How did you start quilting?

How did you get started with quilting?

This was the question that was asked in one of our recent chats. This is something that I am also very curious about. I often wonder what inspires a person to take on the challenges of making a quilt. I mean with all the lovely quilts available in stores today; you could buy one without all the hassles of making one, right?

The sky is the limit when it comes to the investments involved with quilting. You could get started for very little money, or you can spend thousands in machines, fabric and tools. Quilting today is much more than the recycling of fabric scraps sewn together to form a blanket strictly for the purpose of staying warm. It has developed into an art form all its own.

There are traditional functional quilts, abstract art quilts, picture quilts and even 3-D quilts! There are as many styles of quilts as there are quilters. Each quilter brings their individual personality and style to their textile work. The freedom to create your own unique style and ignore all the rules of traditional quilting attracts many fiber artists to this craft, but what about the rest of you? When we speak of fiber artists, we think of the art quilters, but there are many who still love the traditional style of quilting, like the quilts our ancestors created. What about you, what attracts so many of you to struggle through the challenges of all that exact cutting and piecing?

"How did you get started with quilting?" This was the question presented in our chat room recently, along with "what inspires you to continue quilting?" I have my own reasons for starting, but I was curious to see what others have to say about what attracted them and what keeps them going.

Let's see what you had to say

These are the responses found during our live chat. Many of you had similar stories so you may see some repeat answers. But even if they are similar, I still think each person had something to add to the discussion and did not want to exclude anyone.

I broke this into 2 sections. The first one is "how you got started" and the second one is "what inspires you" I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I enjoyed typing them.

How did you get started quilting?

• I started quilting because I have always loved quilts. My grandmother made quilts and gave me a couple. And then I realized my Mom quilted when the kids were out of the way. And now I own 5 generations of quilts. We are all still learning, too many kinds of quilting to know them all. I started teaching myself, and asking Mom on the phone, then I took 8 classes at a quilt store then I joined the quilt guild where there is always someone to ask, then I joined Creative Quilting and Quilting Weekly where there is always someone to ask online.
  
• 
  
  When I lived out west I had a friend who quilted and she got me started on star quilts.
  
  • Did she teach you how to quilt then?
    
  
  
• No, just got me interested and then I moved back home. Mostly I learned from books trial and error (mostly error). I am still learning today. I have never taken lessons but need to for binding, which I have trouble with. Books and the internet is how I learned mostly.
  
• I had a grandmother who quilted, but I didn't actually make any quilts, except for a small baby quilt while she was alive. I learned some things from what my daughter was taught. Most of what I have learned was from books and then through the internet.
  
• I began quilting years ago. I wanted to make a baby quilt for my son. He's now 19. I was self taught at first. I've taken some classes since then. And I have invested in many books.
  
• I began quilting as a natural progression to all the other sewing skills I had been taught by my mother
  
• My friend and I began quilting as a lark 2 years ago we have a few quilts finished and I became hooked on it. We both enjoyed sewing.
  
• I started myself off I think. Just liked the look of it and always like to try different things. This one has stuck. I was going to a craft group that made lots of different things and the leader did quilting which I liked the look of. So I found a magazine and went for it.
  
• I was going to a craft group that made lots of different things and the leader did quilting which I liked the look of. So I found a magazine and went for it.
  
• For me the challenge of being able to cut fabric up and then put it back together again to make something nice.
  
• 
  
  A co-worker invited 3-4 people to come and learn to quilt. I said I'd come to socialize but I wasn't interested in doing anything with a sewing machine. Then I got hooked.
  
  
  

Who/what inspires you?

• What inspires me is fabric, other quilts, pictures, people talking, quilt guild, everything inspires me. My ancestors all quilted, but I would say interested me rather than inspired. Inspired makes me think of fancy quilts and these were just beautiful appliqué or scrap quilts. But I always loved them. Only information book I use is" Better Homes and Gardens Complete Guide to Quilting", but I have a lot of magazines for inspiration, and quilt shows. But what inspires you the most. To me it is the fabric!
  
• Seeing some of the quilts in those shops on the week-end was inspiring. They were beautiful. I was at a grist mill on Sunday and they had little grain bags made into wall hangings. They were really neat. I bought a bunch of them to make my own.
  
