Thursday, October 6, 2016

How quilting has changed

Things change in the quilting world. I recently found the folder from my very first quilting class.

Looks pretty vintage and worn.

And amazingly I had dated the page from the first class. July 6, 1983! Wow, look at my list of supplies for the class.

Between needles
Thimble
Pins - T pins
Quilting thread
Batting
Cloth
Quilting frame
Transfer paper
Plastic for templates
TWO pair of scissors - cloth and paper.......

Okay you get the picture.

It was a fun and interesting class. We were to work on blocks for a sampler quilt. The teacher was patient and very knowledgeable. On the day we were learning about creating and cutting out templates, she brought out a package and showed us a tool that would make cutting much more accurate and easier then using scissors. Yeah, right, we all said. Well of course that tool was the rotary cutter, and the rest is history.

I never did finish my 15 1/2" blocks. As a matter of fact I do not even know whatever happened to those blocks. But a wonderful thing did happen. My sister in law attended a class in a new quilt shop that had recently opened in our area. She not only learned HOW to use this amazing new tool, she was introduced to the queen of stripping, Eleanor Burns and her Quilt in a Day method. She of course shared the information with me, and helping me pick out fabric, we both made a Log Cabin quilt.

This is the one I made.

Yes that was my first quilt. And I've been hooked on Quilt in a Day ever since.

Over the years I've made many different quilts, and they mostly stem from the method I learned from Eleanor Burns. This quilt was made after I watched a QIAD PBS program. At the time Eleanor Burns was showing a 10 year old how to make this fun strippy quilt. I loved her process and enjoyed making, not only the fall quilt, but this Christmas one too.

Now all that to say, the other night I was wondering if I could view the same program with the little 10 year old girl. I went online and tried to find it, but to no avail. However, I did find a link at QIAD community for some past programs. Boy was that fun. I enjoyed seeing lots of quilts that Eleanor has made through the years. This was a great incentive. Here is the link if you'd like to take a look. Even though it says error, type in Quilt in a Day in the search box, and the videos will pop up.

I am not a fancy quilter. I love to make geometric designs and highlight beautiful fabrics. It's been fun to use Eleanor's techniques to make quilts look harder then they really are. Yep, we've come a long way baby.

Have a great quilting day!

4 comments:

Salmagundi said...

I've been quilting seriously since the 1970s; so I remember those days, also!
Eleanor Burns was a kick, plus so inventive of methods in the quilt industry. The rotary cutter really did change our way of quilting. Thanks for bringing back the memories. Sally

Angie in SoCal said...

Thanks so much for the link. I have always wanted to make Eleanor's nine-patch and strip quilts and now I can!

Elaine Adair said...

I LOVED her! She was so quirky back then, we would cringe at her antics - kinda like Julia Child made us cringe but holy smoke, these gals provided excellent lessons! Now, Eleanor Burns is the Queen of quilting queens! She set the bar for all the rest - we were lucky to have learned originally, from her. 8-)))

Elaine Adair

margaret said...

some great quits here. I have a friend that has quilted for years and she still uses scissors and makes her own templates I am sure I would never have coped that way think she is unlikely to change now aas she is 78, I say thank goodness for all the rulers etc, off to check the link now