Hello everyone! We're celebrating National Sewing & Quilting Month all September long! We also created an exclusive Color of My Heart Quilt Pattern for you! Now it's time to see what our bloggers have been creating in their sewing rooms this week. Here's our weekly recap!
First, let's welcome AnneMarie of Gen X Quilters! Earlier this summer, she embarked on creating her first Wiksten tank. So, she decided to she challenge herself to add bias tape accents and create the tank in chambray fabric. We absolutely love this and it's perfect for everyday wear!
Question: How did you start quilting?
AnneMarie: When pregnant with my first son, I decided I wanted to make him a quilt. I had been gifted a sewing machine for Christmas that year, but it hadn't even made it out of the box. I absolutely cannot tell you why I chose a quilt. I may have remembered trying to make a patchwork blanket for my dog growing up - but it never made its way past a bunch of cut up squares. I had no idea what I was doing (i.e. it's not really a quilt - I didn't know to quilt it), but somehow I was uber-proud of my completed Winnie-the-Pooh Joann's flannel blanket.
We're so happy to have Melissa of Happy Quilting come and join us for National Sewing and Quilting Month! And she surprised all of us with 3-D sewing or garment making with creating Frozen-inspired Anna and Elsa capelets. Don't they look adorable?
Question: When was the first time you knew that you were a quilter?
Melissa: I think I considered myself a quilter after designing my own quilt for my first tutorial, Snuggle Squares, that was hosted at the Moda Bake Shop. It was my first time not following a pattern of someone else's and really putting myself out there. It was scary and wonderful all at the same time. Snuggly Squares received such wonderful feedback and I knew it was the start of hobby turned passion.
Next we have the dynamic duo, Barb and Mary of Me and My Sister Designs joining us. Mary told us that she loves working with color and Barb loves to collect fabric.
Barb took on our challenge and created our Coffee Koozie in their LOL collection.
Melanie of I Heart Stitching loves to be crafty! Her YouTube tutorials are so much fun and anyone can sew along with her. For her #fqschallenge, she was inspired by Anna Maria Horner's Mod Corsage Block and created her own version.
Question: Do you have any sewing faux pas?
Melanie: There was this one time that I was trying to free motion a quilt. I was new at quilting, but I just couldn't get the tension right, even though I had been successful with a few quilts. Something wasn't right. I spent hours... I mean hours, troubleshooting. And it turns out to be a defective bobbin! I wanted to scream with frustration and at the same time be happy that I wasn't crazy. That bobbin went straight to the trash! Bad bobbin!
Jana of Jana Machado faced her fear of creating garments and sewed up this adorable little girl's skirt for her daughter in the Nouvelle collection by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics.
Jana also made two versions of our Color of My Heart quilt block!
Sherri of A Quilting Life created this adorable Sew Together Bags. This bag was a little daunting at first with its four zippers, but Sherri decided to give it a try and made six of these lovely things!
Question: When was the first time you knew that you were a quilter/sewer?
Sherri: When I was sixteen, I started my first job at Cloth World. We were allowed to cut fabric that we wanted and leave it under the counter until pay day. That's when I knew that I was definitely a sewer... I spent everything except what I needed for gas money on fabric. I really started quilting a lot when I was about 27 or 28 and haven't stopped since.
Vickie of Spun Sugar Quilts has sewn since she was eight years old and considers herself a pretty advanced sewer. So when we challenged her to try something new, she decided to tackle the Hour Glass Mini Post Card Pattern. Each hour glass block finished at 2" blocks (how tiny!).
Question: What advice would you give someone who's just starting out in sewing/quilting?
Vickie: My advice to a new quilter - don't be afraid of using the colors you love. The ones you love might change and that's okay too. Take a few classes at the LQS or online and practice, practice, practice.
Last but not least, we have Amy of Amy's Creative Side joining us. She challenged herself in creating a quilt from batiks and going beyond neutral colors in her quilt. She's currently working on her project but gave us a sneak peek of her fabric choice!
Question: How did you start quilting and sewing?
Amy: I learned to sew garments as a girl. I've always loved fabrics and thread, and was begging my mom, a seamstress, to learn early in life. Later when I started having kids - we have four - I was drawn to quilts and taught myself to quilt. It's been a slippery slope ever since!
Don't forget to check out everyone's blog for more pictures and Q&A about their sewing and quilting adventures. Here is next week's line up of bloggers
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September 15th, 2014
Michele from Quilting Gallery
September 16th, 2014
September 17th, 2014
September 18th, 2014
September 19th, 2014
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ReplyDeleteAnother great week! Looking forward to joining in :)
ReplyDeleteTHANKS for the great pattern. But I have a question.
ReplyDeleteHow can 2 - 5" charms yield 2 - 5" HST's??? I thought if you wanted a 4 1/2" finished HST then you would need to start with 5 3/8" square. (4 1/2" finished HST + 7/8")
THANKS,
Dianne