Friday, August 09, 2013

National Book Lovers Day

 
 
Today is National Book Lovers Day and the Moda Bake Shop suggested that we write a post about the book we learned to quilt with. I can't put my finger on a particular title, but
The Quilter's Recipe Book: All the Ingredients You Need to Create Over 100 Fabulous Quilts was definitely one of the first. I checked it out from the library over and over, then ordered a copy for myself.

 
When I got bitten by the quilt bug, my old sewing machine had been packed away for years. I'd used it to make Alex's first Halloween costume, but I wasn't even sure I had the foot pedal anymore. And, since I was home with four little kids (at the point I did actually start to quilt I had a newborn, a toddler, a five year old and an eight year old), there wasn't much opportunity to dig it out and set it up.
 
So I  read. I brought home armloads of quilting books from the library and read them all. I'd sewn clothing in high school and I was pretty sure I could make a quilt....once I dug out that machine. (I wound up getting a brand new machine as a Christmas gift, but Great Grandma's is still tucked away.)

I put together the top for Chickens at the Crossroads, my version of the quilt below, in early 2006, while my two babies were napping.
 
 
And I fell in love with this little quilt and started my own version. The block wasn't included in the book, so I drafted it myself, and somehow I managed the on point setting.

 
 
(Yes, I did eventually figure out what block that was!)
 
I got the two tops done fairly quickly, but it was years before I worked up the nerve to quilt them.

I'm absolutely a book person. I met my husband in a used bookstore when I was sixteen, I get giddy over the smell of old books, and for the past year and a half I've been loving my Kindle Fire. (I actually had a Rocket eBook when they came out in around 2000 and if I hadn't cracked the screen I would've probably been using that thing until the Kindles came out.)  Lately, I'm reading a ton and writing about it here on my blog.

Are you a book person? I assume you enjoy reading, or you wouldn't be here reading this...

2 comments:

Dogwood Lane Rambles said...

I love reading too and I love your quilt book story. My first quilt book was Elenore Burn's Log Cabin Quilt in a Day and although it took me longer than a day I LOVED that quilt and I was definitely hooked on quilting ever after. I still have the quilt by the way very '80's lol!

Suze said...

Thanks for sharing your intro to quilting. I love books. I just cannot get used to a Kindle. I love the feel of a book in my hands. I don't like not having page numbers, etc. We tried using them for one of our Bible studies in our home fellowship and it was a real problem not having page numbers like the printed book. Maybe I need to try it again. I love that you had the tenacity to get your first quilts finished. Again, thanks for participating and sharing. I am enjoying everyone's posts.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails