February 19, 2010

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. 

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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
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13 comments:

Dresden Quilter said...

Beautiful work Ariane, and thank you for the profiles Amy. It is great to get to know our bloggers better.

SewBella’s Quilt Cart said...

Thanks for sharing your work and your story.
I love your log cabin, the colors are great. I also love the back of the quilt. I try to use left over blocks and fabric on the backs, it makes it more interesting than one solid color.

Georgina said...

Thank you Amy and thank you Ariane!! What impressive work - I love the back of the quilt as much as the front, and you have inspired me!

Zlaty said...

I am a reader of Ariane's blog and enjoy her stitching projects! I think I might of found her through the Quilt Festival. The baby quilt she made for her brother and his wife is one of my favorite of her things!

Zonnah said...

She does such beautiful work!

BJ said...

Thanks for introducing us to Ariane's wonderful work. Love the back detail, and her first quilt!! She's a natural.

I Purr-Furr to Craft said...

too cool! It has encouragement in it for all of us who want to quilt and not have the time to take classes, What a lovely sewer she is, i am sure it won't be long before the clothes she makes are just as creative. Taking time out for yourself is a great idea too.

SewCalGal said...

Amy, thank you for introducing us to Ariane. She is naturally talented and a wonderful quilter.

SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

henny said...

Amy, thanks for introducing Tara. Glad to know there is always somebody else who learned sewing and quilting by wonderful tutorials online, just like me :)

WoolenSails said...

Beautiful work and love the quilting on the flower piece.

Debbie

JariJari said...

beautiful work, Ariane! It's amazing that that more and more ppl are into quilting and they are doing amazingly great quilts

Sandy said...

You learned from reading and doing.. no classes needed! Wonderful work!
Sandy
http://thewondersofdoing.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

I follow Ariane's blog because I am in awe of her! She pursuit of creativity at the same time as working and raising a family inspires me! I like to visit her blog to see what she has finished because she is a FINISHER! :).

I like your blog too Amy :)....inspiring!