Greetings! We are kicking off our Design Challenge Series this month with Jennifer Jenkinson of That Girl, That Quilt. We asked Jennifer if she'd answer a few questions for us and she obliged. Here's our interview with Jennifer.
Jennifer, tell us a little about yourself.
My name is Jennifer and I love quilting and all things fabric. After a series of athletic injuries and surgeries, I needed a relatively safe hobby so I decided to try quilting. As it turned out, I was one of those people who didn't discover the extent of my creativity until I picked out some fabrics, picked up a needle and some thread, and made my first quilt. From then on I was hooked and quilting has become a passion in my life.
I have been quilting for almost 5 years. I got my first quilting fabric and notions for Mother's Day and I was off! I doubt my husband knew what kind of monster he was creating when he helped our 3 year old buy that Mother's Day present. I made my first 3 quilts completely by hand... even the binding... because I was scared to death of using a sewing machine. I now enjoy machine piecing and quilting but my first love is still to hand piece and hand quilt my quilts and I typically always have one sort of hand sewing project always going on. I enjoy modern quilting but I really find it quite interesting to take more modern fabrics and work them in to traditional patterns
I enjoy other types of sewing projects, crochet, embroidery and drawing too. I have dabbled in learning to knit but each time I try I end up thinking that knit rhymes with another certain word that I may or may not say when other people aren't around...
I have a wonderful and supportive husband, Steve and a fabulous 8 year old daughter, Chaney. My daughter is smart, funny, and super creative. She and I spend many hours together creating and sewing in my studio. My husband is my sewing machine "fixer", a creative second eye, occasional quilt baster, my best friend, and the one I fall in love with over and over. We have two beagles, Buddy & Gus, who combined with the 8 year old, keep us on our toes all the time!
I work full time in the high pressure world of finance. I'm a softball coach {& mom}to one athletic little girl and I have a date night with my husband once a week. What spare time I have left in the evenings and on weekends I escape and spend creating, piecing, quilting, and rolling around in my beloved fabric stash.
I am a native Texan and yes, my fabric stash is big just like everything else is in Texas. I live in the Dallas area, specifically in a town named Argyle which thrills me to live someplace named after a textile pattern!
What is your favorite quilt block of all time?
My favorite quilt block of all time is probably any type of hourglass block. I love the simplicity combined with strong lines. It's so versatile too!
Check out this fun quilt featuring hour glass blocks that Jennifer made with Reunion and Pezzy Prints.
Photo by Jennifer Jenkinson.
What kind of machine do you use?
I sew on my brand new Juki 2010 Qi. I. Love. It! I started out sewing on a Shark sewing machine from Target that I burned up within 9 months. I upgraded to a Singer HD110 that I really did love sewing on and still use for other projects. But as I have grown as a quilter, I realized that I was missing some features... like being able to lower the feed dogs or a larger throat for more room while quilting. I started saving my money from my pattern sales and I stumbled on a great deal for my Juki. I've had for about a month and I am in sewing heaven. I had no idea how much easier sewing would be with little features like an automatic thread cutter! (Jennifer raved about her new Juki here.)
Where do you find inspiration for your sewing/quilting projects?
I find most of my inspiration from my surroundings. Carpet designs and architecture frequently morph into quilt patterns. I find my color inspiration in a lot of my surroundings too. I am constantly taking pictures of random scenes that have beautiful color combinations. I also love Design Seeds ... if I need color inspiration that is one of my first stops online!
What is your favorite sewing supply/room organization tip?
My favorite sewing room organization tip is definitely comic book boards for folding and organizing my fabric. It's like having miniature fabric bolts on my shelves and my own little fabric store... I love it when I get a new shipment of fabric to turn into mini-bolts! I have a tutorial here that works well for anything from a fat quarter up to 3 or 4 yards.
Jennifer's "fabric store." I loved this method so much, I used it too!
Photo by Jennifer Jenkinson
Jennifer, thanks so much for sharing a little about yourself! We can't wait to see what you've come up with for this month's challenge!
Jennifer selected the beautiful prints below from the California Girl by Fig Tree Quilts collection for her challenge.
Stop by the blog tomorrow to see her project. :-)
Happy Sewing! :-)
I just love Fig Tree - any of her lines are wonderful and play so nicely together - and the fabric is sooooo pet-able! Excited to see the project.
ReplyDeleteHow exciting! I can't wait to see what she works up! Love her selections too!
ReplyDeleteLoved meeting Jennifer. The fabrics from Fig Tree are wonderful and I can't
ReplyDeletewait to see the project!