Hello 2021!
Happy New Year all!
I don’t know about you, but I tend to find with my resolutions they sometimes take a few attempts to stick! After last year’s attempt at regular blogging was derailed in April, here’s hoping my latest attempt at monthly (if not fortnightly!) blogging manages to carry on through the whole year this time! I’m planning to share my favourite quilting tips, insights into my quilt design process, behind the scenes peeks at new patterns and more. If there’s anything particular you want to see, please do let me know in the comments below!
A little about me and how I got into quilting
If you’re new here, or if you could use a quick reminder, I’m Cait - quilter, designer and cat mother extraordinaire. An editor by day, I was a teenage sewist turned knitter before discovering quilting in my late 20s after a friend asked if I wanted to join her at a couple of half-day classes at our local quilt shop (the wonderful Backstitch) in an effort to help get her going on a long-time WIP. After shrugging and saying “why not?”, I found myself stepping into a world of colourful fabrics and modern designs that totally changed my perception of what quilting could be. Wind forward a few months and I was hooked. Armed with a shiny new sewing machine and a bucket load of that “why not?” spirit, I’d quilted a giant disappearing nine patch quilt for my bed, designed and made the Ashley’s Star Quilt and was just bursting with ideas for more. A year later my Mountain Reflections quilt was hanging in the Festival of Quilts, I’d had a pattern accepted for publication in Make Modern Magazine, and Cait Lisle Designs was born.
I love playing with traditional piecing techniques to give them a fresh modern twist and creating patterns that everyone from beginners to lifelong quilters can enjoy making. As well as providing regular cuddles and entertainment in my studio, my cats Lyra and Aurora play a very important part in the creation of every quilt - quality control and adding the all-important (in their minds) layer of fluff to every stage of making a quilt.
2020 in review
I’m a big believer in taking time to appreciate the positive and, despite all the difficulties and challenges of 2020, looking back there were more highlights than I maybe realised at the time. I made a lot of rainbow quilts and discovered a love of hand quilting. I wrote six patterns, including the Symphony Quilt and the free Charmed Cushion pattern. January saw my first magazine publication when Triangle Dreams was included in the January edition of ‘Make Modern Magazine’. A real highlight and a significant step outside my comfort zone was seeing my first art quilt, Searching in the Night, included in the Babylon Gallery Summer Exhibition.
Despite these good points, there were a lot of difficult times and the fact that my proudest make was also my toughest make really reflects that. The Blue Days Quilt looks simple, and it was technically easy to construct and quilt, but it really reflects my mental health struggles last year. Wrestling with anxiety and depression in a constantly changing global pandemic meant my sewjo was a fickle friend and more often than not eluded me. Creating this piece was a slow process of reconnecting with myself and trying to focus only on the step in front of me. Looking back on the process now I’m in a better head space, this quilt is a wonderful reminder of how far I’ve come and how grateful I am to have this craft to help ground me. It’s so easy to feel insufficient when comparing myself to others in the quilting community that I need to try and remember that what looks easy for some might be harder than I think, and to be kinder to myself.
Hopes for 2021
Rather than setting myself firm “goals” for this year, I’m going to take a leaf out of the 2020 playbook and stick to some general plans and hopes for the year ahead:
I’m super excited to be attending QuiltCon this year. Living in the UK, it’s a bit too far to attend usually, but with this year’s fully online program I’m not only going to get to see all of the amazing quilts but will actually get to take some classes and attend lectures too! I’m also taking part in my first mini-swap which is really fun.
At the moment I have three patterns scheduled for release in the next six months, including the Resonance Quilt which has just been sent to testers with the target of releasing it on 10th February. There are also two magazine patterns coming up, and I’m finally writing the pattern for my Mountain Reflections quilt - hopefully this will be its year!
After my in person teaching was rather unceremoniously cut short by the virus back in March, I switched to online teaching and am really looking forward to helping more wannabe quilters explore our wonderful world this year.
There definitely need to be lots more rainbows, as I realised that they really do make my heart feel lighter when I work on them. I also want to take more time to add hand quilted elements to my quilts, and experiment more with art quilts.
And now over to you!
I’m really excited to get to know more of you through this (hopefully regular) blog! I’m planning to share my top tips, behind the scenes peeks at new patterns, details on my design process, and more. If there’s anything particular you want to see, please do let me know in the comments below! Thanks for reading - I hope you’ll stick around!
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