CHAPTER 2 - SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING TRIANGLES (cont'd)

[Manuela]

Lotti, you could try Sew Sisters. Their website is http://www.sew-sisters.com. It's not very close to Pearson but it's worth a visit if you can make it.

Manuela

[Manuela]

Hi, my name is Clara Lawrence and I am a quilter. A mother. An artist and a horsey person. I also dabble with photography and just about anything creative. Take a peek at my quilts and photos. There are some on my profile and my website http://www.claralawrenceart.com My honorary sister and I took a class in 2002. She was tired of me saying that I always wanted to make a quilt, so she signed us both up. That was it and we were hooked. I’ve gone to many of the International Quilt Shows in Houston and have been on a mission to try and put my artwork into quilt form. The journey continues even today, but I’m getting closer. I live in a small town so there isn’t a lot around here as far as classes. Alex has been my main teacher through tv and now her website.
As far as favorite teachers, that would be a hard one, so I will list the ones that had the most effect inspiration wise. Alex Anderson, Pam Holland, Libby Leiman, Ricky Tims, Linda Taylor, and Hollis Chatelain. As far as the most fun, Libby and Pam get my vote. They were a blast.
Photography has always been a part of me. For me it is just another medium to create with or capture a moment through. Sometimes it is my notepad for a later time. I love getting a picture that tells a story.
My immediate goal for after this Exchange is over. Is to get busy on a piece I hope to enter into Houston.
Art is very much a part of inside of me, but now more so than ever is being a Momma to my two boys, Mikey (11) and Bryan (10).
Clara Lawrence

P.S. I forgot to add and I'm ashamed at myself. ops: I am also a longarm quilter. A new one, but I LOVE IT!

[Manuela]

Hi, My name is JoAnn and I'm a quilter! To add to my addiction, I'm a Longarm Quilter. My mother taught me to sew as a young girl. She made almost all of my clothes when I was growing up and then my daughters dresses when they were little (they are now 28 & 30). Since I don't like to "alter", sewing garments just wasn't my "thing"! I took my first quilt class in 1982...back when you cut out pieces with templates and scissors. I pieced it and quilted it by hand. The orginal plan was to make twin quilts for my two little daughters but after seeing all the work involved, there was no way a 2 and 4 year old were getting a quilt....maybe when they were in their 30's! I wound up making it into a large double for myself! I quilted a little through the years but did not get really serious until my mother had a quilt top of her's "longarm quilted". I was hooked! In 1995, I sold my house, quit my job as a medical transcriptionist, moved in with my mother, turned her attic into my "studio" and now I quilt for others as my full time job! What an amazing adventure this has been! I have met so many wonderful friends through this little craft called "Quilting".
JoAnn Rusden
Savannah, Georgia
USA

[AlohaJo]

I am Maryjo Kaszubinski. I am a wife, mother, grandmother and a teacher of Home Economics (forget the new name-Family and Consumer Science) for 43 years. I love teaching High School & Middle School students to create and sew, but I hope to retire very soon so I can create more myself. I want the freedom to travel more, attend more Quilt Shows and take more classes so I too can express my Creativity! I have only taken a few classes, doesn't fit well with school schedule, but my favorite has been Laura Wasilowski. She makes the day so much fun and shares projects that fit my limited time schedule for quilting. Ricky's Seminar is also a wonderful learning experience with Alex and Libby. A great source of knowledge is shred at our small quilt group that meets in our church monthly. Our group ranges in age from Home Schooled middle schoolers to wonderful women in their 80's. I hope we can all remain Sister of the Cloth as I call my sewing friends after the exchange is cmplete. My first sewing was on my Great Gradmother bed when I was 5 or 6 and I have loved stitching ever since. She was bed bound and she use to entertain me with fabric and thread.
Creating Peace one Quilt at a Time,
Maryjo

[JudithA]

Last week I watched a Fons and Porter show that featured Edyta Sitar's friendship triangle exchange. I hope some of you got to watch it. The best part was when they showed some gorgeous quilts made from the triangle exchange between the Landauer Publishing staff and the Fons and Porter staff.

