Why Do We Quilt?

Why do we quilt?  Believe it or not, there are people on this planet ho have no clue why we do what we do.  We take perfectly innocent hunks of lovely fabric, cut them up into little (or not so little) pieces and sew them together to look different from the original fabrics and then attach them to batting and more fabric.  We decorate with them, sleep under them and give them away as symbols of love.  We can decorate, stay warm and express feelings in many other ways that are faster, cheaper and more efficient and yet millions of us make quilts.

And we don't just make quilts.  We go to shows, join guilds, make other quilters our friends, shop, compete, help each other, inspire each other and generally create a quilting life. We take classes, collect fabric, push out of our comfort zones, offer comfort, express ourselves and perhaps obsess a little bit, all around an activity originally developed to keep our ancestors warm.

It's something to think about.  The why is a little different for each of us.  I love the colors, the challenges and the possibilities.  I love the feeling of seeing a vision come to fruition and sharing the fun with others.

What's your "why?"


To those of you surviving another blast of winter weather, there is hope for spring.

These little babies are coming up in  my yard.  We're having very nice weather; please think of us next summer when the drought talk starts.

I've started a Wedding Quilt for my son and his fiancé.  Since the wedding is in July, I'm working hard at it so I won't be putting on the binding the day before the wedding.  The plan is to put some time in on it every day.  So far, so good.

Candy

Welcome 2014

It's January once again and time to get back to what passes for routine at our house.  I hope your holidays were as fun as ours.  Son Dan got engaged and we welcomed the lovely Catherine to the family.  This was Catherine's carry-on from Southern California to Portland.

Not only was this cake beautiful, but tasted fabulous.

Toby and Ella are pretty bummed that their fans had to go home.  Ten days of constant adoration is hard to get over.

 

"Oh Nana," Toby says, "I just love you so much."

Toby and Nana watched some football together.

We were thrilled to have some truly decent weather mixed in with the fog and thankful we didn't have to travel to the Northeast or Midwest.  I don't even ski in weather that cold!  

Here, the sun is setting behind the camera casting a beautiful pink glow on Mt. Hood.

Now we're back to real life - rain outside and quilting inside.

With a wintery print and some bright colors to liven it up, the "Snowman Sampler" pattern will be ready next week.

It's a great way to use some scraps and chase away those winter blahs.  It'll be available on the website as soon as I can do it, but for first dibs, email us at motheronabroomstick@gmail.com and we'll get it out to you with no shipping charge.

The same goes for "Mother Goes Mod", shown below. 

This one is also great for scraps or using a layer cake.  We're working on some other ways to use layer cakes as this quilt didn't begin to use up all the squares.  I like being able to try out some coordinated prints without committing myself to a lot of yardage.  (As if I have commitment issues when it comes to fabric.)  

I have lots of ideas for new quilts to share and hope you will check in from time to time to see what we're up to.

Happy New Year!

Candy & Barb