Let's tell all our newbies a thing or two...

[Roxanne]

Re: Let's tell all our newbies a thing or two...

Hi, I am Roxanne (same as my screen name). I just joined this forum in December and have really loved getting on here every day and reading all the posts and seeing what everyone is working on. I feel like I know all of you personally. I just turned 58. 2012 was a very eventful year for me. I got married (for the first time). I am a Christian and prayed for years that God would reveal the man that He had picked for me, but it seemed like He had plans for me to remain single. So, I accepted this, and moved on. Then, when I least expected it, I met Bill. We got married in June and life is good. Because of Bill's generous spirit, I was able to take early retirement in January and have been loving it. I have lots of time for my quilting addiction. We have a four legged, furry son named Brody who keeps life interesting. He is a little bundle of energy and very lovable. I took a quilting class in my 20s and did a few things but didn't really get "into" it until about 5 years ago. Now I am truly a quilting addict. I love everything about it. Hope to get to know all of you better. Glad someone started this post. I've enjoyed reading it.

[Winniesfriend]

Re: Let's tell all our newbies a thing or two...

Hi I am Leonie, I am 55 years old and have been married to my Husband Trevor for 35 years now, we have 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls, aged between 26 -34, 2 DIL and 1 SIL, I also have a 4 year old grand daughter. I work 4 days a week in a busy emergency department as a Registered Nurse. I was born and bred in South Australia and I cant imagine living any where else, we live about half an hour away from the Barossa Valley which is a lovely wine growing area.

I started quilting last year and an now well and truly hooked, I have a ridiculous amount of fabric which I now have to use up.. well make a dent in any way. I have always done some sort of craft or another, I used to sew when the children were younger but I did not do any for a long time, but I took it up again to make some clothes from my grand daughter. I bought an embroidery machine so I could make some cute items, I then decided I needed someplace to put the embroidered pictures so I started to make quilts, the quilt in my Avatar is my first quilt which I made for my DGD.

[Iris Girl]

Re: Let's tell all our newbies a thing or two...

Hi my name is April. Screen name is my favorite flower in the world. I have been married almost 30 years have 2 adult sons that help with my fabric choices, both live at home with hubby and I do to the crappy economy and lack of jobs around here. I have been doing handcrafts since I was 5. My mom grew up on a farm and taught me to knit, crochet, embroider and sew early on. I started making doll clothes then advanced to clothing when store bought clothes arms and legs were way to short for me. I don't consider myself tall but I guess at that time in the early 70's I was. anyway, I have always had an interest in quilting but never done it as I made most of my own clothes right down to undergarments and slips for a good many years. I had the good fortune to work as fabric manager in a fabric store where I also taught beginner sewing for 20 years...then it went out of business... the fore sight of my friends at work that made me buy all the quilting rulers , mats and cutters and some patterns at 90% off was wonderful. that has been almost 10 years and I really just took up quilting in the last 3 years. Tried my hand at selling vikings , but left that job after 2 years for 2 reasons...1 I am a Pfaff girl and just could not sew comfortably on a viking... but most importantly my boss was a horrible person , who lied , cheated and stole 80% of my commission sales. so now I work in a craft store to support my habit. I love this forum and everyone is so nice. I also teach quilting to a few ladies 2 or 3 times a month. we laugh , love , and even sew . have fun all

[CrazyMtnLady]

Re: Let's tell all our newbies a thing or two...

Hello everyone. I am one of the Crazy ones on here. My name is Donna G and I am 58. I was born and raised in NE Indiana and lived there until 1986 when I moved to Ithaca, NY and married my second husband. I was married to my first husband for over 12 years until we divorced. We had two daughters. My second husband was killed in Jan. 1999 in a train derailment. He worked for the railroad. I then moved back to Indiana. I met my current husband Daniel in 2001 and we married in Las Vegas in 2004. We now live in the Missouri Ozarks and love it here. Well sometimes living in the boonies can get a bit lonely.
My mother was from Brisbane, Australia and was a WWII war bride. She was a beautiful knitter but I never saw her sew. She had an old treadle sewing machine which I started sewing with when I learned to sew in Junior High School. The first thing I made in school was an apron and from then on I was hooked. I love to sew. I made my daughters a lot of their clothes when they were small and the first quilt I made was for my first daughter.
I love to bake, especially anything with yeast. I guess I love the kneading part. I also love to fish, hunt or just target practice. I love to read almost anything I just finished a few Amish love stories that my neighbor loaned me. Usually I love to read and re-read Dean Koontz books.
I also paint, knit, crochet and once in a while do some woodburning.
We heat with wood so we got out and cut wood ourselves...sure makes the muscles and joints hurt. We have a horse and a mule so we have to bale hay too.
My "love" is my pug dog Gator. He is 11 years old now. We also have a blue heeler...TarButt and four cats. Chester "The Planet", Hondo, Vurlow and MonkeyButt.
This is the best forum on the web. The people are great!

[Quilter1147]

Re: Let's tell all our newbies a thing or two...

