

My mother and paternal grandmother taught me to sew as a child.

Tell me a story about your first quilt.   

In my quilting class, I started making a simple sashed block for my first quilt, which was our assignment, but that same night, I went home and started cutting up cat fabrics, which I’d been collecting for years because I love cats, and made the quilt ‘Susan’s Cats’ from the book ‘The Cat’s Meow’.  I finished that top in 3 days, made a back and started quilting it before the class quilt was even done being cut.   I still have it and still use it occasionally to keep warm while watching tv or reading at night.

Does/did your mother quilt? 



No one in my family before me was a quilter... though my grandmothers both sewed.  My mother sewed a lot – household items of all kinds and clothes for my sister and myself.  Her name was Muriel.







How about a grand-mother?  Great-grandmother?   

My maternal grandmother, Tillie (Tanya) Simon, came here from Russia in her teens and started working in a sweat shop.  She hated it, and hated sewing as a result.    She married the manager of the sweat shop and quit.(shown in the photo)  She owned a Singer treadle and made clothes for her kids (my mom and uncle), but never sewed again for money and always hated sewing.   She was not a quilter.  

My paternal grandmother, Fanny Sidell (nee Freeman), loved textile arts.  (in photo with my Mom & Dad) She was a milliner by trade before she married my grandfather and continued to work as a milliner after her marriage.  She made all the family clothes as well, she also was a knitter, tatter and crocheter, but not a quilter.  I still have her 1924 Singer model 99, and her button box full of antique buttons.



Have you taught someone to quilt?  

I have taught several people to quilt... I used to teach at a local fabric shop.  I don’t remember all their names.  Some were friends before we started quilting together, some were strangers who became friends, and some were like ships in the night.  I treasure all the friends I’ve made through quilting.

How many quilts have you made?  

Not sure… a couple of hundred at least, I think.

Do you have a favorite quilt?  

My Woodland Creatures quilt…  It was a true labor of love and I had such a great time making it.  It elevated my applique abilities over the year it took me to make it and it has won so many awards, including a few ‘best of shows’.

Do you have a favorite block?  

Lone stars and Dutchman's puzzle are a couple of favorites, but I don’t have a single go-to block when I need to make a quilt for someone.

Do you participate in any quilt groups?  

I belong to two guilds and a very active mini-group.

One of my guilds has speakers regularly, sew-ins once or twice a year, one for charity and one personal, as well as holding retreats at a beach house twice a year.  We hold a quilt show every other year, a quilt challenge every other year as well, with a round robin project in years alternating with the challenge.  We make a lot of charity quilts as well for the local NICU, police & fire departments, women's shelters and the like.  My other guild does similar activities as well as hosting several workshops throughout the year.  The second guild is MUCH larger than the first, and holds some special events the smaller guild cannot afford.  


My mini-group meets once a week for an evening sew-in, as well as our 'business meeting' once a month, where we celebrate birthdays, talk about our quilting (and non-quilting) goals for the month, which we record and try to all fulfill before our next monthly meeting.  We make some charity quilts as well, make round robin quilts, take quilting trips (we are doing a retreat in Big Bear, CA this year), go on shop hops together, help each other with our UFOs.  One of our members is a professional long-arm quilter and he does several of our quilts for us.  We are mostly all members of the smaller of the two guilds, and currently we are making the guild's opportunity quilt for next year, working on it together.  

Have you entered any quilt competitions?   

Many… too many to elaborate on all of them, but primary among them are the Ventura County Fair, Road to California, and the Houston International... 

All Colours are of God, shown above is an example of my non-mindless piecing and was juried into Houston International quilt show

I won 3rd place for machine quilting at Road to California, First place applique at the California State Fair, and Best of Show at Ventura County Fair and also at the Simi Valley Quilt Show, 1st place in the Glendale Quilt Show Challenge 2007, 2nd place in the Ventura County Arts Council quilt exhibit.  I treasure them all, just don’t remember them all individually. 

Here is a sampling of Anne's quilts that have been entered in shows and prize winners.

Trojan Star, Under the Jellicle Moon and Spinning In Place

You can see more of Anne's other AMAZING quilts over on her blog - Confessions of a Serial Quilter

    

Have you sold any quilts? 

I have donated a few to auctions to be sold… don’t know how much they made.. I made two quilts for other people… one for $300 and one for $500… both were wall-hangings commissioned for special events. 

Where do you get your inspiration from?  

Cats, other animals, nature, books, other people’s art, anything can be inspiration.

What is your favorite part of quilting?  

