Ok, here it is - In Kathys words :-)  Enjoy..  well Done Kathy!!

 1)      1st Kathy can you tell us a little about your self? Where in the world do you live? I live in the central part of Vermont which is in the northeastern part of the US. My husband’s family has a saw mill and a beef farm with Angus Herford crosses. I have lived in Vermont all but a short time after I got out of college.

Do you have any children? How many? ages? etc.  I have two grown daughters in their twenties. The younger one is married and has a 9 month old son (the three of them have just moved back in with us, until their house can be finished).  The older one has rooms on the second floor.

Do you have any pets?  We have one three colored cat, named Pepper. Plus, the younger daughter has her cat here right now.

Do you have any other hobbies apart from quilting? I do not really have any other hobbies, though I have had a spell of making cards lately. I can see why people get hooked on it. I have just been using images from the quilting catalogs I receive along with some card stock that was given to me. I do not like to throw away thinks that could have a use.

Do you work? What work do you do? I have always been a stay at home mother, since the girls were born. I never went back out to work when my daughters were grown. Seasonally there is work for me to do on the farm. We grow a big garden to feed the family that has now grown to 10 people. I mostly help harvest the vegetables and the fruits. We make maple syrup in the spring and I help some with that. I use to help with haying, but that came to an end this year when we bought a round baler. Now the hay is all handled with machinery. Now I have my grandson in the morning while his mom works (he goes to my in-laws in the afternoon).

EXTRA QUESTIONS: 2) How do you find time, being a "farm wife" had
injured husband for several weeks, 90+ year father in law, in and out of
hospital, and family next door, babysitting grandson PLUS planting,
picking, and canning all the produce they grow, yet she makes beautiful
quilts, and is online everyday... ? I really don’t make very many quilts. I have finished one for my grandson so far this year, started another for a Christmas gift and one more planned for the same. I don’t try to quilt in the summer; I am just too busy. I don’t do much planting, except the flowers. My husband and his brother do most of the planting; my brother-in-law does much of the weeding and all of the transplanting. I help my sister-in-law with the picking. The guys helped a lot with bumper crops the strawberries and the blueberries this year. The garden is starting to slow down now it is autumn. In a little bit I will have to get back to quilting. I am more addicted to being online, than quilting at this point; I can not stay away long.

EXTRA QUESTIONS: 3) I would love to hear Kathy talk about her
garden!!!!! We get to see such lovely pictures from there and so I bet
she would have plenty to say about that? It has been harder to find time for the garden this year with my grandson to care for. It is rather neglected. We have lots of gladiolas and dahlias that we plant each year and dig in the fall. I plant some annuals, too. Many of these I grow from seeds that I save each year (zinnias, marigolds, poppies, nasturtium). We share a yard with my in-laws and there are perennials there, also.

4) How long have you been quilting? I think is has been about 10 years. Though, I did make a small baby quilt as a child.

5) How did you get interested in quilting? I had a grandmother who quilted and a great grandmother, too. I really got interested when my younger daughter made her first quilt as a project at school when she was 10 years old. I had a spell of sewing clothing, but my daughters didn’t really like what I made, so it was a change from that.

6) What excites you most about quilting? The colors and the designing excite me the most. I love to see how everything goes together. Colors attract me to fabric and flowers.

7) Is there any thing about quilting that you find particularly challenging? I part I like the least is the layering of the sandwich. It is hard on my knee to do big quilts on the floor.

8) What fabrics do you enjoy quilting with and why? I like cotton the best; it feels nice to handle and it the easiest to sew.

EXTRA QUESTION: 9) Quilting wise, I would be interested to know more
about her sewing room?  My sewing room/computer room/ storage room is stacked up with boxes from cleaning out the bedroom for my daughter, her husband and son. I have a sunny west facing window, between the computer and the sewing machine that looks out on the yard between the houses. My Singer treadle machine located there. My daughter’s industrial Bernina is in the kitchen/ dinning area right now.

 EXTRA QUESTION: 10) How she stores her fabric and where does she buy most
of her fabric?  Most of my stash is stored in copy paper boxes now. Scraps are sorted by size in zip lock bags or by color in small boxes. I do have a small dresser that I may be able to empty soon and put sewing supplies in out of the reach of little fingers. I have bought most of my fabric at Wal-mart and Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Store. A great deal of my stash was given to me by various family and friends.

