Showing posts with label Guest Post. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guest Post. Show all posts
Tuesday, 7 July 2015
Exploring Pixel Quilts - Guest Post on MQI
Friday, 2 January 2015
Meet Maria @ Quilting Oneness
Finally rounding up our posts meeting quilt bloggers from the facebook group Quilty bloggers and Instagrammers support group please meet Maria @ Quilting Oneness.
Maria can be found at the following:
Website/Blog: quiltingoneness
Outlets:
- Spoonflower
- Society6
Facebook
Pinterest
Google+
Flickr
Bloglovin
The Questions:
1. How did you come to be a quilter?
I first got interested in quilting about 20 years ago when I saw in a textile art magazine a beautiful old English quilt made entirely of hexagons - I wanted to make something similar myself. I never did, but I got completely hooked on English Paper Piecing for quite a while. Then my life started changing a lot, and although I always had something textile to work on, for many years there was no specific direction to what I was doing. In summer last year a new path began to appear and I experimented with textile mosaic, that is pieces of fabric wedged into polystyrene board. This allowed me to combine fabrics - layered silks, viscose, cotton, polyester, brocade with metal threads, polyester velvet,... - in a way that would not have been possible if I had tried to sew these pieces together. I was fascinated by the process, I love the outcomes, but still I wasn't a hundred percent satisfied. These mosaics lack the advantage of textiles over for example paintings: textiles are flexible, mobile and multi-purpose. We can wear them and use them daily and carry our textile art around with us. A by-the-way comment of a friend a few months ago made me reconsider patchwork and quilting, and during these past months I realised that there's a huge unexplored terrain for me.
2. What is it that you love about being a quilter?
That I'm part of a worldwide community which I regard as a great model for a society based on mutual support, kindness and sharing, cooperating freely and with generosity - while having a lot of fun. :) Quilting itself is about resourcefulness and repurposing, about uniting different layers with different functions in a way that is beautiful and useful, where every single piece of the puzzle is important and respected and valued - as it is and for what it is - and contributes its uniqueness to a new whole. It's more than just a symbol, it's a practical application of Oneness.
3. What are you most proud of from your quilting experience?
That I started blogging about it - although I'm in some regards a beginner and despite all those wonderful and awesome blogs that already exist - and also that, despite the just as overwhelming variety of patterns and techniques, I'm holding on to my belief that I can add something new to this mix.
4. What’s the one piece of advice about quilting that all new quilters should know?
Take your time and enjoy the process :)
5. Who’s the quilter(s) that inspire you at the moment?
Too many to name, at any given moment...
6. What quilting challenges would you like to conquer in the next 12 months?
I know that I have phases when I don't feel like stitching, or don't feel like pausing and writing or taking the time to document what I do, or sometimes don't feel like communicating at all for a few days. My challenge is therefore to use 2015 for finding how I can blog and be productive with some consistency but while still respecting my inner rhythm, that is for developing a flexible navigation system with lots of space for spontaneity and improvisation, detours and retreats instead of forcing myself once again into the usual gridlock type schedule of should's and no-can-do's and deadlines. - Creativity is like flying, and one of the three basic requirements of flying happens to be that I take my feet off the ground. ;) (Number two is having a sense of direction, and the last one is flapping my wings until I get into a thermal I can ride ... just in case you're interested.)
7. What’s your 3 favourite quilts that you’ve made that reflect who you are as a quilter?
I think every quilt I make/made reflects who I am/was at a certain stage, therefore every quilt is my favourite. Sorry I can’t show you the first ones, at the time I didn't think about taking photos of them before giving them away as presents. - Looking back all the way until now, I think I'd describe what I did and still try to achieve as "Merging Scandinavian Simplicity with Oriental Abundance". It's a lifestyle, really, reflecting myself.
8. If you weren’t a quilter, what other creative endeavour would you like to master?
Writing fiction, playing flute or bass guitar or both.
9. What is your favourite kind of pie?
The magpie ;) - I think they’re very beautiful, elegant and intelligent pies.
10. What holidays, traditions or religious occasions do you celebrate in your family at this time of year?
My partner and I love giving each other hand-crafted presents, and then watching the other’s face while opening them :) He’s English, I’m German, so we have our presents on Christmas Eve (German tradition) and English roast dinner on Christmas Day – our dogs get a Yorkshire pudding each, and believe me, they know it! As we live in Greece we phone or go online to connect with "the kids" and other distant family members. Apart from these celebrations and get-togethers, the solstice itself is very important to me as it signifies new life, a new start, new fresh energies – enough to carry me all the way through winter into spring.
11. Do you listen to music, watch television or prefer the hum of the sewing machine when you sew?
I love hand stitching, and whenever I can I go and sit outside. I love the sounds of a breeze, birds, bees, sheep bells, and I don’t mind the occasional dogs barking, scooters revving past, people shouting in the distance; I accept them as part of the scenery. Typically I switch on my sewing machine to block out sounds that I find more difficult to deal with, especially constant mind-chatter. At the moment it’s olive harvesting time here in Greece, and I much prefer the rhythmic rattle of my machine (it doesn't do hum) to the sound of air compressors... I find it very soothing, especially when free motion quilting where I rely on the sound for coordinating my hand movements and keeping the stitches even. Else I don't mind gentle or uplifting music, as long as it stays in the background.
12. What are your favourite types of blog posts to read?
My favourite flavours are Informative, Inspiring, Resourceful and Out-of-the-Box.
13. How important to you is learning a craft? How do you think we can keep the craft alive?
There are so many and different benefits to learning a craft - any craft or skill! - that I find it difficult even to sum them up or categorise them. What I can say is that learning a craft influences many other life areas as well, from stretching yourself over acknowledging your potential and being amazed by what you can do to making new friends. Creating and the process of learning something new gives a new sense of well-being way beyond perfect material results. As for keeping a craft alive: Add something of your own, of yourself. Once you've understood the very basics, keep your eyes open and see what others do - but don't just copy: Use what you learn by doing it your way, find your own version!
14. If you had to pick any designer to sit down and chat or work with for the day who would it be and why?
[sobbing] Only one designer and one day?? There are many I'd like to get to know as persons and find out what is the "reason behind" their work, what makes them tick, but also work with for experiencing different approaches regarding technique, design and process. Perhaps my number one at the moment is William Morris, whose designs reflected the great social change of the period during which he lived, in many ways similar to the one we're living in now.
15. What’s your favourite colour combination to work with and why?
I like experimenting with new combinations, for instance taking two or three colours that don't seem to go with each other and then figuring out how I can unite them. This, by the way, is something the textile mosaics taught me, simply because often I didn't quite have the piece of fabric I thought I wanted. A colour combination I often come back to is the turquoise/sky-blue range with white and gold or silver - it gives space and light - but I love rainbow and jewel colours or earthy neutrals just as much.
