My quilting journey

When I was a kid I loved staying at my grandmother’s house, where every bed was draped in a beautiful handmade quilt. I loved exploring the patterns, looking to see where each fabric might appear again, and tracing the quilting lines with my fingers. My grandmother sewed by hand, and I’d watch, fascinated by her dexterity, as she’d wiggle a needle through three or four running stitches, then take a back-stitch to hold her thread securely in place.

I made my first quilt in the 1990s, before there was such an exciting range of great fabrics available, and it was not a very good or interesting one. I liked buying and cutting fabrics, but sewing all the pieces together got tiresome because all the fun decisions had been made earlier. I had a bare-bones machine that even with a walking foot made machine-quilting tricky and delivered less than satisfying results. Much of that was user error, but it’s hard to develop a high level of skill with tools that barely do the job. I hadn’t gotten very far into the quiltmakers journey when I met the man who is now my husband, sold my Park Slope apartment (abandoning Brooklyn moments before it became unbearable hip), and hopped on a plane to Hawaii, where we now live.

I’d acquired a surprising amount of fabric by then, given the small number of quilts I’d managed to make, and my stash spent the next few years boxed up in my parents’ attic in Maine. Eventually Mum got tired of housing so much of my crap and I spent a good part of one visit going through it all. I gave a lot of fabric to my sister (also a quilter, and far more active than me at that point) and shipped the rest to Hawaii.

In the meantime I’d started a publishing business, written a novel and some books on feng shui, started another internet business with my husband, and didn’t give much thought to quilting for a few more years.

Then we moved to a house with a great deck and a view of the ocean and Hilo Bay. We marveled at how  cool it was due to the ever-present breeze off the water. A breeze that was downright chilly some days. What we needed, of course, were lap quilts to snuggle under while lounging on our deck chairs admiring the view. I had a better sewing machine by then, and had starting buying fabric again (quilting cotton is perfect for the lightweight skirts and sleeveless dresses I wear here all year round). So I borrowed some Kaffe Fassett quilting books from the library for inspiration, rummaged around in the stash, repurposed parts of a long-neglected UFO, spent far more than I’d budgeted at fabric.com, and, with a few interruptions and delays, managed to design, sew, and finally quilt a pair of “deck quilts” for myself and Mr. de Hilo.

These days I typically have six or more quilts in progress at any time (I’m afraid to take an accurate count!) and a notebook full of ideas for more. My fabric shelves are full, my scrap drawers are overflowing, and my bin of “ready for quilting” tops fills up faster than I can empty it. I don’t find piecing tedious anymore because I’ve discovered the joy of designing as I go. My approach to quilting is increasingly intuitive, and each new project surprises and delights me.

I call myself a “contemporary” quilter because I don’t naturally gravitate toward traditional, retro, or repro anything. And that minimalist look so often indicated by the term “modern quilting” can be lovely, but isn’t usually where I end up (I have a couple ventures in mind, though, just to see what it’s like to tread that path). I’m not into using a matchy-matchy designer pre-cut pack and sashing it with a neutral solid. That’s a great “entry” project for a beginner, but doesn’t allow enough room for creative running-amok to suit me, no matter how pretty the fabrics are. I  like intense prints (the kind with 18 different color dots on the selvedge), bright colors, bold designs, and in-your-face color and pattern combinations. I get a kick out of exploing new possibilities with traditional blocks and methods, combining them with current fabrics and bold colors in unexpected ways.

I look forward to showing off my new creations for you here. Leave a comment on the blog to let me know what you think, or drop me an email at Stephanie {at} VenusdeHilo {dot} com.