Quilting, knitting and needlework of all varieties have been a big part of my life since I was a little girl, learning from my mom, my grandmother and any book about crafts that I could find.
One of my early memories is of my grandmother laying a quilt on the floor of her living room, covering her wool rug with cool cotton comfort on hot days. The quilt was old and faded, mostly white, with closely spaced rows of quilting. It was soft and always smelled like fresh air. It was always a treat when the quilt came out.
I think that beautiful, old, crinkled quilt is what inspired me to begin quilting myself. For me, quilts capture the feeling of that quilt on my Nini's floor: soft and crinkled, clean and fresh, ready for snuggling.
While my own children were young and I was an at-home mom, I sewed their clothes, made quilts for their beds, and curtains for our windows. I knit sweaters for the kids and did a lot of cross-stitch while they napped or played. I was a young mom, and it was unusual at the time for someone in their 20s to be so involved in needlwork. It was also unusual to stay at home, carry your baby in a sling, and lots of other things, but that's a story for another blog.
My husband Eric and I now live in the beautiful, rolling hills of central Maryland where we are active in our church and have converted the lower level of our home into a studio for Blueberry Buckle. Four of our six kids are adults, and the youngest two boys are teenagers. Sometimes our house is jam-packed with the kids, their friends and our granddaughter, and sometimes it is very, very quiet. I'm taking advantage of those quiet times in my studio, working on new quilt designs, shopping for fabric and stitching quilts.
I've been teaching quilting, off and on, for twenty years. I belong to several guilds and attend classes, seminars and quilt shows as often as I can. I am a Certified McTavishing Instructor and would love to talk to your guild about "How to Hire a Longarm Quilter".
Best Regards,
Sue Shimomura