Piecing is fun and kind of mindless and I enjoy it a lot… 

Machine applique is so meditative and almost like a zen experience for me, so that is probably my favorite thing to do…  I think it’s like what other people get out of doing zentangles or yoga.

Why do you quilt?   

I have ALWAYS loved working with textiles… I started sewing at age 6, making doll clothes.  My mother was very frugal in regards to buying clothes, so I started sewing my own clothes when it started being important (in late elementary school – about 10 years old).   I stopped making clothes when it was no longer cost effective vs purchasing clothes in the 70s and 80s and I didn’t realize how much I missed working with fabric.  I did a little sewing in the 90s for my son, making costumes and such.  When my friend wanted me to take a quilting class with her in 2003, I reluctantly agreed and just fell in love with it… hadn’t realized how much I missed the creative outlet.  I’d been doing cross-stitch for about 10 years, but it’s a very slow and laborious process.  Quilting is SO much faster and more fun, in my opinion! 

What do you do with your quilts?  

Some I keep, using them as wall decoration, on our beds, or saving for ‘someday gifts’… some I make for donation to charities, some I make and gift to friends, and some I make on commission for various causes and purposes.  I have to say that I do own the majority of quilts I’ve made over the years (maybe 2/3?)… I’d like that number to go down, as I’ve more than run out of room to store quilts… I just have to find the right recipients for the right quilts.  And of course several of my quilts were made to commemorate some event in my own life, and therefore have to be kept.  … maybe someday I’ll need to do a trunk show?  Lol, probably not, but you never know, but that’s not why I keep them…  I think some are just waiting for the right recipient…   It worries me that they will all end up in thrift shops when I’m gone, and I hate that idea.

Like Anne, I hate the idea that her quilts could end up in a thrift shop when she is gone! 

Do you worry that this will happen with your quilts?  Or have you made some special arrangement with another friend or family member to make sure they all find homes where they will be loved and used?

Leave a comment... I'd love to hear from you!

Stay calm and quilt on...
Melva  

A Time For All Seasons - July

In June I wondered what the July blocks would be... perhaps fireworks, or picnic theme... or star or flag related...




I was excited to see the waving stripes block offered by Carla over at Creatin' in the Sticks

My first block reminds me of a picnic and apple pie with the checked gingham and the apples on the blue stripe.

I love my second block with the color placement that gives the illusion of a waving flag and shadows...

However, I could not get the idea of a flag block out of my mind!  It was an idea that came to me in the early dawn hours of the day and I just HAD to respond to the calling...

My first plan was to have a 5-1/2" block of star fabric along with some wavy red/white striped fabric to make up the block.

It would have taken less than five minutes to make it, but I did not have a piece of star fabric large enough... the largest I had was only 4-1/2". 

So I went with my second option... a 5-1/2" scrappy log cabin block.  This one took about 10 minutes. 😁

As I made this block I thought of the HUGE Bi-Centennial celebration that took place across the US in 1976... I was 11 years old and everything  was red/white/blue and everyone was patriotic.  

In my childhood town they had a fire hydrant painting contest, a beard growing contest for the men, and the big celebration at Bent's Fort that had recently completed the rebuilding of the fort.  There was a wagon train that traveled through town to the fort and one of my besties got to ride her horse in the event.  What a lucky girl!

Oh, the times have changed.  I wonder what things will be like in seven years when the 250th birthday of the United States of America rolls around.  I don't want to get into the political realm of things, but I wonder... 

Will people be "proud to be an American"?

I know I will be!  

I think I will go make an apple pie...

Melva

Melva Loves Scraps - Home of the Quilters Through The Generations series

Linking with:

BOMs Away at What A Hoot Quilts
Colour & Inspiration at Clever Chameleon Quilting
Mid-week Makers at Quilt Fabrication
Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter
Magic Crafts at Ulrikes Smaating (1st Wed of month)
Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
Off The Wall Friday with Nina Marie
Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Quilters Through The Generations - Susan Nixon

It has been a while since I have had a new story for the Quilters Through The Generations series. Partly because I have been busy sewing and quilting and didn't take much time to recruit quilters to be featured... Partly because I hadn't put much time into searching... Partly because we have been having a good time with camping and exploring the places on our bucket list for the summer. (It has been really fun, btw.  But we have planned a full week at home to be able to get caught up and back into a "normal" routine.)

But alas, I coerced Susan, one of my regular readers, into participating.  She didn't think that she really fit into the category of a generational quilter because she had started quilting well after her Mother and grand-mother had passed away and learned only after they were gone, that both of them had quilted.

I have long believed that the love for quilting, sewing or textiles (or any other art form such as painting or making music or even athleticism) is part of one's DNA makeup.  For this reason, I introduce to you Susan Nixon.  You will discover, as I did, she has a great sense of humor!

