Meet the Members--Jessica

1. Tell us about you 
I'm Jessica  and I'm a lifelong Chicagoan.  I grew up in River Forest and now live in Libertyville with my husband and almost-four-year-old son.  I was a seventh-grade teacher before he was born, but am now home with him full time.  

2. When/How did you get into quilting? 

I can remember being interested in quilting in middle school--I had a learn-to-quilt book and bought fabric for a sampler quilt, but with no rotary cutter, things didn't quite work out as planned!  I really learned to sew in high school, but took a decade-or-so hiatus, until I I stumbled upon the craft blog world after my son was born. 

3. Show us a couple of your projects

I've been looking at quilts longer than I've been making them, and so have only completed a few quilts.

My first quilt was for a friend's baby; I had another design in mind, but then she came three weeks early!

I made this quilt as an auction item for my son's preschool, which names its classrooms for colors--so all the fabrics are either green, yellow, or blue.  They're adding an orange room next year--not sure how that would've fit in!



This quilt was another charity donation, with a simple design where the Kaffe Fasset fabrics could speak for themselves.  I was the event chair, and so I didn't have a ton of time!

4. What (if any) other crafty activities do you enjoy?

After my son was born, I learned to knit, and still enjoy that...I like a lot of other crafts in theory, but I have enough fabric and yarn to keep me busy for a lifetime without adding other supplies to the mix!  I do enjoy crafting to make something I need rather than buying it--I made some fabric-y magnets for a swap, and got to try pouring resin, which was fun.  Not something I want to turn into another hobby, but I do really just love the process of making things, so it was neat to do once.

5. What quilt or item you've made are you most proud of and why?

I think I'm most proud of that first baby quilt I made...mostly because it was the first time I'd executed the process I'd been reading so much about...I was so delighted to have actually made a quilt.  I also just love the colors--so cheery and perfect for a baby girl--and was pleased with how my attempt at mixing fabric lines turned out; I prefer the look of quilts that draw from lots of different designers, but am always a little nervous to combine lines myself.  I didn't mix things up too much in this quilt, but what little I did worked pretty well, I think. 

6. Who inspires you most in your quilting?

Bloggers and "flickrers", most definitely.  It's kind of a double-edged sword, because I'm sometimes a little hard on myself about my own work when I start comparing it to the volume of awesome quilts I see online on blogs like Oh, Fransson and Film in the Fridge. I try to remind myself that in this season of my life, crafting is something I do in found bits of time.  Cranking out a quilt in a week just isn't realistic for me right now!  That said, I really love getting a sneak peek at such high-quality work from people I've never met in person.  I have learned so much about design and color and just taking chances in my work from the blogs I read.

Check out Jessica's blog here!