So, there are five questions to answer, here we go:
How does your writing/ creating process work?
Inspiration is everywhere. Before I started quilting... well, I won't say that I didn't take much notice of the world I live in but since I started sewing quilts I see quilt patterns everywhere! In advertising for example.
Some pavements would make great quilts!
A trip to Ikea can make me all excited as there are suddenly five quilts I want to make!
There's also inspiration in people's clothing or bags. Therefore I always have a small sketch book with me to quickly sketch what I've just seen or even take a sneaky photo with my mobile phone.
I also use the sketch books to simply put my thoughts on paper, and most importantly draw up the quilt designs.
I also have some great books where I draw my inspiration from. Most of them I bought during my honeymoon in May 2013 in the States (most people probably buy clothing and souvenirs, I bought quilting books and fabric!).
My husband gave me a subscription to the Magazine 'Love Patchwork & Quilting' as a Christmas gift last year, this is such a great magazine!
I also follow endless creative blogs, I love Flickr and I'm active there as well. The online quilting community is such a great place to dive into!
So I am constantly collecting ideas; with some of them eventually materialising into quilts and other things I sew.
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Well, that's a difficult question. I'm only quilting for 1.5 years so I guess I haven't found my own style yet. I always try to come up with something unique in my quilts, something I haven't seen before even if it's a pattern that has been done by other quilters lots of times I try to make it my own.
My Phoenix quilt for example was inspired by the 'Ice Blue Quilt' by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pedersen from their book 'Quilting Modern'. I used the crazy piecing technique and followed the basic principle of the quilt blocks but made the quilt my own.
As for my Regatta quilt: this quilt was inspired by the 'Step Lively' quilt by Kathreen Ricketson from her book 'little bits Quilting Bee'. I used the same piecing principle but took a completely different approach on the design.
But I'm also happy to follow tutorials and work from patterns if I like the design. There are so many beautiful quilt and block designs out there by so many talented people, so why not make one of their designs? And I still consider myself a beginner, continuously practising different piecing methods and free motion quilting. So far I have used different quilting designs on all my quilts and I am not afraid of trying something new and to continuously expand my quilty comfort zone.
So I don't really know what I do differently to others, I guess I just try to make great quilts!
What are you working on?
Oh, there are so many things!
I have finished my 'Sea Breeze' quilt top, I had a QuiP about it in summer.
I just can't decide on a design for the back, and since this is quite a summery design and a small quilt size I guess this can wait until spring.
I have made some maple leave blocks recently. I really like these blocks, they were my first attempt to HST (half square triangles) and this is so quick to do! Well, autumn is almost over and Christmas is approaching so, hm, I'll finish it next autumn then... :0)
I have also just finished a 'secret' as yet to be published Christmas table runner which I made for the forthcoming issue of the German Patchworkgilde magazine. The magazine comes out on December 15th and I'm quite excited about it! I will blog about it later, for now I can only show you a small snippet here:
At least that is done on time!
Furthermore there is this plus quilt I am working on that I have 3/4 of the blocks already finished and I hope to have the quilt done by the end of this year.
And I also started crocheting (or 'croshiting' like my mother in law puts it). My dear friend Eva made a loop scarf herself which I admired a lot. I asked her if she would show me how to do it. So I just bought some wool and a needle and started. Despite my aversion towards wool and knitting from a primary school crafting class trauma I guess some 30 years after that I'm finally over it. It's actually fun and at the moment I enjoy sitting on the sofa, cuddled up in a quilt and crocheting away.
Why do I write/ create what I do?
As an architect I am drawn to clear lines, shapes and the simplicity of things in general. I tend to have a minimalistic approach in my quilt designs (that's actually the 'M' in blockMquilts!) and try to follow the principle of ' less is more' (quote by star architect Mies van der Rohe).
Studying architecture was a lot of fun, it's very creative and I could expand on my design skills, make 3D drawings, renderings, make models of my designs and set out drawings and presentations. College projects aren't real, so you can go a bit crazy on them as no client needs to be convinced and doesn't have to pay for it.
I worked for almost 14 years on building sites managing the construction process, writing specifications, doing quality and cost control, assessing and approving invoices up until the hand over to a happy client.
This is a very rewarding but also a very stressful and time consuming job with very little design input or space for creativity. Unless you consider it creative to solve problems of how the air duct clashing with a cable tray can be re-routed without having to lower down the suspended ceiling; all on time and budget of course.
I didn't really miss being creative until I've seen and touched a quilt. I knew I had to make one myself! Suddenly a whole new world lay in front me and I found a new way of expressing myself by way of making something hand crafted, something individual and on top something what gives you warmth and comfort. I made a decision to change my field of work shortly before that quilt encounter, so I guess this was a happy coincident.
So why do I create what I do? Because I can! Because designing, making and finally cuddling up in a quilt is so rewarding and satisfying. Not to mention the reaction of people when you give them a quilt or other sewn things as a present!
I have so many ideas and, despite the new job description with almost regular working hours, I still have too little time.
So I hope you liked what you read and got some inspiration out of it.
There are so many bloggers taking part in this blog tour that I had difficulties nominating someone who hasn't blogged about it already. So if you are a blogger and if you haven't blog hopped around the world please feel free to feel nominated! Please comment here and let me know what you're up to!
I'm linking this to Quilt Story, Freshly Pieced and the German Monday Makers aka ayliN-Nilya and Suleon.
