One question that Beth and I get asked a lot is how did you get started sewing? While we may not have an exact date, we do have some memories to share.

Our Grandma Sara was our father’s mother. She was always sewing (or canning!) for us or some of the other grandchildren. There was 14 of us after all. One Christmas I remember her making matching pj’s for my 2 cousins and Beth and I and our dolls. They were pink flannel gowns with pretty eyelet trim. We sure were cute!

Her greatest love was quilting. And this of course was in the days before rotary cutters, so each square was cut by hand using a cardboard square that you first traced around. She kept them simple using the 9 patch method for the most part. Some of them were just random blocks placed next to each other in rows, making no pattern at all.

The first quilt I remember of hers was on the queen-sized bed Bethany and I shared. It was just rows of colorful cotton fabric and was edged with a pink ruffle. Grandma used scraps and we would look for the square that matched a dress we had or an apron she had made. When this quilt started to become threadbare, mom had pieces of it framed for all of us.

Later she made us matching quilts for the twin beds we had as teenagers. It was a four patch pattern out of red gingham and white squares. I still have mine and my girls use it on their bed. I love how we have been able to use these for multiple generations.

So to answer the question of starting, I think we just grew up being surrounded by the love of it and seeing how it provided for our family. We also loved to pick out the fabric and the patterns for the dresses she made us. And eventually, we would start to make our own quilts and our own dresses. Now two of our daughters Katie and Emily have tried their hand at making quilts too.