I have indeed Mel! Id love a website of our tales and pics.. and
quilts..favorite recipes. It would seem to be a huge undertaking tho...a
book would be interesting too!
Thank you for sharing your story as well. I think you got the last laugh on
your sister! Most of you dont know but Mel surprised my new grandson with a
most beautiful totally hand done GFG quilt. It was amazing! Mel, may I post
a picture of it?
Diana

--
http://photos.yahoo.com/lunamom44
"Mel Rimmer" wrote in message
...
What a great idea, Diana! I hope you've enjoyed all the stories posted
so far as much as I have. It gave me an idea - we could write a book. Do
you think other quilters would be interested in reading this kind of
stuff, or is it just interesting to me because I know all these lovely
people and I like to get a clearer mental picture of who they all are
and what is their background? Maybe a book with some of these stories in
one chapter with photos of some of the people and their first quilts,
another chapter about squishies and hugs, with pictures of some of the
hug quilts if we can, another chapter about quilts we have made with
interesting stories and maybe recipes for how to make some of the
quilts. Anything else? What should be in a book about this group and our
quilts that would be interesting for other quilters to read?

Before anyone panics - I haven't started writing this, it's just an
idea! If it ever happens (and it may not - most of my wonderful plans
never see the light of day) I would never mention anyone's name or
handle or anything about them unless I had obtained clear permission
from them directly.

So here's my story - My mother taught me English Paper Piecing when I
was a child, and I still have some patchwork items she made using that
method. I never knew there was another way to make patchwork until a
couple of years ago. I couldn't sit still in the evenings because I was
hyper after chasing my three young kids around all day. I developed a
terrible "The Sims" habit, which wasn't exactly productive! I wanted a
hobby that I could do whilst sitting next to my DH in the evening with
the TV on. I considered knitting and crochet, but I settled on quilting
instead. I bought a couple of books from my local craft shop and told my
sister "I have a new hobby, quilting" She asked me "Great - what are you
making" and I had to say "Oh nothing, I've just bought a couple of
books". She laughed at me so much I went straight back out and bought
all the fabric and notions for my first quilt (which still isn't quite
finished, BTW - just waiting for a pieced border I got sick of doing
half way through).

I found this group because one of the first things I did when I took up
quilting was to search for a usenet group about it. I have been using
the internet since before the world-wide-web was invented, and Usenet
has been my home for a long time. But I have never come across a group
quite like this one. In particular, the constant flow of squishies,
block swaps, "hugs", round robins, BOMs and all the rest of it means I
have come into contact with many members in a much more direct way than
is usual for a newsgroup.

I now have more UFOs than I have finished quilts. I don't think I've
ever used the same technique twice, so even after a couple of years I
always feel like a rank beginner. I have so many ideas for quilts I
would like to make, I wish I could just quilt all day long. Instead I
have to chase after my small family all day long and quilt in the
evenings, however exhausted I feel. Like Merry, I love the whole hippy,
barefoot, self-sufficiency, pioneer thing about quilting. It makes me
feel connected with women all over the world and all the way through
time to be engaging in the same craft as them. As well as that, I just
love quilts. I love looking at beautiful quilts, even if I have no plan
to make a similar one myself. I think quilts are beautiful and
fascinating and looking at them feeds my soul in exactly the same way as
a great painting or sculpture or symphony. And the final thing I get out
of quilting is sisterhood with all my lovely friends I have made through
this list.
--
Mel Rimmer