Featuring Ariane -- A Blogger's Quilt Festival Quilter!

 Ariane of Ariane's Crafts is today's featured quilter!  I hope you enjoy getting to Ariane a little better --



1. When did you begin quilting?
I began quilting in August 2008. I was in need of a hobby, a creative outlet to help me cope with stress. I needed something that I could do for myself and use my creative skills. I had always been very creative as a child. I would draw, paint, cross stitch and do other crafts as a young girl. When I had my kids, I stopped doing a lot of those creative things. Then I went back to work full time and I just did not take any time for myself, or do anything for myself. So, one day I found out my cousin was having her first baby and decided to make her a quilt. I only had basic sewing skills. My Mom had given me her old sewing machine. I had only used it to hem pants. But, when I went fabric shopping, I got drawn in by all the wonderful fabrics and my creative side just jumped for joy to make something. I went online and read a bunch of sites about the basics of quilting and just did it.

2. Why do you quilt?
I quilt because it makes me happy. I get to take some time for myself. I can use my creativity to make something unique. I love to share what I do with others. People seem to love to look at quilts that I have made. I love to share the process with them. It helps to keep me relaxed. I can focus on a project and forget about my worries for a bit while I am working.

3. What is your favorite quilting tip?
I think the best tips are to make sure your seams are correct. Using a 1/4 inch foot helps in this department. Once I bought a 1/4 inch foot my blocks were much flatter and my tips matched better. Trimming the blocks to ensure they are square, is also very important. Pinning..pinning...pinning. This also helps. When I first started I hated to do all these little steps. But now I realize that I am always much happier with the results when I take the extra time to do these things.

4. What was your inspiration for your QF quilt?
My Quilt Festival quilt was inspired by all the modern quilts that I was seeing online. I love these quilts. But I am more a traditionalist. I was making this quilt for my brother and is wife. They love modern things. So I tried to combine a modern color combination with a traditional log cabin block. I think it turned out really great. I also love scrappy quilts. I used a mixture of modern, contemporary, traditional, country, and reproduction fabrics. I just made sure they were in the same color way. It was fun to go to many different shops and mix all the fabrics.

5. Do you sew other things?
I do sew a lot of bags. I love bags. They make great gifts. I also sew outfits for my daughter. I am still learning about sewing clothing. I do find this a bit more challenging. I love to do hand embroidery too, and hand piecing. I always have some hand stitching project on the go to take along with me.

6. Anything else you would like us to know about you?
I am self taught. I have never taken any quilting or sewing classes. I just learn from all the wonderful tutorials online and from books and magazines. I wish I could take classes. But I work shift work. This makes it impossible to take a course with more than one class. The local classes never seem to be on my days off. So I thank all those who put tutorials on there blogs or flickr. It allows people like me to learn new skills without having to take a class. 

-----
Amy again!  Ariane, I'm a self taught quilter too!  It's amazing how much you can pick up via books and the internet :)  Your quilts and photographs are beautiful - thank you so much for sharing with everyone here. 
Have a great weekend everyone~
Amy
---------------------------------------------------
Next steps:
Subscribe to parkcitygirl
Shop with Amy
Email me