What kind of quilter are you?

So here is the crux of all my problems...the stashbuster topic of the week...What kind of quilter are you?

And the problem is...I am an "everything quilter"! I love everything about it. I enjoy strip piecing, hand embroidery, paper piecing, hand piecing, hand quilting, machine quilting, fabric painting, working from patterns, making my own designs, hand beading, and I even love binding. I guess I don't like machine embroidery (probably because I don't have a fancy embroidery machine to enjoy) and I haven't done a lot of applique, although I think that would be fun too. My least favorite activity is basting a large quilt, but even that I make enjoyable by basting at the Centre for the Arts, while visiting with other quilters. I enjoy traditional and contemporary designs, realistic and abstract. And as a result...I have hundreds (yes...you read that right...hundreds) of projects in various stages of development...ideas in my mind, ideas in my sketchbook, quilts I have purchased fabric for but haven't started, projects I have cut out, some that are partially sewn, collections of completed blocks needing to be sewn together, tops waiting for quilting, some that are half quilted by hand, some projects that aren't turning out and are waiting to be "fixed", some waiting for more beading...are you starting to understand the problem?!?!

I also love to read...mostly about quilting, of course! I have just finished this book "Creating Sketchbooks for Embroiderers and Textile Artists" by Kay Greenlees. Our guild librarians ordered it for the guild and since I recommended this book, I get to read it first! It is a very inspiring read, but I would have enjoyed seeing more embroidery, and I would like it MUCH better if it was a soft cover book with a coil binding (which is my favorite kind of quilt book). It is an expensive and heavy book...perfect for a library book, but not one I would use for a regular resource.

And I have the latest Quilting Arts magazine waiting to be read.

But I have been distracted by my non-quilting reading of the novel by Canadian writer Ami McKay called "The Birth House". It is a great story so far and hard to put down.

Alas...my quilting calls me..."put the book down and go downstairs and sew". This weekend I plan to get caught up on sewing the blocks for our guild mystery President's Challenge. Here on my fabrics on the right. We needed to select 12 fabrics for this design and that was really difficult when we don't know what we are making. We have been making blocks every month and will soon find out how to sew them together. I think my blocks are wonderful, but have no idea how they will look when sewn all together.

And if I have enough time, in between cooking big family meals on Saturday and Sunday, and of course, being the Easter Bunny and planning an easter egg hunt, I hope to sew up another mystery block from Paper Panache. My university age nephews are refusing to do the easter egg hunt this year..."please Aunt Kathy don't make us take little baskets outside and look for easter eggs in the snow" they are pleading. Maybe I could take that off the to-do list and have more time to quilt!