JudithLee, was this a TV show or something on line that we can see??

Margo, It was TV show #1713. There was a commercial at the end of the program that said if you get (or renew) a Fons & Porter magazine subscription that you will also get a DVD with all the 1700 series programs.

The quilt I liked best looked like a variation of the Square Deal block. I was made by someone at Landauer Publishing. I think this is the one I want to make. I emailed Landauer asking them to post pictures on their website of the quilts made from the exchange, but haven't had a response yet.

Judy

[JudithA]

Hi, I'm ritzy and I am addicted to fabric, thread, yarn, trims...anything fiber. I do all needlecrafts; many other hand crafts and take pictures. I don't cook. I have been quilting for 15 years and love combining all of my crafts every chance I get. Self taught.

[tkwritr]

I'm Donna and have been an obsessed quilter since 2002 when I made my first log cabin quilt. My sister was my first inspiration. Being very competitive, I figured if she could make quilts, so could I. Now we enjoy getting together (Kansas and Alabama) several times a year and periodically collaborating on quilts on which we both make blocks, then share half. To date, we have made three "sister" quilts and have another one already planned to begin this summer.

My favorite teacher for piecing has to be Alex (and I'm not just sucking up). Her genuine love of the craft and willingness to admit when she doesn't know how to do something or that there are things she doesn't feel comfortable doing is a real inspiration to me. For quilting techniques, Linda Taylor has taught me as much as anyone. Her videos available through TQS are super.

I have always been a multi-tasker and that usually meant lots and lots of crafts (knitting, crochet, beading), but since starting to quilt, those crafts have gone by the wayside. The entire process from planning to binding is enjoyable, even when I have to unsew occasionally. I love to challenge myself and rarely make the same pattern more than once.

And that's my (short) story, and I'm stickin' to it.

[tkwritr]

I am a mom of 5, wife, and grandmother of three girls. I love love love fabric. In 1988 I had a 'serious' heart attack. After that my kids took turns making a photo album for me each year. The one that made the album recieved a quilt from me. A west Tx sunset quilt for a daughter that missed West Texas, a Jonathan Seagull quilt for a son that loved the book and on and on. We have discontinued the exchange but I have continued to give away quilts. Some go to the Linus Project and the rest always seem to find a home. Thinking and planning the quilts are almost as enjoyable as the sewing and quilting. I am blessed with a studio that is my haven. When life happens, it is where I go to re-group. I do not have a favorite teacher but must say Alex has taught me much.

[ajclapp]

Hi, I'm Annis. I grew up with quilts. My paternal grandmother was a prolific quilter and brought tops for my mother to finish when she came to visit. I'm mostly a piecer too but I have quilted many quilts over the years. Lately I give the larger ones to a longarm quilter as I don't have time to do everything and they do a much better job in less time. I don't remember a first quilt and didn't take classes until recently. I do remember many of my first quilts used my variation of Georgia Bonesteel's lap quilting (on the sewing machine) and had a knife edge finish.I tend to do things my own way so the classes I take are just for fun and to learn some extra tips, as I go home and finish the quilt differently most of the time. I've been designing my own patterns since I was a child making doll clothes from my mother's scrap fabrics. Over the past 10 years I've collected many magazines, quilt books, and block books to help advance my quilting skills, and I like to do speed piecing techniques.

[Diane-53]

I am Dirty Annie or Diane. I took the plunge into quilting in 1997 because I was totally smitten with sewing and read Quilters Newsletter for two years then just had to do it. But from 2001 to 2007 I didn't get hardly anything done while we were getting our store off the ground (Dirty Annie's Country Store). I just love learning things that step up my quilting. I wanted to try, but it is watching TQS that gave me the courage to 'just do it.' Hence I am trying new binding methods, done bobbin work with Razzle Dazzle, tried quilting as I go (NOT). And I have been pushing the envelope and pushing myself to quilt my tops on my sewing machine. The person that has inspired me to just step out - is - Ricky Tims. I don't believe in failing any longer, just new experiences.
Diane in Wyoming

[Diane-53]

Annis, "knife edge finish", what is this?

