Why I Quilt

When people ask me this question, the best answer I can give is that I think quilting is in my blood. I remember playing under quilting frames as a little girl and learning to hand quilt around wooden quilting frames from my mom and my grandma. The quilt in this photo was hand quilted by my grandma as a wedding gift for my parents in 1968, and it was handed down to me when I was married in 1989.

I have naturally gravitated towards quilting as I have grown older. To this day, whenever I make a quilt, I think of the early pioneer and frontier women working so hard to make life comfortable for their families, saving every scrap of worn out clothing or other fabric and using it to make something beautiful, comforting,, and useful. Even though I have the luxury of purchasing beautiful fabrics if I wish, each quilt seems like a little miracle of creation, something from almost nothing, beauty from ashes. I love being a part of that, whether I’m making a quilt myself, quilting someone else’s work, or designing quilt patterns.