Why do I Sew?

What an interesting question.  I had to think on this a little bit.  I've come to realize as an adult that many people have their "thing."  For some it's quilting, others photography, perhaps baking, or car repair, or...the possibilities are unlimited.

For me, quilting is my "thing."  If I go a while without doing some, I get cranky.  To me it's relaxing and rejuvenating and just what I need when I'm totally stressed out.

I also sew for the camaraderie of women.  It's such fun to get together and sew and chat and the things I have learned about life over the years could fill a book.

So that's why I sew.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

My Earliest Sewing Memory

My mom has sewn all her life.  She came into quilting during her honeymoon when my grandmother showed her my great grandmother's quilts.  I grew up sleeping under those quilts in the summer because they were so light weight.  

I remember my first trip to the fabric store to buy fabric for my first quilt.  It was at Minnesota Fabrics and I remember being so excited to pick my own.

I remember playing with my mom's triangle scraps and telling her how to sew them together.

I remember entering my first quilt show when I was a kid and going to see my quilt in the kid's exhibit.

I remember taking my first quilting class at a quilt show when I was in college and I've been hooked ever since on taking classes from national teachers.  It was a tessellation class from Jinny Beyer.

I remember standing with my mom in front of my quilt the first time I won a ribbon in Paducah and the sheer joy we both had!

These are some of my fond memories.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

My Fabric

This is my fabric storage closet.  It's 6 feet wide and just 12" of shelf space.  I sort by type of fabric (it's mostly batiks) and by color.  There are some prints on the bottom shelf you can't really see here.  I also have two bags of black and white prints as I can't stop buying them.  Can you tell I like bright colors?

I try to keep my fabric limited to this space.  EXCEPT...

I have a bureau which has a drawer of leather, a draw of hand-dyed, and a drawer of silk/specialty fabric.

I also have three bins of my Island Batik Ambassador fabric upstairs.

Oh and a pile of Tula that doesn't have a home at the moment.

I guess I need to do some sorting again.  But I'd rather quilt, so it will have to wait.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

My Least Favorite Color

When I did Bonnie Hunters On Ringo Lake Mystery a few years ago I actually had to buy brown.  I don't like brown.  I like CHOCOLATE brown, but that's it.  Every once in a while I find one I like and buy a piece, but as you can see most of my brown pile is creams.

I love this one though....so fun!

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

My Favorite Color...

It has to be ORANGE.  I love orange.  I thin kit's because it's so cheerful.  I love lemony orange, red orange, peachy orange.  But not gray orange.  It always make me smile.  It's my husbands least favorite color so my orange quilts tend to hang in my sewing room.  Lol.

Here's an orange shadow trapunto wholecloth I did once upon a time that hangs in my sewing room.

And an orange sunset quilt I made in a class.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Most Impactful Class

My most impactful classes are always free motion quilting classes.  This year I took my first one from Bethanne Nemesh and it was a game changer even though I've been doing this for a LONG time.  It was fantastic.  Here's some of what I stitched that day.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Top 5 Books

My top five books!  This was hard to pick.  Of course this one is my favorite...for obvious reasons!  It was such an adventure to write and publish and truly an accomplishment for me and a lifelong goal realized.

My two most recent purchases were in Houston and from Bethanne Nemesh.  She is a fantastic teacher and I highly recommend both her books and her classes.  Such fun!  This one, Quilted Textures from A to Zen is a fun filler pattern book.

This second one is all about feathers.  You can NEVER have too many feathers!

I love this book by Karlee Porter.  It's such a modern technique and very fun.

Phillipa Naylor is the queen of applique and this fantastic book explains a lot of her amazing techniques.

Susan Clevelend is extraordinary.  I also have her new Dresdens book I can't wait to play with.

There you have my top five.  What are some of your favorite quilting books?

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy