Please join me in welcoming a Guest Blogger to the Quilting Gallery. Find out how you can be a Guest Blogger.
I am honored to be considered for guest blogger on Michele’s blog which I have been following for some time… I somehow discovered Michele’s blog while browsing blogs one day (a favorite pasttime for which I have no time these days!) and discovered that she lives in my hometown of Ottawa! I now have my own blog and have posted over 200 times (which probably means I like to talk! Or something!)
My name is Lisa Filion and I am addicted to quilting, crafting, and blogging! In actuality, I am a wife and mother to three busy kids (15, 12, and almost 10 years old). I get up incredibly early (at least that is what most people tell me) to run or take a class at the gym, but it jump starts my day! The rest of my day is often a blur of household chores, homeschooling my middle child, undertaking the day-to-day landlording duties (we have one apartment building currently), chauffeuring the kids about town for art classes, snowboarding, bowling, figure skating….and when I have a spare moment, I quilt (or sew or applique or knit or draw)!
I started sewing at the ripe ol’ age of 13 when my paternal grandmother (to whom I paid tribute in a blog post) gave me $100 towards the purchase of my very own sewing machine. I remember how my father and I went to our local Simpson Sears at Carlingwood Mall (do you know that place, Michele?) and bought a basic Kenmore sewing machine. Of course, my grandmother lived in Toronto and my mother was not (and still is not a sewer). Mom actually dropped out of sewing classes, so I took sewing lessons over the summer at the Singer Sewing shop that was at a mall on the other side of town. I made a bib front jumper (oh… the 70s!) for my first project and after that, I took sewing in ‘home ec’ and ‘family studies’ classes for several years, making assorted pillows, clothing, and stuffed animals.
After college (in Toronto) and grad school (in Syracuse NY where I met my future hubby), I began sewing again… mostly clothing and household items and I kept busy cross stitching to pass the time while I was separated from my beau who was still in Syracuse while I had all ready taken a job in Kitchener Ontario. To make a looooong story short, when I was finally settled in the US (though we weren’t really settled, as we moved from Albany to Syracuse to Pittsburgh and finally to our home now in Queensbury NY), I took a quilting class at a local community college and I was hooked!
I made my first quilt, a baby quilt for my first baby almost 16 years ago, using a pattern from a book by Lynda Milligan and Nancy Smith and a bunch of fabrics that I believe were from Jinny Beyer.
I didn’t get much quilting done while raising my two older children and working as a speech-language pathologist, but when we finally settled in our home here in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains with our 3 children, the quilting bug really bit me and before long, I had taken over the dining room (since we had no dining room furniture) and my wonderful hubby bought me a Bernina Quilter’s Edition Sewing Machine.
Now, we have completely redone the ‘dining room’ which I refer to exclusively as my sewing room or on occasion, my office! I am very lucky to have such a supportive, tolerant husband (and family) that allow me to run off to my sewing room for my daily fix!!!!
I love bright colors, black and white combinations, lime green, robin egg blue with red, and polka dots!!
I am really in love with log cabins…
and houses…
and you may catch me using the word, "wonky" frequently.
My inpiration comes from a variety of sources…from the beauty that surrounds us…
from my friends that I have met through the wonderful world of flickr and blogging, and from my kids. Often, I come up with new ideas while running on the treadmill, looking out to nowhere in particular, with the music from my ipod blasting in my ears.
Most of the quilts I make these days are for my kids (each one has at least 3 on their bed and probaby one on the wall), as gifts for friends and family or as part of swaps that I participate in online, like the doll quilt swap. But in the past few years since my youngest child (who is referred to as "Sloppy" or "Sugarbaby" on my blog) was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I have made large quilts to auction off to raise money for research for a cure for diabetes through our local chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation like this quilt.
and this quilt…
and I have raised over $5800 in the past 3 years!
This past summer, early one morning, on a whim, I submitted an entry to be considered for a book project (crafters who use their art to benefit others) being organized by Vickie Howell and I am in the final cut!!! I have to get some photos to the publisher by the end of the month!
In the meantime, while life continues all around me, I continue to find time to stitch!!!
Give-Away
Come visit my blog, I’m having a first day of spring give-away.
Love your white log cabin quilt. It rally speaks to me!
Way to go girlfriend! Your blog is always inspiring to read. I think you manage to find some good quality time with your machine, judging by the looks of your output. We never have quite ‘enough’ time, though, do we?
Beautiful quilts and your sewing room is darling! Very well organized (I envy that- even with lock on the door, my little one manages to get in and touch everything…) It’s really a neat thing that you’re putting your talent to good use for others who need it. I hope you are as influencial on someone else’s life as your insightful grandmother was in yours.