Welcome to The Quilter's Last Resort

Hi- I just found this thread. Tee hee! Well I have posted some already, but my name is Theresa and I have signed up to be called Ash.....so I will answer to both. I have been sewing for over 20 years as my grandmother taught me how to quilt.....the traditional way. I have been learning many new techniques lately as I took about a 7 year absence due to my grandmother's stroke and death (2004.) It was really hard to get back into quilting after losing her, but I found some online groups and have learned so much in the last 2 years. I am glad I stumbled onto this group because I am finding that I am wanting to learn more quilting techniques as well as participate in projects, swaps, etc. I just love stuff like this!!

I live in Indiana....grew up on a dairy farm, but now I am a certified athletic trainer and teacher. I am busy a lot covering sports, but spend most of the weekends sewing and quilting. I find that creating is my passion. I do a lot of charity sewing for my church too, so gives me some added purpose to my addiction to sewing.

I have been married for almost 5 years (May) and have 2 stepkids: son that is 20 and daughter that is 14. They live with their mother so we rarely get to see them.

Well that is about it on me since I just popped in and started posting in the other threads....;)

Oh I have 2 pets: They are both 14 years old. Taz the black cat and Brit, my dog who is nearing the end of her life soon. She is a collie mix and just adorable, but her hearing and sight are very bad. She is just old.

Ash, don't forget to start an album.. we will want to see all your creativity..... glad you're here.

Hi Theresa

So glad to read about you and what you like etc, thank you so much for sharing. Sorry your fur babies are getting older, sounds like two cuties. You and I are the same age, I have two children, a son almost 20 from first marriage and a daughter 4 from second marriage. Laura has many grandmas, nannas and aunties on here :-) Im an australian, met and married hubby in savannah, georgia 10yrs ago and we came to australia (back home for me, first time for him) in dec 98 and have lived here eversince, he loves living in australia. We live on an island off the mainland called Tasmania, its on the south eastern bottom edge, last stop before antartica! Its where the tassie devils live. We moved off the mainland this year and just love living here. You might see hubby here from time to time, he goes by the name fabric-purchaser LOL. Welcome aboard, so glad to meet you

Thanks for the warm welcomes! I will work on that album when I can.

Gimpy cat- no my name is not the same as the coffee company. We called our dairy farm Ashlawn Farms growing up. I had no idea there was another company out there with the same name. So I merged the two words together......hoping I won't infringe upon them.

That is neat that you live in Australia. That has been a place I have always wanted to visit- and my DH too. He would love living there too I am sure.

It's nice to get to know you better Ash. I've been quilting since 1980. I learned to do everything the old way too. You know..tracing around templates with a pencil and cutting each piece by hand. Hand sewed some. Machine pieced some. Then rotary cutters/mats came into our lives and changed things forever! There are so many ways of doing things..it's wonderful! There is always something new you can try if you want to..or you can stick with the ways you are comfortable with. Anything goes with quilting. I'm sorry to hear of you GrandMother's passing, but through quilting you can feel a closeness to her?

We have members here with all sorts of talents so if you have any questions on any techniques..just ask. I'm sure somebody can get you an answer. We love questions because sometimes we get answers that are ways of doing things we didn't know about. We all learn from questions.

It's nice you have a couple of pets..but it is sad when they start to age on us isn't it? Our lives are so much richer with them around.



Welcome!

Hi Theresa,

Your farm name sounds lovely for a dairy farm, you'd like it around my area then, the NW of tasmania has many dairy farms, rolling green hills and fat contented herds of freisan, jersey and guernsey cows. My DH had never been to australia before moving here, he always wanted to come and thankfully he loves it, its a bit slower than the states, no 24/7 shopping for instance and no taco bell much to his disgust but he loves it anyway LOL.

Hope you get a lot of pleasure out of getting back into quilting, Im sure your grandma would be proud you are going back to it. I learned with pencils and templates too, then discovered rotary cutter, I still do hand work, needleturn applique and hand pieceing. Have fun here, we are always up to something!

Hey gals.............. we have a new join, her name is Willow and I have asked her to post under this heading so everyone can introduce themselves and give her a big WELCOME....

So, come on WILLOW... let us know all about yourself!! :lol:

Thanks Mamu! You are too sweet! I can't tell you how grateful I am that you guided me to this site! From what I've browsed through so far, I know I have come home here at the Quilter's Last Resort :lol: Love that title!

I am Willow. I am called "Willow" because I am extrememly flexible (emotionally and thoughtfully) and am most happy planted near water!

I have been quilting for about four years. Learned to sew when I was nine-years-old, but didn't take up quilting til the baby was in college for a few years. You know that when they leave home for the first couple of years you put your head down and do everything on that list you were planning. Then all of a sudden, there's nothing to do to fill that time void. That's where quilting came to me.

I live near High Point, North Carolina, home of the International Furniture Exhibition, so I have a ready access to alot of designer fabric for the furniture industry. I sewed nothing but quilts made from fabric samples the first two years of my quilting, then I discovered the world of "real" quilting fabric. Haven't looked back since. Love all kinds of quilting, except I don't do clothing - got too mcuh of that in 4H competitions as a child.

I am so excited to be here that I am talking too much. I don't talk so much in person, but typing - now there's a medium where I excel :roll:

I have one human child and two fur babies, and a husband. Oh, and I live in Thomasville, North Carolina. The most elegant furniture in the world used to come from this town. Now it all comes from Northern China and my town is a warehouse.

BTW - today is the Winter Solstice. A great day to plan new beginnings: looking forward to this one.

best wishes, Willow

Welcome Willow!

