Becky Cochran

My name is Becky Cochran and I'm originally from Illinois in the USA, for the past twenty plus years though, North Carolina.  I do not deserve to be honored amongst such prolific and talented quilters as I am just a beginner.

Back in the days on a farm in rural Southern Illinois, with no air conditioning, no television and certainly no internet, my grandparents spent their evenings quilting.  She would piece and he would press.  As my Grandmother battled breast cancer my Grandfather helped her complete twelve quilts, one for each grandchild.  Those quilts were made of scraps of double knit, old blankets for batting and sheets for backing.  My Grandparents did not teach me to quilt, they gave me their love IN a quilt and that was my inspiration and continues to be my passion today.

I make quilts for the people I love as my way of doing as my Grandparents did.  I began fifteen years ago with a small lap quilt for my daughter.  I had no pattern, no book, no sewing machine and certainly no fancy notions.  All I had was needle, scissors  and thread and a packet of four inch squares purchased from a new Laura Ashley store.  The colors were so pretty, I bought three packets, one for each daughter.  I cut the squares up and made up, or so I thought, the combinations to sew them back together.  I worked so hard on the first quilt, entirely by hand.  The remaining pieces became just blocks where I practiced my hand stitching.  A couple of those are now framed over my guest room bed and the small quilt is on a bedside table in my daughters guest room.  I remember my husband coming home from the University as I sewed the last stitches into the binding and I waved him away as I was determined to finish.....he left me chuckling to himself.  That was 15 years and many quilts ago. 

Since then I have collected patterns, books, notions, fabrics and sewing machines with reckless abandon.  I have at least five quilts in progress here in Dubai and four at home in North Carolina and two I alternate carrying to my stitch group. 

I have made many quilts for family and friends, I have a rule......if I get frustrated with it I must put it away until I can work out whatever I was doing wrong as I do not want to sew anything "bad" into a loving quilt, and I think good thoughts and memories of the person who will receive the quilt as I construct it. 

For me a pattern is just a suggestion, I enjoy reading them, taking pictures of quilts, researching them, studying them, daydreaming about my next project.....well everything quilts....but then I take a suggestion and make it my own, or at least that is my intention.  I love traditional quilts, ones that can be snuggled under and are meant to remind the person who receives it how much they are loved. 

I'm very grateful to the warm welcome I received here from the Dubai Quilt Guild.  I had emailed the guild while preparing to move here and Manisha Hunt replied and we became regular pen pals as I waited for the move to Dubai.  When I arrived she was like the local Welcome Wagon......something we actually have in the USA.  She brought me a basket of gifts and a list of phone numbers and pushed me to contact the Bee Keeper for the guild and get into a stitch group.  I have learned so much, and made so many friends through the Dubai Quilt Guild.  We are so fortunate here in Dubai to have the opportunity to meet and sew with a lovely group of International quilters.  The most important thing I've learned here is that despite vast differences in culture, religion, food, homes and literally everything in our past histories, we come together as one with a common goal and we are so alike in that we make quilts for those we love as well as  simply for the love of quilting.   We have shared our stories, our backgrounds,  tips, techniques, laughter and tears and all of those things are stitched up in our quilts. 

Picture of baby Chloe wrapped in her quilt, I used  two different chenille fabrics, one old bedspread and one new on the back, the front has a Herringbone pattern.	This quilt was made for my niece Marlo's baby, I nicknamed my niece Papoo year ago and her baby girl, Papoose........the pattern is called Little Bud.
My Grandmother's last quilt that I am completing the french knots and will then hand quilt it, the entire quilt is done by hand.  My cousin found it in her attic and sent it to me as I am the only quilter in the family.  There was a small five and dime store near the farm where my Grandmother lived, I'm sure she would've purchased the printed squares from there.	A picture of a pillow I made for my sister's 50th birthday, it is done by Flower Pounding and I free motion stitched the flower and leaves.  I wrote all along the edge of the flower as I felt it gave the flower more depth and frills.
Barn Raising Quilt	Desert Rose, made for my Mother and it lives on her dining room table
My Grandson Mathew now 7, with his quilt which was made when he was 2. He couldn't say tractor, and called it “Awkar Quilt"	My husband Tom's Mother wrapped in her Elmer's Tune rag quilt I made for her
My Grandson Devon 14, with his quilt called Happy Trails made for his birthday a couple of years ago	My daughter Heidi with her Matroyska Dolls quilt.  It is a twist and turn pattern as is Devon's
Chloe, who is now five, a red thirties prints quilt for her new baby brother	Chloe's Nap Quilt

Archive