WHY DO YOU QUILT?

A Question Often Asked

Treasure Hunt 

I've had this post rattling around in my head for a while, something has always stopped me writing it, I'm not sure what really but now in the midst of 'isewlation' due to this horrid Coronavirus outbreak it seems like a good time to finally get it out. For those of you that have read the dreaded 'C' word and immediately got put off - it is the only time it appears here.


What on earth are you doing? What's the point in cutting up perfectly good pieces of fabric into smaller pieces and sewing it back together? Why do you even want to do that?

Honest questions that I get asked all the time, mostly on holiday or on the train when I am desperately trying to grow my EPP project that should have been finished in May 2019:

Questions that are usually followed by 'oooh I just wouldn't have the patience'. Historically quilting was far more utilitarian born out of a need to keep warm at night but with little resource and scare supplies, so any small piece of fabric that could be used, was added to another until larger pieces were made and then turned into quilts. Nowadays though for a lot of people, this isn't the case, blankets can be bought in all forms and fabric is available in abundance - so why do we quilt?

I've long been of the opinion that buying fabric and making anything out of it, in my case quilts, are two entirely separate hobbies, unfortunately my poor husband is still very much in denial about this - the fabric collecting is something I will have to tackle in another post, #tulapink is all I can say!

I thoroughly enjoy the whole process of selecting a quilt block or pattern based on who I'm making it for or why I'm making it, choosing fabrics and colours that bring the quilt to life and then there is the making process - watching as each little section gets bigger and starts to take shape, eventually becoming a completed quilt top.

I've made all sorts of quilts from lap size to king size, machine pieced, paper pieced (my fav!), group quilts, baby quilts, wedding quilts and everything in between. I'm also lucky enough to have made several custom quilts and commissions, something I am very proud of and continue to do.

There are lots of creative things I could do though, so why do I make quilts? It's simple really - to combat loneliness, by somehow feeling connected to like minded and other fabric loving people like me.

I moved to the UK when I was 13 years old, I left my friends, my culture, the sunshine and everything I'd ever known on the other side of the world in South Africa, a severe shock to the system is an understatement. I started school in September 1998 in Year 9 - another severe shock to the system, where I'm from it's quite common to go to Nursery then move to Primary School and then to Secondary School without the people in your class, however when I moved here I learnt that more often than not everyone goes to the same Nursery then to the same Primary School etc so by the time I joined in Year 9 at the age of 13, many had already been together for a very long time. 

It wasn't that people were necessarily unfriendly but it was very apparent that they already had their friends and on top of that I was different, I spoke funny, I didn't know about the popular things or have the right sized waistline or celebrity crushes - PJ and Duncan could have been a takeaway place for all I knew, so it was both a daunting and lonely time.

  

My best friend lives on the other side of the world, she always has, thankfully we're both able to travel (as I am writing this draft I'm sitting in the glorious sunshine in her beautiful garden) and use WhatsApp, Facebook etc now but it's not the same, she's my person and I miss her everyday. We speak all the time but it is still very lonely, I've always felt lonely so I guess I was looking for something that would help me notice her absence a little less. 

I've long believed that any form of craft or doing something that makes you happy, is great for ones well-being and mental health and I think that this is even more important in today's society where so many people have forgotten how to simply be kind to each other.

I started my quilting journey by doing a beginners class where I met some fantastic ladies, a few of us went on to do a slightly more advanced course where we met a couple more and the five of us are still firm friends, meeting once a month for our own stitch and bitch. We even have our own mini retreats where we rent a beautiful cottage somewhere in the country - usually in the vicinity of at least one quilting shop and have a 'sew in' for four days, we've had three so far, this year marks our 8th as a completely mad bunch of quilting friends, we were a group of six but sadly we lost our friend Sue a few years ago.

These wonderful women who I am very proud to call my friends are so inspirational, I've learnt so much from them and continue to do so, they are supportive and encouraging and I honestly wouldn't be half the quilter I am today if it hadn't been for them.

So why do I quilt?

Because it feeds my soul, I love creating, I love learning and I enjoy spending time with like minded people, who despite what life might throw up enjoy making beautiful things to reflect their joy and colour. There are so many great books out there dedicated to why people quilt, looking at all aspects across many histories and I have read many of them, but most recently Thomas Knauer released Why We Quilt and I honestly couldn't put it down - cover to cover it is fantastic, the images are beautiful and each story is so wonderfully unique that each person who reads this book will relate to something in it.

So that's my story, that's why I love to quilt, if you'd like to share your story please do get in touch. You can see all my quilting adventures in pictorial from on Instagram @thatssewkerry 

Happy Quilting

Kerry xx 

TIME FLIES

12 Months On

I can't believe it's been over a year since I last wrote a blog post! I was walking around Festival of Quilts a little over a week ago thinking it's been a good few months since I've blogged and I quite miss it, only to log on and realize it's actually been more than a year  - how time flies!

So much has happened since my last post it'll take all day to catch you up but in brief we got the dream house and said room is filled to bursting with fabric, we got married 6 weeks ago - can't say it's quite sunk in yet but I'm loving wife life,we've got 2 little fur babies keeping us very busy and 30 sleeps until honeymoon! And in between all of that I've been quilting up a storm.

