Welcome to my quilt studio!

               Take a look around.  I have designs inspired from all aspects of life and I am always coming up with something new.  Ideas spring into my mind all the time from everywhere.  Sometimes it is the fabric itself that sparks the start of a pattern, but it can also come from what I happen to be paying attention to at the time, such as home remodeling or professional tennis.  Other times I don’t know where the ideas come from.  I sit down with my graph paper and pencils and work with the grid to see what I come up with.  What I often discover is some very exciting designs.  Ones I cannot wait to put together and see them come to life.

                As a writer and artist it was not exactly a leap for me to get into the craft of quilting.  I write in nearly every genre from novels to plays to children’s books.  When I was about four years old I began taking art classes and through the years explored nearly every medium.  I like experiencing new creative outlets so it was only natural for me to be attracted to quilting, especially since my mother is a quilter herself.  When I was little girl she gave me graph paper and colored pencils and I drew out ideas for quilts.  I loved taking a thought or an image and figuring out how to make it fit in the little boxes.  It fascinated me to see round objects become angular as they formed to the squares.  With as much fun as I was having it did not take me long to become hooked on quilting.  It also did not take me long to fall off that hook.

                I started making my first serious quilt when I was about twelve.  The design was mine.  I chose all the fabrics.  My mother had taught me how to use the rulers and cut.  I was set to go.  There was just one little problem.  Very quickly I realized I did not like to sew.  At all.  It was frustrating.  Very rarely did anything ever turn out the way I wanted it to.  Then on top of that I found sewing to be boring.  Put those two things together and my quilting days were done.  I directed my artistic and design attentions in another direction.  Instead of sewing I spent years building sets in school theatres.  In college I earned the title of Master Carpenter and studied set design.  I was still designing and I was still creating, it just didn’t involve a sewing machine.

                Even though I did not believe quilting was exactly my thing, quilt design was never fully out of my mind.  From time to time I would sit down with my graph paper and colored pencils to see what I would come up with.  This happened more and more as I spent time with my mother while she made her quilts.  I began to get bigger and bolder ideas that I so wanted to see turned into quilts.  How they were going to get put together, I didn’t have any idea.  All I knew was it was not going to be done by me.

                My mother, on the other hand, had a different idea.  She saw my designs were getting far too complicated for me to not know how to put a quilt together.  When I would show her a design she would ask me how someone was going to make it.  How was the pattern broken up?  Where was the block?  How many pieces will be involved?  I never had an answer, but my mother did.  In order for anyone else to create a quilt from my designs, I would have to do it myself first.  This meant I would have to sew.

                Of course my mother was right.  I did have to learn how to put together a quilt.  With this experience I must say my designs have become a lot less complicated.  However, I am not afraid to admit, that even though it has been quite awhile since my mother first made me sit behind a sewing machine, I still do not like to sew.  There are so many things I would rather do with my time, but I know sewing is something I must do in order to bring my designs from paper to reality.

                My dislike of sewing is why I have become the master of one hour increments.  I sew for one hour and that’s it.  That is how long my patience will hold out for.  After that I’m toast.  I am not a perfect sewer by any means to begin with, but when I go past the one hour mark my skills really go haywire.  It is best that I know my limits and stick with them.  This way I spend a lot more time happy with what I am doing and a lot less time ripping things out.

                As I said before, my designs are a lot less complicated today than they were back then, but that does not mean I enjoy them any less.  In fact, I probably enjoy them more because I can easily work for one hour and see a lot of progress.  If I tried to put some of my old ideas together it may have taken me a life time.  They were that complex.  Maybe someday I will try to figure out how to turn the designs into a quilt, but I have a feeling I will be much happier turning them into a painting.

                I am very proud of each and every design I create.  Some are more complicated to make than others, and some just look that way.  No matter which pattern it is, I hope to inspire beginners and experts alike to get quilting.  Even if you’re like me and you don’t like to sew, give quilting a try.  The effort is always worth it in the end.   

               Take some time and explore my studio.  You never know what you may find.  Maybe you’ll discover you are meant to be a quilter too.    

                                                Kate