My Quilting Story

I have a passion for quilting. I have been quilting since the early 1990's. I began my journey with fabric when I took my first fibers class in college. I was hooked. I loved dying fabric and screen printing on fabric. I just didn't know what to "do" with the fabric once I created it.

I decided I wanted to learn to quilt. I began cutting it into squares and sewing them back together on my mother's 1969 Viking. I didn't know anything about 1/4" seams, rotary cutters or even how to thread the machine. I was a little lost. I went to my local quilt shop and signed up for my first beginning machine quilting class. A mistake on my part, it should have been beginning machine piecing. I then purchased a book and attempted to make a quilt the correct way. Then another book and another. I gained the confidence to take another class. I watched Alex Anderson on Simply Quilts and years later I finally created a quilt with matching seams.

I continued piecing and was continually amazed when it turned out the way it was supposed to. Then came the quilting part. Machine quilting was very terrifying for me. I didn't want to ruin my quilt tops and I didn't want to pay someone else to do the work. I found that I just needed to practice with the machine. I have done a lot of practicing and I have listened to the tips of many talented and experienced quilters. I have quilted miles and miles of thread and I continue to practice. I love to machine quilt. I love to listen to my machine, it almost becomes meditative to me.

Today I have returned to creating my own fabric and I create art quilts. I still use some commercial fabrics and I still occasionally create pieced quilts. I love fabric and stitch and I love sharing my creations with others. I love my fabric journey.