Welcome to Quilting With Tamara
Let’s Get Started. Welcome to Quilting With Tamara. When I sit down to write, I start out thinking this will be easy. The truth is, I am usually writing and rewriting for days until the post finally comes together. I appreciate your patience as I get back into the swing of posting again. As I begin, I will only scratch the surface of what is behind Quilting With Tamara. You will learn more about me by reading the blog posts and reaching out through my contact form, email, or Facebook.
Background
A little about myself – once upon a time, I had a successful quilting business; Down Home Quilting 1999 – 2010. I love creating patterns and writing instructions that even a beginner could tackle. Teaching classes and speaking to groups were some of my favorite things to do. I have to admit, my friend Kim truly helped to make public speaking engagements fun. Laughter is the best medicine, and once the audience joined in, everything else fell into place. What wonderful memories. I will be sharing photos in the future.
Messy Creative Chaos
In addition to designing patterns and teaching, I machine quilted and created hand-dyed fabrics – oh, how I loved playing with color—many stories to share on this messy creative process. There will be future posts where I will share more. This post doesn’t have enough room for all I need to share with you.
Business Closure
I closed my business when I followed my career in education (school counselor and CSE Chairperson). I had remarried and finally finished my degree – in addition to teaching at a quilt shop, working in a local school, and raising two boys – I can’t forget coaching Modified Softball. Looking back, I am not sure how I survived all that I crammed into 24 hours. Let’s fast forward five years to when I retired from education due to some health issues – a body can only handle so much on so little sleep. What a struggle that was – trying to figure out who I was, talk about a grieving process.
Quilt Retreats
Quilt retreats often meant teaching a quilt pattern. Who doesn’t love a quilt retreat? At times I offered overnight retreats, day-long retreats, mystery quilt retreats (my favorite), as well as open sew style retreats. I loved the creative process, but it still wasn’t the right time for me to pick it back up. I struggled with pain and health issues, so I worked on a couple of personal projects.
Hand Quilting
I decided to make a quilt for my oldest son and daughter-in-law. They have a king-size bed, so I had my work cut out for me. I decided to hand quilt it! At times I wondered what possessed me to do that, but as I progressed, I realized that it was a great escape from the pain – FINALLY. Pain relief is such a blessing.
I am by no means a hand quilter. I couldn’t master the running stitch – so I stab-stitched that quilt. It took over a year, but my son and daughter-in-law did get it for Christmas. The label firmly attached to the back – after my son reminded me he wanted all that information.
Now comes the next quilt – a wholecloth quilt that is nothing but hand quilting! I am hooked – it is a beautiful way to end the day. At some point, I should probably learn to do the running stitch. It would be so much faster than the way I am doing it.
This quilt has taken about two years to complete, but I hadn’t gotten serious about it until COVID hit. My goal is to work on it several times each week. Some weeks I am more productive than others. I want to have it done for this Christmas – and now that I have finished hand quilting the center medallion, I should be able to hit that goal.
Facebook Page – Quilting With Tamara
Check out my Facebook page. You will see updates to this page quickly – whether I am offering a Block of the Month, a Mystery Quilt, Tips, and Hints. I prefer to “test” the patterns with quilters worldwide. I’ll announce more mystery quilts in the future – both here and on the Facebook page.
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