Tote bag handmade with cotton fabric in spring colors

About sewkraftysisters

We are sisters in our 60's who retired six years ago. We were accustomed to being busy and found that we do not do well with idle time. We began searching for hobbies that would fill our time. We found that we both enjoy doing things that provided us with a creative outlet as well as producing beautiful items for our homes. We also realized that we enjoy each others company and love to spend the day together involved in our hobbies. The adventure started with Sarah. Here is her story. Many years after my grandmother passed away, I found a bag containing over 50 quilt blocks that she made from scraps of her grandchildren's dresses in the 1950's. I wanted to create something from these quilt squares to honor her legacy. It wasn't until I retired from a career in banking six years ago than I finally had time to learn to quilt. After taking several quilt classes, I found that I wanted to learn every technique that I could and got so involved in the process that I converted my basement to a quilting studio which includes three domestic sewing machines and a long arm quilting machine. After filling my home with various quilted items and fulfilling numerous requests from family and friends, I decided to add smaller items such as purses, totes, and kitchen accessories to my selection and then offer these items on Etsy. One of the earlier quilts I made was for my sister Kaye, so I took her with me to the quilt shop to choose her fabric. Here is her story. I retired from teaching about the same time Sarah retired. I had started knitting and gardening for my retirement hobbies. She had taken me on several fabric shopping and quilt show excursions but I insisted that I was not going to learn to quilt even though I had started sewing in high school and had been a professional sewing machine operator before returning to school to become an educator. But it wasn't long before I was hooked into making many small objects such as purses and table runners because I couldn't resist the beautiful fabrics. I still insisted that I was not going to quilt. But then my daughter asked Sarah to make her a large queen size quilt. I decided to help Sarah with it since it was for my daughter. And that is all it took. Not only was I hooked on the choosing of beautiful fabric, the process of turning that fabric into a lovely quilt turned me into a quilter who enjoys working on both large and small projects. Now I cannot get enough time in my sewing area and spend several days a month with Sarah in her sewing studio! View all posts by sewkraftysisters