Some Things You Didn't Know About Quilters...

Hi I'm Janice and I'm a quilter (GASP!).

I decided to start this blog because, like many of you who love your hobby, I like to talk about it and blogging gives people options (unlike the poor souls that I have cornered in the store, at games, at parent conferences...you know who you are and I WON'T apologize. You could have run...).

My husband suggested that I start off by telling you some things about quilters that you may not know. These are my opinions only–feel free to comment–especially all the little white-haired ladies hunched over a quilting frame that I just mortally offended...but I digress.

As you might have guessed, quilters are of all ages and with varied skill sets, NOT just little old ladies with white hair hunched over a quilting frame. I just saw a quilt on the Quilter's Forum that I belong to that an 11-year-old girl in Ireland made. It was GORGEOUS. A lot of us have kids in school and full-time jobs. We quilt...therefore we work!

We are hoarders and junkies. Ask any quilter about his/her fabric stash and you will probably get this furtive look and a 'Don't tell my spouse, but I just bought 10 yards of this great fabric. I don't know what I will do with it, but I better hide it...he/she thinks I have enough fabric...'

We get our fabric home and we pet it. Yes we do, AND we talk to it..."Oooh you are so pretty. Oooh what pattern will I use on you? Oooh I have just the right match!' (Or 'No I don't, time to go hit the fabric store!').

We have UFOs (UnFinished Objects). At least one, maybe several. They make us feel guilty. There are actually quilt challenges on finishing UFOs. Why do we have them? Because the project seemed like a good idea at the time, but somehow we just couldn't get it done.

We LOVE to share and we love to teach. Fabric sales going on, new patterns (as long as we don't violate copyright laws of which there are many!), new techniques, the best types of sewing machines–you name it, we'll share it.

We do a lot of donations–Quilts of Valor, Project Linus, Alzheimer's Art Quilts, Binky Patrol and many more. We make quilts, blankets, pillowcases, squares and we either do it on our own or through a quilt guild.

And lastly (although there are lots of things about quilters!), we tend to work on several projects at once. Our motto is 'Too Many Quilts, Too Little Time!"

So there you have it. I will try to post one blog a week about different topics in quilting, including my own ongoing projects, funny stories from my quilting board, some history about quilting, etc. If there is something you'd like me to blog about, send me a comment.

Oh and I posted a picture of one of my completed projects. It's hand-appliqued and hand-quilted. The black and white borders were machine-pieced. It's my own design but inspired by J. Michelle Watts 'Fiesta de Talavera' quilt.

"People see your quilts, NOT your housework!"