• I was at a friend's house today and I saw her pillows on the couch with leaves and flowers. I took out my cell phone and took a picture of them. Now I want to use that for a quilting design someday soon.
  
• I was more inspired when my daughter made a quilt in the 4^th grade!
  
• I loved watching some of the local cable shows here in the states. There a number of shows dedicated to quilting that can be very inspiring and they give you tips and instructions for many of their projects.
  
• The most inspiring book is probably "Pieced Flowers, by Ruth B. McDowell". I have never gotten beyond piecing with the straight seams.
  
• I didn't have anyone in my family that I can say inspired me to quilt. Although I found out one of my aunts used to make quilts. I never say any of them though, too bad.
  
• Fabric is one of my inspirations, but I get inspired by many things including books, photos, nature, quilt shows, websites and well just about everything I see could be a quilt idea!
  
• I really like The Quilt Show with Alex and Ricky, but I'm going to take all the classes I can on quilting weekly. I like Alex's quilting by hand book. I also like watching Matt Sparrow do his live long arming online
  
• I like Alex's web site too, and Ricky's, but I also like thequiltshow.com fabric and other's quilts, lots of ideas at different shows and flowers
  
• I must admit I love looking at other peoples work as well
  
• What inspired me? Was I took it up as a challenge; I needed something to do after my back surgery.
  
• We saw a Christmas wall hanging in a book and decided to try and make on for a present but instead we ended up having such a good time that one turned into 12. Neither of us knew anything about quilting and it was all trial and error.
  
• To me it is usually the fabric first, and then I have to find a pattern to do it justice. If I have an order for a quilt, or course I start with the pattern, but for myself I start with my fabric. I see pictures in magazines and then say to myself, "I have the perfect fabric for that one, I think I will make it, if I have enough fabric of course"
  
• I love the fabric, but sometimes I start with the pattern and colors that the person receiving the quilt like. For the quilts for family I'm inspired by whatever theme they want for their quilt.
  
• 
  
  As for inspiration I think probably it all (fabric, patterns and things I see around me). And my imagination takes over. I am very naughty about following patterns. – have to do my own thing somewhere along the process.
  
  
  

If you have your own personal story that you would like to share with our readers here, please feel free to leave it in the comments section. Your story just might inspire someone else to get started with quilting.

If you want to get involved in our live chats be sure to head over to Quilting Weekly, register to get on our mailing list. (Or simply fill in the form at the top of this page).

A Blog with a Purpose

The Original Purpose of this Blog

When I started writing this blog, I knew nothing about blogging. So I set off on a journey to learn about blogging and wanted to share my quilting journey with whoever wanted to read it.

Since the start of the blog I have learned many new things about blogging and my life has taken many turns along the way, some of which I have shared here. They included personal quilting projects and experiences, stories about my personal life, sprinkled with whatever quilting information I could find on the web. I have shared videos, photos, and websites and even taught a few quilting lessons here. On occasion I also put up information about the happenings on my Classroom website. So you can see the purpose or direction was varied and a little unorganized, but then so is my mind and life! LOL

Blog Number 2

Then came blog number 2. As if this wasn't enough challenge I thought I would take on another blog. The main reason was to explore another blog format that I had heard so much about on the web. http://www.wordpress.com This site while still in the free blogging service category offered me statistics and reports on traffic and allowed me to fine tune some things. This was very exciting to me. I now could tailor my writing to fit what the readers wanted. (I am still perfecting this as we speak) And if you are curious about my other blog take a look at Online Quilting.

The Challenge of Running 2 Blogs

Now the challenge of running 2 blogs was becoming ever increasingly difficult for me. I wanted them to be both about quilting, which is my passion as you all know. But how was I to keep them unique? I again fell into a similar habit. (Old habits die hard) I was posting all the same things. Yes the articles were different, (well some of them were exactly the same). I figured I could get away with that as there were bound to be different readers on both blogs, right? At first this may have been true, but as time went on I found that there was a huge following of the same people on both blogs. Now I was beginning to find it difficult to find new topics for both blogs that were interesting enough to keep you all happy. (Not an easy task)

As you may know with blogging and the internet in general the attention span of the reader is very short. My attention span for writing is even shorter! LOL I knew I had to plunge ahead as both blogs offered one common goal. "To reach as many quilters as possible, and offer them the help they needed to succeed at quilting."