11) Do you usually use a pattern when you are making a quilt or do you
prefer to create it from scratch? I usually pick out a pattern I like and then choose my own colors and layout.

12) What kinds of quilts do you prefer making and why? I am fascinated by patterns that appear curved, but are made with straight lines.

13) Do you mostly make quilts for yourself or for others? I mostly make them for others. We only have one of my quilts that has not been given to someone; that was an early one that was made with secondhand fabric.

14) How do you find the time to quilt? That is a good question. I haven’t lately. I just do it when I make up my mind to do it. I do have a deadline with Christmas gifts. They need to be finished by about the first of December. Sometimes meals are late and the house not as clean as it could be!

15) What quilting projects do you have going at the moment? I have a twin sized bed quilt in the works. The center is pieced, but I need fabric for borders and the back now. The other one will be a boat themed wall hanging.

16) Do you have any special quilting projects planned in the next year? I have one more family quilt to do for a Christmas gift, unless one of my brothers gets a new girlfriend.

17) What else can you tell us about your quilting addiction? I am very addicted to quilting forums. The people there are so friendly and I learn so much from others. I am not hooked on the buying of fabric; I try to buy what I need for the projects I am working on and only then do I buy if I don’t find what I need in my stash. The exceptions are when something I really like is on sale or my stash of green is depleted.

18) Obviously you have been a very active member of the Creative
Quilting Club forum for a long time now.. How have you found the club
and especially the people? I have enjoyed the forum very much and the people are very friendly and helpful. The members could improve it if more of them contributed. Even those with the free subscriptions can chat. There are enough members so somebody could be on the site at any one the time to extend a welcome to new people and old.

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Here is the Karma Point interview I just did with the delightful Debra (dtraut)..

Enjoy..

Hopefully we will have a transcription to go here soon, for those whose can't hear us :-)

 ********* UPDATE ***********

Here is the transcript thanks to Coyotequilts (Sharon) - http://www.coyotequilts.com - ENJOY :-)

First, Debra can you tell us a little about your self?
Where in the world do you live? Oregon, which is the northwest coast, in a little city called Beaverton. I have lived here all my life except for 6 years. We lived in central Washington and after 6 years moved back to Beaverton.
 
Was there a change from Oregon to Washington?
Yes, it was not a good change. In central Washington you have 4 definite seasons with very, very hot summers, and often very cold winters, in spring you usually cool & very windy, fall is quite nice.
Here we don’t often know you have gone into spring, you may go right into summer and often times you have nice falls then you go right into cold winters. You never know, but I would rather be here. I don’t do hot weather well, so I am glad to be out of Washington.

Do you have any children?
I have 1 son, his name is Travis and he is 26. He was married last October. So he has his first anniversary coming up. .

Do you have any pets?
1 dog, he is 2 years old now, his name is Gus. He is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel mixed with Cocker. He was suppose to be a pure bred, but he is much larger than most of the Cavalier’s. So after research we believe he is mixed with Cocker Spaniel. He is suppose to be only 19 pounds, but he is my 43 pound lap dog.

Any other hobbies apart from quilting?
I use to do some painting on wood with my mom and my sister, but with my MS (Multiple Sclerosis) it’s hard to control the paints and it got frustrating, so I said forget it. So I usually do quilting or general sewing.

Do you work?
I no longer work due to difficulties with my job and MS. It was best that I stop, so I didn’t hurt myself or wear myself out. I am on what they call Social Security Disability (SSDI).
 
What work did you do?
I was an area manager in the food broker business and we would do merchandising in stores like Target, K-mart, Payless, and Rite Aid. I had a crew from about 43 people down to about 15. I would go to 9 different states, so I was on a plane 3 days out of the week and 1 week home. The last couple years due to company changes it was just in the state of Oregon and I was on the road.


How long have you been quilting?
Well, probably a total of 2 years with very little to show for it. I seem to buy fabric more than I do anything else, or books. Well I procrastinate, I see things I want to do and get the material and pattern then I like the material so well I don’t like to cut it. So I just look at it, touch it, stack it up and mix it up. My husband says I am going nuts.


