What got me started

Cactus Blaze

My Mum started patchworking when she was around the age I am now. She'd always been great at needlework, mostly embroidery and dressmaking, but she did knit and crochet some as well. She made all my dresses when I was small, and a lot of her own clothes as well. I never actually asked her what got her started on patchworking, but she started in around 1987, and made quilts for a friend's twin daughters. And she went on making quilts and cushions and wallhangings and... until she finally had to stop because her cancer prevented her from sitting at her sewing table.

She died in July 2003. She left a number of projects unfinished, including a series of appliqué blocks from a pattern called "Thru Grandmother's Window". It was a block-a-month series by Piece o' Cake Designs. She finished 10 of the blocks. Rather than having the blocks made up into a quilt, which was her original plan, we decided to share them between us, so my stepdad, my 2 brothers and I each have two blocks, and my aunt and uncle, Mum's sister and brother, have one each. Aaaaanyway, in a fit of I don't know what, I boldly, rashly, declared that I would make the blocks up into wall hangings or cushions - whatever was required...

And then Mum's good friend, to whom she'd actually left all her quilting stuff, and I sorted through Mum's stash. And Mandy kept thrusting things at me, saying "oh, this is easy, you can finish this..."

I'd vaguely sort of toyed with the idea of taking up patchworking, but never really seriously. And suddenly, I had this rash promise, and a small stash of fabrics and a couple of unfinished projects...

So when I saw a Beginner's Patchwork and Quilting course advertised in the local evening class association, I figured it was about time I started doing something.

And now I'm hooked. ;)