Blogging Burnout

The final straw came with Blogging Burnout. I was finding blogging less and less fun. It was becoming real work. Well if it is work, then I run the other way. I only like to do things that are fun. Don't criticize me; you would agree if you can get away with not working at your job!

I took a few weeks off and just let the blogs sit. This is not a good thing in the world of blogging as you run the risk of losing your readers. I spent this time working on my website Quilting Weekly, as it is what pays for my fabric habits. At least all that time wasn't spent just having fun! I was actually trying to build my business up.

Once I got past the guilt of not writing daily or every few days, I found that the pressure was off and I could think more clearly about how to handle this situation. And today it finally hit me!!

Making each blog Serve a Specific Purpose

I needed to give each blog a specific purpose. This will have many benefits to me and the readers.

I decided that this blog Quilting Lesson Online will now be called Quilting Weekly. It will be the official blog for all the news and goings on at Quilting Weekly, giving my members and other readers the inside track to what we is happening there.

1. Classes - Sharing sales and news about new classes
2. Teachers - Sharing news about new teachers, their classes, or websites and services
3. Chats - Our monthly live chats offer members and non member’s ways to interact. I will list all the information about our chats here so you can plan your month accordingly. At the end of these chats I try to do a summary, (because we offer 5 different chats in 5 times zones) so I will post those summaries here.
4. Notices of when our newsletters are posted on Quilting Weekly. (Sorry I won't post the newsletters here as this is a benefit to the members). If you want to read them you will need to register at Quilting Weekly 

As for the other blog, Online Quilting is where you will now find all my other quilting related articles.

1. This site will be full of resources - Including a links page. I have one set up for quilting related blogs, and one set up for quilting related websites.
2. Articles on quilting - Articles written by me or others will be found here. If it has to do with quilting I will find and write about as much as I can.
3. Tips - Quilting tips will be posted in articles, and I may even set up a page just for them over time.
4. Quilting news - If I find important news about quilting I will post them and any relative links.
5. Websites, videos, or other help I find on the web - I will continue to scour the web and bring you what I find.
6. Lessons - Yes on occasion I will post free tutorials or quilting lessons on this blog as well. 

In Conclusion

So you see, now that each blog has specific goals it will be much easier to keep them unique, allowing me to reach a more targeted audience.

As for the frequency of my posting, that is yet to be determined. Because there is so much useful information on this blog, I don't want to remove it just yet. I may decide to in the future. If and when I do, I will move it all over to Online Quilting. That way none of it will be lost for ever.

As always your comments, thoughts or suggestions are welcome. (That is why there is a comment section) Please don’t be shy about using it.

Blogging Burnout

Bogging burnout, it can happen! And it finally did for me.  As you can see I just haven't written anything for some time now.  Not because I don't enjoy sharing my quilting knowledge, great links and video finds with you, but simply because it was getting to be too much for me.

You see I have two blogs, a website and I belong to many online groups were I also do classes.  In addition to all this computer stuff I was trying to fit in sewing/quilting time and manage my personal life.  (Yeah I know stop complaining and get back to work right?) This is not uncommon as I know there are many of you who are doing the same right now.

Since my daughter moved back home (with financial troubles that I needed to help her sort out), my sister in-law and my sisters health issues I was getting overwhelmed and just had to cut something out.  That turned out to be blogging!

I am not trying to complain here as we all have things we deal with daily in our lives and find ways to manage.  I am merely trying to let you know that I will be back on track soon and wanted to apologize to all of my loyal readers for not giving you something new to read.

Blogging takes effort this is true, but if you are passionate about it, then it should come easy as long as you are not trying to over due it.  So instead of trying to post daily, try every other day, or maybe once or twice a week.  What ever schedule you set, try to stick with it. 

Here are couple of  insightful articles on Blogging Burnout.  If you suffer from this condition then you might benefit from reading these.  There are great tips on how to avoid the burnout factor and stay on track with your blogging.   

