Since you started quilting......

Yes, yes, yes - to what you both wrote!!!!!

Someday I hope to be as good at it as you are. I've got one of your Evil Sue Swap blocks and I learned more about applique from looking at that block than I did from reading books. I wish you had a picture site so I could see more of your applique work. Debra in VA See my quilts at

You too! I get the feeling that we appliquers are few and far between, but that we do have more fun. Debra in VA See my quilts at

Yep - I can go from working on a Jacobean Tree of Life to a wild collection of lizards in five minutes. I just wish I had more time and better eyesight!

My goal for 2007 is to finish two WIP applique quilts and then give the others away as is. Bite the bullet time! If I am not going to finish them I should find them good homes (and then start something else of course)

That there are some beautiful fabrics I can't bear to cut, and I keep saving them for the "perfect" quilt. HA! Guess I don't want to lose the "potential" they seem to have.

And I am in awe of quilters like you and Debra!

What a great topic.

I am still relatively "new" - been a little more than 3 years since, as a way to resurrect my lapsed sewing skills, I took a "quilting for dummies" type project class that promised a complete, if small, quilted table runner. I was SO not really sure it would be my thing I did no prep or fabric shopping - there was a "buy a kit" option, so I did.

The biggest surprise is how intrigued I am by piecing and quilting. It's also the biggest "well duh, why is that a surprise?" as well. It's a surprise because - well, I would have thought "quilts aren't my style" before I made one. I live near Ontario Mennonite country, and while I've long admired the effort and art that goes into quilts I was familiar with, "country-charm" or "folk art" just aren't my aesthetic. So little did I know!

The reason my affection is not a surprise at all, is that I enjoy the process the same way I enjoy sewing. I actually enjoy the math, and the structural engineering of it all. I am an engineer by way of education, but the most I've used my mathematical-design inclinations and training is in my textile constructions. I love the geometrics, actually. I love starting with various sizes of simple shapes and coming out with colourfully blasting stars, spinning strips, all those things. Its a perfect fusion of math (which I love) and art (which I love). And it's art that I can do, unlike painting, photography, or poetry.

My second quilt, from about 3 years ago now when I took my next workshop (a few small practice pieces intervened) is still unfinished, as I've got some large-scale straight line quilting done but haven't yet had the inspiration to fill in more. I"ve more than once contemplated binding it as is and figuring it out later.

I've been > ...with whatever assumptions you came into it with, what has surprised you

I just started needle turn applique and I'm really enjoying it. I do believe I'm hooked!

Good topic!

My first quilt was finished in 1988, after starting it in 1987. It was a king-sized 45th anniversary quilt for my parents. I never want to work with avocado green again ;))

The construction and design processes of quiltmaking interest me. Playing with the math involved, and the colors, tweaking traditional patterns "jist a lil' bit" to get you to take a second look. People have said they can pick my pieces out of any show they are in.

I developed a fondness for the rich maroons and blues and still like them. But, since life-saving surgery 7 yrs ago, I twang things with reds and oranges.

And when I started quilt> ...with whatever assumptions you came into it with, what has surprised you

I don't know that I had any preconceived ideas regarding fabric or patterns. I had made two biscuit quilts for my boys 40 years ago (have no idea where they are now) and did them by hand.

My sister had become interested in quilting, but didn't have an eye for color. She asked me to help her pick out fabric and I began reading about quilts. She seems to have "given" me her interest in quilts because she doesn't seem to have it anymore. When my doctor delivered a diagnosis with which I was very unhappy, I decided I needed to make quilts for my children while I could.

My first quilt was a one-patch for my eldest adult son, queen-size with a high loft batting. I birthed it, tied it, and bound it all by hand. He loves that quilt and says it is going in his coffin with him. All my quilts are pieced by hand. I've made others because I needed practice before I made another for my children. I just finished one for another son.

I like formal quilts with only 3 or 4 colors, but after finishing the Nine O'Clock pattern on Quilters' Cache, I learned I didn't like making the same block over and over so I'm back to making symmetrical scrappy quilts. I still hate triangles and prefer squares and rectangles. I love Jinny Beyer fabric and every color of the rainbow, and try to include a solid in every quilt I make.

The best th> ...with whatever assumptions you came into it with, what has surprised you

When I started I wanted to just do hand work. But as I found more and more projects I wanted to do I moved toward machine work to get more done. I also started traditional and am moving more toward artsy. Because of arthritis in my hands I do almost no handwork anymore; in fact my friend tacks down my bindings for me and I do some other things for her in exchange. I started with trying to finish one project before starting another but soon learned it is better to have several projects in different stages so that I can switch at times. I love this topic.

Sigh. If only I could! Sigh... MAmadurk