Around the World Blog Hop

By now you’ve probably seen lots of posts for this hop.  I have enjoyed reading everyone’s responses and getting to know more about other quilters from literally all corners of the world!  Many thanks to CeLynn, from CeLynn’s Sunflower Patch, for inviting me to participate.  CeLynn and I have been online friends for quite a while and finally met in person last year in Las Vegas for the Riley Blake Fabric Fest!  Lately she’s been sewing the most gorgeous bags and is such a pro she is probably able to tell different types of interfacing apart blindfolded! 

I never saw a sewing machine in person my entire childhood, never took home economics in school, and didn’t learn to sew until I was nearly 30 years old.  I was pregnant with our first daughter and wanted to learn to sew her clothes (true!).  My husband got me a sewing machine for Christmas and I couldn’t tell a bobbin from a bobbin winder from a bobbin case.  I had no idea what I was looking at in the diagrams, so I called my husband in for back up.  He couldn’t make rhyme or reason of the manual either, and to this day, after 10+ years of marriage, trying to figure out the “bobbin” was the only fight we’ve ever had!  Luckily a Parks and Rec Sewing 101 class was able to rescue our marriage.

Sewing clothes for a baby proved a little too daunting for me (and still is, although I’ve made a few simple clothes for the kids), so one day I bought a quilting magazine at Joann’s and the rest is history.  It was hard to find time to sew those first few years when I was still working full-time and had two children.  But now with three kids, I stay home and have a lot more time for sewing and creating.  My family and my kids always come first, but sewing is a very, very close second!!!  Sewing is a hobby I share with my kids.  They each have their own workspace in my sewing room & help with everything from snipping threads to pressing seams to designing blocks, so it’s truly a family affair!

My work doesn’t really differ from what anyone else makes or is capable of making.  I can say with authority that I only like quilting.  I don’t think I’ll ever make many more clothes other than simple pajama pants or skirts, and bags are really out of the question.  I like my sewing like I like my men, fast and easy!  I want all parts of a project to be “me” so I like to pick the fabric, tweak the pattern, and do the quilting myself. 

I’m not sure why, but nothing in sewing has ever come easy to me.  I still break needles, sew the binding strips together wrong, and constantly get my rows mixed up despite labeling them very clearly and double checking and still sewing them in the wrong order. 

I’m not working on any projects right now.  I just finished up two smaller projects and am getting ready to make two quilts for September birthdays in our family.  And I’ll probably keep working on using up my scraps as much as possible.  Here’s a sneak peak of my latest finish.

Now, if you will be so kind, please check out Izzy’s blog Dizzy Quilts.  She is an amazing quilter!  I’m not sure how we met, but her Schnibbles are what had me hooked on reading her blog!  She does her own quilting, too, and most recently her beautifully quilted Nested Churn Dash inspired me to make my own.

Have a great week!