My Quilting History & Photo Gallery

My quilting history begins when I was 8 years old.  My parents gave me a choice – you can be a Girl Scout OR you can join 4-H, but you can’t do both.  That was probably the last time I was forced to make a choice in activities.  As many of my friends can attest I was in all sorts of clubs during my youth.  I chose 4-H and one of the project areas was sewing.  Mom signed me up for the class and I vaguely remember running off to the Lake County Extension office for classes.  One of the first things we made was a basic 9-patch pillow.  Now, I cannot remember if I finished the entire sewing course, but I do remember thinking that I didn’t want to just sew a pillow or an apron.  I do vividly remember sitting with my mom at the sewing machine creating my first sewing project for Achievement Days.  I fondly remember the glow of the sewing machine light on the fabric as it whirred under the needle and the light reflecting from my mothers’ face.  You see my mom is a seamstress, and like any 8 year old girl I wanted to be just like my mommy.  So I chose to make a pretty little yellow A-line dress.  Of course I bit off a little more than I could chew, but then I still do that.  I received a red ribbon for my meager efforts.  If any of you know the ribbon placing for South Dakota 4-H, you will know this isn’t a very good placing. 

So, how did I learn about quilting?  I had a wonderful Jr. High School Home Economics teacher (yes, back then we called it Home Ec).  Mrs. Hoff always included basic quilting skills in the sewing portion of class and as a group we would make a quilt together.  Everyone made their own individual blocks. Then I believe Mrs. Hoff took the blocks and sewed them together forming the top and she would layer it.  After all this was done we would clear the center of the room and the quilt would be stretched onto a full frame so the entire quilt would be stretched out.  We would then tie the quilts.  I remember crawling under the frame to push the needle up through the bottom.  How Mrs. Hoff managed all of us, I will never know!  I really don’t remember who finished the binding and I cannot really remember what was done with the quilts.  Perhaps we raffled them off, but I’m not totally sure.  It was very exciting and fun. The Home Ec class was on the 3^rd floor of the old Madison Jr. High building.  I always found this room fascinating; tucked away under the eaves of this beautiful brick building with creaky wood floors and an old iron fire escape off the back.

Now in high school I had another fabulous Home Economics teacher, Mrs. Goldammer.  Our high school FCS (that’s Family & Consumer Sciences, the modern name) program was set up in classes by topic.  For instance, there was a class just on foods & nutrition, a class specifically for interior design, and another class that covered sewing.  You get the idea – there was a wide array of classes to choose from.  Although Mrs. G (that’s what we called her, and on occasion I would slip and call her mom; it’s nice to have more than one “mom” isn't it?) is a wonderful quilter and because I was interested in a wide array of topics, I was never able to take her sewing class.  Here we are back to 4-H.  One year my 4-H club decided to make 2 quilts to raffle off to raise some funds, maybe for our arena or for equipment – I can’t quite remember (now currently that’s a common theme for me – poor memory).  I was a Sr. 4-Her and if I remember correctly the only Sr. to participate.  In fact I’m not sure that many members assisted with the project.  The younger members made a very simple quilt out of bandanas, very cute!  I ended up making a more complex quilt, and I’m pretty sure the parent in charge, Renee, helped me out - a lot.

It wasn’t until years later when Lisa, one of my best friends from high school, was pregnant with her first child that I really took a keen interest in learning to quilt.  I made the simplest panel quilt for her new baby.  And thus began a love of quilting.  I’ve kind of turned a 180 and have done far more quilting in the last decade than wearable projects.  As with many people who sew the obsession with fabric is very strong within me and I have fabrics with the intension of some day creating clothing or accessories… some day J 

As of late, it seems like someone is always having a baby and I drop whatever project I am working on, or thinking about working on, to make a baby quilt.  So, I guess you could say that I have specialized in designing and creating baby quilts.  Many of the quilts below are just that – baby quilts.  I rarely use a commercial pattern and no two quilts are exactly identical in pattern or fabric.  I do like to reuse and recycle fabric, as well.  I am not fond of the actual "quilting" step and I cannot afford to have my works long-arm quilted, so I only do simple quilting techniques.  Now, these are by no means inclusive of all of the quilts I have ever made.  In fact, I don’t have a single picture of any of the full-size quilts I’ve made.  Additionally, some of these pictures were taken on old cell phones so I apologize for the grainy quality of the photographs.  If you don’t see the quilt I made for you below, I probably don’t have a photo of it.  Take a picture, e-mail it to me at quiltedcowgirl@gmail.com and I will add it to the gallery.  Happy Crafting!

Lap quilt for a co-worker

Lap quilt made from company polo shirts
 

Table runner

Close-up of block

Baby Quilt made with recycled denim

Baby Quilt - this one I actually used a commercial pattern

Close-up of block

Blocks before assembly

Baby Quilt for a boy

Close-up of block

Baby Quilt - currently available for sale

Close-up of block

Close-up of printed fabric - I love it!

Baby Quilt for a girl

Sorry Jennifer, these are the only pics I have!

Baby Quilt for a co-worker

Most of the fabrics used were recycled or repurposed

Baby Quilt for a boy

Fabric look familiar?  I utilized leftover fabric from an earlier quilt for this project.

Doesn't seem like many projects?  Well, this is just the tip of the ice berg.  This is probably only a third of what I have made. I just don't have pictures of the others!  Happy Crafting!