introductions

Hi everyone,
A short post to introduce myself...
I'm Kate, 52, and I'm from Sydney Australia.  I live in a 1910 timber cottage in a leafy suburb only 15 minutes from Sydney CBD, so we have the best of both worlds, close to the city, close to beaches and Sydney Harbour, but we have bushland  and national parks all around us. I'm married to a builder (25 year anniversary next month- eek) and we have 1 daughter (almost 18) who is currently studying for her HSC which is an important bank of final secondary school exams that determine what University she can go to.

I recently started a new job working 3.5days per week as an Executive Assistant to a terrific CEO of a Venture Capital firm, my office is right next to Sydney Harbour and the Opera House and I can hear the harbour ferries tooting as they leave the quay. In previous job incarnations, I have worked as a Landscape Designer, Caterer and Speech Pathologist (bit of a variety!)

I've been quilting for more than 20 years, my first quilt was a shadow applique baby quilt for my neice who is now 22. I quickly fell in love with antique quilts and have a bit of a collection of quilts, quilt tops and old blocks, the oldest of which is probably 1860.  I was a very active member of a big quilting group in Sydney but resigned about 5 years ago due to internal politics and general bitchiness of some members (excuse the language!)... two great friends and I now get together every Tuesday afternoon and have lunch and sew, it is so fantastic, relaxing, and the highlight of my week.  This year I have been working on a nutty applique via a monthly workshop held at Material Obsession - completely outside my comfort zone. I pretty much exclusively sew by hand - me and my machine are not well acquainted.

This is one of 9 applique blocks (8 are finished) there will be an applique border to follow.

This year I discovered blogging. It should be fun to get to know the group members and work on a variety of projects. I think the key here is to chose your  project carefully - there is a big range of experience in the group members.  I did say short, so I'll sign off now!
Cheers, Kate (empty field)

Duh-uh....

You're probably right, Viv, I was just so excited anyway--talking about fabric does that to me!

For the newbies: I'm San-Dee, in Bethesda, MD. I'm 59 going on 30 something. I have been sewing and crocheting/knitting since forever, but am only learning to quilt in this last year. I have one fully finished quilt to my credit that is in London right now. I have two daughters, 25 and 22. the older one is in AZ working on her doctorate in planetary geology and engaged to a wonderful young man who is an IT guru, the family would be lost without their ability to dial in and fix what we have screwed up on the computers! The younger one is in London working on a masters in East Asia Art. I miss them both daily, they were great kids and have grown up to be wonderful young women who I am pleased to count as my friends as well as my daughters.

My husband works for NASA which is why we are in MD rather than CA where we would probably rather be. The past two years have been physically rough on us, I was diagnosed with breast cancer in '09 and he had a stroke in '10 with various circulation problems becoming apparent. Hopefully he is on the road to recovery-I am truly not cut out to be Martha Stewart and keep this house spotless and him well-fed. He is the main cook, and I think one of the reasons he is recovering so well is that he is tired of eating my cooking! We have known each other since junior high and have been best friends since day one.

We are also on the road to Ohio fairly frequently for elder-care. My father-in-law's second wife has vascular dementia and he is primary care-giver. He does not get a lot of help from her children in town, so we make up for it. We go in with lots of good food and just hang out for the weekend trying to make things easier for him. I feel that I am truly accepted as he complains to my sib-in-laws about me as much he complains about them to us! I'll tell you all, "it ain't easy getting old"!

I have learned so much from the block choices the first round made in this bee and I'm really looking forward to this round. The blogging community has given me many new friends, and I sincerely think that I would not have recovered as well as I did from surgery if I had not had so many people pulling for me and keeping me in touch with the world via the internet.

Getting to know the new us!

Feel free to tell me (us) a little about yourselves, I'm excited to get to know the newer members.

I'm Vivian and I live in the Yukon Territory in northern Canada. I'm nestled in the mountains on an acreage that holds fox, and moose (we have willows so we usually get a couple of moose stop by for a nibble), we have a ravine go through that's a natural corridor for the local black bear and wolves (the wolves come by twice a year on their migration route...around Christmas and in the late spring...keep the little dogs and cats inside!!!). I love my view of the surrounding mountain tops, currently covered in snow.

I'm a mom to two girls, 10 and 11. They are my joy and I can't wait to see the people they grow up to be. They are quite the little fat quarter collectors, and Lisa (my 10 y.o.) is collecting 6 inch square food fabrics...and not just any food...desserts and sweets...she's got cupcakes, and chocolate covered strawberries, bagels and donuts, oreo cookies even. She hopes to make a food quilt this winter. I had a proud momma moment this summer when we stopped at a quilt shop in Alberta...Lisa heads for the counter with two bolts of food fabric and asks the worker to cut her a fat quarter of each please. The worker knew she was dealing with someone who was serious. Jennifer is more into socks and sewing dog toys. No sock is safe in our house, she turns them into bunnies and snakes. I have a rice filled snake (made from a striped knee high ) on my desk at work to use as a paperweight. I love it. My significant other and I have been together for 19 years now...sheesh...where did the time go! I'm 39 now, and my guy still thinks he's 32...hmmm, when did I pass him?...he'll be 48 this year so someone better break the news to him, somehow, I don't think he believes me.

I've been quilting for almost 2 years now. My local shop is Bear's Paw Quilts (www.bearspawquilts.com). I've visited the shop for many years to pick up GAST threads as I've been a needleworker forever (and a freelance designer). I would pick up a fat quarter or two and matching GAST and go home and design a pillow or something. The owner, Ruth, has been threatening me for years that she'll turn me into a quilter. Once day she convinced me to sign up for Quiltstart, a 3 evening class where we were taught all the basics, terminalogy and came away with a rail fence table runner: pieced, quilted and bound. I was hooked. I've signed up for several classes each term and am hoping to finish "quilt school" in the next year. I love it. Although my least favourite thing to do is needleturned applique.

We also live with two dogs - old Lady who's about 13 and she's a black lab/blue heeler cross, and is starting to feel her age, and Zeva who is a 2 year old Carmacks mutt - she's a tiny bit of everything small in the town of Carmacks...there is a lot of chihauhau, a lot of corgi, and a bit of jack russell or some kind of terrier in there, we've heard even maybe a weiner dog but that's an unconfirmed rumour, and finally, there is Crammer the cat, pronounced kraymer, who is in charge of everybody. When Zeva was a baby (imagine, full grown she's 10 - 11 pounds...as a baby she could fit in my pocket) and I would take her for a walk around the property, Crammer would follow calling us back b/c don't you know it's dangerous out there for a baby.

Currently, my favourite colours are purple batiks...oh and orange! I'm loving orange, I recently made an orange bag (pic on my blog) and I can't get enough. Did you know orange and pink look fantastic together? I didn't until I decided to sew them together.

I look forward to having fun with everyone during round 2. Happy quilting!!! Viv