Feature Friday - Ariane Kring of Ariane Quilts

Hi! My name is Ariane Kring. I am 35 years old and a quilt blogger from Kingston, Ontario. My blog is called Ariane Quilts.

I've been blogging since December 2008 and quilting since August 2008. I've always been a crafter. When I was a young girl I always asked for craft kits and supplies for Christmas or my birthday. I tried many crafts, mostly paper crafts and painting. After I had my three kids, I did a lot of cross-stitching. The only sewing I really did was hemming pants which I was not very good at. The summer of 2008, I became really stressed out. Between work, kids and the normal life duties of a mother, I felt like I needed something: something for myself, and something to concentrate on so that I wouldn't stress so much. I took a holiday back home to Northern Ontario. My mother was going through some old quilts. These were all utility quilts that she had sewn for us kids. I remembered the warmth and comfort those quilts brought.
When I came back to Kingston, I decided to make a little baby quilt. I loved choosing the fabric and coming up with a pattern. I found it so exciting and inspiring. I had no idea what I was doing. I went online and discovered the blogging community. The tutorials helped me learn how to quilt. I was hooked. I just had to make more quilts. I became very inspired by scrappy quilts. I made three scrappy twin size quilts in my first six months of quilting. One of those was a hand pieced and hand quilted tumbling block quilt. The first year and a half I made mostly traditional scrappy quilts.

 

 
As I discovered more online, I started adding a bit more of a modern twist to my quilts. I loved the modern fabrics, but also loved traditional patterns. I love the mix of modern traditional quilts. I started designing my own quilt patterns. Putting my own twist on these modern traditional quilts. With inspiration from the online quilting community, I made a queen size carpenter star quilt for my youngest brother's wedding. I made a scrappy jumbo carpenter star block surrounded by a border that I designed with hst's. I quilted it myself on my 30 year old Kenmore sewing machine. That was a challenge.

   

I still have never taken a class. I've learned through trial and error. I've also been encouraged by the online quilters and the local quilters in the quilt shops and my quilt guild. I have become an executive member of my Local Quilt Guild. I have found this group to be so inspiring and encouraging.  This year I've made many smaller quilts. My favorite is the quilt I made for my daughter's grade 7 teacher. I used a very simple pattern found online on the Film in the Fridge blog called rectangle squared. I adjusted the measurements to make the blocks larger and sashing thinner. I love the modern fabrics in this quilt and the simplicity of the pattern. It was fast to make and fit into my busy schedule.

 
 
I do inspire to do more with quilting, like teaching classes and publishing patterns. I love to encourage other quilters, and do my best to inspire them through my blog. I do plan to make quilting a huge part of my life as I get older. It's one of those crafts that can be shared and bring a lot of comfort to others. I think that's why I love it so much!! I do hope you join me sometime on my blog, and share my journey as I grow and become a better more creative quilter. 

Here's the link to my blog: Ariane Quilts

Thanks so much to The Needle & Thread Network blog team for having me here. I'm honored!!