'Let's Get Aquainted' Blog Hop

Today is my turn in the blog hop hosted by Beth at Plum and June.  Beth asked us to answer some questions about ourselves in regards to sewing and quilting.


Here's my little story (a warning that  i may sound a little philosophical.  I just get that way sometimes!):


First off, my name is Cinzia, pronounced chintz-ee-ah!

How long have you been sewing/quilting?

Unlike many sewers/quilters that I read about, I did not grow up watching my mother sit by the sewing machine…my mother never did own one, but I always wished that she did!  She did however, teach my sisters and I the basics: how to sew a button, mend, and hem our own pants by hand, and iron a mean shirt!  Which, along with being able to cook a meal and make a bed, I believe are basic domestic skills anyone should learn (male or female).

My sister and I used to make clothes (by hand) for our Barbie dolls from scraps that our aunt gave us or by cutting up old clothing.  other than sewing I always pursued some kind of creative hobby, from drawing to scrapbooking, flower arranging, bookbinding, tole painting and so many more...I have always had a need for a creative outlet.   

Right before I had children, I decided I wanted buy a sewing machine. Never even having tried one before it was just something I thought I should have (read my post about it here). 

I am pretty much self-taught.  I have always been the kind of person who, when I see something I like, instead of saying I’d like to buy that, I’d say ‘let me figure out how to make that’.

I did make a lot of mistakes along the way (A LOT!!).  But that is how I learned my best lessons. I’ve spent a lot of time deciphering what went wrong and unpicking and redoing.

When my son was 1, I decided I want to make him a quilt. Again, I looked to a simple store bought quilt that I owned and tried to figure out how to make it. Of course I did a lot of things ‘wrong’, like buying WAY too much fabric and not knowing I had to hide knots in between layers. I just left them in the back!  But it has held up (my son is now 14) and we still use it everyday. 

I did eventually take a quilting class when my daughter was 1 and my son was 3. I learned to make a twin-sized sampler. It was all made by hand with very traditional blocks. It’s so different from what I am making today!

When I discovered the world of modern quilting a couple of years ago, I was totally hooked! What i like about it is that it allows for so much creative freedom within a medium (sewing) that i enjoy. I don't like to follow patterns so coming up with new designs is what I like best.

Best Sewing/Quilting tip?

Based on everything I’ve learned throughout the years, my best tip to anyone would be “Practice makes better!”. My teenage son thinks it’s a cop-out but I believe otherwise.  I say forget perfection because it doesn’t exist and the pursuit of it can be paralysing. Accept that mistakes will be made and move on from there.  If you enjoy what you are doing you’ll persevere no matter what.

Favorite tool?

As much as I love my sewing machine, I would say my hands are best tool (I wrote a post about that too: see it here).  Just as they are for the musician, the painter, the bread maker, without our hands, our instruments are rendered useless. 

And while we are on the topic of hands, I'll share a link to video tutorial i made on how to use a thimble (see it here).

Please know that I wanted to write up a new tutorial for this post but I am having technical difficulties with my computer and i could not access my pictures!