Love quilting, using the embroidery machine, creating sculptured dolls. I took up quilting around 2001 after having a couple of operations on my neck and spine and was unable to get around much as I was in a neck brace for a year. I was depressed and needed to find something to stop me being so bored and happened to be in a shop (with my husband) when I saw a book on quilting. There and then I decided that I would give it a try, I bought the ... Read Full Bio »

Love quilting, using the embroidery machine, creating sculptured dolls. I took up quilting around 2001 after having a couple of operations on my neck and spine and was unable to get around much as I was in a neck brace for a year. I was depressed and needed to find something to stop me being so bored and happened to be in a shop (with my husband) when I saw a book on quilting. There and then I decided that I would give it a try, I bought the book a rotary cutter, mat, ruler and some fabric and was off and running, (so to speak) and I never looked back. Probably because I could not turn my head, but seriously I loved it from the second I threaded my first needle. The biggest problem was finding family and friends that liked quilts as much as me so I could give them quilts as gifts. I was a real traditionalist when I first started, they all had to be hand pieced, and hand quilted, I must have been mad, I probably was but it truly saved my sanity, I felt like I was contributing again. When I could not work and I was in pain all the time that was all I focused on but quilting made me forget about all that. I became more creative and could forget about pain. I love it, my husband would probably say I do too much quilting but really he is happy as well and is very proud of my quilts. He even gives me constructive criticism. When I made my quilt for my first competition he found a mistake that I made on one of my blocks I knew it was there but he pointed it out to me and said that I should fix it as it would "Irritate me" if I didn't. I grumbled at him and unpicked the block and remade it but he was right if I had not every time I looked at the quilt it would have been the only thing I focused on. He now takes the credit for me getting second place as he reckons I would not have won if not for him, he's probably right. QUILTING, gotta love it.