You learn a lot about what kind of person you are when you sew. My wonderful parents bought me my first sewing machine when I was 12 years old, and my journey into discovering what makes me tick began. You know what I learned? I hate to hand sew! Always have. That's one of the first things I figured out. I learned that I am the kind of person who loves to dream, but isn't always so good at finishing. I love speed, but despise tedious tasks. I get excited about finding new ways to do things, but get bored with a trail that is already blazed.
I spent the next 40 years (you know you just did the math to figure out how old I am!) finding ways to get sewing projects done fast, so I don't get bored with the tedium and move on without finishing, exercising that creative part of my brain to try to find ways to get out of slow, hand-work.
My journey started with baby steps. I remember being so excited when I figured out how to sew on buttons with the machine--and I didn't have a fancy-schmancy button foot back then, or the internet to tell me how to do that. Actually, I don't have a fancy button foot now, either. I still do it the way I discovered when I was a girl.
I spent the next 40 years (you know you just did the math to figure out how old I am!) finding ways to get sewing projects done fast, so I don't get bored with the tedium and move on without finishing, exercising that creative part of my brain to try to find ways to get out of slow, hand-work.
My journey started with baby steps. I remember being so excited when I figured out how to sew on buttons with the machine--and I didn't have a fancy-schmancy button foot back then, or the internet to tell me how to do that. Actually, I don't have a fancy button foot now, either. I still do it the way I discovered when I was a girl.
I suppose my distaste for hand sewing is why it took me over ten years to finish my first quilt, which I started it when I was a teenager. Of course, there were other factors conspiring against me, like the fact that I chose to do Grandmother's Flower Garden for my first quilt. Why didn't someone stop me?! There it is on the right. I finally finished it, all by hand--even the piecing. Wait! No! If you look very carefully, you will see one black flower on the lower left edge that is machine stitched because I just couldn't bear the thought of finishing this thing by hand! But, alas, I wasn't happy with the result, so I buckled down and kept quilting by hand, when I could convince myself to do it.
For this quick-and-dirty-diva, machine quilting was like a burst of sunlight exploding across the horizon! It opened such an exciting world of creativity and challenge to me. I now spend my free time dreaming of ways to streamline the quilting process, making creative use of the space I have available to work in, and creating beautiful things along the way.
If you are a couch-potato adrenalin junkie like I am (I use that term because I love the rush of finding a new way to quilt, but I have absolutely no intention of ever jumping out of anything higher than my bed!), I hope you find inspiration here. If nothing else, it gives me an outlet to write and dream with other people--two things I love to do. Enjoy!
For this quick-and-dirty-diva, machine quilting was like a burst of sunlight exploding across the horizon! It opened such an exciting world of creativity and challenge to me. I now spend my free time dreaming of ways to streamline the quilting process, making creative use of the space I have available to work in, and creating beautiful things along the way.
If you are a couch-potato adrenalin junkie like I am (I use that term because I love the rush of finding a new way to quilt, but I have absolutely no intention of ever jumping out of anything higher than my bed!), I hope you find inspiration here. If nothing else, it gives me an outlet to write and dream with other people--two things I love to do. Enjoy!