I'm Jessica

Hi there! I'm Jessica, a 25 year old originally from Omaha, Nebraska. I moved to the Kansas City area after marrying my husband, Jason in May of 2007. We have a very chubby cat, Lily who we adore. During the day I work as a technician for an architect. I've been quilting since about age 18, when I made my first baby quilt for a friend. Some of my favorite hobbies include: quilting, sewing, blogging, road tripping, and camping. I'm looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish in our KC Scrappy Bee over the next 13 months!

1. Do you have a quilting "style"?
I don't have so much of a style as a goal.  I like to try new things with each quilt I do.  Very rarely do I repeat a pattern.  I really like to push myself to see what I can create.  These are a few examples of projects I made where I really tried something out of my comfort zone.  If you'd like to read a little bit about the background of these click



here, here,


here,

and here.

2. Do you tend to use certain colors more than others? Or prints more than solids?
I don't really ever use solid colors.  If I'm making something for myself (pincushion, coasters, etc.) I lean towards black and white with a bit of red. 

3. Are there any colors you strictly avoid?
Not really; new colors are sort of a challenge.

4. Have there been any blocks that you've made in the past that you particularly enjoyed making? Any that you hated and never want to do again?
There aren't any blocks coming to mind that I really, really hated making.  I suppose if I really hated a project, chances are I didn't finish it, but I don't remember any specifically.  I rarely do a pattern more than once, though.

5. Is there something in your life that you collect or are fond of? (Are you a KSU fan who loves purple??? Do you have lots of cats??? Do you collect owls or antique china or stamps??? Are you addicted to sushi??? Help us get to know some details about you and your taste...)
There's lots of things I'd like to collect.  The latest are vintage pyrex and vintage tomato pincushions.  For a while my husband's family thought we collected salt & pepper shakers, although I'm not quite sure why. 

I suppose my only real collections are fabric and cat hair; I have a lot of both.  I guess I'm starting to collect sewing machines (I'm up to 3 working machines, 1 serger, and 2 vintage singers that don't have all their pieces.)


6. Are you into art quilts? or do you mostly make quilts with the intention of them being used regularly?
I love art quilts.  I haven't made many myself, but they're so much fun.  I'd really like to get into dying my own fabric and thread to use in art quilts, but I live in an apartment with white walls, carpet, and sink.  Thus, no dying of fabric for me until we buy a house where I can have an area to not worry about stains.

Most of the quilts I make seem to be baby quilts or lap quilts.  Every quilt I've given as a gift (other than a swap) has been made with the intention of being used regularly.


7. Do you usually do small projects, such as wall hangings or baby blankets or do you usually make quilts?
I really enjoy working small.  I think it's probably because I'm a fairly small person, small things just feel right to me.  The biggest quilts I have done are twin sized, but I'm not opposed to doing larger, although most of my work seems to be baby or lap quilt size.

8. If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?
I'd probably live in a small cottage somewhere.  I love the warmth a cottage provides.  I love the practicality of a well designed space.  Cottages are designed to maximize the space that they include and I love that.   

The actual location is a bit harder to nail down.  I like how the Pacific Northwest has both mountains and water.  I like the sky in Montana.  I like my family in Nebraska.

9. What's your favorite place that you've traveled to before?Hmmm.... that's another tough question.  I don't think I have a top favorite. 

I love Lake Tahoe.  I love Tahoe enough that I got married there.
I love Canada and all it has to offer.
I love Chicago and it's big city-ness.
I love Montana and it's vastness.
I love Yosemite National Park.  It's probably my favorite national park with Grand Teton as a close second.
I love a lot of places.

10. If we looked in your closet, what are the two colors we'd see the most?
Probably black, green, and purple.

11. In your fabric collection, what groupings of fabric do you have (30's? Batiks? Modern stuff? Certain designers? Solids? Asian fabric???, Etc.)
I seem to be making a lot of baby quilts lately, so I have a lot of that.  I don't have many batiks or solids.  I love the Asian fabrics, but only have a little.  I try to collect things that wouldn't be too hard to pair with another fabric in the future.  I've learned my lesson that weird colors can be pretty difficult to find something to coordinate with.

12. Which is more important to you? The look of the fabric or the feel of it?
Pretty much everything I use on my quilt tops is 100% cotton and of a nice quality, so the feel is usually a given in my projects.  I tend to make the backs of quilts in flannel and love the really soft kind.  If there's two different prints that would work for a quilt and one is the super soft flannel and one is the not so soft flannel, the super soft always wins.

13. Are there any charities in your life that you're passionate about?
I try to support the National Parks Service and the Sierra Club whenever possible. Keep Tahoe Blue is another of my favorites.

14. Besides quilting, are you crafty in other ways? If so, tell us more...

I like to sew just about anything. I'm also willing to try to create just about anything. My husband and I have done most of the "art" that hangs on the walls of our home. I am itching to paint/stain/re-finish old furniture. I have tried printmaking (and liked it!).  Here's a few examples of my printmaking:

"The Little Dipper"

"To the Natives"

This is one of my favorite projects. It probably gets the most comments out of anything on my walls.

It's my electrical tape headboard. The quilt was a wedding gift from my husband's grandmother. Isn't it beautiful?

15. Do you have in mind what you'd like your quilting project to be? Any ideas on blocks or color schemes? Will you be making your quilt for someone else? or for yourself?

I don't really have any strong feelings about my quilting project.  Currently I'm thinking a house theme could be fun, but since my month isn't until December, I've got plenty of time to brainstorm and decide.  My husband doesn't have a quilt of his own that I have made for him, so maybe I'll consider doing this one for him.

Here's a few other quilts I've made in the past.

Top left: A baby girl quilt
Top right: A block I made for a row robin quilt swap
Middle left: A baby quilt for my nephew, Lucas
Middle right: A baby quilt for my soon-to-be nephew (yet-to-be-named)
Bottom left: A mini quilt for a swap last fall
Bottom right: One of my first quilts.  This was 1 of 3 I made.  The other 2 went to my two best girlfriends.