WIP Wednesday #29 @ TN&TN

Friday Feature: Michèle-Renée @ Quilt Matters

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Hi everyone, I’m M-R and I live in Ottawa, Ontario. M-R stands for Michèle-Renée, but people find that a little long so it got shortened to M-R, which I love.

I made my first quilt while I was in university. I had a tiny room at the time, but I wanted a double bed and needed storage space for my clothes and ringette equipment (yes, it wasn't the prettiest smelling room). I couldn’t find a double captain’s bed anywhere, and I was stubborn so I designed and made one IKEA-style. That bed was a tank and served me well for four years. I imagine it's still floating around some campus today.

Well anyways, after I made the bed, I thought it would be fun and fitting to make what went on the bed too. So I went to the library, found a book on quilts to make in a weekend (ha ha), bought some fabric that was on sale (polycotton!), and started an absolutely awful and incorrect Irish Chain quilt . I loved it anyway and it adorned my bed for a number of years. I didn't realize until a few years ago that it actually isn't even close to being an Irish Chain. I have no idea what happened. I thought I followed the pattern correctly, but clearly not. Oh well...we'll just consider it to be my first original design. ;)

I really got bitten by the quilting bug though when I got engaged to my high school sweetheart Charles (a.k.a. Chuck or the Hubster) a few years later and thought a quilt would be a perfect wedding gift. I had a ball designing the quilt and buying the fabrics. It was a sampler quilt of blocks that had personal significance to each of us. Unfortunately, I did not have the skills to make what I envisioned in my head, nor did I have other quilters or the Internet to turn to for help. That became UFO #1 and remains to this date my oldest UFO. That didn’t stop me though and I've been quilting ever since, slowly improving my skills.

A year ago, I pledged to do something quilt-related everyday, even if it’s just for 20 minutes. I started my blog Quilt Matters last May and have been having a blast ever since. I love meeting other quilters online and trying new-to-me quilting styles and techniques. Lately, I’ve been playing with modern quilting in my Modern Block Monday posts, thread painting, reverse appliqué and collage quilts.

In January, I set out a number of goals for 2012. One of which was a Colour My World Challenge, whereby we do a mini quilt/block each month using a different colour. I’m learning so much through this experience and love seeing what the others who are participating are doing. We started sharing February’s challenge finishes yesterday. If this is something that interests you, you are more than welcome to join in!

I’m also one of the co-founders of TGIFF! (Thank Goodness It’s Finished, Friday!), which Laura from Quokka Quilts and I started as a way to motivate us to finish those UFOs and to celebrate our finishes. It’s a touring linky party every Friday and it’s a great way to end the week! If you’d like to learn more about it or sign up to host an upcoming party, check out the TGIFF! Site. I’m hosting next Friday so come on by and link up a recent finish of your own.

On the personal side, I’m currently on leave from my job with the federal government so I can stay home for a few years with my three rambunctious boys: Patrick who is 7 years old, Daniel who is almost 5 years old, and Micah who is 2.5 years old. They are wonderful and spirited little boys who are learning to quilt (among other things).

I made them Wee Spy quilts when they were born and a few other baby quilts. Last summer, I made Bottled Rainbow quilts with Patrick and Daniel for their beds. It was an amazing experience that they seemed to enjoy as much as I did – could we have some future quilters here?

And because I clearly can’t get enough of boys, I’m a Beaver leader to 17 other rambunctious boys and 2 girls. I’m now plotting how I can get them all quilting too. ;) I also play ringette, ski and am currently working on my 10,000 hours of quilting experience to become a quilting expert per Malcolm Gladwell’s theory in Outliers. Even though, I’ve been quilting regularly for the last 14 years, I’ve still got a long way to go…

Thanks Monika and Rita for inviting me to share with you a bit of who I am and what I do. Hope to see you on the quilt side!

Cheers,

M-R

WIP Wednesday #28 @ TN&TN

Friday Feature: Holly @ Through My Window

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Hi, I'm Holly McLean and I have lived, for the last 24 years in the small city of Bathurst, on the north shore of New Brunswick, Canada. It is a beautiful little city of about 12000 people.

We enjoy the four seasons with lots of snow and winter activities and warm beaches in the summer. We also have some beautiful rivers where we kayak.

I've been crafting and drawing since I was young, and have always loved the outdoors, spending time making mud pies, building towns in the sand pile, and making tents in the long reeds on the marshes. I have had a long time fascination with nature, always coming home with my pockets full of bits and sometimes even critters much to my mother's chagrin.

