So, you're addicted...
Hello, I am Essie van Zyl, formerly from South Africa and now residing in Guelph, Ontario...and I am addicted to quilting!
For the best part of my life, I've been working with fabrics: dress-, quilting-, interior fabrics and even leathers. Somehow touching and cuddling these fabrics are related to having my own personal psychologist to visit whenever my creative juices are flowing. I must admit, financially it comes to the same thing, as good cotton fabrics do not come cheap. However, nothing soothes worries away like starting on a challenging new quilting project and when that urge strikes, money simply does not count. You can't take money to heaven, right? But good quilting memories stretch far...and by the way, every sport comes with it's injuries.
After running a Bernina franchise for a while, the emerging quilter in me forced me to move to higher grounds, thus it seems logic to invest in a Gammill Longarm quilting machine to answer to my passion. Many hours were spent to tame this new monster, but after the enormous learning curve more than 250 quilts for customers and a few for myself, saw the light. That almost brought the addiction to a serious matter,BUT, the best medicine for that problem: quilt more! There are also numerous gadgets out there to make quilting easier, but that is a topic for another day.
So, how do you know if you suffer from this most thrilling and yeah, "wanted" addiction?
* You already have a super duper stash of quilting fabrics, but every time you "accidentally" have to go past the quilting shop, feel compelled to add one more piece to your stash...just in case you might need it for a future quilt-to-be. Or, just because you CAN! (We have not touch on the subject of fabric sales here.)
* Members of your family hesitantly take a seat on your couches in the living room, always fearing to become victim to your lost pins and needles.
* Your bedside table start resembling a mini library with one after the other quilting title that somehow mysteriously made it's way there.
* You start dreaming up colourful, once-in-a-lifetime, earth-shaking quilts, forcing you to make a quick drawing in the middle of the night, just in case you can't remember the detail in the morning.
* Your family members refrain from hanging out in the bookstore with you; for starters you spend way too much time at the craft shelf and your constant ooh's and aaah's from behind the shelf become quite embarrassing to them.
* You start cutting back on your food budget to be able to finance your addiction. You also start growing dangerously attached to KFC's and the likes, for you need more time to spend in your sewing room.
* You run out of space with storage for all your "stuff", but luckily your husband would not notice if you use some of his space, for he is anyway too scared that you'll ask him to neatly pack his cupboard.
If you recognize any of these habits in yourself or fit the diagnosis, we have something in common to chat about. Check this space for regular chats about nifty quilting techniques and habits and above all, to share our love for quilting. So long dear quilters... till next time.
Yours in Quilting,
Essie