Tell me a little about yourself, and life beyond quilting.

There is no life beyond quilting!  You didn't know that???  😊  

Like anyone, I'm a lot of different parts.  I'm active in my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and that probably defines who I am the best.  I'm a retired elementary teacher, but teachers are like Marines - there are no retired or former ones!  I'm the mother of two sons, sometimes still a full-time job.  My much-loved husband died in March, 2010, so I'm a widow, also.  To make all the ends meet wherever they are supposed to, I work part-time for an educational company, mostly proof-reading, and sometimes proof-read for others, too.  

If I'm not involved in a church activity, or working, and I'm not quilting, a rare day indeed, then I'm probably either reading a book (sci fi or mystery or techno-thriller!) or writing as one of my 18 characters in an online Star Trek sim.  That's short for simulation.  We have a starbase (SB109), and we play one main character who would be found in the Federation (mine is Jade Lantz, owner of a Jazz Club called Orchids & Jazz, located on deck 600 of the Promenade), and whatever other characters we would like to throw in from time to time.  Most people don't have 17 of those, but due to my split personality, I can be that many.  😊  I don't know how to be just ONE thing!


Or I might be napping or eating Lindt's Truffles.

Have you ever made a quilt?   Many!

Who got you started in quilting?  

I suppose you could say it was the woman who babysat for my older sister’s children.  I don’t think I ever told her, but she had a profound impact on my life because she introduced quilting into my body of knowledge, and she also introduced me to people who brought the answers to religious questions I had.  She was sitting on her sofa hand piecing basket blocks, and it took me all of five seconds to fall in love.  I was 17 then, and I’m 71 now, and in all the years in between, I’ve called myself a quilter.

Who taught you to sew?  

I learned in homemaking classes at school, because my aunt didn’t have the patience to teach me.  She did let me sew on her 1935 Singer 221 – the Featherweight.

Tell me a story about your first quilt.  

I started several between 17 and 24, but didn’t finish any of them because I didn’t know how, and there were no books except rare out of print ones, and no quilt stores, and no quilt teachers.  People learned at home, or they didn’t learn.  Teaching myself was tricky!

The first one I completed was started for my son.  I read half an article by Jean Ray Laury in Better Homes and Gardens, called my best friend, and we never did read the whole thing, which caused a lot of mistakes and self-teaching!  Jean’s article was about making a sampler quilt of blocks which were based on a multiple of a basic number – 2, 3, etc.  We missed the math of it and simply started making blocks of whatever size, mostly appliquéd, but some pieced, too.  

At the end, I had some odd shapes to fill in, so there’s a little train going around a corner between some mis-matched blocks, and many other oddities.  Another problem was that we backed each block with flannel and quilted it by hand, all the while saying we didn’t see why people said getting a small quilting stitch was so hard.  LOL!  It wasn’t until later that we realized we were supposed to put the whole top together, put the batting and backing on and THEN quilt it!  Both of us finished a quilt, but they were definitely not like anything Jean Ray Laury had envisioned! 

We did finally figure it out better when we bought some antique quilts from a place called America Hurrah! in Manhattan.  

At the time, America Hurrah was a seller of antique cameras, equipment and photographs, but sometimes when the owner bought such things in a lot, there were also antique quilts.  Eventually, he moved up from the basement in an area of rowhouses to 5th avenue and had an amazing quilt gallery and sold only antique quilts.  His prices went way out of my range then!  But the quilts we bought really helped us understand what quilting was about.  

My friend bought a grandmother's flower garden pieced in the 1920s of pink and white, not scraps, just pink and white solids.  The flowers were about the size of a dime, and it was a full-sized quilt!  I bought a late 19th century red, blue and white pattern that took me a long time to identify.  The closest I can come is Bachelor's Puzzle, but it isn't quite right still.  (Sadly, it is in storage and not available for pictures, but here are a couple other antique quilts that are in Susan's collection.)

Eventually, I got to take classes from some amazing people, (Laurene Sinema, Margaret Miller, Sharyn Craig, Kimiko Sudo, Eleanor Burns, and so many others whose names are only heard in quilt history now),  but I was well ingrained in a lot of bad habits by then, and I still am.  




What did you do with your first quilt?   

It was for my son, and included a robot drawing he had made and I traced and embroidered, as well as a bat with the word Batman embroidered on it – two of his favorites when he was 6 and 7.  He still has it, well over 40 years later.






Does/did your mother quilt?   

