Quilters Meet & Greet

After years of selling her quilt designs online, Benita from Victoriana Quilt Designs started a blog and is enjoying discovering the blogland quilting community. She is so excited that for the month of September she has set up a Quilters Meet & Greet and has invited several others to share a little info about our quilting adventures, so here goes.

Sea Glass

I don’t remember a time when quilts were not a part of my life. It is a bond that I happily share with my mother, many of my ancestors, and a circle of family and friends.

As a young girl, I remember crawling under the quilt frame that was set up in the kitchen as mom, aunts and friends stitched and chatted above me. Lying on the floor and looking up, it was like being in a fantastic tent with the ‘ceiling’ pattern changing as stitches were lovingly added to the hum of their chit-chat and laughter.

In my teens and twenties I made quilts for friends, honing my machine skills, including a king-sized wedding gift for my brother and his new bride. That thing was HUGE!

Goose Tracks

I came to my love of hand piecing thanks to Sigrid, a good friend of my sister Betty. A beautiful stitcher, she had a wonderful colour sense and was a huge Jinny Beyer fan.

She made me see how relaxing it is to just sit and sew without a machine. She also revealed that the richness of the final product often lies in a myriad of prints, generating lots of interest (and the opportunity to buy lots of different fabrics!). Goose Tracks is the first quilt that I made after her sudden passing and it is still a sentimental favourite.

Minnie

So, I slip between hand stitching and machine stitching, depending on my mood and the pattern; some call out to be hand stitched more than others.

My latest hand stitching infatuation seems to be hexies. I have been working on Minnie for a few years now; it is based on an old Welsh pattern and is made of 5/8" hexies. Stitching it feels like knitting to me.

Anna Levens

Last year I gave EPP a try when I started to work on Anna Levins. I have to say that I much prefer just sewing the hexies without the papers but I couldn’t figure out how else to get a clean frame around those beautiful floral centres. But that’s part of the learning, isn’t it? 

6.25" Thorn of Crown blocks from trimmings

And I love scraps, seemingly the smaller the better. I have a tough time throwing even the tiniest pieces away and they often end up becoming the impetus for new projects.

My sewing room

Most times my sewing room is one small step from total disaster, but it’s how I work. My fabrics are sorted by colour - and in a few cases by theme (Christmas) - so it’s easy to see things without having to dig into bins. Once my ‘favourite niece’ asked if I thought I had hoarder tendencies - can you believe it??? 😉

Sweets for the sweet

The Official Cookie Tester is always on hand to sample baked goods when I need a break from stitching and, to be honest, I think he quite enjoys his responsibility.

Candied Hexagons in the hoop

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Roberta at Cocoa and Quilts, my longarm quilter. Having grown up in a family of hand quilters it took me a while to come around to the notion of having some of my quilts machine quilted, but I am such a poky quilter (I always have a quilt in the hoop but it tends to stay there for a good year or two) that if my pieces are ever to be slept under I had to adapt. Roberta’s work is so precise and perfect, and our visits just make my day. Her little dog Ivy is pretty sweet too.

Betty's Fruit Salad

My blog has opened up a world of inspiration that I had never imagined - it amazes me that I can check in on quilters around the world. And I also look forward to sharing the beautiful work of my circle of creative family and friends. Seeing this wonderful craft live on is good for my soul.

Pumpkin Patch at Midnight

Bonita has created a great contest for the Meet & Greet that will run all month long. Every blog you visit gives you another entry for the Great Grand Prize (only 1 entry per blog) so be certain to visit the other guest bloggers.

Thanks so much for stopping by....M

My other favourite 'stash'

p.s. It may come as no surprise that my favourite tea is made by Stash 😉.