This exchange is so much fun and I love reading all the bios. It is so interesting to read about each one of you and your quiting pursuits. I am Deborah (aka Debbie) and I live in Alberta Canada. TQS is so informative and encouraging. I have been married to my husband for almost 31 years. We have four daughters, one son-in-law and one very precious granddaughter who is now 7 months old. My family is my biggest cheerleaders when it comes to quilting. For years, my life revolved around my family and then our girls began to graduate from high school and leave home. Then in 2005 (still two girls at home but in high school) I took a beginner quilt class at our local quilt shop and I was hooked. I had found something I felt passionate about and haven't stopped since. I enjoy taking classes and learning new things. I really want to conquer machine quilting but trying to stuff a quilt through my small machine just isn't working for me yet. I will keep trying. I come from at least three generations of quilters that I know of -- my great-grandmother, my grandmothers and my mother are (or were) all beautiful quilters. I treasure the times my mom and I quilt together when something is in the frame.

I am excited to receive back the triangles from this exchange although I am not sure what pattern I will use to make a quilt with them.

Dear SOTTT’s

That hat is amazing-It looks like it is from The Harry Potter Series & may be magical! Maybe on Sorting Day it will come to Life like the Hat that Mickey Mouse wore in the Musical with the broom & bucket of water, when he was trying to learn to be a sorcerer? I can hear the music in my head but can’t remember the name of the video, pumb pumb pumb de pumb de pumb and the bucket started filing with water and doing the work for Mickey? Then it got out of control with too much water until the real magician showed back up & stopped it ??? Well anyway, hope the hat is magical for you on sorting day! The hat probably won’t be magical until the sorting queen puts it on!
Many, many thanks to the sorters -Barbara Bluffton, SC

I will be out of pocket for a few days. Something has come up. You know how these things go. I leave you in capable hands.

Wait. What happened to all the bios? We have 615 quilters that signed up. Keep them coming. I hope to have a good 3 hours worth of reading when I get back. Clara aka the Sorting Queen

WOW! You all really have your work cut out for you, wish I could help. Thank again to all you wonderful ladies.
Shirley35
PS Love your hat!

lotti wrote: The poor sorting hat is just passing around all excited with no where to go. Hopefully he doesn't get too anxious. the Sorting Queen :shock: :shock: :shock:

oh clara
that sorting hat is just so
love it - love it - love it

HOLEY MOLEY!!

Me and my sorting hat. We are waiting....

NaneeWolf wrote: Wait, are you sure your the one that didn't buy all of Ricky Tims scraps! Clara

Oh my, I wonder what this could be??? Silly me, it's 'trash' bags filled with 559 packages containing 223,743 HST just waiting to travel along to their new homes with all the SoTTTs members! It doesn't look like 35 trash bags, but they are stacked on top of each other.

And another is a 'trash' bag filled with those precious 'Golden Tickets' from Alex, Ricky, Edyta and Margo...also waiting to travel along to their new homes, too.

Every day when I check in to read the posts on this SOTTT exchange, I'm amazed and delighted to read about how all of you quilters got involved with the love of quilting. There is a special connection among all of us that I just treasure and only each and every one of us understands. Yesterday my stepdaughter who lives in Denver visited us, and when I showed her my organized "quilt fabric/craft stash" (which is stored in our garage and my sewing room), she called me a hoarder. I said I was a collector...not a hoarder! A quote from one of Luana Rubin's well-written articles immediately came to mind:

"...So when does collecting become hoarding? When you have a tiny little path through the room between stacks of fabric that go from floor to ceiling (and you never share or give away anything). When does cleaning and editing become obsessive purging and subsequent obsessive regret? When you wake up in a cold sweat at 3 am and realize you gave away or threw away something that was PERFECT for a new project...that you just thought of a 2:59 am. A lot of quilters make jokes about how they hide their stash from their spouses, but I really do know people who keep their fabric in the trunk of their car and then sneak it into the house late at night. Well if collecting fabric is a guilty pleasure, I say it is much better than doing drugs or becoming an alcoholic...." -- Luana Rubin (equilter.com)

How could I explain to my stepdaughter who is 44 yrs old why I get so much pleasure from all my beautiful fabrics which are sorted by color and value?....Why I love playing with them when I'm designing a new quilt that has set my imagination on fire?....Why I had the foresight to buy fabric over the years because I knew when I retired I wouldn't have the disposable income to feed my quilting passion?...she just wouldn't "get it"! Sooooo, I just smiled at her and said a silent prayer that one day she finds an outside interest that sets her soul on fire.

A million thank you's to all of you wonderful quilters who have shared a part of your lives with the rest of us. And...a BAZILLION THANK YOU'S to Alex and Ricky for having the talent, enthusiasm, and foresight to create The Quilt Show. I'm hooked on TQS forever!!