16. Do you have any quilting goals for 2015, what are they?
In 2015 I'm doing A Block a Month on my blog ... with a twist: I (probably) won't offer ready-made patterns until afterwards but instead I want to encourage my readers to design and make their own blocks by showing what I do, including the "ugly" bits of the process where things don't turn out as expected. I have the impression that many people who buy patterns for quilts believe that a designer is a genius who receives a perfect idea from out of the blue and turns it effortlessly and unerringly straight into a beautiful, workable pattern. And if or when they try the same thing themselves and meet obstacles, they think they're not good enough or don't have that certain genius gene and give up. - The goal for myself is to stretch myself, too, and to discover or "invent" each month new combinations of ideas and techniques, both by hand and by machine, to brush up and develop old skills and to learn new ones. I'll leave the details for my Muse to fill in...
17. Do you prewash your quilting fabrics?
Primarily I use reclaimed textiles, so new fabrics need to be washed (as hot as I dare to) if I want to combine them. I starch fabric only before I cut it and only as much of it as I'm going to use at a time.
18. What’s the best quilting tip you ever got?
Take your time and enjoy the process :)
19. Do you have any favourite tools that you love to use?
The quilting tools I bought 20 years ago have deteriorated over the course of time: The cutting mat has become brittle, the rotary cutter blade blunt and I never had a proper quilting ruler in the first place. Yes, I know that it's possible to buy new ones, and at some point I'll probably do, but I also believe in the validity of the Creative Limitations of Now: They lead me in directions I would not have discovered or explored if I had everything I wanted; for instance I would not have tried to cut hexies in stacks with sharp (!) scissors and discovered that it's actually easier than cutting single layers. Neither would I've found out that even on my old cutting mat I can cut one or two layers of fabric with a simple retractable knife (the trick is to keep the knife at a very small angle to the mat and to frequently break off a segment of the blade to refresh the tip) and that a cheap, large standard set of plastic rulers and triangles meets my requirements sufficiently. That said: If I wanted to get into making large quilts, I'd love a new cutting mat, a small and a large rotary cutter with spare blades, two or three different quilting rulers, and a variety of quality needles for my sewing machine ;) Did I mention a powerful, humming sewing machine with a wide arm, a flat sideways extension and a walking foot...?
20. What are you hoping the festive season will bring for you?
Feeling festive about myself, too: That I don't allow myself to be rushed around by any cultural "obligations" or limitations, and that instead I do allow myself and others to be as we are ... so we can enjoy each other's company as well as being who we are. I think this would be a great start into the New Year :)
Thank you Maria for sharing with us!
Maria can be found at the following:
Website/Blog: quiltingoneness
Outlets:
- Spoonflower
- Society6
Google+
Flickr
Bloglovin
The Questions:
1. How did you come to be a quilter?
I first got interested in quilting about 20 years ago when I saw in a textile art magazine a beautiful old English quilt made entirely of hexagons - I wanted to make something similar myself. I never did, but I got completely hooked on English Paper Piecing for quite a while. Then my life started changing a lot, and although I always had something textile to work on, for many years there was no specific direction to what I was doing. In summer last year a new path began to appear and I experimented with textile mosaic, that is pieces of fabric wedged into polystyrene board. This allowed me to combine fabrics - layered silks, viscose, cotton, polyester, brocade with metal threads, polyester velvet,... - in a way that would not have been possible if I had tried to sew these pieces together. I was fascinated by the process, I love the outcomes, but still I wasn't a hundred percent satisfied. These mosaics lack the advantage of textiles over for example paintings: textiles are flexible, mobile and multi-purpose. We can wear them and use them daily and carry our textile art around with us. A by-the-way comment of a friend a few months ago made me reconsider patchwork and quilting, and during these past months I realised that there's a huge unexplored terrain for me.
That I'm part of a worldwide community which I regard as a great model for a society based on mutual support, kindness and sharing, cooperating freely and with generosity - while having a lot of fun. :) Quilting itself is about resourcefulness and repurposing, about uniting different layers with different functions in a way that is beautiful and useful, where every single piece of the puzzle is important and respected and valued - as it is and for what it is - and contributes its uniqueness to a new whole. It's more than just a symbol, it's a practical application of Oneness.
3. What are you most proud of from your quilting experience?
That I started blogging about it - although I'm in some regards a beginner and despite all those wonderful and awesome blogs that already exist - and also that, despite the just as overwhelming variety of patterns and techniques, I'm holding on to my belief that I can add something new to this mix.
4. What’s the one piece of advice about quilting that all new quilters should know?
Take your time and enjoy the process :)
5. Who’s the quilter(s) that inspire you at the moment?
Too many to name, at any given moment...
6. What quilting challenges would you like to conquer in the next 12 months?
I know that I have phases when I don't feel like stitching, or don't feel like pausing and writing or taking the time to document what I do, or sometimes don't feel like communicating at all for a few days. My challenge is therefore to use 2015 for finding how I can blog and be productive with some consistency but while still respecting my inner rhythm, that is for developing a flexible navigation system with lots of space for spontaneity and improvisation, detours and retreats instead of forcing myself once again into the usual gridlock type schedule of should's and no-can-do's and deadlines. - Creativity is like flying, and one of the three basic requirements of flying happens to be that I take my feet off the ground. ;) (Number two is having a sense of direction, and the last one is flapping my wings until I get into a thermal I can ride ... just in case you're interested.)
I think every quilt I make/made reflects who I am/was at a certain stage, therefore every quilt is my favourite. Sorry I can’t show you the first ones, at the time I didn't think about taking photos of them before giving them away as presents. - Looking back all the way until now, I think I'd describe what I did and still try to achieve as "Merging Scandinavian Simplicity with Oriental Abundance". It's a lifestyle, really, reflecting myself.
8. If you weren’t a quilter, what other creative endeavour would you like to master?
Writing fiction, playing flute or bass guitar or both.
9. What is your favourite kind of pie?
The magpie ;) - I think they’re very beautiful, elegant and intelligent pies.
10. What holidays, traditions or religious occasions do you celebrate in your family at this time of year?
My partner and I love giving each other hand-crafted presents, and then watching the other’s face while opening them :) He’s English, I’m German, so we have our presents on Christmas Eve (German tradition) and English roast dinner on Christmas Day – our dogs get a Yorkshire pudding each, and believe me, they know it! As we live in Greece we phone or go online to connect with "the kids" and other distant family members. Apart from these celebrations and get-togethers, the solstice itself is very important to me as it signifies new life, a new start, new fresh energies – enough to carry me all the way through winter into spring.
11. Do you listen to music, watch television or prefer the hum of the sewing machine when you sew?
I love hand stitching, and whenever I can I go and sit outside. I love the sounds of a breeze, birds, bees, sheep bells, and I don’t mind the occasional dogs barking, scooters revving past, people shouting in the distance; I accept them as part of the scenery. Typically I switch on my sewing machine to block out sounds that I find more difficult to deal with, especially constant mind-chatter. At the moment it’s olive harvesting time here in Greece, and I much prefer the rhythmic rattle of my machine (it doesn't do hum) to the sound of air compressors... I find it very soothing, especially when free motion quilting where I rely on the sound for coordinating my hand movements and keeping the stitches even. Else I don't mind gentle or uplifting music, as long as it stays in the background.