I took up knitting and crocheting among other things such as papier mache and painting in my teens. I love hand made things. I wanted at one time to go to art college but university was actually cheaper, so I became a teacher, taking art classes of all kinds on the side. Eventually, I taught some art to both children and adults.

I made my first quilt at the age of twenty.

While working and raising 3 children I always had one form of art and craft on the go. In my thirties I began doing watercolors, but I sometimes got too uptight about making the perfect picture. I was also still quilting at the time, eventually getting involved in a guild here in town. I have always loved textures and fiber and so, it was a natural transition for me to become an art quilter. Now I am happy with most of my pieces and I thoroughly enjoy the process. I have only had the confidence recently to call myself an artist!

I started blogging because I was a rare bird among my traditional quilting friends (I still do make some quilts) and I needed some some connections to inspire me. Since I left work due to illness 2 years ago, the blog has been a wonderful place to make new artist friends and to be inspired. It even gives me some impetus to keep creating every day.

My works are often quite colorful and often involve a depiction of something from nature--my favorite things are flowers, birds, the woods and the ocean.

I was recently very surprised and pleased to be asked to write an article for Quilting Arts magazine. This was not at all one of my goals but it has inspired and encouraged me to continue creating. I even just opened an Etsy shop which was a big step for me.

I'd love it if you would visit me at my blog.

Moderator comment: Make sure when you go to Holly's blog, you click on the image labelled "My Art and Quilts" on the right. It will take you to her Picassa album. There are lovely images there showing her work! So impressive!!

WIP Wednesday #27 @ TN&TN

Friday Feature: Rita @ Sunset Quilting

I have 5 chickens

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It's a bit intimidating to be the very first Friday Feature poster on The Needle and Thread Network! I'm in very esteemed company indeed. I'm not sure I qualify as an artist per se, as some in this network really do.

My name is Rita Penner and I live in a small village just south of Ottawa called Greely. There's a tiny stream that runs through the village and many many moons ago, there used to be a mill. That business enabled a hotel to start and I think that's pretty much all Greely had to offer besides a stop for those on the way to elsewhere. Over the years, we got a gas station which is now gone and the Greely Cheese Shop which was a wonderful bulk food store: the best kept secret around. The lady who ran it got old and the store closed. Now we boast a post office, an elementary school the local children can walk to, a medium sized grocery/liquor store, a veterinarian, a doctor, a hair cutter and a real estate office.

I have sewn steadily for a LOT of years, since high school "home economics" class. Anyone remember those? Besides normal clothing, I sewed winter wear for my slim tall daughter and went on to coats for my husband and me. Curtains, slipcovers, skating dresses, bathing suits, dog coats, you name it. I've quilted for a few years and got into machine quilting to deal with these quilts I made. I also am a self-employed sewer who designs and manufacturers ringette pants (www.PennerAll.com), so I already had the sewing machine I needed that fits onto the quilting frame I bought. My machine quilting setup is a 10 foot mid-arm, using hand-quided side-to-side designs that I create myself. Check out "Machine Quilting" in the black row at the very top of the blog.

may 2010

I started blogging to create an online presence that gave some reality to this machine quilting business but it's been more of a vehicle for making friends all across the globe who are also interested in quilting and that's been a lovely surprise. This quilt I've shown was also pieced by me.

I machine quilt a lot of quilts for the Common Threads Quilt Guild. They give away hundreds of quilts to various groups every year though I'm just one of the quilters. Right now, the bulk of my paid machine quilting has been personal contacts but there seems to be a steady flow of those and I'm as busy as is comfortable. All in all, life rocks at the moment.

a smock apron

Another interest of mine is vintage aprons. I'd love to make more of those but how many aprons does one person need? And the craziest thing is, I don't even wear them often. I just like to sew them.

Periodically I publish tutorials. I did one for self-binding baby receiving blankets, 7 bags to wrap Christmas gifts from a metre of fabric, quilt blocks, even for creating blog buttons.

This week my niece had the twins that I made these quilts for. They were each 6.5 lbs. Mother, babies and the dad are all doing well. There are lots more quilts that have been made. If you're interested in visiting my blog, please do! If you'd like to subscribe, that would be excellent. You just press the orange button under "Sunset" at the top of the blog. I don't post a lot - probably once a week but I'd love to have you visit!!

Thanks for reading about me!!

Rita @ Sunset Quilting

WIP Wednesday #26 @ TN&TN