why do YOU quilt?

JudyL had some thought provoking questions that I thought I might answer for this post. Follow the link and you can play along too.


1. Why do you quilt?
Because I can. I really enjoy sewing but have no desire to make clothing and do little in the way of home dec stuff. I used to do a bit of both and may again but quilts, it is. I don't garden and I'm a home body so it satisfies my need to create. It allows me to play with colors, designs and try a new pattern or technique I have spotted. Since I make a lot of quilts for children in need, I feel led to quilt.


2. How long have you been quilting?
Since '87 when I took a couple of beginner classes in a smalal town adult ed program from my mom and a friend of hers. The years since I have "retired" have been the most productive though.

3. What made you start quilting? See above, LOL. It was something I had always wanted to try and my mom looked like she was having a good time with it. Rotary cutters and doing template free stuff is the way to fly!

4. What sewing machine do you use mostly for piecing?
Well, I foundation piece with my Viking 500 mostly because I can see what I am doing better and the thing sew a bit tight. Regular piecing? My Brother Innovis-450. Love that needle threader!

5. What machine do you use mostly for quilting? Again, that Viking 500.


6. If you could have any sewing machine you want -- money isn't an issue -- just get anything you want . . what would you get? Probably a short arm Brother just for quilting. I basically just need something to go forwards and backwards.

7. When you buy a sewing machine, how long do you expect you'll keep it? Til a newer and bigger and better model comes out? Til the old one refuses to make another stitch? Definitely till the other one would sew no more. I will be in mourning if that Viking ever gives up the ghost.

8. On a scale of 1 - 10, how much do you love your stash? (10 means you LOVE it! 1 means you'd get rid of it all today if you could!) 8, I would say. There are some color holes that could use plugging but I am in no rush till some of it moves on out of here. Mostly I need backing fabrics as I have a lot of fats and half yards but not a lot of significant yardage./

9. Why do you have the stash? How did it come about? Why is it the size that it is? I have a stash because you have to have something to work with and I have been at this for 21 yrs, after all. People (mostly my mom) know I make donation quilts and I am given stuff from their stash as they weed it out or share. The size? It fits my available space but can't take much more in the way of additions.

10. When we talk about "stashbusting", what are your thoughts? Use every crumb of the stash? Use as much stash as you add? Shop the stash first but don't feel bad if you have to go buy additional fabric for a project? Don't mind buying for a project but not buying just for the purpose of having the fabric . . with no project in mind?
I fall in the shop the stash first and add more if I need a certain color to pull it all together. I have been making row robins for the last three years and that usually means you have to find something that will go with THEIR tastes. I no longer buy much "just to have fabric"--I collect 30's stuff so that might be the only exception but I have personal projects planned for those so it will be used. Buying into the stashbusting concept sort of cures you of buying for buying sake, that and being on a fixed income. That is not to say that I don't love some of the new lines coming out, just that I rarely indulge.

That's it for me. Play along if you are inclined.