12. What are your favourite types of blog posts to read?
My favourite flavours are Informative, Inspiring, Resourceful and Out-of-the-Box.
There are so many and different benefits to learning a craft - any craft or skill! - that I find it difficult even to sum them up or categorise them. What I can say is that learning a craft influences many other life areas as well, from stretching yourself over acknowledging your potential and being amazed by what you can do to making new friends. Creating and the process of learning something new gives a new sense of well-being way beyond perfect material results. As for keeping a craft alive: Add something of your own, of yourself. Once you've understood the very basics, keep your eyes open and see what others do - but don't just copy: Use what you learn by doing it your way, find your own version!
14. If you had to pick any designer to sit down and chat or work with for the day who would it be and why?
[sobbing] Only one designer and one day?? There are many I'd like to get to know as persons and find out what is the "reason behind" their work, what makes them tick, but also work with for experiencing different approaches regarding technique, design and process. Perhaps my number one at the moment is William Morris, whose designs reflected the great social change of the period during which he lived, in many ways similar to the one we're living in now.
15. What’s your favourite colour combination to work with and why?
I like experimenting with new combinations, for instance taking two or three colours that don't seem to go with each other and then figuring out how I can unite them. This, by the way, is something the textile mosaics taught me, simply because often I didn't quite have the piece of fabric I thought I wanted. A colour combination I often come back to is the turquoise/sky-blue range with white and gold or silver - it gives space and light - but I love rainbow and jewel colours or earthy neutrals just as much.
16. Do you have any quilting goals for 2015, what are they?
In 2015 I'm doing A Block a Month on my blog ... with a twist: I (probably) won't offer ready-made patterns until afterwards but instead I want to encourage my readers to design and make their own blocks by showing what I do, including the "ugly" bits of the process where things don't turn out as expected. I have the impression that many people who buy patterns for quilts believe that a designer is a genius who receives a perfect idea from out of the blue and turns it effortlessly and unerringly straight into a beautiful, workable pattern. And if or when they try the same thing themselves and meet obstacles, they think they're not good enough or don't have that certain genius gene and give up. - The goal for myself is to stretch myself, too, and to discover or "invent" each month new combinations of ideas and techniques, both by hand and by machine, to brush up and develop old skills and to learn new ones. I'll leave the details for my Muse to fill in...
Primarily I use reclaimed textiles, so new fabrics need to be washed (as hot as I dare to) if I want to combine them. I starch fabric only before I cut it and only as much of it as I'm going to use at a time.
18. What’s the best quilting tip you ever got?
Take your time and enjoy the process :)
19. Do you have any favourite tools that you love to use?
The quilting tools I bought 20 years ago have deteriorated over the course of time: The cutting mat has become brittle, the rotary cutter blade blunt and I never had a proper quilting ruler in the first place. Yes, I know that it's possible to buy new ones, and at some point I'll probably do, but I also believe in the validity of the Creative Limitations of Now: They lead me in directions I would not have discovered or explored if I had everything I wanted; for instance I would not have tried to cut hexies in stacks with sharp (!) scissors and discovered that it's actually easier than cutting single layers. Neither would I've found out that even on my old cutting mat I can cut one or two layers of fabric with a simple retractable knife (the trick is to keep the knife at a very small angle to the mat and to frequently break off a segment of the blade to refresh the tip) and that a cheap, large standard set of plastic rulers and triangles meets my requirements sufficiently. That said: If I wanted to get into making large quilts, I'd love a new cutting mat, a small and a large rotary cutter with spare blades, two or three different quilting rulers, and a variety of quality needles for my sewing machine ;) Did I mention a powerful, humming sewing machine with a wide arm, a flat sideways extension and a walking foot...?
20. What are you hoping the festive season will bring for you?
Feeling festive about myself, too: That I don't allow myself to be rushed around by any cultural "obligations" or limitations, and that instead I do allow myself and others to be as we are ... so we can enjoy each other's company as well as being who we are. I think this would be a great start into the New Year :)
Thank you Maria for sharing with us!
Wednesday, 31 December 2014
Meet Tisha @Quilty Therapy
Following on from earlier posts, answering the questionnaire from our facebook group Quilty bloggers and Instagrammers support group, today I am hosting answers from Tisha Nagel @ Quilty Therapy
Website/Blog: www.quiltytherapy.com
Store: www.etsy.com/shops/quiltytherapy
Instagram: @quiltytherapy
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quiltytherapy
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/quiltytherapy/
Twitter: @quiltytherapy
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/50319251@N06/
The Questions:
This is my quilt Tischa Nagel video. Nevermind that my name and info isn’t correct.
This first gift is about charity and giving. My friend was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and the only thing I could think to do was to make a quilt for her. I wanted to support her and be with her every step of the way. At least if I wasn’t there she could wrap herself up and feel me there beside her.
Rainbow Charms is a quilt I just winged after looking at a stack of rainbow charms. This is will be my first pattern that I hope to get out in 2015. This quilt is a good reflection of how I like to use colors and keep things simple.
f. This quilt is my favorite. Luckily all three of these are nearby and I can see them often. Nomadic triangles just kinda came to be one day after weeks trying to come up with a design for the Indiana State Fair Sewing Challenge. This will be my second pattern in 2015 that I want to put out there. Improv but still modern and simple. This quilt shows me that if I keep looking at something differently, considering new techniques and sometimes throwing everything out the window I will love the end product.
Now we are working to create new traditions as a family. This year we are driving our son around on Sunday night, listening to the all Christmas music channel, and looking at lights. Porter is loving it and it melts my heart to hear him shrieking with excitement.
Now I’m on to Once Upon a Time. I will probably finish that series out by January with the amount of sewing I foresee in my future.
Have you been reading the draft posts for my blog? This is something I have been pondering and wanting to write about. Here’s a snippet of who and why I like them. Lotta Jansdotter! Yes, exclamation point. She creates fabrics that simple, creative, and most of her collections go together. I’ve been to her Brooklyn studio and didn’t want to leave. I got to meet her and forgot to take a picture with her. Taking one of her classes in her studio is on my bucket list.
If you don’t follow her on Instagram, let me encourage you to do so. She loves to play and create. She’s very hands on. For her first fabric line she hand drew all the designs and someone had to put them into a digital format. That really shows in her work because things aren’t perfectly straight for example.
I just want to sit down, have a coffee, and pick her brain.
Hopefully we can create many new memories leading into 2015.
Thank you Tisha for sharing with us!
Website/Blog: www.quiltytherapy.com
Store: www.etsy.com/shops/quiltytherapy
Instagram: @quiltytherapy
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quiltytherapy
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/quiltytherapy/
Twitter: @quiltytherapy
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/50319251@N06/
The Questions:
- How did you come to be a quilter?
- What is it that you love about being a quilter?
- What are you most proud of from your quilting experience?
This is my quilt Tischa Nagel video. Nevermind that my name and info isn’t correct.
- What quilting challenges would you like to conquer in the next 12 months.
- What’s your 3 favourite quilts that you’ve made that reflect who you are as a quilter?
