Featuring Cynthia — A Blogger’s Quilt Festival Quilter!

Are you counting down with me to the next Blogger’s Quilt Festival? It’s just three weeks away! I’ve been lining up some great sponsors, and I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone will enter! If you haven’t yet, check out the BQF page, and make sure you know what to include in your post, I’m hoping to streamline the nomination process!

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Today’s featured quilter is Cynthia! Cynthia blogs at Ahhh…Quilting, and was nominated in the Favorite Baby Quilt category in the Spring Festival.  Her quilts and quilting are beautiful, I hope you enjoy getting to know Cynthia better -

1. When did you begin quilting?

I made a couple of quilty things in Jr. High and High School sewing classes, but I didn’t really start quilting until college. At the end of my freshman year, I saw one of my neighbors standing on her balcony showing her roommates a quilt she had made. I thought it was very cool and wanted to make one too. I later found out she had made it in a class, so I signed up for the class the next year. It was a night class and some of my friends were in it too, so we had a grand time piecing sampler blocks while watching CMT and talking about boys. The teacher of that college class once told us all that a double wedding ring was a really hard quilt to make, and was not for beginners…so I shimmied on down to the fabric store, bought a pattern and made my second quilt a double wedding ring. That’s pretty much how I got started.

2. Why do you quilt?

I have so much fun designing most of the quilts I make…I love the feeling of finishing a quilt…and I kinda love to give them away.

3. What is your favorite quilting tip?

Clean your work space every time you finish a quilt. This is probably more of an organizational tip, but I think it has made me a more effective quilter overall. I have been trying to do this for the last year or so and it has worked out surprisingly well. Previously, my quilting rooms have always been a giant mess…I probably could have used an intervention. I usually have several projects going on at one time (as I’m sure most quilters do) so it just never seemed like a good time to clean…so I never did. Well after I gave my quilting room a makeover last year and it was so beautifully clean, I decided to try cleaning after every quilt finish…which for me is probably every 3-4 weeks. I have been surprised how much faster I can work when I’m not constantly hunting through piles of fabric and junk just to find my rotary cutter.  And now I actually use my cutting table for cutting…not just storing piles of stuff. If you have a chronically messy quilting space, try it. The cleaning might be a bit painful at first, but it will be totally worth it when you find that missing Chaco Liner!

4. What was your inspiration for your Quilt Festival quilt (above)?

A little pile of 2 1/2 inch fabric squares, a right angle ruler and a can of Bo-Nash. They were all things I acquired at the Paducah quilt show, and I wanted to use them all. So I did. :)

5. Do you sew other things?

Occasionally I sew skirts or dresses for my girls, curtains, pillow covers…I’ve tried a little bit of everything, but I always go back to the quilts.

6. Anything else you would like us to know about you?

Sometimes I do other things besides quilting…I make killer garlic cheesy bread….and blueberry scones. I play volleyball. I rarely watch TV but if I find a show on Netflix that I like I can easily lose a week of my life catching up on every episode. I met my husband on a blind date. I have 2 little girls, ages 4 and 2. Oh, and Nutter Butter cookies mixed in vanilla ice cream might be the best invention ever…that’s not really about me, but I thought everyone should know! ;)

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Thanks for sharing Cynthia! I’m always cleaning up after myself, and still manage to lose things!  I’ll just keep trying :)

Have a great weekend!

Amy

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9 Responses to “Featuring Cynthia — A Blogger’s Quilt Festival Quilter!”

1. Mary on Lake Pulaski says:

   October 5, 2012 at 6:21 am

   Nice to meet you Cynthia. Your quilts are stunning.

   Reply
2. Jitka says:

   October 5, 2012 at 8:10 am

   Having a clean table – it is a very good tip and I try to do as well.

   Reply
3. Janine Smith says:

   October 5, 2012 at 10:18 am

   Love your quilts!

   Reply
4. Carli says:

   October 5, 2012 at 12:08 pm

   Love your quilts, I like your modern scrappiness.

   Reply
5. Becky M says:

   October 5, 2012 at 6:07 pm

   Thanks for sharing more about Cynthia! I love her blog and I”m totally going to try nutter butters and ice cream now.

   Reply
6. Rachel says:

   October 7, 2012 at 11:54 am

   Beautiful quilts!! I can’t wait for the next festival, I better get a cracking getting something together. :)

   Cheers!
   Rachel
   http://www.etsy.com/shop/Athenagwis

   Reply
7. Jo says:

   October 7, 2012 at 5:33 pm

   Oh yeah, i clean up after each project and in betwwen as well. When i’m done cutting pieces from a fabric for a quilt, i put that fabric away. Its the only way to work for me and really it only takes two or three minutes. Now, the threads on the floor are another story!

   Reply
8. Marianne says:

   October 8, 2012 at 10:26 am

   Wonderful interview and beautiful quilts…..I popped right over to your blog and think I’ll follow a long.

   Reply
9. Cynthia says:

   October 9, 2012 at 8:46 am

   Thanks for the nice feature Amy! Can’t wait for the festival!

   Reply