Hello Willow... glad you found us... its a good group of gals... had a couple of guys, but don't know what happened to them... They were great quilters too... Don't forget to start an album so we can see some of your lovely works... I have been quilting about the same lengh as you.. I love applique and the more modern techniques, but I want to try everything... No limits no rules.....

Hello Willow..welcome! I'm happy you've found us and have introduced yourself. I hope to get to know you better.
Quilting is a wonderful way to pass the time!

It's a shame that furniture isn't made like it used to be... and your city is now more of a warehouse, but at least you have access to the upholstery fabrics. Some of them are just gorgeous. Not the same as the fabulous variety of quilting we have available these days, but for some projects they are just the right thing.

Welcome, Willow. It is nice to have you here! I look forward to getting to know you better!

Hi Willow! :ginger:

welcome aboard willow, hope you pull up a chair and needle and stay awhile,, great fun to be had here..

Hi Willow...nice to meet cha! i started quilting about 18 mo. ago. Your fabric sample quilts sound intriguing....I've always wanted to go to High Point furniture shopping!! I'm almost an empty nester...youngest is 21 and has one foot out the door. Look forward to chatting down the line!!

Hi Willow, welcome aboard, we love making new friends and it sounds like you will fit in perfectly with us all here. Please, do tell us about your avatar, is that your human child? Are you caving - what are you doing????? Im always curious LOL

I met and married my DH in Savannah, Georgia, we live in australia now (my home) and we used to drive up through the carolinas quite often, loved the forests and the coastline. Never got to your town that I can recall but at least I know the area you are from. Hope you have fun here, join us in anything you like

Hello Willow, glad to meet you, I have been quilting for about 4 years also. I consider myself a beginner still in quilting, but these quilters here have helped me learn a lot about quilting and also many other fun things. I am a bird watcher at heart and enjoy painting.

We all look forward to getting to know you and seeing your wonderful quilts.

Welcome aboard,
Schnookie

Gimpy Cat wrote:

Please, do tell us about your avatar, is that your human child? Are you caving - what are you doing????? Im always curious LOL

I met and married my DH in Savannah, Georgia, we live in australia now (my home) and we used to drive up through the carolinas quite often, loved the forests and the coastline.

Hi! Yes, my Avatar pic is me and my baby girl! She's now 23 years old (22 in the photo). We were wild-caving in Tennessee with an adventurous Girl Scout group. There are some fabulous caves in East Tennessee. The best ones are like the one we went to that day - on a farm, you knock at the farmer's door and pay him some cash and away you go! We did have an experienced guide for this one, This pic was before we went in - after, well, no one was recognizable due to all the red mud we were covered in.

This cave trip was last Spring. This fall, my daughter and I went on a coastal kayaking trip for four days. This is what I love about North Carolina - the ability to do anything in an outdoorsy kind of way. In January we'll be leading a snow ski trip to the NC mountains. In Feb. if the weather breaks we'll be climbing and March is the bicycle trip. In between I'll be quilting!

Love Savannah too! It's called "The Birthplace" and is a Mecca for Girl Scouts. :D

You're going to LOVE having your child finally leave home! I never thought I'd be able to say that, but it is so heart-warming to see them step out and step up to take their place in the world. Oh, and did I mention, my daughter and I are closer now that our relationship has grown beyond parent-child to friendship.

Tell me about your family :flower:

Willow

Willow wrote:

You're going to LOVE having your child finally leave home! I never thought I'd be able to say that, but it is so heart-warming to see them step out and step up to take their place in the world. Oh, and did I mention, my daughter and I are closer now that our relationship has grown beyond parent-child to friendship.

Hey! I meant this part to Calico Chris! Willow

Schnookie wrote:

I am a bird watcher at heart Schnookie

I love bird-watching too, although I don't have many friends who will sit quietly enough to do it with me :lol: They are always talking, talking, talking. Me, I only blather along when I'm online and writing ;)

Hee hee, I thought I was a real bird watcher too, THEN this autumn on a kayaking trip, we were in the Atlantic flyzone where pelicans were gathering for their fall migration. It was an incredibly beautiful sight, thousands of pelicans on an island doing what pelicans do. BUT, the odor! My nose is making me rethink bird-watching.

Tell me more to keep me in it!

Willow

I bet those pelicans were fun to see!

We went to a conservatory where there tons of wild geese. They had quite a mine field left behind too. LOL

Hi Willow, sorry Im a bit slow writing back to you, got caught up in christmas! I remeber all the guides coming in reverence to savannah, is a pretty building isnt it, juliette lowe house, is that the name of it, trying to remember. Love the sound of the trips you and your daughter take, sounds like you do really neat stuff and outdoors stuff is so cool THe caving sounds great. MY daughter is 4, we are thinking we will join her to scouts, she is an outdoorsy type and full of adventursome spirit, loves hiking and camping etc. where did you kayak on your trip? The snow trip sounds good, where will you be taking people and how? Cross country trails up there arent there, I know there is a ski resort up there, darned if I can recall its name (its been 10yrs LOL) Where will you be climbing in Feb and where is the bike trip in march? OH Im full of questions LOL. We try and get out hiking, bush walking and camping, spend a lot of time out and about.

What kind of quilting do you like doing, do you stick to any particular style or give anything a go? Do you have a favourite method? Its fun meeting you, I will stop asking questions now

Welcome Quiltyfish... hope you will come back often....

I saw Quiltyfish joined too, hope we see you swimming your way around the forum, there is another fish here, niagra fish Look forward to meeting you and welcome to our home, hope you feel comfy and make it your home too