Quilting Diane

When asked, most people would tell you that they learned from their mother how to sew. Myself, I learned from my father, well sort of! Dad worked for the Singer Company for most of his life. He was the manager for their Abington Pa. store for many years. During those years, I used to go to work with him every Saturday when they held their sewing classes. That’s where I got my basic sewing skills in 1967. I think I was around ten years old . Every day that I went to class we would go to Woolworth’s for lunch since it was in the same shopping center. I'd always get tuna for lunch and that made dad nuts.

I sewed a bit while my kids were young, making their clothes, curtains, and Barbie doll clothes…

I made a quilt top while I was in my late 20’s. My x-husband’s mother & grandmother helped me to hand quilt it. It was a trip around the world pattern, hand pieced with 3” blocks. Quilting was the grandmother’s favorite past time. I gave the quilt to my cousin & his new wife as a wedding gift. When they split up a few years later, they fought over who was going to get the quilt. My cousin’s mother just reminded me (again) about how they fought over that quilt, and not the very expensive furniture she had bought for them.

In 1999, I had to make a few squares as part of a project for a bird related charity. I had so much fun doing it that I bought a sewing machine. Of course the machine is a Singer otherwise, Dad would have rolled in his grave knowing that I bought another brand. With the sole intention of learning how to make parrot quilts, I took some paper out of the printer & grabbed a few pencils & markers & got busy! I had to create each parrot pattern myself, as there was no such thing on the market. The good thing for me was that I was always a bit on the crafty side & can draw a bit. I worked my whole life in bakeries as a cake decorator, so I was good with colors.

My first few were a bit shaky, as I had no clue about squaring things up & the technical end of assembling a quilt top. At that time, I was sending them out to a professional Quilter that I had found on Ebay. With each quilt, my squares improved. I was constantly changing and/or upgrading my box of pinned together patterns. Even to this day, I am still looking to change or improve things.

Last Christmas, my daughter bought me a new sewing machine to use for quilting, so now I spend a lot of time practicing and it gives me the opportunity to do it myself while saving the expense on sending it out.

I have a flock of greys that keep my company as I sew. Only one has been here since he was a baby, the other 8 were all adopted. I also have a pair of Senegal parrots, a Red Belly parrot as well as one very old Yellow Nape Amazon who is in his late 60’s who outlived his one and only owner. His name is Parrot (I know it is original!). It is the only name he knew when I got him at the age of forty plus. I saw no sense in taking away the only thing he knew after loosing the one woman in the world that he loved.

With all of that said (whew!) enjoy the pictures and feel free to ask any questions. Sorry, I do not sell patterns!!! One woman I sold a few left a very sour taste in my mouth.

Diane McKinney at quiltingdiane@yahoo.com

Diane McKinney at quiltingdiane@yahoo.com

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Quilting Parrots