How did you get interested in quilting?
My mother and sister said I needed something else besides working. Because if I wasn’t on the road I was here at home working because I worked out of the house. The companies I worked for were in Dallas, Texas. So I worked remotely, so like I said if I wasn’t out on the road I was here in the evening working. Then on the weekend I was working. They said, “You need something else to do”. So, they got me into it.


What excites you most about quilting?
The fabric. I love fabric and I always have. The things you can create with one pattern, you can change the fabric, the colors, the textures and it looks totally different. I like the landscape quilts that you see people have done. That is what I would really like to do.


Is there any thing about quilting that you find particularly challenging?
Yes, quarter inch seams! Something so easy as that quarter inch seam. You have to make sure when you are doing a 4 patch that everything goes together so nicely. You get all your corners together in the middle. You don’t want the quarter inch seams to flip out on the end and make sure you have a pin or seam ripper to hold the edge of the fabric down so that it doesn’t flip out on you.


What fabrics do you enjoy quilting with and why?
I like the batiks. I go to a batik club once a month and I get about 13 fat quarters every month and a pattern that we have to do 13 blocks. We than take them back for a block exchange, so I will get 13 back after I turn my 13 in. This month the pattern is split rail I believe. I am guaranteed to get 13 FQ of different batiks.

7) Do you ever do it yourself, like design it yourself?
I would love to, but I don’t know if I have the nerve to see what I would create. So, I haven’t done that yet.
 
Do you use a pattern?
Oh, I have to use a pattern. I am not creative enough yet to do it on my own.
 
Do you change bits of it, or remain true to the pattern?
I will change it up a little bit, but nothing drastic. I like the pattern to make sure I am doing everything correctly. Now once I really develop my quilting maybe I will venture out and create a pattern myself.


Where do you source most of your quilting material?
I like to support the local quilt shops, so I have a couple right here near the house I go to. I go to Pioneer Quilts where I take the Batik class. The really nice one is called Fabric Depot is huge and they have really good prices. It is a bit far for me as it is clear across town so I don’t go there often.
 
Have you ever bought fabric online?
Yes, I have found a company called Virginia Quilters that has done real well with what I need. Holly Hill Quilts out in Westland here, not close to me, but not far from me. I order some things from her. She has a really nice shop as well. I like ordering things online, but Virginia Quilters has a nice selection of fabrics.
 
What kinds of quilts do you prefer making and why?
Well, I am making my daughter-in-law a lap quilt. Then I am going to do a quilt for my husband for the couch. One that you can use on cold winter nights. I am going to put flannel on the back so it is nice and comfortable for him.
 
Do you mostly make quilts for yourself or for others?
For others. I like to make other things. I am making some other things for Shauna for her kitchen.


How do you find the time to quilt?
Yes, again with MS you are limited to what you can do. I use to love to garden, but my son would scold me for gardening and mowing because he was afraid I was going to cut my toes or fall or trip. So he took that job away from me. Then it got so that I didn’t trust myself behind a lawn mower. I am just not able to do that anymore. Bending down and getting up off the ground is not easy to do. With MS you loose muscle strength and coordination to do those things. Sewing is the best pastime and playing with the dog. Most days I fell pretty good. I take my husband’s cleaning to the cleaners and grocery shopping in small spurts and have a list of things and go get that done. Sitting and leaning over the sewing machine or cutting table if your back gets tired then I get tired than that is not a good thing. Quilting makes retirement nice.


Where do you do most of your quilting? Do you have a quilting area
that is always set-up?
I do. I have my son’s old bedroom. I have moved into his room and it is all mine. I have a nice window that my sewing desk is across from the window and I have nice desk lamp. Then I have a floor lamp that I have in the corner, so it is really lit nicely. I can make as big a mess as I want to and shut the door.

What quilting projects do you have going at the moment?

I have a lap quilt that is Olivia, which is a girl pig I am making for Shauna. I am repairing a tent for my son. I am making a stand mixer cover and pot holders for Shauna and myself.

Do you have any special quilting projects planned in the next year?
Yes, I would like to make Travis and Shauna an anniversary quilt. Then I would like to do a family memory quilt. The type with the different pictures with the family. I would like to have everybody sign the block that I make of their picture.

