Hello DCMQG! Carissa here. Your VP for 2015. You’ll be hearing a bit more from me this year as I learn the ropes of blogging and contribute with posts here!
Truth be told, I do most of my quilting and sewing in my head these days. Hobby time is scarce and, oftentimes, it's easier to daydream about quilting or surf blogs and fabric shops than to log actual time at the sewing machine with two boys under 4 running around. I decided (quite deliberately) to become a quilter during the bleak postpartum winter after my oldest son was born in 2010. In years prior, I had devoured the hobbies of knitting and spinning so, when left with zero time in which to accomplish those crafty endeavors, what better to do than… start a new hobby! Surfing through inspiring blog posts and Flickr pictures late at night (or whenever I could eek out the time in my sleep-deprived haze), I found a whole new world of color, beauty, texture, and skills to be had in this culture of modern quilting. And so my latest obsessive hobby was born. My grandmother was an accomplished sewist and quilter, I had made my own clothes as a kid in 4-H and always loved crafting, but I hadn’t sewn anything in decades. I had to re-teach myself how to sew and now it was with a bigger purpose. Lucky for me, when I happened across former guild President and member Katie Blakesly’s SwimBikeQuilt blog in early 2013, I learned of the DCMQG! Needless to say, I was elated to have found this group. Right in my backyard, no less! It was kismet.
So what’s been inspiring me lately (other than all the drool-worthy QuiltCon posts on Instagram…)? I’m really digging all the plus quilts that I’ve been seeing around on social media.
Truth be told, I do most of my quilting and sewing in my head these days. Hobby time is scarce and, oftentimes, it's easier to daydream about quilting or surf blogs and fabric shops than to log actual time at the sewing machine with two boys under 4 running around. I decided (quite deliberately) to become a quilter during the bleak postpartum winter after my oldest son was born in 2010. In years prior, I had devoured the hobbies of knitting and spinning so, when left with zero time in which to accomplish those crafty endeavors, what better to do than… start a new hobby! Surfing through inspiring blog posts and Flickr pictures late at night (or whenever I could eek out the time in my sleep-deprived haze), I found a whole new world of color, beauty, texture, and skills to be had in this culture of modern quilting. And so my latest obsessive hobby was born. My grandmother was an accomplished sewist and quilter, I had made my own clothes as a kid in 4-H and always loved crafting, but I hadn’t sewn anything in decades. I had to re-teach myself how to sew and now it was with a bigger purpose. Lucky for me, when I happened across former guild President and member Katie Blakesly’s SwimBikeQuilt blog in early 2013, I learned of the DCMQG! Needless to say, I was elated to have found this group. Right in my backyard, no less! It was kismet.
So what’s been inspiring me lately (other than all the drool-worthy QuiltCon posts on Instagram…)? I’m really digging all the plus quilts that I’ve been seeing around on social media.
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| Summer Love Plus Quilt from Blue Elephant Stitches |
Luckily one of our very own, Carla, of the blog Modern Bias, has a great tutorial for a modern take on a plus quilt: Cascade (complete with healthy doses of both Anna Maria Horner and low volume prints).
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| Carla's cascading pluses |
Try it out; give it a whirl! Or, if you’re like me, add it to your growing list of a bajillion projects you want to make. Have you already made a plus quilt? Post a picture to share with us on Instagram or in the DCMQG Flickr group.
What inspires you to make quilts? Did you go to QuiltCon? Tell us!
What inspires you to make quilts? Did you go to QuiltCon? Tell us!
P.S. We’ll see some of you out at Del Ray Fabrics this weekend! Until then, enjoy this last wintery week of February.