This first gift is about charity and giving. My friend was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and the only thing I could think to do was to make a quilt for her. I wanted to support her and be with her every step of the way. At least if I wasn’t there she could wrap herself up and feel me there beside her.
Rainbow Charms is a quilt I just winged after looking at a stack of rainbow charms. This is will be my first pattern that I hope to get out in 2015. This quilt is a good reflection of how I like to use colors and keep things simple.
f. This quilt is my favorite. Luckily all three of these are nearby and I can see them often. Nomadic triangles just kinda came to be one day after weeks trying to come up with a design for the Indiana State Fair Sewing Challenge. This will be my second pattern in 2015 that I want to put out there. Improv but still modern and simple. This quilt shows me that if I keep looking at something differently, considering new techniques and sometimes throwing everything out the window I will love the end product.
- What holidays, traditions or religious occasions do you celebrate in your family at this time of year?
Now we are working to create new traditions as a family. This year we are driving our son around on Sunday night, listening to the all Christmas music channel, and looking at lights. Porter is loving it and it melts my heart to hear him shrieking with excitement.
- Do you listen to music, watch television or prefer the hum of the sewing machine when you sew?
Now I’m on to Once Upon a Time. I will probably finish that series out by January with the amount of sewing I foresee in my future.
- What are your favourite types of blog posts to read?
- If you had to pick any designer to sit down and chat or work with for the day who would it be and why?
Have you been reading the draft posts for my blog? This is something I have been pondering and wanting to write about. Here’s a snippet of who and why I like them. Lotta Jansdotter! Yes, exclamation point. She creates fabrics that simple, creative, and most of her collections go together. I’ve been to her Brooklyn studio and didn’t want to leave. I got to meet her and forgot to take a picture with her. Taking one of her classes in her studio is on my bucket list.If you don’t follow her on Instagram, let me encourage you to do so. She loves to play and create. She’s very hands on. For her first fabric line she hand drew all the designs and someone had to put them into a digital format. That really shows in her work because things aren’t perfectly straight for example.
I just want to sit down, have a coffee, and pick her brain.
- Do you have any quilting goals for 2015, what are they?
- Do you prewash your quilting fabrics?
- What are you hoping the festive season will bring for you?
Hopefully we can create many new memories leading into 2015.
Thank you Tisha for sharing with us!
Monday, 29 December 2014
Meet Peta Quilts!
Following on from last weeks posts featuring Quilt Bloggers from the facebook group Quilty bloggers and Instagrammers support group today I’m hosting Peta Quilts who like myself is a big dog lover!
Peta can be found at:
Website/Blog: www.thenotsewguiltyquilter.blogspot.com
Instagram: petaquilts
Facebook: Peta Minerof-Bartos
Pinterest: Peta Minerof-Bartos
Flickr: petaquilts
The Questions:
Be published in a major quilting publication.
ii.
iii.
Thank you Peta for sharing with us!
Peta can be found at:
Website/Blog: www.thenotsewguiltyquilter.blogspot.com
Instagram: petaquilts
Facebook: Peta Minerof-Bartos
Pinterest: Peta Minerof-Bartos
Flickr: petaquilts
The Questions:
- How did you come to be a quilter?
- What is it that you love about being a quilter?
- What’s the one piece of advice about quilting that all new quilters should know?
- Who’s the quilter(s) that inspire you at the moment?
- What quilting challenges would you like to conquer in the next 12 months.
Be published in a major quilting publication.
- What’s your 3 favourite quilts that you’ve made that reflect who you are as a quilter? See detail in #7 above.
ii.
iii.
- If you weren’t a quilter, what other creative endeavour would you like to master?
- What is your favourite kind of pie?
- What holidays, traditions or religious occasions do you celebrate in your family at this time of year?
- Do you listen to music, watch television or prefer the hum of the sewing machine when you sew?
- What’s your favourite colour combination to work with and why?
- Do you prewash your quilting fabrics?
- What are you hoping the festive season will bring for you?
Thank you Peta for sharing with us!
Saturday, 27 December 2014
Meet Sunflower Quilting!
Continuing this week and next some of us from the facebook group Quilty bloggers and Instagrammers support group have been given 20 questions, and asked to answer at least 10, to
showcase different quilters from the blogosphere. Today I'm posting answers and hoping you guys will enjoy meeting Sunflower Quilting!
Website/Blog: www.sunflowerquilting.com.au www.sunflowerstitcheries.com
Instagram: @sunflowerquilting
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sunflower-Quilting/127804487455
https: //www.facebook.com/SunflowerStitcheries
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/rayleebielenber/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SunflowerQuilti
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/88903673@N05/
.jpg)
The Questions:
1. How did you come to be a quilter?
My Mum taught me to sew quite young and I am very thankful. After a number of years of sewing and making clothes we both ventured into making quilts. It’s wonderful to have that connection with my Mum and we help each other and discuss fabric frequently. About 8 years ago we bought a shortarm quilting machine and frame but as it was older I wasn’t able to make it do what I wanted. With more than 20 quilt tops between us we wanted to be able quilt them. I now have a long arm quilting machine so those quilt tops are getting done along with many others from other people.
2. What is it that you love about being a quilter?
I love seeing what everyone creates and the colour combinations and fabric choices they use. Each quilt is unique. In 6years of professional quilting I have only seen the same design 3 times. I could never make as many quilts as I see so I live vicariously through my clients.
3. What are you most proud of from your quilting experience?
Learning that I am capable and can really help people complete their quilts. Sometimes it’s daunting to start on a client’s quilt, but I know it looks even better when I’ve done my part too. I know they put so much time and effort into making their quilt, each quilt becomes mine for a time. That’s how I view them.
4. What’s the one piece of advice about quilting that all new quilters should know?
It’s fabric and thread. It can be washed and /or unpicked. There are no quilt police, your quilt, your choices, Go for it!
5. Who’s the quilter(s) that inspire you at the moment?
I regularly stalk Judi Madsen and Jamie Wallen on social media. I also watch what Jenny Pedigo does and Belinda Betts. They are all long arm quilters as well.
6. What quilting challenges would you like to conquer in the next 12 months.
A shadow trapunto wholecloth and some thread painting a la Jamie Wallen style. I was inspired when I took his class in Adelaide last October. Maybe they could be on the same quilt, that would save some time…
7. What’s your 3 favourite quilts that you’ve made that reflect who you are as a quilter?
I am always trying to improve my skills and so I don’t think I can narrow this down to 3 quilts, I have a few that have made me grow as a quilter, some are mine some aren’t. I’ve been trying to narrow down the pictures I would share while I was writing my responses, this is the hardest question I think.
8. If you weren’t a quilter, what other creative endeavour would you like to master?
I’m working on improving my stitching or embroidery in my limited spare time. I enjoy quilts with a bit of stitching in them. I also want to spend a bit more time making myself some clothes. I used to make quite a few of them but my time demands have changed. Kids and quilting does that!
9. What is your favourite kind of pie?
Anything I have not made! My cooking mojo comes and goes, probably depends on how much quilting I want to get done. My MIL makes a good apple pie. I love meat pies which have yummy gravy in with the meat.
