About me

My quilting journey began soon after we moved from a little town in Kwa Zulu Natal called Gillitts to another little town, Harrismith in the Free State, South Africa. .  I have been sewing since the age of about 6 or 7, making many of my own clothes under the expert guidance of my mother.  Mom taught me to sew beginning with making dolls clothes and of course the ever popular apron that was enthusiastically taught by equally unenthusiastic (in the sewing field) class teachers in primary school!  The only prize I managed to earn in my academic school years was a silver thimble which, come to think of it, I haven't seen in many years.  Mom, do you know anything about it perhaps?!!  You will notice that I like using a lot of exclamation marks!  I write as though I am speaking and I tend to speak with quite a bit of expression!

All my sewing was done on Mom's Necchi sewing machine up until hubby and I were engaged in 1967 and he bought me an Elna Automatic.  Oh what excitement!  My very own sewing machine!  And guess what was the first garment I made on it?  You guessed it - my wedding dress!  Well that was 46 years ago and it served me well with having 2 daughters for whom I sewed and 2 sons who only wore homemade tracksuits and jackets until they left home other than their usual shorts and shirts of course!  Until then, it really was family first, soon after which I discovered the world of patchwork and quilting; and now, 30 years on, it takes up most of my day.  I am passionate about my quilting especially free motion quilting.  It is a way that I can express myself and where I can crawl into another world.   You can read all about how I started quilting and see some of my early projects under "My Quilting Story".

My very latest interest is in Crazy Quilting.  I dabbled in it many years ago - you can see the waistcoat I made for my Dad's 80 birthday under "My Quilting Story" but have now been taking some of Kathy Shaw's excellent tutorials online at http://www.shawkl.com/.  I can highly recommend these classes where Kathy teaches silk ribbon embroidery, beading etc and wonderful embroidery stitches to use in your crazy quilt seams. 

Please feel free to trickle around my blog and read whatever interests you.  You are welcome to leave a comment, every single one of which I read and to which I reply.  You can follow my blog through Google Friend Connect or Bloglovin'.

I wish you a great day and Happy Quilting,