Love of Quilting

I am beginning my new journey and I hope all that read this come along with me!!

My name is Jill Churchill, I have been quilting for 23 years.  My story begins with my mom telling me that she and my aunt were taking a quilt class.  I naturally said...."I want to make a quilt"  Being that they lived in Pittsburgh, PA and I live in Erie, this was a slight problem.  So my mom said, get a book and go to Joann's and get some fabric.  Well I did just that.  I took a friend, Carm, with me.  Being part Irish, I bought Eleanor Burns Triple Irish Chain and headed straight for the greens.  Carm kept trying to get me to buy colors that had prints on them, but I kept resisting, I couldn't bring myself to trying "those" prints.  It had to be solid or solid like small prints!!  Although she tried her best, she could not talk me out of my choices. 

So here is is.....I still love this quilt - and my fabric choices!!  I hand quilted this quilt.  Only on the diagonal of the light green blocks and in the ditch of the borders.  I am happy to annouce tho, over the years, I got "brave" and hardly ever use solids and am not afraid to use any prints, stripes, colors, etc...  I have also gotten away from hand quilting.  Not that that is a good thing, just discovered the art of machine quilting.

As I was proof reading what I had written so far, I remembered that I actually made a quilt when I was a small child, maybe 6 or 7.  It was brown and navy blue wool squares.  Probably from old clothing.  I sewed them together on my mom's treadle sewing machine.  She still has the treadle, but it hasn't been used in years.  Someday, I may have to try to make another quilt on it.

So how long have you been quilting and what was your first quilt??