By Way of Introduction

My name is Valerie. I'm 26, married and I work from home as controller for my family's company. I have lots of interests like crocheting, knitting, scrapbooking, gardening, candle making, etc., but my favorite hobby is quilting. I love results and its fun to see something that I've created.

I'm a country girl living in Pittsburgh. Since I'll be here for awhile, I'll have to get used to it. Quilts are such a comforting thing and they make me feel more at home. My husband pretends not to be too excited about them, but he enjoys cuddling up in one even more than I do.

I started quilting probably 1 1/2 years ago, but I consider myself a beginner. I feel like I've gotten the piecing thing down pretty well, but I've got to work on the quilting. I got a walking foot awhile ago and I've got that sort of thing down, so I moved on to a free motion foot. That bugger is not my friend. I guess my arm movement is not smooth or something. Need to practice on that. I always have several projects going on at one time, cause I have a somewhat short attention span. I thought I'd share one. Its a wedding quilt for my sister.


I designed it myself and started it back in March, hoping to get it done for the August wedding. I made great progress on getting the top together and basting the quilt together. Then I sewed the main seams. Now I'm stuck.

I've started with outlining the stars and I can only do one or two before I get tired of "quilt wresting." In the meantime, my sister's engagement fell apart. There's no real deadline now, so I think that has sapped my motivation. I was hoping to use the free motion quilting to outline the stars, but I can't get straight lines for the life of me. So, more wrestling for me. There are 20 stars and I'm doing a double outline. After that, I have no idea what to do for quilting the rest of it. Any suggestions?

I love this quilt so much! I'd love to keep it for myself - its already all wrinkly and I want to take a nap with it. I always use Hobbs Heirloom Premium batting usually without prewashing to make sure that it gets all soft and wrinkly like antique quilts. My goal today is to get some work done on it. Maybe I can have it done in time to give it to her for her birthday in November. Cross your fingers for me!