For as long as I can remember, I have loved quilts. My grandmother was a quilter, and we always had wonderful quilts to sleep under when I was growing up. Having no central heat, it would sometimes take three quilts to be cozy and warm through the night. When I was a young newlywed, I went to Canton First Monday Trade Days and came home with a rich silk and cotton quilt that I proudly displayed on the wall. From that point, I became a passionate collector of beautiful antique quilts. I couldn't even begin to say how many quilts I bought and sold over the course of about fifteen years. One day, not long after I began teaching school, a new passion overtook me. Friends at school, most notably Vickie Vetrano, taught me about the modern art of quiltmaking. I say modern because of the new tools that were available that my grandmother never had. The rotary cutter improved the process of quiltmaking immeasurably, in my opinion. I had dabbled in "old fashioned" quiltmaking several years earlier. Let me just say, it was not my cup of tea! With this new whiz bang rotary cutter and a new appreciation for machine quilting, I was more than interested in taking this craft up as my favorite pasttime. I was permanently hooked! This is a partial picture of the quilt that hangs in my living room. It was designed by Blackbird Designs and called When the Cold Wind Blows. It reminds me of an antique quilt I would have bought in that other life. It was the first time I used the turned edge applique method called heirloom by machine. It has nine blocks, although you can only see six in this picture.