10. What holidays, traditions or religious occasions do you celebrate in your family at this time of year?
I love the school holidays being on and by this stage we are ready for a change of routine, or rather the lack of one. I enjoy not having to be up and ready in the morning and making sure the boys are ready for their day. In fact we do quite a few pajamas days in the Christmas holidays. As a Christian family we celebrate the birth of Jesus and reflect on what this means for us. After a short service with our church family we head back home to spend the rest of the day with family and friends. Christmas day is usually fairly quiet, perhaps even some time for sewing.
11. Do you listen to music, watch television or prefer the hum of the sewing machine when you sew?
I am a background noise person. I have the radio going even when I am quilting, I can hear it when I stop, and I sing along when I can. If I am stitching I’ll have the TV on and watch while I am working. I find it hard to sit still and do nothing.
12. What are your favourite types of blog posts to read?
I love hearing about a project and the how’s and why’s of the creation process. What were the elements chosen for and then did they achieve the effect they were wanting. Quilting being such a visual craft, pictures are wonderful to see.
13. How important to you is learning a craft? How do you think we can keep the craft alive?
I think learning is an ongoing thing and we never stop. We can always improve and expand our skills. Learning a craft helps you appreciate the work done by other craftsmen and women, whether we are talking fabric or timber. Time and skill go into each creation.
We need to teach the next generation about our craft and be prepared to share our knowledge with those who are seeking. We have a number of generations now where is has not be the norm that Mum sewed and made clothes or knitted etc.
14. If you had to pick any designer to sit down and chat or work with for the day who would it be and why?
I don’t know the designers that well, if I like it I use it. Any designer would be interesting to spend the day with and learn from.
15. What’s your favourite colour combination to work with and why?
I’m a tad partial to red at present, 2 colour quilts look great, plains or areas that allow the quilting to show are a plus, and I like grey at the moment too.
16. Do you have any quilting goals for 2015, what are they?
I am going to, yes you heard correct, I am going to finish my 40th birthday quilt. I asked for and was given a lovely selection of red and white fabric for my significant birthday and I am yet to make the quilt. I’m a little bit older now.
More time will be spent on designing and creating for Sunflower Stitcheries as well
17. Do you prewash your quilting fabrics?
Yes, especially the red ones, and blue, and most dark colours, and I really don’t want it to shrink a t different rates, so yes I do.
18. What’s the best quilting tip you ever got?
Once is a mistake, twice is a design feature.
19. Do you have any favourite tools that you love to use?
My quilting machine and some lovely thread, wonderful clients who give me wonderful quilts to work on and sometimes free reign with what I do on their quilt. That sounds really selfish but I am extremely appreciative and I treat each quilt like it is my own. Sometimes I don’t want to hand them back!
20. What are you hoping the festive season will bring for you?
This festive season I would love to see my family all get along swimmingly (4 boys in this house), wonderful memory creating times, some time to sew and be creative, and time with friends, old and new.
Thank you Raylee for sharing with us!
Instagram: @sunflowerquilting
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sunflower-Quilting/127804487455
https: //www.facebook.com/SunflowerStitcheries
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/rayleebielenber/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SunflowerQuilti
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/88903673@N05/
The Questions:
1. How did you come to be a quilter?
My Mum taught me to sew quite young and I am very thankful. After a number of years of sewing and making clothes we both ventured into making quilts. It’s wonderful to have that connection with my Mum and we help each other and discuss fabric frequently. About 8 years ago we bought a shortarm quilting machine and frame but as it was older I wasn’t able to make it do what I wanted. With more than 20 quilt tops between us we wanted to be able quilt them. I now have a long arm quilting machine so those quilt tops are getting done along with many others from other people.
2. What is it that you love about being a quilter?
I love seeing what everyone creates and the colour combinations and fabric choices they use. Each quilt is unique. In 6years of professional quilting I have only seen the same design 3 times. I could never make as many quilts as I see so I live vicariously through my clients.
3. What are you most proud of from your quilting experience?
Learning that I am capable and can really help people complete their quilts. Sometimes it’s daunting to start on a client’s quilt, but I know it looks even better when I’ve done my part too. I know they put so much time and effort into making their quilt, each quilt becomes mine for a time. That’s how I view them.
4. What’s the one piece of advice about quilting that all new quilters should know?
It’s fabric and thread. It can be washed and /or unpicked. There are no quilt police, your quilt, your choices, Go for it!
5. Who’s the quilter(s) that inspire you at the moment?
I regularly stalk Judi Madsen and Jamie Wallen on social media. I also watch what Jenny Pedigo does and Belinda Betts. They are all long arm quilters as well.
6. What quilting challenges would you like to conquer in the next 12 months.
A shadow trapunto wholecloth and some thread painting a la Jamie Wallen style. I was inspired when I took his class in Adelaide last October. Maybe they could be on the same quilt, that would save some time…
I am always trying to improve my skills and so I don’t think I can narrow this down to 3 quilts, I have a few that have made me grow as a quilter, some are mine some aren’t. I’ve been trying to narrow down the pictures I would share while I was writing my responses, this is the hardest question I think.
8. If you weren’t a quilter, what other creative endeavour would you like to master?
I’m working on improving my stitching or embroidery in my limited spare time. I enjoy quilts with a bit of stitching in them. I also want to spend a bit more time making myself some clothes. I used to make quite a few of them but my time demands have changed. Kids and quilting does that!
9. What is your favourite kind of pie?
Anything I have not made! My cooking mojo comes and goes, probably depends on how much quilting I want to get done. My MIL makes a good apple pie. I love meat pies which have yummy gravy in with the meat.
10. What holidays, traditions or religious occasions do you celebrate in your family at this time of year?
I love the school holidays being on and by this stage we are ready for a change of routine, or rather the lack of one. I enjoy not having to be up and ready in the morning and making sure the boys are ready for their day. In fact we do quite a few pajamas days in the Christmas holidays. As a Christian family we celebrate the birth of Jesus and reflect on what this means for us. After a short service with our church family we head back home to spend the rest of the day with family and friends. Christmas day is usually fairly quiet, perhaps even some time for sewing.
11. Do you listen to music, watch television or prefer the hum of the sewing machine when you sew?
I am a background noise person. I have the radio going even when I am quilting, I can hear it when I stop, and I sing along when I can. If I am stitching I’ll have the TV on and watch while I am working. I find it hard to sit still and do nothing.
I love hearing about a project and the how’s and why’s of the creation process. What were the elements chosen for and then did they achieve the effect they were wanting. Quilting being such a visual craft, pictures are wonderful to see.
13. How important to you is learning a craft? How do you think we can keep the craft alive?
I think learning is an ongoing thing and we never stop. We can always improve and expand our skills. Learning a craft helps you appreciate the work done by other craftsmen and women, whether we are talking fabric or timber. Time and skill go into each creation.
We need to teach the next generation about our craft and be prepared to share our knowledge with those who are seeking. We have a number of generations now where is has not be the norm that Mum sewed and made clothes or knitted etc.
