I earned my sewing badge in the fourth grade. I was a Junior Girl Scout and my mom was my scout leader. I learned how to sew on the machine my mom used to make me clothes when I was little and where she made the family sleeping bags out of down. I quickly learned that my eyes were not as good as they could be and I was unable to thread the needle. Other than that mishap, I was very happy picking out a pattern, choosing fabric and making my first blouse. I wore it proudly to school, until it didn't fit any more.
While I was growing up, I made a reversible apron for my mom, by sneaking over to my grandma's house after school so that she wouldn't know what I was doing. I also made her a tiny sewing kit for her to use while she was sewing by hand away from home. It was during this time that I was exposed to quilting. My mom decided one day to make a quilt. She gave me that quilt for my nineteeth birthday, which was my first birthday away from home.
My sewing skills helped me right after my divorce, when I had no money and needed to wear dresses for my job. I spent $100 a month on whatever fabric was on sale and spent each weekend making a new dress. Mondays were my days to wear whatever I made over the weekend. This became an office joke. The questions was always, "Did you make that dress?" My answer was always the same proud, "Yes, I did."
In 2003, I decided it was time to document the family quilting history. I asked everyone in the family to send me pictures and stories of whatever quilts they had at the time. It turned out that we have five generations of quilters in my family, dating back to when my Great Great Grandma Sandberg came to America from Sweden. It was very cold on the farm in Illinois, so quilts were made of whatever was at hand to keep everyone warm.
As I couldn't wait for people to send me their pictures to fill out my scrapbook, I decided I better start making my own quilts. My goal was to make a quilt for every one of my cousins' kids. There were seven of them at the time. This quickly started filling the pages of the book. There are now over seventy pages in the scrapbook with a different quilt or project on each page.
Sewing and most crafts are something I enjoy doing when I have the time. I like having busy hands. So I am sure there will be many more quilts to come, since I get the most pleasure out of seeing the reactions on peoples' faces when I give them one of the quilts I made for them. Giving the quilts away and telling the story of the quilt is the best part of all.
Singing Dog Quilt Works is one of my favorite quilting stores because it has so many wild and different colors of fabric.
Keepsake Quilting is my favorite online quilting store because their catalogue inspires me every time I open it.
Quilting Tahoe is the local quilting store in town. The owners are always excited and willing to help when I need something very specific and I need it right away, since I frequently run out of what I need in the middle of a project.
Page last updated 02/04/07