Quilting

I grew up with a mother who sewed.  Out of necessity, no doubt.  There was no way to clothe her three girls in store-bought outfits.  Not enough money for that.  I remember being proud of the clothes she made for me -- at least most of the time.  But she didn't teach me how to sew.

I took home ec in high school, like most young ladies of my generation.  And so I had one semester of instruction in sewing.  I made an apron and a very simple dress.  I don't think I ever wore the dress though.

As a young teacher, I enrolled in a sewing class and actually made a few things that I would wear.  But I was never really very good at it.  I would stitch in a sleeve, then see my mistake and have to undo everything and re-stitch.  Over and over.  I decided sewing was not my thing and was okay with that.

When I was planning for retirement, though, I decided to learn how to make quilt tops.  My good friend Shirley took me under her wing and got me started.  I did not realize how much it would cost to make a quilt.  I did not realize how much time it would take.  I did not realize that I would really enjoy it either!  It's a kind of sewing that I can do.  I'm slow, but I'm not bothered by that.  I have completed a few quilts and am quite proud of them.  Only on the baby quilt did I do the actual quilting.  For the others, I pay a lady at a quilt shop to do the machine quilting.  Then I handsew the binding. 

It's fun!