In Which Emily Answers Some Questions

You've probably seen the Outstanding Blogger Award going around.  The idea is that it's given to quilt bloggers by quilt bloggers as a way to celebrate each other.  It's also a way to learn about each other, as each person bestowing the award asks a group of questions of their honorees.  I'm very delayed in responding to nominations by both Vicki of Vicki's Crafts and Quilting and Susan of QuiltFabrication. I'm honored to know that these fabulous bloggers have chosen me, and I'm sorry it has taken me so long to put together a post. 

First, Susan's questions:

What was your first quilt and do you still have it?
I do!  It's a pattern called "Chimney Sweep" from the book Marsha McCloskey's Quick Classic Quilts.  It's twin bed sized (I was a sophomore in college at the time, so it fit my dorm bed) and it's hand quilted--and I have not hand quilted a bed-sized quilt since!  The stitches are coming out because I didn't learn knotting my threads properly. 

 
What's the biggest quilt you ever made?
While I'm great at keeping records of the quilts I've made, I'm terrible at keeping size statistics so I don't actually know.  I don't enjoy making large quilts. It may well be the Ultimate I Spy Quilt that is on our queen bed.

Ultimate I Spy

Describe your dream sewing space.
I would love a large, open, dedicated space with lots of natural light.  I'd love to be able to have a large ironing/pressing station that could stay up all the time, and a design wall would be heavenly.  And of course lots of shelves and storage, maybe a quilt ladder to display some of my favorites.  I sew in our guest room and it's not a lot of space, I have to put everything away each night.

Dresden's Butterfly Garden, photo by K. Mellnik

What's your favorite color to work with and why?
My favorite color is purple and I love to work with it, but I'm realizing lately that I'm also really drawn to blues and greens, I think because they go really well with so many other colors. 

 

Lavender Waves

When you're not quilting, what occupies your time?
I feel like the answer is chores, chores, and more chores!  Seriously, though, I spend my time with my Husband and our 7-year-old son, Fire Monkey.  We like cooking, hiking, camping, and board games.  My mom moved to the area in November so we get to spend time with her now, and I have a full-time job as a librarian at a community college. And you can probably guess that I like to read.

Wildflowers

Now Vicki's Questions:

Do you like having a deadline or do you work better when you are not under pressure?
I think the honest answer here is that I do better with deadlines.  I wish that weren't true, but self-awareness is good!  That said, I get stressed if I have too many deadlines near each other and I feel less creative in those situations, so the trick is to have a balance of deadlines and time when I can work on whatever I want. 

Tropical Stars

Are you one who likes taking classes or do you enjoy figuring out how to do it on your own?
A little of both, I guess.  I do like classes, but I've struggled to take them because of my work schedule, and then when I got a better work schedule, I had a 15-month-old, so that's always been tricky.  I do think that the pandemic has moved a lot of teachers to an online format and I appreciate the opportunities for learning that way.  And I do a lot of learning via youtube! Quilt Alongs are also great for learning new things.

Rin was a quilt along in 2018

What is your favorite snack?
Hmmm, this changes from time to time.  I love Cheese-Its, and I have a sweet tooth for sure.

Cross-Stitched owl from middle school

 What is your first memory of learning how to sew?
If I take this literally as "sewing," then in my 7th grade home ec class.  My mom always said she was allergic to thread, so she didn't sew.  My dad could sew on buttons and that's about it.  I didn't particularly like sewing in home ec, though I also learned counted cross-stitch and I did like that.  I learned quilting in college; one of the extra-curriculars was a craft center and I took quilting at a time when I really needed a hobby and it stuck.  My first teacher was named Elaine Hartley.  I have extremely fond memories of walking across campus to go sew in the 2nd floor sewing room of an old use-to-be-a-house craft center.  

quilted, beaded heart by my first quilting teacher

 

Have you ever taught someone how to quilt?
My son sews with me sometimes and we have made some quilts together, so yes!  

Fire Monkey with one of his creations

What was your least favorite quilt you ever made?
I'm not sure about least favorite in terms of finished project, but my least favorite process was a quilt called Savanna that I signed up for as a class at a local shop because the blurb promised that if you were scared of sewing curves, this was the class for you.  Well, the class did not help me conquer my fear and that thing sat unfinished for 5 1/2 years until I finally forced myself to finish it.  

 

Savanna

Thanks for sticking around and reading more about me!  I've been super behind on blogs, both mine and others, so I do not have a good sense of who has already been nominated as an Outstanding Blogger.  I know all my blogging friends are Outstanding, but let's face it, it's not practical to nominate 40 or more bloggers.  Here are a few that I don't think I've seen do an Outstanding Blogger post:

Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts
Gail of Quilting Gail
Carole of From My Carolina Home
Cathy of Crazy by Design

If you desire to participate, here are your questions:

• Do you still have your first quilt?
• What is something on your Quilty Bucket List?
• Is there a color or fabric style that you really dislike working with?
• Do you have a favorite traditional quilt block?
• What one non-quilting thing about you that your readers might not know?