I made this quilt because I wanted to see if I could quilt it in the embroidery hoop. With much manipulating, I managed to accomplish my goal even if the design does look a little weird.
After Arden visited a friend in Japan, she decorated her house with an Oriental flare. I made this quilt for her to hang above her fireplace. Although they do not show up very well in the photo, there are seventeen embroidered designs in the quilt.
2002-Orchids 12 X 18
I made this little quilt from the practice stitch-outs of some orchids I digitized for a friend.
My paternal grandmother was an avid quilter. She made a full size bed quilt for each of her 6 living children and her 24 grandchildren. Her oldest daughter also made full size quilts for each of her 24 nieces and nephews.
Although none of these quilting ancestors actually taught me how to quilt, quilting was in my genes, so I just decided I would make quilts also. I made my first quilt at age 15 from scraps left over from clothes I had made for myself and my sister.
During my 40 years of teaching and our children’s formative years, I always tried to find at least a few hours on Saturday afternoon to sew and, of course, there were always summers.
It was not until 1985 that I finally had an opportunity to take a quilting class and find out exactly what I was supposed to be doing. That opened up a whole new world of possibilities. After I retired from teaching, I worked for 8 years for a sewing machine store. During that time, I had many opportunities to expand my knowledge and creativity. I quit that job because I realized I was not having enough time to sew and be creative in the way I wanted to.