My mother died when I was nine, and she did quilt, but I never knew it until my grandmother died and my sister gave me a quilt she knew my mother had done.  It is a snowball in bright 30s colors and tied with embroidery floss.  Her name was Ada Adear Abner, later adopted as Dorothy Elizabeth Wilbanks.

<<< Mother and Grandmother with my oldest brother, about 1936

How about a grandmother?  Great-grandmother?  

My Paternal Grandmother, Carrie Belle O'Mary, also quilted, though I never saw her do that, either.  I do have a coverlet she crocheted from fine thread, but no quilts.  Beyond that, I don’t know, but it’s likely.  

I have a picture of a block which a pioneer ancestor, Caroline Little Luce, made for a 14th Ward Relief Society quilt given to an outgoing Relief Society president.  This was in Utah, in 1857, so I know that at least one side of the family quilted.  However, I never saw any of it in my growing up years.  My aunt taught me to crochet. Homemaking taught me to sew.  I remember watching my mother do fine intricate embroidery when I was little and from that and written directions, I figured out embroidery on my own.

Have you taught someone to quilt?  

Too numerous to name!  Almost every friend I’ve ever made had to become a quilter.  LOL!  There are also many classes I taught for either parks and rec or in my home.  Students include Fran Regos, Cheryl Congrove, and Stacey Trumble, as friends, over the years.  I don’t think I can say I taught my friend, Antonia Adamiak, because we learned together.  I led her into many dark holes we had to back out of!

How many quilts have you made?  

I can’t begin to count, but I know it is over 200.  My favorite blocks... Yes, Sister’s Choice is #1, Churn Dash #2, Log Cabin #3

Do you have a favorite quilt?  

Usually, the last one I finished for my own bed!  But here are several...

This is Desert Rose (Calico Rose pattern by Deanna at WeddingDressBlue; quilted by Sue Nebeker of American Hero Quilts)

Above is my only truly modern quilt designed by me.  

It was quilted by Bree Gilbert for a charity.

Do you participate in any quilt groups?  

I have belonged to guilds and bees over the years, but now it’s only an unofficial group of friends, The Thursday Quilters, who come to my house on Thursday mornings.  

Our work includes piecing, appliqué, embroidery and walking foot quilting.  We each bring our own projects and work on what we want.  We don't often make a group anything, though when our bishop moved to Salt Lake, we all took part in making blocks for a quilt and putting it together.  Each of us has our own causes we prefer - QOV, Project Linus, American Hero, Sunshine or whatever.  Sometimes we are working on one of those, sometimes on our own, but there's no group involvement in any one of them.  We just quilt together on Thursdays, talk about spiritual things (we are all from the same religion, though not the same congregation of that religion), talk about families.  Sometimes we do shop hops together, or those who can go will.

Marla's little helper holding a tin of pins is also shown below with her first quilt, made on her own at age 6, from FQs she collected from the time she was 3 and went "pop hopping" with us.

Have you entered any quilt competitions?  

No, I don’t do competitions.  That’s never been why I was interested in quilting Some of the quilts I did freehand on the longarm between 1995 and 2005 were entered in quilt shows in various places, and a few won ribbons, once I even got a ribbon because the show gave ribbons to the maker and to the quilter.
     
Have you sold any quilts?    

A few times, usually to men who wanted something special for their wives.  I think the most I ever charged was $450, including fabrics.

Where do you get your inspiration from?  

Everything around me in the world.

What is your favorite part of quilting?  

That’s a hard question, but I can tell you that my least favorite part is the binding – the machine part of the binding.  I don’t mind the hand sewing part.

Why do you quilt?  

It satisfies a deep artistic need I have.  I can’t draw a picture or paint a sunset.  Even my photographs with a great Nikon camera often come out blurry.  But I can design and put together a quilt.  It also connects me to the past, my family and women from other families, as well.  When I read about a quilter from long ago, I feel I know some part of her, because we’ve worked the same work and enjoyed the same process.  I also make quilts to give comfort to those who might need it.

What do you do with your quilts?  

Most of them have gone to other people somewhere along the way, but I do have a dozen or so that are mine, and I have invested in about the same number of antique ones, going back into the mid-1800s.  I love beautiful quilts, and I always want them around me.  There is nothing so wonderful as a chilly winter night under about 5 quilts I made myself.

Susan   is a self-taught quilter... 

Are you also a self-taught quilter and experienced "many dark holes" you have had to back out of?  

Leave a comment and tell me about some of your beginning quilting mistakes and how you learned from them.

Susan happens to be a fellow blogger as well and you can catch up with her and her various projects over at Desert Sky Quilts.

Keep calm and quilt on!

Melva