What else can you tell us about your quilting addiction?
It is an addition for sure. The only thing I can tell you is you have to keep me out of the fabric stores. I just love the fabric. I don’t like to embellish anything, I just love the fabric the way it looks. When you put things together I like to try new things and not go any further, but just always try things. So that is a bad additions, not finishing something. I am creating UFO’s. Someday I will have to do something with them but I will do one block of something maybe two blocks of something then go on to something else. So if I want to finish anything I will have to make more blocks. I now have many blocks that I have gotten from this batik club that I have to figure out something to do with besides look at them in the plastic bag.
 
Obviously you have been a very active member of the Creative
Quilting Club forum.. How have you found the club and especially the forum?
 
I think it is great, I love the weekly quilting, I love the idea of having the online classes since I don’t like to pack a sewing machine very far, so I have the opportunity to learn here at home. The forum is great, they are real supportive, they give great suggestions on things that you are doing. They remind you if you are trying to put a log cabin together to keep the light and darks or the mediums separate if that is what the block is to look like. They are just great women they are very encouraging. They are very positive and that is what I like.

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Hi all, 

I know you have been waiting with baited breathe for this interview :-) 

Here it is, you can finally learn even more about the adorable Jo...

English summer, we may get a good day sometimes.

1st Jo can you tell us a little about your self?  Where in the world do you live?  
Do you have any children?  How many? ages?  etc.  
Do you have any pets?  
Any other hobbies apart from quilting?
Do you work? what work do you do? 

I live alone a widow of 11 years,  in England, Near  the Old Roman City of
Bath, a Big Tourist attraction, I believe 2nd in country to Windsor Castle.

I have 1 daughter, 2 Grandsons, handsome Lads, over 6ft tall. They will
break a few female hearts.

Yes I have my doggie,  Shamwari,  (South African for My Friend), nickname
Shammy, Jack Russell, Patterdale cross, a sweetie, not a bad bone in his
body.

As you will all know my garden is my big hobby after quilting.

How long have you been quilting?

I have been quilting for 12 years, before that did hand embroidery, stump
work.

How did you get interested in quilting?

How did I get into quilting, a fluke, who knows where it came from. I
belonged to a Craft Group, whilst living in South Africa for a few years.
Saw ladies in group doing patchwork, I said no way am I going to play with
pieces of fabric, Here I am Addicted.

What excites you most about quilting?

Fabric is exciting, to match, blend colours, gives a real buzz.

My Favourite has to be Appliqué,  then of course the Crazy Crazy Patch, knee
deep in scraps, add bead etc,  absolute fun.

I did manage the Ornament Paper Piecing. WOW.

What kinds of quilts do you prefer making and why?

I have made quilts for my family,  Caroline will not let Lads take their
Quilts to Uni, she imagines others sat on bed with beer cans greasy take
always,  etc. Say no more.  Cot quilts for charity, cushions for friends
Birthdays, 2008 has to be Cushion Present Year from me.

Do you have any special quilting projects planned in the next year?

Next Project, to play with Ornaments received from all over the world.
Thinking, just wait for Show & Tell.

Where do you do most of your quilting?

I quilt in my dining room, always a sewing room, glass patio doors give good
light, looking at garden, fresh air on good warm days.

Pup sits with chin on door step, a good watch dog. He will get a treat for
that duty.

Obviously you have been a very active member of the Creative Quilting Club forum..  How have you found the club and especially the forum?

The Club has been my life line, chat line made so many wonderful friends,
soul mates.

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Hi All,

I have uploaded my interview with the lovely, giggly Sheila below.. :-)

Click play and you too can enjoy Sheila's British accent..

We also chat a little about the site and the drama's we have had getting it upgraded! mmm  

Warmly

Michelle 

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Hi all, Michelle here...  I'd like to show you what our new gallery will look like :-)

I have made a little piclens slide show to wet your appetite.. Our new programmer is working furiously to complete the Creative Quilting upgrade!  It should only be another week or so...  

In the meantime have fun with this gallery/slide show while you listen to the lovely Joy..

Click the play button to listen to Joy FIRST and then click the slide show link below. .(hit 'esc' to end the slide show)

Goto Karma Gallery

   Let me know what you think?

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

 Have a great day.. :-)

Michelle

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Hi Everyone,

 Here is the interview I did yesterday with the lovely Helena from Beautiful "Niagra Falls", Canada..

She only started quilting about 2 years ago, so it is quite an achievment to be able to help out so well on the forum - just goes to show what a lovely person she is :-)

Enjoy:

Michelle :-) 

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