I am new to the quilting world, but I have been a paper crafter for many years. I love working with paper, punches and glue… but fabric, needles and thread have always intimidated me.

A couple years ago, I went on my first Shop Hop here in Northern California—and I was blown away! I visited four shops, each unique in their ambiance and service. The common thread between them was, of course, the stunning array of fabrics. I had never seen such beautiful colors and patterns, both coordinated and contrasting. The communal feeling of the shops was warm and inviting too, I could tell it was exactly where those folks wanted to be.

I suddenly “got it”—the unconditional, unadulterated, and undeniable love of fabric that so many quilters have. I became an impulse fabric buyer on the spot. And the fat quarters! Another thing I had never heard of… but how great is it to pick up little bits of every single fabric that appeals to you, all cute and adorable, for only a few bucks each? They’re just like candy!

I especially love fat quarters for covering my blank board books, like this project I did for Color Your World with Princess Mirah Batiks. The theme was “tweens” so I designed a 5×7 board book with pockets that a young teenager might like for holding pictures and notes from her friends. I used texting acronyms for themes on each page, like “omg” and “bff.”

I finally decided to change my guest room into a craft room, because I have accumulated so much fabric now (not to mention all the scrapbooking, papercrafting, needlefelting, beading, and embroidery stuff). So if you come to my house to visit, you’re sleeping on the couch, babe.

I am still afraid of the complexity of quilting though. So far I have made just one small sampler quilt in a 4-day beginner’s class that Laura Nownes taught. I learned so much from her, but my points were soooo not on point. I had to add some beads and embroidery to cover all my wonky points!

But I will try, try again… and I will try, try to make a more respectable dent in my fabric stash. In fact, I’m really excited about making some projects from our Super Simple Quilts series of books, I think those are totally my speed!

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