Good Tuesday morning everyone!
I am delighted to start our "Nice to meet you" series of member interviews today with one of our founding members, Rebecca Davison-March.
Hope and goal is to make our blog more interactive and, since we do live all over western NY, this is how we can get to know each other a bit more in between our meetings, learn new things and get inspired! :)
Bellow is a set of questions we came up with, but if you have more - feel free to ask in comments! Have a cup of you favorite pleasure, put your feet up and peek into Rebecca's world for a little while. Until we all meet in person, I hope this will have you think - nice to meet you Rebecca! :)
1. Lets start from basics - how about you in 3 sentences?
I am fabricaholic, nice to meet you. Hahahah! I am Mommy to three
princesses age 4 and under and Wife to the most patient, while still
very manly, Mr. on the planet. The best adjective to describe me is
feisty.
2. What part of WNY you call home?
Mayville, New York - Chautauqua County Baby!
3. When and how did quilting enter your life?
I was an Art/Art History double major with a concentration in Fiber
Arts so I learned about quilting and how to quilt sometime back in
199... However, to be perfectly honest, I didn't really start to
quilt until 2008 when I was pregnant with Miss E.
4. If you would have to describe WHY you quilt, what would you say?
I have an extremely dangerous obsession with all things fabric + the
desire to cut things up only to put them back together again and bam!
=
quilting. I am much more comfortable working 3 dimensionally so
piecing really answers my desire to envision 2 dimensional designs but
put them into 3 dimensional form. Plus, there is nothing better than
seeing your children wrapped up and loving something made by you.
5. What type of quilts (or other sewing items) do you mostly make?
When it comes to quilting I tend to go totally improv. My style leans
towards asymmetry and I usually work within a single fabric
collection. In fact, the same improv approach goes for garments, I
never work with a muslin for a garment pattern (tsk tsk) as I often
just change the pattern as I go adding or subtracting to
pants/shirts/dresses as I see fit. I have one "go to" shirt pattern
and one "go to" pant pattern that I have used repeatedly making
changes as I go over the past 15 years.
6. What is your design process?
My design
process starts inside my head. I am often attracted to an
image (Pinterest!) or something I see in real life (interested in
industrial roofing right now; the pinky reds with oxidized green
roofing) and then I draw out a possible piecing layout later. I carry
a sketchbook with me and I try to scale things out and sometimes use
color to help flesh out the design. I am a spatial learner and will
often cut fabric a certain length/size because it *feels* right for
that pattern or color? When it comes to designing layouts I am much
more off the cuff and inclined to change the plan midway to go with
what feels best.
7. What type are you still dreaming to make?
I actually have 3 goals...ready?
1) I'm still hoping to actually follow a pattern from start to finish!
I have the fabric and the patterns but keep going off on my own
tangents (i.e. my own patterns off the top of my head!).
Specifically
I'd like to create the
Curious Nature Quilt Pattern and the
Mid Mod
Quilt Pattern.
2) Working on my FMQ. I primarily stick to straight line quilting
right now and I really want to branch out and get creative with FMQ.
It adds this whole new dimension to the quilt.
3) Combining fabric lines. I find that sometimes using the same
collection is a crutch, sometimes I just can't bear to break up a
collection and that is that. But I want to make myself work outside
of my comfort zone and combine more designers and colors together.
8. Do you have a favorite part of the process?
Definitely the piecing design. I have sketches upon sketches of
possible quilts to make but so little time to do them. I just started
wondering if I should share my patterns so at least other people can
try them out! There is no way I will get to them all.
9. How about top 3
inspirations?
1) My girls - their current color choices really informs my color choices
2) Pinterest! I am a real pinterest addict and I do a weekly search
using the keywords "Quilt", "Modern Quilt" and "Fine Art" to get ideas
for color, patterns, layouts.
3) Fabric itself, sometimes I just see amazing possibilities right
from the fabric.
10. Now lets talk about your fabric addiction (no denying here!) - size
of your stash? favorite type or designer? where you love to shop -
local, internet, shows? Oh and any good 12-step program you can
recommend?
Um, *cough* slightly huge stash (sssshhhh), Anna Maria Horner could
have my liver if she needed it, Internet as it does not require me to
leave my girlies to go shopping, and I am starting a program on my
blog called the Slash the Stash which will challenge me and whoever
cares to join to commit to using their stash or destashing it!
11. Do
you love to take classes and workshops? What are the things you
would still love to learn?
I am starting to do more on Craftsy to learn FMQ. In addition to
being a fabricaholic I am also a book whore so I have lots of DIY
Quilting Books which I love!
12. Traditional quilts - any opinion, inspiration, favorites?
As an art history major I KNOW that I would not be here doing what I
do without the textiles of the past informing my work in some way that
I am probably oblivious to. Not just the history of Quilting in the
United States but also the influences of weavers, dyers,
block-printers from native peoples around the world! Personally, I am
addicted to all things Asian and love love love Indian textiles.
13. Modern quilts - love them all? still exploring?
Yes. All. Everything I see I think...hmmm...I can get behind that.
14. How did you get interested in Modern Quilt
movement/ style? How
does it speak to you?
It let me break all the rules of traditional quilt making that I
learned during my traditional training. All solids? No Calicos?
Borders aren't necessary? Repetition isn't a requirement? Bring it
on!
15. How about WNY MQG - what are your hopes and wishes for this
quilting community?
Unconditional Modern Quilting Support - in other words, I'd like to
meet people who don't think I am crazy when I lust after a new fabric
line, or who get as animated as I do when contemplating a new sewing
machine, or really take a look at my work and give feedback instead of
the standard non-quilter answer of "that's nice". I hope that this
group lasts long after me and that new people who never thought modern
quilting was their thing will join with the same passion I had when
founding WNYMQG.
16. Show and tell time! YAY!!
Here are some of Rebecca's wonderful creations with added bonus of a tutorial, blog posts about them and Flickr photo streams for each - can you ask for anything more? :)
Mega Sewing Pouch:
My tutorial on how to make this bag is going
on my blog today! Come
check it out! I'd say this epitomizes my taste right now, that Teal Ta
Dot is killing me because I want to use it in everything and I love the
look when combining Japanese fabrics and all things printed on linen.
Rainbow Quilt:
I just finished this one for Miss E my oldest daughter. I love how
fresh the white is and I am thinking of making many more quilts with
white. My attraction to white right now surprises me but maybe it is
the influence of all that WNY snow!
You can see the whole set of photos
HERE
Miss O's Quilt:
This was my first time using *Organic Fabric*. I have decided I don't
like the feel of it, this quilt hasn't washed softly like my others
have. I made this layout using Word. Yes, regular Microsoft Office
Word! I have a
tutorial on my blog on how to do that and am going to
update it soon for those of you who are interested...
You can see a whole album of photos
HERE, and I blogged about this quilt too - see it
HERE!
Miss V's Strip Quilt: Miss
V's Quilt was my first intentional Modern Quilt. The design itself is
based off of a traditional strip quilt, but I chose all Modern Quilting
Fabrics. In a way this was the first dive into Modern Quilting - it is
interesting to see how my tastes have developed!
Here is an entire
album for that quilt and of course
a blog post about it too.
16. Add a Question... -
YES, lets switch places a bit - Rebecca will ask a question and please feel free to answer in comments - how fun!
Oooh there are So Many!!! What is your all time favorite, would sell
the rest of your stash to get your hands on, fabric collection? [FYI
- mine is Anna Maria Horner's Good Folks!]
Now, wasn't this so much fun!?
THANK YOU Rebecca for such a wonderful and inspirational interview!
Wishing you all happy Tuesday,
Marija
I 
