Friday, January 30, 2015

Desire To Inspire - January 2015 Edition


The Desire To Inspire Challenge continues into 2015. It has been a thoroughly enjoyable event on our blog. We hope to continue to inspire you again this year. If you would like to submit to the challenge, see details below. We have a long list of submissions but our goal is to get to all of you! Beginners and more advanced quilters or sewers are welcome to submit to Henry Glass to be considered for the challenge.



We start the year off with a fun project by January's Desire To Inspire Challenger, Bev Bryan. Bev was given a bundle of Marie Cole's Monkey Around to play with and she came up with the most darling design. We love it.



HG:  Where do you live?

BB:  I live in Oklahoma City, OK

HG:  Family

BB:  I live with a little shih tzu, Lola. I have 3 grown children and 7 grandchildren! I just recently lost my other little shih tzu, Charlie, who had been my companion for 18 years. Lola is my little quilting buddy.


HG:  How long have you been quilting

BB:  I’ve been quilting since the mid-90’s but have been machine sewing since I was about 8 years old. My grandfather was VP of sales for White Sewing Machine Company. He taught me to do the “zig zag” stitch when it first came out (yep, I’m old) and I demonstrated it at state fairs and trade shows. It was the latest thing! Ladies would walk by and say, “if that little girl can do those stitches, so can I”.

HG:  What's your favorite technique?

BB:  I love machine quilting on my Bernina. I also love doing machine appliqué and piecing. I really love everything about quilting and love every technique.

HG:  Who taught you how to quilt?

BB:  I taught myself to quilt by watching Eleanor Burns, Georgia Bonesteel and Doreen Speakman on television. There weren’t the resources then that there are now. I didn’t even know anyone who quilted at the time so was on my own. TV quilt teachers made it easy and fun to learn but I had to wait a week between quilt shows. Now with the internet and YouTube, quilters have fabulous tutorials at our fingertips.


HG:  Do you belong to any guilds?

BB:  No guild fun for me! Until recently, I worked full time and just could not work it into my schedule.
 
HG:  Anything else you would like to share with our readers?

BB:  I’d just like to say that it was fun for me to design this little quilt but a real challenge to show it. I am so shy and it’s hard for me to actually show people something I designed myself. I don’t know why. It’s easy to show traditional quilt blocks and tops but it is hard to show something I designed (I'm no artist) and not know if people are rolling their eyes and thinking “that poor woman…her little 5-year-old granddaughter could have done better.” I loved the fabric that was used for this quilt. I hope you like it!

HG:  Thank you Bev for such a fun and happy design!
Enjoy the weekend!

-HG

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