Hello - I'm known as Quilter1147 - but that is a misnomer. I should have as my screen name Crafter1147. I have made
wall hangings, but not a quilt as yet. I have made around 15 quillows (for family and friends), purse inserts, tote bags,
and fabric coiled baskets. I really enjoy the baskets - making them out of striped fabric. At our local fabric store, I have
taught 2 classes on making the baskets. That was fun!

I am a retired teacher, living in West Texas, with my husband of 46 years. Reading this board and viewing the numerous
ways a block can be made has peeked my interest. Yes, soon I plan to take the plunge and make a quilt. Thanks for all of the
valuable info you provide on this board.

[Lenie]

Re: Let's tell all our newbies a thing or two...

Hi,
I'm Lenie. I'm 46 years old, and I live in The Netherlands. Married to Paul for 22 years now, and we have 3 sons, 20, 18 and 13.
I work at a Fairtrade shop, it's a giftshop. I started quilting summer 2010, after a roundtrip through some parts of the USA. We were visiting my two brothers who live in Memphis TN and San Antonio, TX. On our trip I found some beautiful quilts, which I couldn't take with me back in the plane, to much luggage. Then, back home, I told myself: hé why not try to make my own quilt? So I ordered some fabric, found Jenny's tutorials, and just started to quilt. Never stopped since .
I don't have a quiltroom, not enough space, and no big stash either, just two shelves in a cabinet for all my quilting stuff. My sewing machine is at least 25 years old, belonged to my mum, and has found a steady place on our dinnertable.
But that's okay for me.
We have two cats, Max and Minous living with us.
I joined the group Farmers Granddaughter, and I love it! I'm sure I will learn a lot from that this year. And of course I'm in the secret pal swap. I enjoyed the christmas swap from last year so much, I had to be in it this year!
It's snowing here, right now, brrr, hope it will be spring soon.
What a nice thread, getting to know some more of all these great people.
It sure is a great group of girls, and even some boys!
Hugs, Lenie

[robin nelson]

Re: Let's tell all our newbies a thing or two...

Hi

I am Robin from Helena Montana. Actually I moved here three years ago and took a beginning quilting class. Since then I have a huge stash. My newest project that I am staring today is the about trout quilt. I was just told yesterday that locally only two people have completed it. I hope I am not over my head because I am just starting to embroidery. If anyone lives near Helena, I would be so glad to meet you. It has not been easy to make new friends here since I am not a fourth generation Montanan. I am a native Californian, but moved here for a slower pace. I have three dogs, two horses and two cats. I have been married for 30 plus years and have three children.

[dwil23]

Re: Let's tell all our newbies a thing or two...

Enjoying reading about you all....

.....Next??

[Lisapc]

Re: Let's tell all our newbies a thing or two...

I am Lisa, 42 yrs old and a native New Englander, MA to be more specific. I was a single mother at 20. It still amazes me that I at times was treated so badly because he broke the engagement and walked away when we got pregnant. Anyway that daughter is one of the best things that ever happened to me. She is about to turn 22. I was a nurse who kept getting sucked into the management/human resource side of the home care I worked for. I quickly realized I could help so many more people in that position it stuck. It stuck until I had my son prematurely 8 1/2 yrs ago. I continued off and on to work from home until I went back full time almost 2 yrs ago. I started working on my own again as a consultant in May of last year. The hours, bad pay and bad environment were too much for me.

Anyway, I met my hubby when I was 12 and he was 20. When I was too young to be in the community pool at our summer place alone he used to watch me. When I was a teenager I dated Jimmy for 3 yrs. Hubby, Peter dated Jimmy's older sister Caroline for those same three years. I last saw Peter when I was 20 and my daughter was an infant and my parents sold the place. When my daughter was 12 and I was 32 we all went back up for a reunion. I was unfolding a camping chair and I heard my Dad say, "hey, Pete". I looked up, he looked at me and I lost my breath. I literally turned red at 32. I made a quick escape for some made up reason and took my daughter on a fake errand to the store to get away from him fast. For the next 3 days my daughter kept telling me how handsome he was and every time I turned around there he was. I thought he was way out of my league. We have been together ever since and honestly every year it gets better an better. Just tonight we were cuddling on the couch and we talked about how lucky we were to not only find each other but be alive (he had cancer and it was 2 yrs of hell) and sitting in our own home with our little guy snug in his bed and our two beasts taking their nap and my daughter and granddaughter being happy and healthy.

I started sewing in the 6th grade. I was 10. Out of necessity I started sewing again when my son was an infant because nothing fit him right. It quickly became a kitchen table business and now I do that and veils and wedding attire. I sell the wedding attire through a designer/look artist. We are working on creating a full service wedding business and she wants me to make her an Amish quilt. Thankfully she is too busy to shop for patterns and fabrics right now. I have always admired quilts but thought they were far too complicated to do. I then found the JRR tutorial with Jenny and within 2 days placed that first order. If I had known what it really entailed I would have dived into quilting years ago. I love it.

