In kindergarten, my teacher showed my mother my finger painting pictures and emphasized how advanced I was in comparison to other children my age. Not because I was a better artist but because of my imagination. I would draw more than a house. My house would have curtains in the windows and a cat on the window sill, or instead of stick figures my people had clothes on complete with shoes, and eyelashes - this was in kindergarten.
Granted, today's kindergartners are even more advanced, but in the late fifties and early sixties, this was considered creative. (lol - my how times have changed.)
I also learned to sew around the age of seven from my grandmother. By the age of twelve, I was buying fabric with my babysitting money and making my own clothes. I wish I had photographs, but they were all destroyed in a tornado a few years ago. ☹
Combining my love for color, art, and sewing, I was lead right into quilting. My grandmother made quilts and I think that was my first exposure to quilts as an art form. Through quilting, I found a creative outlet that allows me to use all the media I love - even paint and ink!
In the 70s, teenage girls were not into quilting - except me. While I was into other things, too, such as football, football players, dances, hanging out with my friends, dating, etc., I was a 'closet quilter'. I kept that part of my life to myself.
While I learned the basics of quilt making from my grandmother, in the 80s, a lady named Georgia Bonesteel opened my eyes to the numerous creative possibilities. She introduced and was most famous for 'lap quilting'. Lap quilting was an innovative process that allowed a quilter to take her quilt work with her everywhere without dragging a huge quilt with her. In lap quilting, smaller sections of a larger quilt are pieced, basted, and quilted completely and then joined together at the end to form a completed large quilt. Every stitch, except the joining stitches were completed before they were joined.
Quilting has been a major creative outlet for me for over forty years. I love it as much today as I did when I started. The quilting industry has changed and grown so much since the 70s and 80s. It's become a huge money making industry and a respected art form.
In the future, I will share some of my quilts, quilt trips, quilt tips, and my quilt journey with you. I hope you have a hobby you love to do. If not, why not try quilting? Anyone can do it and your imagination is the only limit.
Do you have a hobby that you enjoy? Are you passionate about your hobby? If you don't have a hobby, are you interested in finding one? Do you realize the mental and emotional benefits of a good, enjoyable hobby? How has your hobby, if you have one, helped you?
XOXO