My First Quilt Was Inspired By A Display of Mountain Mist Contest Quilts at JoAnn's

In the winter of 1992 I had less than successful wrist surgery and found that I had to give up working on my beloved needlepoint and counted cross-stitch because gripping a needle had become too painful. I wandered into a JoAnn store one day thinking to buy a glue gun and something frou-frou so I could learn some kind of new hobby that involved color and ribbons or something ......

Up on the wall there were small square quilts made with big bold shapes and funky fabrics, nothing like the bed quilts my mother and grandmother had made. These were small quilts with golfing themes and football fabrics and Mickey Mouse and when I went over for a closer look I realized that these quilts were made on the sewing machine!!! My mouth dropped open and I stood there staring up at these small "quiltlets" on display for a Mountain Mist contest and had what can only be called a "light bulb" moment. I could make quilts on a sewing machine!!! I didn't have to hand piece and hand quilt like my mom and grandma!!! I wandered around with a shopping cart and found the section of the store with "Quilting Supplies" ..... and wandered out about two hours later with a rotary cutter, a short acrylic ruler, a small cutting mat, one book ("Strip Quilting Made Easy" or some such title) and four pieces of cheap fabric from the bargain rack at the back of the store. I didn't want to invest too much money in fabric in case making quilts on the sewing machine was boring ........

I shudder to think how much money I have spent on "Quilting Supplies" since that day fourteen years ago but I certainly have had a great deal of joy from this hobby .... and I have yet to buy any Mountain Mist batting. LOL