7 Ways to avoid blogging burnout

Preventing Blog Burnout from ProBlogger

For me personally, I need to take a slower pace.  So now I hope you can understand why it has been days since my last post and will be continuing to check back for my latest updates.  If you have any suggestions or thoughts about Blogging Burnout that you would like to share, please do so in my comments.

Learn how to start a blog

Who knew I was such an expert! LOL

I have been asked to teach a class on how to start a blog. This will be a beginners class, and will be covering many of the features here on Blogger. Since my first blog was done here and I am the most familiar with this service it seemed like the place to start. I will be doing a series of these, which will expand into other blogging sites and social networking which will help get your blog noticed if you want it to.

Here is how it started:

I recently joined a yahoo group called "Learningfa" which is a group dedicated to teaching quilting to its members. Members volunteer to teach various classes from traditional quilting to more advanced techniques like thread painting. Shirley the groups owner, is the one who does the thread painting workshops and they are fantastic!

Any way I joined to expand my knowledge and meet other teachers, or quilters. Well it wasn't long before Shirley asked me to teach. At first I thought about a quilting class, (which is my expertise) but after answering a few questions on blogging for a member or two, Shirley (clever girl that she is)suggested I be the blogging mistress, and teach a class on how to start or work with a blog. Me? I said Well if you know me, I can't say no to many people especially if I think I can be helpful in some way.

Funny, how wanting to help others has gotten me into so much fun or is that trouble?

My love of quilting has lead me to blogging. Since I started blogging, and teaching quilting more and more opportunities are popping up. Like teaching blogging to quilters!

Follow your dream, and see where you go. I now have a pretty successful online quilting classroom website, two blogs and more contacts, friends, and teaching opportunities then I could have ever imagined. {{feeling so happy}}

By the way if you want to take this class there are a few restrictions and requirements you need to follow.

1. You must be a quilter, or fiber artist to join the learningfa yahoo group. No exceptions
2. you must join the group first and read the guide lines about membership and follow the rules on taking classes.
3. If Shirley excepts you into her group, (and she decides)then you must sign up for the blogging 101 class following her rules, which are posted in the groups files
4. And this is the important one, I can only take 100 sign ups, and as of today, there were 52 already! The class was just announced a few days ago, so it won't take long to get that 100! Don't wait if you do the sign ups will close and who knows when we will run it again.

So are you a Quilter? Do you want to expand your knowledge on blogging? Don't wait go now and get in before the door closes. By the way this group is full of great quilting information even if you don't want to learn about blogging.

Working on a new blog

I just wanted to let you know that I am not neglecting you or this blog. I just wanted to explain why my postings have been a little slow lately.

The main reason is I am working on a new blog. Online Quilting I will maintain this one as well. I am just trying out the WordPress blog to see if I like the features and layouts better. They offer some nice features that Blogger does not.

Quilting Lessons Online was my first experience with blogging and I have learned so much over the past year. This blog has a lot to offer and I don't know that I want to loose the links, and my readers from here. So for now I will do my best to keep up both. If you what check out my new blog and give me your opinion by leaving a comment, it just may help me decide.

CuteWritting

CuteWritting

This is a blog, right? I know it is about quilting, but if your reading my blog, chances are you too have a blog out there somewhere. So I thought you might enjoy this website as it has loads of useful information on writing blogs, copyrights, plagiarism, grammer, SEO, and so much more. The list is far to long to post here. You really need to visit CuteWrittings

Here are are words that describe the blog: Creative Writing Tips / Creative Writing Help / Creative Writing Blog / Writing Tips and Help / Writing Help Blog.

Just read this, excerpt from her home page:

About CuteWriting
Dear Reader,

Welcome to CuteWriting. This blog is meant to help all those aspirant writers and bloggers on the most important aspect of their job: their writing. Writing is an art that has permeated our life in every way possible. Almost 80 per cent of the world population feel that they can be creative writers. If you belong to them, CuteWriting will help you achieve your dream--to be a successful writer or professional blogger.

All the topics covered can be found in the categories tab and the archives tab contains direct link to all posts. You can alternatively use the search engine to find the appropriate topic. If you need any writing-related help, feel free to contact me. I occasionally post some off-niche posts on Blogging, SEO, Link Building, Money Making, and Web Technologies as well.

