My love of textiles has taken me on some wonderful adventures. My first love is quilting. My grandmother taught me to quilt when I was little and growing up in Ohio. We cut pieces one-by-one using what ever templates were available. Handstitching all of those pieces together helped teach me even, tiny straight stitches. First we made small quilts for my dolls and later in my life we made large quilts for beds together. She also taught me to applique.
As time has gone by, and now that my grandmother is gone, I have taken those basic skills and experimented with art quilts. There is nothing more freeing or more scary to look at your collection of fabric and just start designing. There is no right or wrong. If you make a mistake it generally turns into something beautiful and much different than your original idea.
My second love is embroidery. My mother's skill at embroidery was that of an artisian. She was so patient, especially since she was left-handed, while I'm right handed. Some of the stitches were difficult to master when you are wrapping the needle in the wrong direction! Since I do love embroidery so much, I brainstormed for a while to figure out a way to bring this art up-to-date. You usually see embroidery on pillowcases and I thought there was so much more to it than that. I had a stack of wool felt and some silk and then had an "ah ha" moment. Cuffs. Then I began designing some patterns that would fit on the average size wrist. This discovery has now led to my embroidery cuffs being featured in "Quilting Arts Gifts" edition in September. I'm also pursuing different quilt shops and craft venues to teach this wonderful skill. Stop by and visit my blog at http://waterrosez.blogspot.com/.
