Timing (or ‘life’) often plays in our decisions. When I received this guest post invitation (Thank You Michele!), I happened to be converting my storage system for my fabric stash & offering Stash-busting pattern ideas as my free Block of the Month on my site Victoriana Quilt Designs.

Collecting fabric for a stash and interest in how to store it are two things I know we have in common, so that made it a good topic for me to write about.

Converting my collection of fabric involves moving them into clear stackable plastic containers from many cardboard boxes.

Though I’ve always stored my fabrics by general colours (green, blue, etc.) and upcoming designs I’m collecting for, I also took this opportunity to sort the colours further into common like ‘families’ of fabrics (moss green, dark green, light greens, green-blue, etc.), which makes it even easier to find the fabrics I need.

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My journey, from quiltmaking to writing novels about quilters, started at the library. I’ve always been a voracious reader, so it was a natural place for me to learn about quilting.

Twenty-five years ago, I checked out a book on quilt making. There were few quilting books being printed back then, and only one or two in my library. The big innovation in this book was the idea of chain piecing, just pushing one set of blocks under the presser foot without cutting the thread. What a timesaver!

The instructions were for a rail fence quilt that was cut out by hand, using a pen to mark off rectangles and scissors to cut them out. My bloodstains can still be seen where I nicked myself as I worked. A twin size quilt took me three nights to cut out. Is it any wonder I didn’t quilt again for five years?

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Author to Turkish Delights to Appliqué, Bended Bias Appliqué and Quilted Fairie Tales.

Thanks Michele for having me as Guest Blogger this month, it’s such an honor, and a warm welcome to all the bloggers out there for taking the time to read about a slightly compulsive little girl turned professional quilter by chance!

As a little one, my parents needed to keep me busy. I wanted to know everything. Why can’t fish walk? Why can’t we have pizza every day? Why can’t I have my own pair of scissors like mom and Nona (Italian for grandmother) have?

I am a first generation American, my dad is from Northern Germany and my mom’s heritage is Northern Italian. Luckily, my Italian Nona lived with my family and I received some of the best projects to do from her. I was given those scissors I so dearly wanted at age 4, along with floss, needles and fabric marked with those big X’s on them to embroider. Remember those pillow cases and hand towels? I breezed through the embroidery and weaved little crooked potholders everyone got for Christmas. Next I was taught knitting and crocheting and anything else that required occupying my time. I was eager to learn!

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Hello everyone, my name is Jackie Kunkel and I have been quilting for about 17 years and really love every aspect of it. From the fabric shopping right down to the binding! I started because my husband encouraged me to get a hobby.

The first class I took, I was a little put off. The teacher made us use cardboard templates and scissors, yet I knew that there was this new invention called a rotary cutter! She wouldn’t allow us to use it, she was very old school. So I ended up taking another class. I was able to use the rotary cutter and loved every second of making my first quilt. It was a Quilt in A Day pattern, called Star Log Cabin. I gave my first quilt away to a dear friend. She now has it and continues to use it to this day.

Well, quickly my “hobby” became a passion. I was quilting everyday, and just couldn’t get enough. I missed it when I wasn’t quilting. I then came home one day and said to my hubby, guess what we are buying??? A long arm quilting machine!! He said, “What is that and what will you do with it?” I told him he was silly, and that people would love to have their quilts quilted faster than they could get them done and spend more time piecing. He thought I wouldn’t have enough business, because his sister and I were the only quilters he knew. Silly again!

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When Michele first asked me to be a Guest Blogger on Quilting Gallery, I was extremely flattered .. then nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs .. EGADS!!! ME?!?!?!?!? I’m not anyone famous, just a person that loves to quilt, blog, learn new things, and knit. Okay, I thought about it and needless to say, I agreed as here I am. I wasn’t too sure what to say, but my quilting journey and it’s beginnings was suggested by Michele .. Okay – I can do that ….

My journey started in 1995 after my son was born. I was in Joann’s looking for some fabric or yarn to make something for my son. He was long as a baby and while it’s cute for a belly to peek out from under a shirt, it’s not something you always want to see .. so I made his clothes, and knitted his sweaters, jackets etc. While going through Joann’s I happened to see a BOM packet that had blues for fabrics and a star!! Oh did I like that star .. I looked at the price, and while I can’t remember exactly what it was, I’m thinking $4.99 or something like that .. I thought why not … for $5, if I don’t like it, I can scrap it and that’ll be that. It seemed like a good price for something new to learn and maybe like.

Oh geeze o pete .. how I remember that well!! I can’t remember what block it was – but I do remember my ‘journey’ with it! I read the instructions on a ¼″ seam and pressing to one side. So after reading that i was confident that I could do this. Now this block “might” have inset seams as well. I truly can’t remember. Templates and inset seams for someone that had never quilted a day in her life .. what was I thinking????

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Quilting is so personal to me. From the reason why I started quilting to the reason I quilt today, quilting is personal. In my 15 years of being the editor of Better Homes and Gardens American Patchwork & Quilting magazine, I heard lots of reasons why people started quilting and why they continue. For me, it’s personal.

My maternal grandmother Maurine Moore taught me to quilt. I was a young girl participating in 4-H and wanting to learn all about the crafts. I mostly did cross-stitch and quilting, but my 4-H club shared other crafts as well. Grandma Moore was a teacher for 45 years, so she had lots of patience. She showed me how to pull threads to cut the fabric straight. She showed me how to mark my 1/4 seams with a guide for easy hand-piecing. She looked over my shoulder as I hand-stitched the pieces together with very tiny stitches.

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