Quilts have been part of the American way since the days of the pioneers. What started off as an exercise in necessity and enforced frugality has grown to a complex and extensive art.
Early Quilts were merely scraps of material from discarded clothing or blankets, sewn together to offer protection against the biting cold of the uncharted Midwest. With settlement and prosperity, this grew to a community activity, where women shared their loves, lives, and hopes in Quilting Bees.
The availability of cotton and cheap power loom fabrics after Industrialization gave a fillip to the Art, inspiring creativity.
Today Quilting is a popular hobby and Art enjoyed by many. It retains the early charm of utilizing scraps and now offers more, including historically and culturally significant patterns and specialized tools.
having been to your quilting class for beginners, I can vouch for the absolute thrill of actually making something attractive with thread and needle! All the time I was a kid, I absolutely dreaded anything to do with stitching.
Just wanted to tell you that the attractive geometric patterns you taught in your quilting class can very successfully be transferred to paper and made into interesting quilt-collages.