I recently had a conversation with Beth Helfter from Eva Paige Quilt Design. Beth will be our September workshop instructor via Zoom. She has quite the sense of humor and wants everyone to enjoy the quilting process. Beth works with Half Square Triangles (HST). Check her out at www.evapaigequilts.com, Facebook at EvaPaige Quilt Designs, and Instagram @evapaigequilts.
Register for workshops www.gaaqg.com/workshops/
Mostly. I have a few machine quilters I love and use them for quilts that I really need to look amazing. I do an “ok” job on my own and have taken a few machine quilting classes, so I tend to be overconfident about my abilities. I also get extremely enthusiastic when I get going. It is a dangerous combination, but they tend to generally turn out ok.
Pulling fabric. I think I’m really pretty good at knowing what fabrics are going to go together and I love digging into my various categories of fabrics (scraps, fat quarters, and yardage) to find lots of variety for every quilt.
The only award I’ve ever won was our guild’s challenge. I don’t enter quilts in contests; I’m more about the fun and joy of quilting than the perfection or being judged.
No.
I’ve thought about this for a while, but really can’t think of any. I love to read, though! I’m in two book clubs and I often bring up books in my workshops while we are sewing and it’s generally a lively discussion!
Boredom. Right after we got married, my husband started a part-time MBA program in addition to working full time. I worked as a flight attendant at the time and had a lot more downtime than he did. So, to fill some of my days off, I got out my sewing machine and took up a new hobby. I’m 90 percent self-taught and will try anything once!
The first time I came up with my own pattern I thought it was pretty good. Other people seemed to like it too, so I jumped in with two feet and figured things out as I went. I had 2-year-old twins at the time and the idea of being with adults now and then didn’t hurt.
Anywhere from a day to 15 years. Maybe longer! I don’t believe there are timelines in this hobby. In my pattern business, I try to get a design from idea to printed pattern within 6 months, which is more than enough time but gives me flexibility to work on it when I want to and before it becomes a chore. I’m usually working on more than one new potential pattern at once.
I get a design in my head, sometimes do a quick sketch, and then just start sewing to get an idea of whether it’s going to work as I see it. I augment the design process with Electric Quilt software.