Lenin Nair

I am the "featured blog of the day"

In the blog world we are all trying to get noticed right? Some of you may be writing for the sake of writing and don't really care if anyone else reads your blogs. But for the rest of the bloggers out there who want recognition for the work they are doing on their blogs getting noticed is very important.

Featured Blog of the Day, Me?

I just found out that my blog was posted as the "Featured Blog of The Day" on another blog known as MeMyselfAndJC I am very excited about this. As I am trying very hard to get the word out about my blog, and every time I see my blog featured on another blog.........well all I can say is THANK YOU! THANK YOU! And then I will write a post about your blog here as well, so that you can get some exposure for your site.

If you want to have me feature your blog here why not leave me a comment and tell me about your blog. Quilting related or not. If I feature you here, all I ask is you do the same, and post a link to my blog from your site. Let's get LET'S GET EXPOSED!

What is MeMyselfAndJC

This blog is dedicated to helping spread the word about your blog. That's right they are giving your free exposure. Here is how they do this. They feature 5 blogs a day, every day . It is simple, I know, but it can be effective. So there is an entire resource of information about other blogs on this one blog. Of course they have several interesting posts of their own, beyond just the featured blogs of the day. So why not have a look, who knows maybe you will be featured there one day too!

Why I blog

You see for me this blog serves two purposes. One is to help quilters find the resources they need to learn to quilt or to improve their quilting skills. So you will find many posts that have helpful tips, or links to other helpful websites. I share personal experiences and stories that I hope are informative and entertaining as well.

The second reason I blog is to advertise for my website Quilting Weekly. Quilting weekly is also dedicated to helping your learn quilting and improve your quilting skills. I am doing this through online classes, weekly discussions in our forum, monthly newsletters, and weekly quilting tips which are sent by e-mail. All of these are totally free (with the exception of the classes)We have a chat box on the site you can use to keep in touch with your quilting friends, and so much more. This site is more than a classroom website, it is a quilting community that spans the world.

Scrappy and happy in Ohio~: Happy & Scrappy Quilt

Come see what I found on this lovely blog. This lady really knows how to make you feel welcome!

This is my latest class that I am teaching at Quilting Weekly, and to my surprise my title and her blog title are similar. We were meant to find each other. All this took was posting a comment on her blog. If you visit blogs, and see something worth commenting on, go ahead and do it. You just never know where it will lead. I now have a friend in the blog world that I may never have found without placing my comment there. She really made my day!

Scrappy and happy in Ohio~: Happy & Scrappy Quilt

What makes you subscribe to a blog?

Why I started this blog
I started this blog, as a way to reach out to more quilters in the world. I have a strong desire, and I feel truly passionate about quilting, and teaching quilting. And I want to reach as many quilters as possible so that I can share my knowledge with them.

In discovering my passion, I joined forces with two lovely people who happen to reside in Australia I however live in the USA, to create our online classroom website. So of course you will see references to my website all over this page. It only makes sense to self promote while I am here.
Not required to do anything at all!
As a subscriber to my blog, you are not required to click any of the links that lead you to my classroom website. I won't even know if you did or not. You can stay and read all the other little bits of information that I provide here absolutely free! No requirements to ever visit there. Ok enough with the self promoting, I don't want to loose you just yet!

Please tell me why?
As a blogger, my only real goal is to gain readers. As a new blogger, I am unsure of how to gain your trust enough that you will subscribe. So indulge me here and comment on this post and let me know a few things.

What makes you subscribe to a blog?

Do you use a feed reader, or just bookmarking of a site?

What are your favorite blogs and why?

I would love to know. All those who reply to this post will be put into a drawing for for a free fat quarter. For every 5 responses I will draw one name! So you have a 1-5 chance of winning!

I must limit this to responses from today (02-12-08 through 02-29-08)

One response per person, and only one fat quarter will be sent per address.

Winners will be contacted by e-mail (so please provide one in your response)I will not sell or misuse your e-mail or personal address in any way, I can assure you of that.

Winners will be posted (03-01-08)