There were so many gorgeous quilts on display at FOQ this year I couldn't possibly pick 1 favourite but this one really was so beautiful to see in real life  - it was huge! I don't do a great deal in solids, I'd really like to get better at that and actually have a few things in the pipeline that are going to be predominantly solid based, but I am such a sucker for a good print, especially if it can be fussy cut!

Everything about this quilt was just gorgeous, the actual quilting of it was breath taking and certainly something to aspire to. It's one of the many things on my list to practice and improve on, I'm good at free motion embroidery and have got years of experience in doing that, I just need to get my act together and modify those skills to use in a quilting capacity - she says.

There were as always far to many quilts to take photos of and inspect as closely as I would have liked - I'm seriously considering going for 2 days next year, but here are a few that caught my eye.

A whole range of styles and techniques, some of which I have tried and continue to use and some that I've only admired from a far but are definitely on my wish 'to do' list. I liked all of these for different reasons, colours, shapes, design they all offered something unique and were all so very different. I'm considering entering something in next years show, I might start smaller though with a more local show maybe to build up my confidence as this would be completely new to me.

When the Aves Quilt was all the rage I signed up to that and have all the patterns for it, they are all beautifully saved in a folder on my computer and that's as far as i got with it. I've followed a few people on Instagram who have been religiously sticking to the block a week program and some of them are really good, but this one at festival was on a whole other level! Not only is the quilt gorgeous as it is, but the secondary pattern of the kingfisher is just something else.

Breathtaking right? 

Those of you who are familiar with my work and me will know that I have a serious problem when it comes to fabric, I didn't disappoint at Festival and my usual trick of saving from the very next day in my special Festival only pot worked a treat again! I bought far to much to list in this post but will definitely be referring to those purchases in future posts - and yes I'm going to work really hard to make sure there are more frequent posts - this year!  

I hope you've enjoyed hearing from me again and if you're new thank you for stopping by, I hope you will do so again.

Happy Quilting
Kerry xx

A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING

Everything In Its Place

I'm quite late to the party with this one as it seems to have been all the rage circa 2016, but you know me I'm not very good at following trends!

When I first saw these popping up on Instagram I loved the idea of them but thought that's going to take an absolute age to make and mine won't end up looking like that. Now I know nobody likes a know-it-all but I was right, it was very time consuming and not a quick make but this was partly down to the modifications I made which meant mine did not end up looking like many of the others I'd seen!

I actually finished it quite a few weeks ago but I am only just getting round to telling you about it - I know I've been quiet for far to long, life's just got in the way of everything at the moment. Wedding planning is not for wimps #truth and it's also not the best idea to buy a new house at the same time, unless it has got as many bedrooms as ours does that can be filled with fabric! 

Although just blogging about it now I've been using my Everything In Its Place/A Place For Everything Bag for a little while, so at least now I can tell you about it and give it a little review as I go.

Firstly don't be put off by all the zips and pockets they make the bag extremely versatile and so functional especially if you travel quite a lot, want to be able to take your sewing with you on the go or just have it altogether while you're watching Netflix.

Secondly the bag appears to have 2 names 'Everything In Its Place Bag' or 'A Place For Everything' if you buy the pattern from By Annie. Annie Unrein offers the pattern as part of her class Sew Sturdy Travel Organisers on Craftsy and I can not recommend it enough, if you are able to splurge on the class you definitely should, I bought it especially for the A Place For Everything Bag but it does have a rather useful looking hanging cosmetics bag as well.

I mentioned already that I stalked Instagram a lot before I even attempted to make my version, particularly Misha Makes whose feed is super inspiring and her photos (above) are great to follow when making this bag. I've got to thank the lovely Hannah who very kindly talked me through her photos to get my modifications spot on and I'd also recommend having a good read of this post by Bloomin' Workshop. 

The Everything In Its Place Bag has become my EPP bag - it was always my intended purpose for it as I'm embarking on a massive, really special EPP project (stay tuned for more on this) but you can use it for whatever you like. In mine are all my EPP supplies and everything I need for a spot of Fussy Cutting.

The bag is made up of removable 'pages', both the pattern and the class show you how to make 2 pages and most examples out there follow this, I have 3 in mine because it suited my needs and as they are attached using Velcro you can add or remove them as you wish. The pattern includes various options and sizes of the pockets to pick and choose from, so it's worth spending some time planning what you want to use your bag for in order to determine what pocket configuration will suit your needs.

This is the layout and combination that worked best for me but the possibilities are endless, as you can see I went totally off script adding a 3rd page with major modifications pocket wise - I added another smaller mesh pocket with a zip and added a bigger vinyl pocket on the top half of the other side, specifically to keep acrylic templates in, some of which are quite large. 

Other modifications I made were to cover all my zips, add a base fabric under the Velcro to hide all the stitch lines and raw edges and to add a fabric panel to the 'top' page to neaten it off and make it pretty. I also had a go at adding a fabric string to hold my big spools of thread on - I used the smallest poppers I could find to keep it attached but they are still to big to fit through the middle of the thread so these will need looking at again.

I've been quiet but not idol over the several months that I've been MIA so I have got lots to tell you about in the pipeline that will hopefully make blogging a more regular part of my weekly routine! 

If you have made or are planning to make your own Place For Everything Bag get in touch and share your ideas - I could always be tempted to make another one.......

Happy Quilting

Kerry xx