Today is Mother’s Day throughout most of the northern hemisphere, so it seemed fitting to feature moms for today’s Q.S.O.S. Spotlight post. There are plenty of mentions of mothers throughout the Q.S.O.S interviews, but I noticed that many of them were about mamas, mothers and moms teaching their sons and daughters about sewing, quilting, crafting and creating. Today, we’ve compiled a few quotes from Q.S.O.S. interviews about what our mothers taught us:

“My mother taught me many things about sewing, quilting and she made most of my clothing and I did as I grew up, made my own clothing. So I’ve always been sewing in one respect and I miss her dearly for not being able to share with her what I am doing now because when she was alive whenever we made anything regardless of what it was it was never done until we shared it with each other and had show and tell.” – Shirley Fuller

“My mother taught me to sew, embroider and knit. She made shoes, clothing, household  linens, drapes and bedding. She was a plumber, carpenter, furniture maker, upholsterer, interior decorator, jeweler, gourmet cook and Girl Scout troop leader. If something needed to be made or fixed, she learned how to do it. Mom passed away in 2005. She was and continues to be a role model for me. She taught me that all things are possible.” –Marjorie Lee Jin En DeQuincy

“My mother started me when I was just a little girl. She had this old pedal sewing machine and she would take feed sacks and our old clothes we wore out and she would make strips and blocks and stuff and she would sew them together and she would sit me on her lap and let me put the material under the sewing machine while she was pedaling it because I couldn’t reach the pedals and she taught me the love of quiltmaking. We had to do it for warmth, which they didn’t have much money to buy materials and stuff at that time to make these beautiful quilts like now but they were beautiful then but I guess back then they, people cherished them more because they had to make them for warmth for their beds for their children. And my mother taught me how to sew and I’ve never forgotten that and I appreciate everything she did. She always let me help do anything I wanted to do, cook or whatever. She would sit me up in a chair and let me make biscuits and what I do today, I learned from my mother.” –  Roberta Bartley

“…I like to do fine detail work. That I think I inherited from my mother, who taught me how to sew and she taught me step by step, very carefully and she loved to do finish work. She did all kinds of little handwork and detail work. I think somehow that rubbed off on me. So when I do all this fine-hand quilting, I think of my mother. I’m very grateful she taught me how to sew.” –Khristine LaChance

You can read more quilt stories on the Quilters’ S.O.S.- Save Our Stories page on the Quilt Alliance website.

Posted by Emma Parker
Project Manager, Quilters’ S.O.S.- Save Our Stories
qsos@quiltalliance.org