Sew Thinky Thursday - My Stress Relief

Mommy's Nap Time has started Sew Thinky Thursday linky party where she will give a though provoking question every Thursday. For the first week, her question is:

 "When did you start sewing? Tell us a bit about your sewing history. When did you realize you were really hooked?"

 I made a few pillows in elementary school. Hand sewing them. My mother bought me a sewing machine as a present after my husband and I were married. Sadly the machine was never taken out of the box and just collected dust. I never took home economics in school. Now I wish I had. It wasn't until my husband's first deployment to Iraq that I took my sewing machine out of the box and made my first thing...a goose dress. Silly I know, but I still have that goose outside with outfits even now, 6 years later. Though I haven't made any since then.

I had always been intrigued by quilts. My mother has several her and my grandmother made. Sadly though my grandmother suffered a stroke leaving her left side paralyzed when I was very young, so she was never able to teach me to quilt. She reused several things to make her quilts and few were done by machine. Sadly, my mother stopped making quilts, though she made several dresses for us when we were young and she made my prom dress. So flash forward many years, I got the quilting itch. I had no experience with a sewing machine, knowledge of quilting, or what I needed. I grabbed a magazine off the rack at the PX, picked a pattern (baby blanket), and ordered some cute fabric online (a fabric panel and backing). I taught myself how to use my sewing machine, instruction book in hand, by making the goose dresses. Thankfully I still had all my fingers and there was no flying broken needles in the eye accidents. By the time my fabric arrived in the mail, I was more comfortable with my new sewing "skills". I also had time to research what basics I needed for quilting and purchased them. I was so intimidated with quilting and thought it was going to be this really hard thing to do, but I was pleasantly surprised that it is pretty easy. 

A few years later, after several learning attempts at making pieced blocks, I made a pieced quilt for a friend of mine when she had her son.

During my first experiences with sewing and quilting that I found it was/is a very relaxing hobby for me. It kept me company during my sleepless nights while my husband has been deployed or when we have been away from family at a different post. Quilting to me is a way that I can share a bit of my grandmother many years after her death. It is a way that I can wrap the people in my life with love and caring. I hope to pass this on to my children and teach my boys that it's not just a "girl's" activity. A way to piece generations together.

I think I've caught the sewing bug. I've made several quilts, bags, pin cushions, dresses and toys for my kiddos. Now I'm currently working on pillow covers.

Happy Stitching!

Amanda