14. If you had to pick any designer to sit down and chat or work with for the day who would it be and why?
I don’t know the designers that well, if I like it I use it. Any designer would be interesting to spend the day with and learn from.
15. What’s your favourite colour combination to work with and why?
I’m a tad partial to red at present, 2 colour quilts look great, plains or areas that allow the quilting to show are a plus, and I like grey at the moment too.
16. Do you have any quilting goals for 2015, what are they?
I am going to, yes you heard correct, I am going to finish my 40th birthday quilt. I asked for and was given a lovely selection of red and white fabric for my significant birthday and I am yet to make the quilt. I’m a little bit older now.
More time will be spent on designing and creating for Sunflower Stitcheries as well
17. Do you prewash your quilting fabrics?
Yes, especially the red ones, and blue, and most dark colours, and I really don’t want it to shrink a t different rates, so yes I do.
Once is a mistake, twice is a design feature.
19. Do you have any favourite tools that you love to use?
My quilting machine and some lovely thread, wonderful clients who give me wonderful quilts to work on and sometimes free reign with what I do on their quilt. That sounds really selfish but I am extremely appreciative and I treat each quilt like it is my own. Sometimes I don’t want to hand them back!
20. What are you hoping the festive season will bring for you?
This festive season I would love to see my family all get along swimmingly (4 boys in this house), wonderful memory creating times, some time to sew and be creative, and time with friends, old and new.
Thank you Raylee for sharing with us!
Wednesday, 24 December 2014
Meet Seldear @Mad Quilters Disease
Next up, in our feature posts of Quilter Bloggers from the facebook group Quilty bloggers and Instagrammers support group answering questions posed to us by Angie at Gnome Angel, is Seldear from Mad Quilters Disease.
Website/Blog: Mad Quilter’s Disease
Instagram: http://instagram.com/seldear
Pinterest: pinterest.com/seldear/
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/seldear/
The Questions:
1. How did you come to be a quilter?
I blame my aunt who, one Christmas, showed me a picture of a quilt she made for a school raffle – a purple and gold bargello that looked gorgeous and complicated. Being the process-oriented soul that I am, and with a quilting shop that had opened just around the corner from my house, I asked her how it was put together, and she explained the process. It seemed so easy!
However, I did have a sewing background: my mother sewed everything from clothes to toys to Christmas decorations, and I learned to sew from her. So quilting wasn’t completely outlandish. (Just mildly outlandish.)
2. What is it that you love about being a quilter?
I love the play of colour and the use of clever design to draw the eye in the patterns that may not necessarily reflect the quilt blocks themselves. And I love the way many disparate pieces come together to make a whole and beautiful thing. And I love the way that I’m creating something that’s not only beautiful but very functional. More than anything else, when I make a quilt, I want it to be used.
And, of course, there’s the wonderful community of quilters here in Australia and across the world – a pleasure to meet and know and be inspired by!
3. What are you most proud of from your quilting experience?
That I’ve tried a wide range of styles and designs and patterns, and haven’t gotten stuck with any one type.
And I’ve learned how to free-motion quilt!
4. What’s the one piece of advice about quilting that all new quilters should know?
Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re doing it the wrong way. Anyone. You’re making something that you want to make the way you want to make it. That’s okay. Even improvement isn’t absolutely necessary (although straight and well-measured seams are definitely a bonus, but, trust me, you can fudge it and nobody will notice) and as long as you’re good with what you create, it’s all good.
5. Who’s the quilter(s) that inspire you at the moment?
Right now? Hm. My taste in quilters is rather like my taste in music – somewhat eclectic, and more geared to the item than to the artist.
But recent quilts that caught my eye: Moccasin by Gen X Quilters , Iceberg by Two Little Aussie Birds , Tangled by Red Pepper Quilts and Honey by Elizabeth Hartman
6. What quilting challenges would you like to conquer in the next 12 months.
Free-motion quilting on my domestic machine, if only for small projects. Practising enough to get good enough to make things I wouldn’t be ashamed to give away!
I’d like to actually publish a couple of quilt block designs, and a quilt pattern. I’m really good at working things out for me as I go along, but really bad at writing them down and actually formalising a process.
7. What’s your 3 favourite quilts that you’ve made that reflect who you are as a quilter?
Gingham Gingham
Oh yes, it’s a gingham quilt! Made with gingham!
I have a very keen sense of mischief and always have. Like the ‘Gothic Summer Sampler’ I subverted several years ago, I made this quilt to kick sand over the line of “what’s modern” and “what’s traditional”: rainbow-bright colours in a pattern/print that’s very traditional!
This is the kind of quilt that I like to make: something that takes quilter expectations (“Gingham? How boring!”) and tosses a glitterbomb into the mix. (“All the colours of the rainbow? GIMME!”)
Eternity
I designed this myself based off a prompt for an art project. Basically, I found a design I liked, worked out how to put it together, pieced it together row by row…and then realised there was a simpler way to do it. It was my first attempt at free-motion quilting on a longarm, and if I’d had any time left before it was due, it might have been my first attempt at trapunto, too!
It reflects who I am as a quilter because of the process that I went through to make it: this is a design I like, how do I put it together, choose fabrics, quilt it.
Mondrian Dreaming
Mondrian Dreaming was made for the Sydney Quilt Show 2014. It’s a Disappearing 9-Patch, with a modern twist – have at least 4 of the 9 patches be of the same fabric.
I made this quilt because it seemed to me that, lovely as the complex and complicate quilts in the Sydney Quilt Show 2013 were, they weren’t accessible quilts to your basic sewist. Not everyone has the time/resources to play with the blocks and colour of a Double Wedding Ring or English-Paper-Pieced hexies. But something that’s composed of squares with a modern slant? Yes.
I love quilting – it’s definitely an art form to me. But as quilting and quilt show judging moves into a realm with a seriousness that borders on competitive sport, I think it’s also important to keep quilting accessible. A simple, yet effective quilt was what got me into quilting in the first place; and it was important to me not to forget my roots in this.
8. If you weren’t a quilter, what other creative endeavour would you like to master?
Wait, we’re limited to mastering one creative endeavour? (I don’t tend to read the instruction booklet...)
I write. I garden. I cook. Mastery? Well, I’d really like to be better at drawing so I could do character tableaus and interactions, but that’s mostly a case of practise making perfect. Unfortunately rather more practise than I have time to do right now.
9. What is your favourite kind of pie?
Apple pie. With real apples, a sugared crust, and dollops and dollops of cream. (Are you done with that cream bowl? Just hand it over, thanks!)
10.What holidays, traditions or religious occasions do you celebrate in your family at this time of year?
My family is Christian, so we usually attend whatever services we can reach (based on traffic and locality).
Christmas Day Lunch is the major celebration, though – early to the parentals’ house, opening presents, then the Christmas Day Lunch (with bonus relatives) and the post-lunch coma. In recent years, I’ve spent the afternoon/evening reading through the Yuletide Fic Archive, full of fanfiction about books and shows and movies that I love.
New Years’ Eve has been quiet the last few years, mostly because I’m a homebody and I don’t want to deal with drunk crowds. Easier to just stay home and sleep in the New Year!
