It Started With a Book

Even growing up with the familiarity of Grandma C.'s quilting, I didn't really do much with it for a long time. I dabbled on a little quilt square that was Grandma W.'s, I stitched a bit on a quilt Mom had in the frame, and that was about it for my younger years. I was busy with other stuff - school, horses, music. But as time has gone on, I've enjoyed including this beautiful craft in my life more and more. BOOKS have helped me a lot, and are so enjoyable to read and look through. Here are four main ones that I enjoy in my "library."


A couple of years after I was graduated from college, I moved back to that town and spent a year living and working there. A friend was expecting a baby, so I got a bright idea to make a child-sized quilt for her during my spare time. Since I was interested in old-fashioned things, I had picked up a book at a bookstore sometime before this, and had it on hand. It inspired me.


Quilts Among the Plain People, by Rachel T. Pellman and Joanne Ranck. This includes information on the Amish and Mennonite "plain" people, quilts, and scenes from everyday life that may suggest ideas for the quilt patterns.



So at this time in the late '80's, I made a colorful "Irish Chain" for my friend's baby. This was my first complete quilt to make, so it sure wasn't "perfect," but turned out alright. I learned a lot.


The interest in Amish and Mennonite peoples has stuck with me through the years since. At one point after that first book, sometime after I was married, I ordered this one, and it likewise has both quilt patterns, photos of quilts and the plain people, and information on how they live.


How to Make an Amish Quilt, by Rachel and Kenneth Pellman.



I took quite a long break from doing much quilting while I had two babies and we moved a good bit. I just lost interest somehow. But I did make a thing or two at various times, a baby quilt for my first baby, and a quilted coverlet for our bed.


Then ... here in these last few years, I've returned with a vengeance to quilting. I think I had to let it set in the back of my brain for awhile, and figure out just what I wanted to do for projects, and what I liked for designs and materials. Every person's quilting reflects them. So I guess I had to figure out what reflected "me." Now I know! Along with the Amish-Mennonite influence, I also have an interest in things from the depression era - the '20's and '30's. My mother grew up in western Kansas during the "Dirty '30's," right in the thick of it, and I have a deep love of those fabrics and patterns from that time. I love feed-sack prints! So recently, I found this in the nearby quilt store, and made it mine. I really, really enjoy it! It's got projects in it besides quilts, too, which is a lot of fun.


Egg Money Quilts, by Eleanor Burns.




Then awhile back I was in Tractor Supply (of all places) one day, and saw this on display. At the time, I was kind of scatter-brained in my life, and I just got it for the story-letters written by the women about living in the country, and just liked seeing the blocks. It didn't register with me at the time to actually do anything with this.


The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt, by Laurie Aaron Hird



But, enjoying blogs like I do, I got to seeing lots and lots of gals making these blocks in "quilt-alongs." Though I can't keep a schedule like that, I decided to jump in and start making some of my own. I chose just part of the block patterns, reflecting on my grandparents' time era, and their lives either farming or homesteading. I'm having a blast!


So, being the bookworm that I am, I really enjoy having these books on hand for enjoyment and inspiration.