Today I want to discuss the role of quilting in your life.

For me, quilting is my business. It is my bread and butter. It puts food on the table and gas in the furnace. Most importantly, it pays for my addictions. Yes, I’ve said it. I am addicted to fabric. And, silly me, I just tried out a new craft, card making and I think I could become addicted to that too, but more on that another day.

As you know, I am a long arm quilter. I stitch the layers of quilts together for other people. There is a real satisfaction when someone gasps in happy astonishment when I layout their newly quilted project for their viewing. Occasionally they tell me that they hated the quilt before dropping it off, but love it now. I guess that means I must have done something right.

This week, one customer told me that she hated the quilt when she dropped it off, but doesn’t hate it as much now that it was quilted. I’m damned with faint praise. Actually, she was quite pleased, but like all of us, simply had a project whose results didn’t quite rise to its expectations. I am glad that she felt it improved. She’s gone from throwing it away, to giving it away. That’s a huge jump.

I am also a pattern designer. When I finally admitted to myself that I was incapable of finishing a pattern without altering the layout, borders, or entire design, I decided that maybe I should just do my own thing. Sometimes I can create without a pattern. I just pick out the fabrics and make it up as I go along. Usually, I sketch something out and go from there. Occasionally, I design in EQ7. It’s a fabulous program. But usually I have a basic image in my head before I hit the computer. If I don’t, I end up with dozens of variations on a theme, none of them quite right.

But to me, the most important part of this whole quilting thing is the quilting itself. Now by that I don’t mean the stitching of the layers together. I mean the whole deal. Choosing fabrics, stroking fabrics, designing layouts, selecting colors, cutting, piecing and quilting. Yup, I even enjoy binding now that I have it figured out. The whole thing is like breathing to me. Rarely does a day go by without me working on one project or another. It might be cutting, or a little sewing. On vacation, I wasn’t able to quilt at all, but that didn’t stop me from taking pictures of floors, woodwork, tiling, and other things which might translate into a quilt design. You should see the floors in the Louvre!

Lately, its been mostly hand work. I’ve got a couple of hand applique projects on the go and I like puttering away on them while resting in the evening.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What drives your quilting? What motivates and inspires you?