Since I was itty bitty but old enough to know better than to try to chew on the pointy things, I sat on my Nonnie's lap at her sewing machine and would pretend that I was helping. She was always very encouraging about that. I had a wonderful eye for putting fabrics together, and would often go with her to JoAnne's (back before we learned the difference in quality between quilt shop fabrics and craft shop fabrics, but that's a lesson for another day) to give my opinion. Not only did Nonnie quilt, she made me dresses, made me porcelain dolls and dresses for them. She has always pushed me to let my imagination go wild when it came to things that could be useful and pretty at the same time. Quilts specifically, could keep you warm if you were cold, could double as a window covering in a situation where you didn't have curtains yet, could be used to make excellent blanket forts, and are always best when loved.
When I was 8 years old, she gave me a simple pattern and let me choose the fabric for a doll quilt. I can picture it in my mind, but photo evidence has gone awol and the quilt itself is long destroyed by mice (wasn't stored properly during a move). It had white daisies with butter yellow centers on a sky blue background, and a denim patterned blue, and a pretty sunshiny yellow with white lace overlay looking fabric. I was SO PROUD of that little quilt. Nonnie did the cutting because an 8 year old with a rotary cutter is just an emergency room trip waiting to happen, but I did the pinning, the piecing, the tearing out when I didn't stitch a straight line with the machine, and then the sandwiching the 3 layers, and the actual quilting. I think it took the course of a summer because I remember taking it in for show and tell when it was all done. Quilting has been part of my entire life, and while I could make a dozen puns about it being all stitched and patchworked together, I won't. It's just such a major part of me, I can't imagine not being covered in loose thread on a quiet evening before I switch over to being covered in dog fur from playing with pups.
Here we are, nearly 20 years later, and I've made more quilts than I can count, most as gifts, a handful for myself, and some as custom commissions. My favorite ones to do are simplistic patterns with a handful of detail work, so I can let the fabric itself be the show piece. I love batik fabrics, the hand dyed ones traditionally from the island of Bali are the best, you can sometimes catch a piece that still has some of the wax they use to create the design and it is easy enough to pick off, and you have an even more unique piece. No two bolts of that fabric are the same, even in the same dye lot. But because I was a sales rep for a quilting fabric company some years ago, I learned to love good quality 100% printed cotton too. And since my mother owns a quilt shop now, I've turned into a smidge of a fabric snob when it comes to my own projects. I won't touch stuff from Walmart, Hobby Lobby is a maaaaybe, JoAnne's is even less likely. There are plenty of small locally owned shops around that I'd rather give my business to if Mom doesn't have what I need for something.
These days, I love incorporating my fandoms into my quilts. The one I've got pictured below is actually going to be one of my art show entries for Midwest FurFest 2016 once it's completed. It's a combination of batik fabrics, limited run fabric from author Jennifer Chiarvini's line based on her book "The Aloha Quilt", and embroidery of different animal busts. One pet project I'm also trying to cultivate is creating quilts based off of people's fursonas and other assorted characters. My idea there is I can applique either a paw print/hoof/etc or a name, until I get the proper technology and cutter to be able to partner with an artist and have a face/bust of the character to put somewhere on the quilt. I'm also playing with paper piecing techniques to see if I can eventually design some of those to maybe offer miniature quilts that would offer even more personalization options.
I currently have 3 quilts on my commission list, with room for 4 more with an Midwest FurFest delivery/Christmas arrival if shipping due date, and am going to try to put 2 or 3 quilts in the art show. I intend to give everyone here sneak peeks at them while I work on them. If you're interested in contacting me for a quote or seeing some of the patterns I have available, please feel free to hit me up on Telegram @SewingBunDog or Twitter @BodaciousBunDog.
Wishing you all the best, and can't wait for you to see what I'm cooking up for the first Story Saturday!
Jazmine
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