Learning to sew was special. My mom sewed everything and was the reason I fell in love with sewing. My three sisters and I always had those special matching dresses for the important holidays, Easter in particular. And then there was the plane ride when was 8 or so. We matched then too. In my mother’s defense, I think it was easier for her to stick to one pattern/fabric and also to keep track of us when we were all dressed the same. My brother got to wear his own special store-bought clothes for these occasions. He was the youngest, so he always got the good stuff! The five of us were quite the group.

While I knew what a quilt was (Sunbonnet Sue graced my bed at age 5), I didn’t really know what “quilting” was until the early ’80s. In 1983, a friend from work asked me to take a class with her at a quilt shop down the street from her house. I said yes, and that was that. I loved it. Templates and hand piecing. The class was at Glad Creations Quilt Shop in Minneapolis.

My hand pieced quilt is pictured below, note the safety pins still intact – I can testify that brass pins leave no marks, these have been in place since 1983. I’m not ashamed to say that this quilt is not finished and it actually hung on the wall in my living room for a while back in the day. Not one person noticed the pins. 

The next class  I took at Glads involved a newish tool called a rotary cutter. That sealed the deal, the rest is history! What’s your sewing story?

Wait, there’s more!

Something special is coming up after the Holidays… sign up for the Frosty Friends list for more information. It involves Snowmen, a new pattern (with presale) and a sew along!

What do you collect?  I don’t really consider myself a collector, at least I didn’t until I started cleaning organizing my sewing stuff. Not only do I collect rulers, gadgets, notions of all kinds and of course fabric… I have a bunch of sewing machines! I used to trade them in when I upgraded but somewhere along the line, I stopped doing that. You know, just in case…?

I still have the Singer 301 that I learned to sew on. It was my mom’s machine, a wedding gift to her from her parents in 1954. My first machine was a Kenmore zig zag that my parents gave me when I graduated from High School in 1976 – I wish I still had that one! Then came an Elna Carina (college graduation) which I traded for a Viking 500 (which I was sure would be my last nice sewing machine in 1994 just before the birth of my youngest son),  then a Bernina dealer opened nearby. Add that to the list – it’s going to my daughter soon!

My favorite machines have turned out to be by Janome. I think in part because I had such a great local sewing machine guy (Curt Kingsley, now retired). I started out with the 4800QC, moved to a 6500, then 6600. I now have a Skyline S7, 1600P, and a great little travel machine, the 3160, which has a thread cutter! A little obsessive maybe. But I have loved each one of these machines and sewn the daylights out of them. I kept the Bernina, Viking 500 and also have an Elna Lotus that I really should show some love to.

I think of all the features that these machines have and the thing that I can’t live without is that silly automatic thread cutter!

What’s on your sewing table and why do you love it (them)?