Because my mom periodically undergoes chemo treatments and the like, she has times where she’s stuck in bed. In hopes of breaking up her monotony, I whipped up a little green quilt top for her to quilt. She’d never quilted before, but my passion for it had interested her. We’d let it go for a couple years, but when I was visiting her this last weekend she asked about working on it.

So we got out the bag of supplies–a small frame, a marking pencil, a couple stencils, and the needle & thread.

After looking at the stencils for a while, she decided that she’d prefer doing cookie-cutter hearts. So we got out her heart-shaped cookie cutter and laid it (sharp side up, so we didn’t hurt the fabric) on the quilt.

As it turned out, the cutter fit perfectly in the corner of the pattern. She traced along the inside and rotated the cutter back and forth as the dark cloth zig-zagged. She only marked one line of color, hopefully it won’t wear off before she’s quilted them.

While I was there, she quilted the first heart. (It was weird, since I didn’t have any sewing with me and kept itching to quilt something myself.) It was the first time she’d quilted something by doing more than tying at the corners.

Her stitches were a little uneven, but the heart was definitely a heart and it looked quilt good for a beginner. I’m looking forward to see how the quilt turns out!

Hi! I’m fletch. I’m 23 and have been quilting since I was 15. I’ve been sewing since I can remember, perhaps since I was old enough to thread a needle and jab it through a sock, but didn’t learn how to use a machine until I was 13. I love working with fabric and I especially love quilting.

Unlike many, I didn’t learn how to quilt from a friend or relative. I decided I wanted to quilt, so I checked out a copy of Quilting for Dummies, got a ride to Joann’s, and just went for it!

While I have a sewing machine and serger, which I use for my other projects, I’ve found that I prefer to piece and quilt by hand. I’m an on-the-go sort of piecer–I pieced in class all through college, I piece in the car, I piece in front of the tv, I piece while reading a good book. And I quilt using plain old hoops with the quilt on the couch or chair all around me. Sometimes I watch tv or listen to an audiobook while quilting and sometimes I just plain piece.

I also love the process as much as the product. It’s glorious to feel the fabric in my hands. And while it slows me down and limits me in some ways, it also allows me to feel closer to the quilts than I do to the ones I created using a machine.

So that’s me–what about the site?

The site has a three-fold purpose. First, I’ve been working harder at documenting my quilting. I’ve made and given away so many quilts without even a photograph to remember them by. Second, I want a place where I can put pictures of my quilts and point people who ask about them. And third, I’m a blogger and I love meeting up with other people who have the same interests. So this is a place for me to have fun writing about something I enjoy and meeting people.

I’m not yet sure how often I’ll post. It probably won’t be more than once a week. I have other blogs and I’m not a very speedy quilter (the whole “by hand” thing), but I plan to touch base about once a week. More often if I’m working on something small or exciting.

(if you’ve read the About page you’ll see that this post is an exact duplicate. I thought it’d be a good way to start off. Thanks for reading! )