Monday, December 19, 2016

Week 52: Stephanie of Patch and Dot


Hi everyone! I'm Stephanie of Patch and Dot and I'm really excited to be part of 52 Quilters. I'm based in Toronto, Ontario. 

Quilting is something I've come to fairly recently but since giving it a try a few years ago it has quickly taken over the number one spot among my hobbies. I love the variety, and I love that, even though it's a craft that rewards precision, it's also weirdly forgiving (meaning, even the wonkiest of handmade blocks still has certain beauty). Most of all I love that, since learning to sew and building up a stash, I have the ability on a whim to sit down at my machine and make a gift for someone, and all kinds of functional objects for myself. This is an amazing kind of freedom for me.

Here are a few highlights from the past year or so.

As life gets faster, my projects seem to get smaller, and I've enjoyed making quite a few minis (for wall hangings) and doll quilts (the best gifts for littles) this year. This one I made using an improv technique I learned from Crazy Mom Quilts.


And this one I made using half square triangles to form parallelograms (tutorial here):



My main project right now is working on a paper-pieced alphabet. More on that later in the week but if you're curious I've posted a free pattern for the letters A, B, and C that you can download right here.

http://patchanddot.com/abc/


How did I get started? Like many others, it all started with a baby quilt. I had no idea what I was doing but luckily I chose to make a simple hand tied 9-patch for one of my nephews.

From there I moved onto my first "big" quilt, from a pattern by Sing All You Want. It gets a fair amount of picnic use and for that reason it's my favourite. Here's a crinkle-shot:


One last thing I love about quilting, and that's the community. Quilting has a history that's so much about community and communal work, and it's been amazing to see how this collective spirit translates in modern times into what seems to be one of the most active, generous group of makers on the Internet. It's been so fun to learn about my fellow quilters throughout the year and I'm so looking forward to sharing some of my work here and on Instagram.

Where you can find me:

Instagram: @patchanddot



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