Nosy Parker in the Neighbourhood

I'm linking in to Kat's Nosy Parker in the Neighbourhood over at Diary of a Flutter.Kat this month. I missed the Christmas link up because, well by the time I thought of doing it I was done with talking about Christmas and just never got around to it. Kat gives us a bunch of questions to answer each month and then those who wish to join in, link up and tell all about the subject of the month. January is all about our sewing spaces.

1) How long have you been sewing? Are you a first generation sewer or was the knowledge handed down to you? Basically tell us about your journey...

About five six years ago, after trying a few other crafts unsuccessfully, I asked himself if I could have a sewing machine. A friend got pregnant shortly thereafter and I decided to make something for the baby. My quilting career was born. I knew nothing, but that didn't stop me. I very quickly discovered the joys of shopping for fabric online and was instantly addicted. The sewing was secondary to the buying for a while. No one I knew sewed. My mum never sewed anything. Until I found my LQS and took a few classes I was winging it. I don't think the world of blogging had been born yet, and if it had I was clueless about that too.

I did bravely hand quilt it though. With varied success.

2) Where do you sew?

I sew in our dining room. There are no other options in this house. I dream of having a sewing room. In this dream the room is big, with every toy and bit of storage I could ever want. Meanwhile I have this -

Admittedly it is not perfect, but it's better than nothing. And it beats the conservatory in the last house we rented where there was no electricity, or heating, or lighting so it was either too cold, too hot, too bright or too dark. I didn't get much sewing during those two years at all!

I have a small cutting mat I keep on the table for while I am working. It proves equally useful for piling stuff on to shift it when we want to eat in the dining room. When I am required to cut larger pieces of fabric I use my other cutting mat on the floor. This gets pushed under the rowing machine when not in use. The rowing machine is useful for stacking fabric on as well. Beats having to exercise on it!

3) What does your sewing room/area look like today in it's real state. Take a picture of it if possible and show it to us real :)

Well, the above shows some of the tale. I am currently planning on cutting that purple Enchino into charms for the Somewhere Over the Rainbow Charm Swap, and there is a yard of pink somewhere waiting the same fate. On the table are the bird fabrics, and Judith's blocks and a few other items. By the machine are the fussy cut birds waiting for sashing.

And on one of the chairs is my growing stack of Heather Ross fabrics which have not been cut into yet. I just like to have them there right now reminding me of the quilt I am going to make soon and they make me smile each time I see them.

4) What is the first thing that you made which you were really proud of? Show us pics of your favourite project.

I am so used to parading Wonky Stars, or one of my Pips quilts when asked this so I am going to go off piste and show you the scrappy blue quilt I made with leftover two inch scraps. It isn't big but I think it is very, very pretty and I love the way it went together - without a plan as per normal for me. Just started piecing the scraps in an experiment and the next thing I knew I had a quilt top I loved.

5) Do you always stick to the "rules" when you sew, or are you more improvisationally minded?

Rules!? What rules?  Think that about sums it up.

I have been making it up as went along pretty well from the beginning. The use of patterns in my quilting is almost non-existent. I will look at other people's quilts for inspiration - and there is some pretty amazing inspiration out there - and I will often take parts of an idea that suit me. Even when making a traditional quilt like an Irish Chain pattern I have just worked out the maths and the cutting requirements for myself. Yes, there have been mistakes along the way, and sometimes those very mistakes have become projects that I loved. Live and learn.

A year ago this blog didn't exist, I was just starting to read other people's quilting blogs, I had never sewn a pillow or a cushion, a zipper in any of my projects, done a swap or found out just how much finding a quilting community online would brighten my life, infuse me with new found love of sewing and experimenting, and generally open my eyes to a whole new world.

I like it!

Susan