Quilting 101: My little introduction

September is here and there is probably no better month to get into quilting. As the fall weather approaches, it turns our minds and our hearts more inward to our homes.
Quilting is the perfect cool weather hobby (once all that canning gets done!) It allows for your creative mind to wander while the rain or snow is falling outside and thoughts of the garden, yard work, trips to the river and backyards BBQ's are a thing of the past.

I'm not sure when I first fell in love with quilts and the art of quilting. My first quilt was made when I was around 9 years old. It was a doll sized quilt that I made to earn a Girl Scout (or Brownie, I can't remember which) badge while in elementary school. I took a little while away from quilting at age 9 *wink* and returned to it at around age 20. The first quilt I made was a queen sized "Square in a Square" quilt because really, I was either going to "go big or go home." A wall hanging didn't interest me in the slightest.

I was blessed at that point to have found the perfect teacher, a lady named Virginia. She was a previous employee of the 2 oral surgeons I was working for at the time in the Sacramento area. A couple of my co-workers and I would meet at Virginia's house every Tuesday night to quilt together. We'd meet, we'd chat , we'd share thoughts and burdens, we'd learn new things from each other and best of all, we'd quilt! Looking back at that now, it was probably one of the most enjoyable times of my early 20's.

If you've read the "About Me" tab on the top of my blog here you'll remember reading that I'm a huge fan of anything 1800-1900. History. US History. My absolute favorite subject in school, and one subject that I still love learning about today. Barbara Brackman has written quite a few books on the subject of history and quilts. One of the first books I owned that she penned was "Civil War Women." I read that book cover to cover so many times. What a delight to read about the women of yesteryear making quilts simply with scraps of fabric, a needle and thread. There is something so uncomplicated about it, something so peaceful.
While today I use my machine and am thankful for it, quilting still tugs at my history heart strings each time I make a new quilt.
And the good news is that quilting is easy! I've always said, "If you can stitch a straight line, you can quilt." While there are quilts that are more complicated, there are thousands that simply require a straight stitch that's available on your home sewing machine. You can make beautiful quilts with a little determination and some dedicated time.

I know that quite a few of my followers are already quilters but I hope this month to be able to inspire both new and old quilter alike. Please follow along this September as we look at, the very special, art of quilting!