I also train dogs. Some years it is one dog and some years it is 10. I have no interest in doing it steadily but I do like to keep at it. I have 2 Alaskan Malamutes. They are not for everyone. They are amazing. Hard workers, funny, intelligent, too independent for their own good and pack animals. They do best with a dog mate and a family. We can't have more children of our own so we have the dogs and it truly feels like I have 3 little ones in the house some days.

I sort of have the same rules for kids as I do for dogs.

No is the first word they learn
No jumping
Quiet
Wait
Easy
Never ending love given and received
No talking back, I say it but it doesn't work with Malamutes or my kids. Occasionally!

Next?

[Renate]

Re: Let's tell all our newbies a thing or two...

This is really the who is who of our forum, i love it

[Wwena]

Re: Let's tell all our newbies a thing or two...

Great minds think alike, I was just contemplating starting a post like this haha!

Hi all, I'm Anna from Sweden! To name a few more current Swedish things: Absolut vodka, Swedish House Mafia, Skype and Spotify. Oh and Alexander Skarsgård, yum!! Wwena is my name from when I used to play Everquest and it's been my alias ever since. (Also, Anna is one of the most common names of my generation in Sweden. Maria is the most common name. My sister is called Maria. Imaginative parents huh!!)

I'm a noob quilter but I've taken to it with gusto! I'm an "all-in" kind of person I think. I got my precious Janome in december after a loooong two month wait and love love love it. Except for when I hate it (usually during quilting). I've only tried a few smaller quilts so far, putting pinding on my first lap sized one today. I sew lots of other stuff too, to get my technique up. I have a list of approx 697 things I want to make!

I live in Örebro (same town as Annika and we are the only Swedes on the forum - what are the odds??) about two hours away from the capital (Stockholm). I'm a software tester and work for a local IT company now after having my own business for a few years. I'm married and I have two kids: a daughter born jan -07 and a son born in march -09. They keep us busy!

Apart from sewing I like computer games (MMORPG mostly), reading (mostly urban fantasy/horror), watching select TV shows (Newsroom anyone?), dance aerobics and I love cooking and baking. Pinterest. Did I forget to mention Pinterest and compulsive board and blog trolling? I also love listening to books and podcasts, when out walking or at home cooking etc. The Harry Potter books and Terry Pratchetts Discworld series are my favourites and I know them all by heart.

Oh and I turn 40 this summer. Party anyone?

[Musical_Starling]

Re: Let's tell all our newbies a thing or two...

To name a few more current Swedish things: Absolut vodka, Swedish House Mafia, Skype and Spotify. Oh and Alexander Skarsgård, yum!!

Hmm, Absolut vodka, Alexander Skarsgård, and a yaffle of metal bands?

Later chickies, I'm moving to Sweden! lol

[Wwena]

Re: Let's tell all our newbies a thing or two...

Hmm, Absolut vodka, Alexander Skarsgård, and a yaffle of metal bands?

Later chickies, I'm moving to Sweden! lol

Haha yeah I saw your post about the metal bands after I wrote mine! Come on over!!

[Musical_Starling]

Re: Let's tell all our newbies a thing or two...

Haha yeah I saw your post about the metal bands after I wrote mine! Come on over!!

I knew I recognized the last name, Skarsgård from somewhere, Alexander's Dad, Stellan, was in Pirates of the Caribbean! And you guys have DOLPH LUNDGREN too?!? Girl, you and Annika have been holding out on me! lol That's it, I'm on my way!




Wait, hang on a second. I barely speak English. I don't think Newfinese and Swedish will mix very well... I'll probably just end up talking like Swedish Chef on the Muppets, and I don't think I'll get very far just yelling "Bork! Bork! Bork!" everywhere I go... It's probably not even a word lol Hrm... I may have to rethink my plan... Maybe Sweden can adopt Newfoundland? lol

[toggpine]

Re: Let's tell all our newbies a thing or two...

Here is the link to my original post here!

http://forum.missouriquiltco.com/showthread.php?189-New-member-intro

I still live in Lakebay, Wash, USA on our little farm with my husband of almost 11 years. He has a son (21) who has a son (1.5) and our daughter (7) lives with us too. We have about 20 milk goats of varying ages and breeds. The count on the chickens is down to about a dozen, and those really belong in the stew pot! We have an Anatolian Shepherd Livestock Guardian dog and a tortoise-shell security cat.
I am currently a stay at home mom, but that will probably change soon. The youngest is in school full time, and the extra funds would be good (more fabric & batting). I have a background in printing. So we'll see. I also work with the 4-H & FFA at the state fair level. I spend a few days every summer as a goat judge too. That is fun to see all of the different fairs and the quilts while I am there!
As far as quilting goes - I like to piece more than quilt, but after a successful outing with the walking foot recently, I may not mind it so much. This would mean those UFO's might actually become real quilts! I lean more towards making the traditional than the art quilts. Two of my quilts are still at home. One on the son's bed and the other on my daughter's wall. The rest have all found homes with other people. One day I'll have one just for me!
I originally found this site while looking for something on tube quilt blocks, & I've been here ever since. This place certainly has grown! I have met a bunch of wonderful people and learned a lot of valuable things in that time.I can only imagine where they will go in the next 5 years!