11.Do you listen to music, watch television or prefer the hum of the sewing machine when you sew?
I don’t mind music, but I tend to forget to turn it on until just before I finish – so the hum of the sewing machine!
I tried watching TV while sewing, but I need to be able to see what’s happening – I can’t just let it play in the background.
12.What are your favourite types of blog posts to read?
The pattern posts. Definitely the pattern posts! People are so full of amazing ideas and designs – it’s a joy to watch the process unfold and a pleasure to come out saying “hey, I see how that would work!”
13. How important to you is learning a craft? How do you think we can keep the craft alive?
Arts and crafts are my sanity space – a chance to do something creative and tactile, more than the programming I do for work, or the reading and storytelling I enjoy in my other free time. So learning a craft is very important – an aesthetic outlet, and one focused on colour and pattern, both very much things that I like being able to develop and manipulate.
Encouragement. Making friends. Developing community on the social networks that quilters use – Instagram, Pinterest, FB and others.
14.If you had to pick any designer to sit down and chat or work with for the day who would it be and why?
Rashida Coleman-Hale, because she’s a successful woman of colour in the quiltblogging world and that’s unusual, but I really love her colours and designs, particularly with the Cotton+Steel line of fabrics. (And I’d ask for a sneak peek of the next “spring” line!)
15.What’s your favourite colour combination to work with and why?
Two or three complementary colours and a contrast: the actual colours don’t matter too much as long as they’re very bright, very saturated colours.
And rainbows are always safe…
16.Do you have any quilting goals for 2015, what are they?
Make at least 3 scrap quilts.
Complete 4 WIPs.
Get all my ‘free’ quilt tops quilted (by me or a professional).
Publish a bag pattern and a quilt pattern.
…I think that’s it. There are probably more, but for the moment that’s all I got.
17.Do you prewash your quilting fabrics?
Nope. I used to – right at the start – but I didn’t really like the way it crumpled in the wash and wouldn’t iron out. And these days, I figure that the quality quilting cotton we have doesn’t need to be pre-shrunk the way it used to.
18.What’s the best quilting tip you ever got?
“Don’t overthink it. Just do it.”
19.Do you have any favourite tools that you love to use?
Other than my roller blade and cutting ruler? My Clover open-sided thimble. Fits to my finger, perfect for handsewing.
I’m not much of a sewing gadgets person I’m afraid – the basics tend to do me quite nicely!
20.What are you hoping the festive season will bring for you?
A bit of peace and a breather. I’ve been running flat out for the last few months, so it would be nice to sit back and not have anything with a due date for a while!
graphics:
Thank you Sel for sharing with us!
Website/Blog: Mad Quilter’s Disease
Instagram: http://instagram.com/seldear
Pinterest: pinterest.com/seldear/
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/seldear/
The Questions:
1. How did you come to be a quilter?
I blame my aunt who, one Christmas, showed me a picture of a quilt she made for a school raffle – a purple and gold bargello that looked gorgeous and complicated. Being the process-oriented soul that I am, and with a quilting shop that had opened just around the corner from my house, I asked her how it was put together, and she explained the process. It seemed so easy!
However, I did have a sewing background: my mother sewed everything from clothes to toys to Christmas decorations, and I learned to sew from her. So quilting wasn’t completely outlandish. (Just mildly outlandish.)
2. What is it that you love about being a quilter?
I love the play of colour and the use of clever design to draw the eye in the patterns that may not necessarily reflect the quilt blocks themselves. And I love the way many disparate pieces come together to make a whole and beautiful thing. And I love the way that I’m creating something that’s not only beautiful but very functional. More than anything else, when I make a quilt, I want it to be used.
And, of course, there’s the wonderful community of quilters here in Australia and across the world – a pleasure to meet and know and be inspired by!
3. What are you most proud of from your quilting experience?
That I’ve tried a wide range of styles and designs and patterns, and haven’t gotten stuck with any one type.
And I’ve learned how to free-motion quilt!
4. What’s the one piece of advice about quilting that all new quilters should know?
Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re doing it the wrong way. Anyone. You’re making something that you want to make the way you want to make it. That’s okay. Even improvement isn’t absolutely necessary (although straight and well-measured seams are definitely a bonus, but, trust me, you can fudge it and nobody will notice) and as long as you’re good with what you create, it’s all good.
5. Who’s the quilter(s) that inspire you at the moment?
Right now? Hm. My taste in quilters is rather like my taste in music – somewhat eclectic, and more geared to the item than to the artist.
But recent quilts that caught my eye: Moccasin by Gen X Quilters , Iceberg by Two Little Aussie Birds , Tangled by Red Pepper Quilts and Honey by Elizabeth Hartman
6. What quilting challenges would you like to conquer in the next 12 months.
Free-motion quilting on my domestic machine, if only for small projects. Practising enough to get good enough to make things I wouldn’t be ashamed to give away!
I’d like to actually publish a couple of quilt block designs, and a quilt pattern. I’m really good at working things out for me as I go along, but really bad at writing them down and actually formalising a process.
7. What’s your 3 favourite quilts that you’ve made that reflect who you are as a quilter?
Gingham Gingham
Oh yes, it’s a gingham quilt! Made with gingham!
I have a very keen sense of mischief and always have. Like the ‘Gothic Summer Sampler’ I subverted several years ago, I made this quilt to kick sand over the line of “what’s modern” and “what’s traditional”: rainbow-bright colours in a pattern/print that’s very traditional!
This is the kind of quilt that I like to make: something that takes quilter expectations (“Gingham? How boring!”) and tosses a glitterbomb into the mix. (“All the colours of the rainbow? GIMME!”)
Eternity
I designed this myself based off a prompt for an art project. Basically, I found a design I liked, worked out how to put it together, pieced it together row by row…and then realised there was a simpler way to do it. It was my first attempt at free-motion quilting on a longarm, and if I’d had any time left before it was due, it might have been my first attempt at trapunto, too!
It reflects who I am as a quilter because of the process that I went through to make it: this is a design I like, how do I put it together, choose fabrics, quilt it.
Mondrian Dreaming
Mondrian Dreaming was made for the Sydney Quilt Show 2014. It’s a Disappearing 9-Patch, with a modern twist – have at least 4 of the 9 patches be of the same fabric.
I made this quilt because it seemed to me that, lovely as the complex and complicate quilts in the Sydney Quilt Show 2013 were, they weren’t accessible quilts to your basic sewist. Not everyone has the time/resources to play with the blocks and colour of a Double Wedding Ring or English-Paper-Pieced hexies. But something that’s composed of squares with a modern slant? Yes.
I love quilting – it’s definitely an art form to me. But as quilting and quilt show judging moves into a realm with a seriousness that borders on competitive sport, I think it’s also important to keep quilting accessible. A simple, yet effective quilt was what got me into quilting in the first place; and it was important to me not to forget my roots in this.
8. If you weren’t a quilter, what other creative endeavour would you like to master?
Wait, we’re limited to mastering one creative endeavour? (I don’t tend to read the instruction booklet...)
