Welcome to My Pieced Life! I am a new blogger and novice quilter. I started quilting about 3 ½ years ago. I have been putting off starting a blog for a couple of years. After much encouragement, I finally decided to start documenting my quilts and the process. As part of my New Year’s resolution, I decided that I would blog at least once a week – so far so good. I still struggle with making the time to blog, versus using that time to be quilting. I have joined the fabric fast at Fabriholics Anonymous, so time that I may have spent searching for fabric sales is now devoted to blogging. I have really enjoyed blogging. The blogging and quilting community are some amazing, supportive people.
Little bit about me:
- I teach high school social studies and have been a teacher for 17 years. Translation: I have summers off to quilt.
- I am married to an amazing man. My husband really encouraged me to embrace quilting as a hobby and explore opportunities. He is more than willing to stop at quilt shops, listen to my latest ideas, and try to come up with solutions for my quilting issues. Here are the quilt holders he made for me. This extends “his arms” to hold my quilts wide enough to take pictures.
- My dog, Carson, is usually by my side when I quilt. He hangs out in my sewing room. Granted he does get a treat when we go to my sewing room. He is tolerant of random threads and scraps falling on him or hanging from his fur.
- I like to use bright bold colors and lots of white. In the past year, I have gone through 2 bolts of Moda Bella Solids Bleached White 9900-97.
- I am a fan of pretty much any fabric line from Bonnie & Camille, Sweetwater, Tasha Noel, Aneela Hoey, Tula Pink and Kate Spain’s Christmas lines.
- I long arm quilt my projects rather than quilt on my home machine. I have only quilted a sewing mat, a few mug rugs, and a couple of pot holders. Basting a quilt scares me. I have so much respect for those that do free-motion quilting on a home sewing machine.
- In the past 2 years, I have learned how to long arm quilt. Last summer, I worked at a long arm quilting shop part-time. It was a great learning experience. I am almost to the point that I can load, program the computer, and quilt without any assistance. There really are a lot of different aspects to learn and enjoy the challenge.
- I hate ripping. There have been times that I have thrown the block away and started over rather than ripping. I have a 3x ripping rule. If I don’t get it right by the 3rd time, it stays because it was meant to be.
- I watch television while I quilt. It is amazing at how quickly you can go through an entire season of a show while quilting. I was a tv junkie before this, but quilting encourages the habit. Our household has Netflix, HuluPlus, and Amazon Prime. Currently, I am in season 5 of Criminal Minds and watch current ABC and NBC primetime shows while I sew.
- I love fabric! I like to refer to my fabric more as a collection than a stash. Sounds like I am not a hoarder! If you can look past them mess on my desk, you can see the shelf of fabric on the left.
- I have a really great partner in crime, Julie, from Wanna-be Quilter. She really isn’t a wanna-be anymore. She has made some great quilts. We usually tackle new adventures together, like long arm quilting, retreats, shop hops, and classes.
Please stop by and check out some the quilts I have completed in 2014.
Thank you to Lily’s Quilts for hosting the small blog meet.
My Pieced Life: Like a quilt, life is a pieced work of art. 
Thank you for sharing! Love your quilts.
Welcome to the world of quilt-blogging!
Your quilts are so beautifully modern and fresh: my favourite!
I really like the quilted spools on the quilt with the printed hexies. I wish I could do that on my HSM! 🙂
I am not brave enough to quilt on my own machine. I am always impressed by those who do. I figured I had to learn how to long arm quilt otherwise I couldn’t afford to quilt! Thanks for stopping by!