Week 49: Adam Rateliff

Hi Everyone,

I'm Adam and I am so excited to be a part of 52 Quilters for the week.  What a great way to see what other quilters are doing and get inspiration from them.

I have lived in Eugene, Or for almost two years exactly.  My partner Ben and I relocated from Bakersfield, Ca, where we both grew up, and it is the exact opposite; so green, wet, and beautiful.  I work as an accountant by day and a quilter by night.  I was given the option to telecommute when I left Bakersfield, so I am lucky enough to work from home.  It's great most of the time but I do crave interaction with people sometimes, so I joined my local quilt guilds.  I am lucky that Eugene has two guilds to offer and they are very different.  One is the Emerald Valley Quilters, more of a traditional group and then we have the Eugene Modern Quilt Guild.  Since joining them, I have made many wonderful friends and we meet up and quilt a lot.

I started my quilt journey 4-5 years ago.  As a child, my mother taught me how to sew, crochet, cook and bake.  I sewed on and off over the years but nothing fancy, usually a thrown together Halloween costume.  When Ben came to me and said he wanted to start quilting, we went out and bought ourselves a good sewing machine and went to work.  I don't think we have stopped since.  I found Tula Pink early on in my sewing career.  I wandered across her Squirrel fabric and thought it was so fun and interesting.  I ended up looking at her website and saw the Anchors Aweigh pattern.  Not really knowing how fabric lines worked at the time, I went in search of her Salt Water line, found all of the yardage and started the project.  It was quite a feat but the end product speaks for itself.  This was one of my first quilts, lots of the seams don't line up and there are two blocks that are transposed but I wouldn't have it any other way.

About midway thorough my quilting journey I took my first class.  It was in introduction to paper piecing by a Judy Niemeyer (JN) Certified instructor.  She opened my eyes to a new world.  I loved the process and how exact everything was.  It all had a place and I didn't have to estimate if I was right or not.  My first pattern was a runner that never got done.  It was my introduction into paper piecing and I am not a fan of the fabrics I picked out, lucky for me I took another class and that is when I completed my first JN pattern, Golden Harvest.  I like this quilt but if I had to do it over again, I would probably pick different colors.  Last year I made a tree skirt for our Christmas tree.  This time I knew what I wanted color wise and went out in search.  We were now living in Eugene and just happen to have another Certified JN shop in a small town about an hour away, so we took a drive out to Philomath and made our first stop at Jannilou Creations.  We spent over an hour picking out fabrics with Lou and were very happy when we left.  We had 4 months to get the quilt done in time for Christmas and we were going to do it.  I started on it and got about 40% through before other things and projects came up.  Next thing you know it was late October and the quilt needed to be finished in time to go to the long armer and get back for the holiday.  I got to work and was in front of the sewing machine every night but it got done.  We got it back the day before our Holiday party and it was spectacular under the tree.  This year I took a class and I finished the Fire Island Hosta in the first month or so.  I was so exited to get it done.  Class was 6 months long so I have also finished Summer Solstice and am currently working on Indian Summer.
This is a preview of my Hosta quilt but that deserves it's own post.












As you can see, my style is all over the place.  Although I would probably call myself a modern quilter, I really just like what I like.  I can walk into a store and find inspiration anywhere.  I guess I just have a specific feeling in mind when I think of a quilt and I find fabrics for that vision.  I purchased the Curve It Up pattern by Sew Kind of Wonderful and thought it would be interesting using primitive fabrics in these more modern blocks and this is the result.  It was so fun to make and the ruler made curves a snap.  This quilt is currently hanging in a local quilt shop where I just taught my first class.  It was lots of fun and scary at the same time.  I have been told I am a good teacher but it feels great when it is from someone who is paying you to teach them and not just a friend.

I also enjoy making dresses for my nieces and their dolls.  We bought them American Girl Dolls a few years back for Christmas and have been dressing them, and the dolls, since.  It's pretty special when you can make a matching dress for both of them that no one else has.  The two on the left are for cousins that are also best friends, they are almost exact except the color.  My niece is in the middle, in her twirly dress, and the two on the right were for some friends who are sisters and both have little girls.  I have to say sorry to my friends that have little boys, they tend to get other things, boys just are not as fun to sew for.

Well that that is a little or a lot about me and my quilting journey.  I hope I can share lots more during the week.  At the heart of it all is a guy who love to sew and create.  It makes me happy and when I can give it to someone else who is going to smile when they receive it, that makes it that much better.

Until we meet again,

Adam