I write. I garden. I cook. Mastery? Well, I’d really like to be better at drawing so I could do character tableaus and interactions, but that’s mostly a case of practise making perfect. Unfortunately rather more practise than I have time to do right now.
9. What is your favourite kind of pie?
Apple pie. With real apples, a sugared crust, and dollops and dollops of cream. (Are you done with that cream bowl? Just hand it over, thanks!)
10.What holidays, traditions or religious occasions do you celebrate in your family at this time of year?
My family is Christian, so we usually attend whatever services we can reach (based on traffic and locality).
Christmas Day Lunch is the major celebration, though – early to the parentals’ house, opening presents, then the Christmas Day Lunch (with bonus relatives) and the post-lunch coma. In recent years, I’ve spent the afternoon/evening reading through the Yuletide Fic Archive, full of fanfiction about books and shows and movies that I love.
New Years’ Eve has been quiet the last few years, mostly because I’m a homebody and I don’t want to deal with drunk crowds. Easier to just stay home and sleep in the New Year!
11.Do you listen to music, watch television or prefer the hum of the sewing machine when you sew?
I don’t mind music, but I tend to forget to turn it on until just before I finish – so the hum of the sewing machine!
I tried watching TV while sewing, but I need to be able to see what’s happening – I can’t just let it play in the background.
12.What are your favourite types of blog posts to read?
The pattern posts. Definitely the pattern posts! People are so full of amazing ideas and designs – it’s a joy to watch the process unfold and a pleasure to come out saying “hey, I see how that would work!”
13. How important to you is learning a craft? How do you think we can keep the craft alive?
Arts and crafts are my sanity space – a chance to do something creative and tactile, more than the programming I do for work, or the reading and storytelling I enjoy in my other free time. So learning a craft is very important – an aesthetic outlet, and one focused on colour and pattern, both very much things that I like being able to develop and manipulate.
Encouragement. Making friends. Developing community on the social networks that quilters use – Instagram, Pinterest, FB and others.
14.If you had to pick any designer to sit down and chat or work with for the day who would it be and why?
Rashida Coleman-Hale, because she’s a successful woman of colour in the quiltblogging world and that’s unusual, but I really love her colours and designs, particularly with the Cotton+Steel line of fabrics. (And I’d ask for a sneak peek of the next “spring” line!)
15.What’s your favourite colour combination to work with and why? Two or three complementary colours and a contrast: the actual colours don’t matter too much as long as they’re very bright, very saturated colours.
And rainbows are always safe…
16.Do you have any quilting goals for 2015, what are they?
Make at least 3 scrap quilts.
Complete 4 WIPs.
Get all my ‘free’ quilt tops quilted (by me or a professional).
Publish a bag pattern and a quilt pattern.
…I think that’s it. There are probably more, but for the moment that’s all I got.
17.Do you prewash your quilting fabrics?
Nope. I used to – right at the start – but I didn’t really like the way it crumpled in the wash and wouldn’t iron out. And these days, I figure that the quality quilting cotton we have doesn’t need to be pre-shrunk the way it used to.
18.What’s the best quilting tip you ever got?
“Don’t overthink it. Just do it.”
Other than my roller blade and cutting ruler? My Clover open-sided thimble. Fits to my finger, perfect for handsewing.
I’m not much of a sewing gadgets person I’m afraid – the basics tend to do me quite nicely!
20.What are you hoping the festive season will bring for you?
A bit of peace and a breather. I’ve been running flat out for the last few months, so it would be nice to sit back and not have anything with a due date for a while!
graphics:
Thank you Sel for sharing with us!
Monday, 22 December 2014
Meet Blossom Heart Quilts
As the Christmas and New Year’s holidays are usually crazy busy with fun things, not all sewing related, many people take time off from blog posts. Still, for those of us that like to read during our time off Angie @ Gnome Angel came up with a way to provide something to read that doesn’t rely on actual sewing time.
Some of us from the from the facebook group Quilty bloggers and Instagrammers support group have been given 20 questions, and asked to answer at least 10, to showcase different quilters from the blogosphere. For this week and next I’ll be posting our answers and hoping you guys will enjoy meeting and reading more about other quilter bloggers.
Firstup is Alyce from Blossom Heart Quilts! Alyce can be found at:
Website/Blog: www.blossomheartquilts.com
Store: www.blossomheartquilts.com/pattern-store
Instagram: www.instagram.com/blossomheartquilts
Facebook: www.facebook.com/blossomheartquilts
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/alyceb
Twitter: www.twitter.com/blossomheartq
Flickr: www.flickr.com/people/sewblossomheart/
The Questions:
In other quilting experiences, I’m definitely proud of the writing opportunities that have come out of blogging – Make Modern (http://www.makemodern.com.au) and Craftsy blog (http://www.craftsy.com).
It was such a fun journey to get to the final design, and very precious to me as it was a gift for my best friend.
I think I’d have to pick Tea For Two (http://www.blossomheartquilts.com/pattern-shop/tea-two-pdf-quilt-pattern/) as my third one, as it really reflects my love for quilt math and sneaky-cool repetitive patterns. I have sketchbooks full of designs like this, that work on simple blocks repeated to make an effective, complex design. I’m excited that many will finally see the light of day next year!
These aren’t usually my colours – hello, brown?! But it’s gotten under my skin and I know I need to use it somehow.
Thank you Alyce for sharing with us!
Some of us from the from the facebook group Quilty bloggers and Instagrammers support group have been given 20 questions, and asked to answer at least 10, to showcase different quilters from the blogosphere. For this week and next I’ll be posting our answers and hoping you guys will enjoy meeting and reading more about other quilter bloggers.
Firstup is Alyce from Blossom Heart Quilts! Alyce can be found at:
Website/Blog: www.blossomheartquilts.com
Store: www.blossomheartquilts.com/pattern-store
Instagram: www.instagram.com/blossomheartquilts
Facebook: www.facebook.com/blossomheartquilts
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/alyceb
Twitter: www.twitter.com/blossomheartq
Flickr: www.flickr.com/people/sewblossomheart/
The Questions:
- How did you come to be a quilter?
- What is it that you love about being a quilter?
- What are you most proud of from your quilting experience?
- What’s the one piece of advice about quilting that all new quilters should know?
- What’s your 3 favourite quilts that you’ve made that reflect who you are as a quilter?
- If you weren’t a quilter, what other creative endeavour would you like to master?
- What is your favourite kind of pie?
- What holidays, traditions or religious occasions do you celebrate in your family at this time of year?
- Do you listen to music, watch television or prefer the hum of the sewing machine when you sew?
- What are your favourite types of blog posts to read?
- If you had to pick any designer to sit down and chat or work with for the day who would it be and why?
- What’s your favourite colour combination to work with and why?
These aren’t usually my colours – hello, brown?! But it’s gotten under my skin and I know I need to use it somehow.
- Do you have any quilting goals for 2015, what are they?
- Do you prewash your quilting fabrics?
- What’s the best quilting tip you ever got?
- Do you have any favourite tools that you love to use?
- What are you hoping the festive season will bring for you?
Thank you Alyce for sharing with us!
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