Shirley
Gresham, OR

Hi,
I am Karen and I started sewing as a young girl. I don't remember at what age, but I do know my Mom showed us how to use needle and thread when we were very young. My first memory of quilts are my Great Grandmothers quilt tops that she sent to my Grandmother. She also had a Sunbonnet Sue finished quilt on her bed that I LOVED. The first quilt I remember working on was with my Mom and sister tying one of the tops my Great Grandmother sent to us.
My Paternal Grandmother was a quilter too but I don't remember much about that except she had a quilt frame that dropped down from the ceiling that I believe my father made. When my sister (cpblay) posts her bio she will tell you more about that. She remembers a lot more about her quilting.
I sewed all my own dresses through high school and beyond. I sewed for my children as they grew up. My son's favorite thing I made for him was a wildly colored pair of MC Hammer pants and a vest. He was so proud of them. I could use that picture as blackmail now.
A few years after I moved from the Mississippi to Massachusetts I met a couple of wonderful friends who quilted. I began learning to quilt from them. They both still quilt the old fashioned way. No rotary cutters, all hand quilting, and muslin backs. I didn't learn any new techniques until I saw Simply Quilts on TV. I got so excited when I saw the show where Alex taught us how to make a four patch the quick easy way. I am impatient when I do a project, I like quick results. So when I realized there were shortcuts and quicker methods to cutting I was anxious to learn more. When we moved to Connecticut (briefly) I made a friend who owned a quilt shop and there I learned how to truly bind a quilt, (I had been taught how to use store bought bias binding or fold over the backing to the front) and was introduced to long-arm and machine quilting. I took my first quilt quilt class there. The only other class I have taken is the Ricky Tim's Seminar. I loved it. Now with The Quilt Show I feel I am finally getting a true understanding of quilting and am learning so much. I am so grateful for Alex and Ricky. Oh and John and Justin too.
My challenge is to learn to machine quilt. I just can't seem to get the hang of it. Maybe when I get to update my machine? I am continuing to progress but feel I have a Looooooong way to go. I am enjoying the process. I am thrilled to be a part of this exchange. My first. I hope I can do justice to my HSTs when they arrive.
Karen

I am Leslie - a quiltmaker from California. I am married for many years, have 3 beautiful grown stepkids and six associated grandkids, two wonderful grown sons of my own, and a new 6 month old grandson! I made my first quilt from material my then - 12 year old son(!) bought on a trip to Hawaii about 13 years ago. He had the best of intentions, but never got off the ground with it, so eventually I decided to give it a try. I had sewed for years - my first dress when I was 10 years old. After that first quilt (a black background with purple, teal, and Hawaiian print 9 patch) I was hooked. I love the feel of the fabric, the colors and the play of patterns together. It makes me happy just to think about it! I have also enjoyed knitting, crocheting, and needlepointing over the years, and figure that all things colorful and textural are my friends. I have joined a couple of guilds, but have trouble with that kind of "commitment" - so TQS has really filled a need for me. I so enjoy checking in every day, and this exchange has been particularly rewarding. I can hardly wait to get my return HSTS(!) and have almost as much fun dreaming about what I will make with them, as I do playing with, and rearranging my ever-growing stash. I recently bought the Star Crazy BOM kit, just because it was on sale and I love the fabric! It is beautiful - a great deal, and I may or may not make the Star Crazy quilt. It doesn't really matter, does it?

Hi, I'm Cath from Brisbane Australia, I'm relatively new to quilting... started in 2004. As a girl, I was the family outcast, with a Mum who could draft patterns and sew anything, and an Oma who was a dressmaker by trade. It finally started with watching Simply Quilts on our pay tv when the boys would let me leave the cartoons behind. So with a very small wall hanging kit from eBay, I started. I am a Mum of an autistic child, so we didn't go out much.. so all my lessons were with Alex on Simply Quilts and the Internet. Initially, the kits and fabric mostly from eBay became lap quilts or cushions. All my nieces and nephews got matching cushions, 1 Euro cushion and 1 16" cushion. They love them and still use them today. So much so, my niece when her parents separated, informed me they all needed a second set - one at Mum's and one at Dad's. So that was another year of birthdays done.

I love the time spent with my sewing machine but I do chronically make quilts for other people. This year, I have promised myself that I will make at least 2 for me.. 1 will by the HST exchange quilt. My boys will also finally get their cushions made... yes that's right they have missed out as well.

Quilting has saved my sanity over the years, as the boys needs (my second son is ADHD) have kept me at home, but the creativity keeps me alive.. As they got older this year, we started a craft group. 3 quilters, 1 jewelry maker, 1 sewer, 1 scrapbooker.. We love our time together once a month, and hope to continue the tradition this year.

Like everyone else on the post, thanks to the ladies who have donated their time to organise all of this, and I hope they survive the sorting day...