[ajclapp]

Annis, "knife edge finish", what is this?

It's when you turn the edges of the front and back under and stitch together without binding. It's often used for baby quilts when the front and back are placed right sides together over the batting, then stitched around leaving an opening for turning. The quilting is done after the quilt is turned inside out and generally topstitched around the edges. Since I did mostly quilt-as-you-go I hand stitched the front and back together around the edges. The seams were quite bulky on this quilt.

[lotti]

hi i'm lotti, i've been sewing since a very small girl - my mum had traded in being a sewing teacher when she married a farmer... after which her main sewing time was used for darning - unless one of my brothers and i got involved - when she'd put the overwhelming pile away and teach us to sew with the sewing machine making small scrap mice and other fun stuff... my love for sewing and other crafts was abruptly stopped when my own sewing teacher decided that i was doing everything wrong - the way i was holding a crochet hook, knitting or sewing needles being completely outdated and NO you have to DO IT LIKE THIS - but after many many many years i finally discovered i do NOT have to follow the rules and am free to do MY OWN THING! I'm now hooked - completely and totally with all my soul and every last penny and every empty space of my little apartment

have to add how i found TQS: last december i came accross a copy of the "The Quilt Life Magazine" at a tiny railway-station kiosk while waiting for a connecting train in a little town in the bernese mountains in switzerland - finally had a chance to really look at it around x-mas - and found a link for TQS - thanks for this website folks - thanks for the blogs and the forums and fabric exchanges and EVERYTHING - i absolutely love being part of this. :lol:

after finding quilting in the early 2000's, and making my first few quilts and starting another bunch - i had to completely stop sewing and doing all kinds of crafts for about 5 years (wicked joint pains :cry: ) and spent years getting one diagnosis after the other :x each claiming the previous one was as useless as the previous specialist :evil: with the help of a little witchery :twisted: and a very-low-carb diet - i'm now quilting and sewing and occasionally even crocheting (only flowers required for my quilts) again...

just spent a full month visiting my parents in canada and every decent fabric shop within a 45 mile radius - followed by trips to the post office to ship the goodies home - heading home tomorrow - wonder when the packages will arrive - hopefully before the credit card bill :wink:

[lotti]

Hello, I am Sylvia, 45 years old and live in Germany. I am a mother of two adult children and grandma of a granddaughter. I have learned at the age of four years under instructions of my grandma the dressmaking. She has also taught me the cords. Five years ago I have begun to spiders and since the last year I am infected by quilting. It has begun with the fact that I wanted to sew a pot holder with a Log Cabin block to a friend. It has done so much fun that I have sewed thirty blocks and from it then my first Quilt has originated. My friend has till this day still no pot holder. ops:

Sylvia

[Scoopie]

I'm Dawn. I started quilting in 1995, when I decided to make a quilt for the House Of Fabrics yearly quilt contest. It was selected as a finalist, and I was hooked! Next year I won 2nd place. That year, for my birthday, my husband gave me a trip to Padukah for the quilt show; my very first. This was in March and a bit late to find accommodations close in. I stayed an hour away in Missouri, but found other Padukah bound quilters staying in the same hotel! I have gone to a major quilt show every year since then. The last 10 being Houston. I am usually making a quilt with a contest in mind, but have never submitted to a major show. I have gone to 3 Judy Niemeyer retreats, and really enjoy paper piecing. And, I love batiks. True WAX RESIST batiks. I don't have a "Favorite" teacher, but I have to say, I have learned so much from Margo, with all of her little tidbits, photos, tutorials, and links that she sends us to. I am doing my very first BOM, and it is the TQS BOM. That will pretty much keep me busy this year!

Dawn
In beautiful Northwest Montana