Quilter #6 2018 - Sarah Humphreys - @edwardandthewhitebear

Hello!  I’m Sarah Humphreys – known on Instagram and other places as @edwardandthewhitebear - and I’m delighted to be Quilter #6 for 2018 on 52 Quilters.  February’s theme is Creative Meditation: finding your voice and discovering who you are as quilter.  I’ll be thinking about that all week on Instagram (and perhaps a later blogpost) but to begin with – a little bit about me.

I live in Yorkshire, in the UK.  I’m 40 years old and have quilted most of my life, having grown up in a crafting family.  For as long as I can remember I was encouraged in embroidery, sewing, knitting – as a child, boredom was not an option!  But by 13 the enthusiasm had waned and I was in the midst of a lengthy period of teenage angst.  My mother had started to attend a local quilt group and she convinced me to accompany her to see a talk about a quilt depicting women’s work in medieval times.  She got me to go because of my interest in feminism and women’s history, but I was captivated by the wonderful quilts I saw and the women who made them were so welcoming and encouraging.  I was given advice, support and bags and bags of fabric to get me going.  I started my first quilt soon afterwards and found that when I was sewing, all the difficult things about being 13 faded away. And I’ve been making quilts ever since!!

My first quilt! - It's all hand pieced over papers (English Patchwork) and (minimally!) hand quilted.

So my start in quilting was certainly apt for this month’s theme of ‘discovering who you are’ – I discovered as a teenager that I was a quilter and a maker - and fabric was destined to be an important part of my life forever.

Over the years I have attended many evening classes, workshops, quilt groups and retreats.  Most of what I have learnt about quilting has come from being around other makers – quilters are amazingly generous when it comes to sharing skills and ideas (and fabric).  So many have inspired and challenged me to develop my creative skills.  Equally, so many have offered the hand of friendship, particularly at points of change in my life.  Which is what has led me to where I am today – I still love making quilts, I sew virtually every day, and I now teach patchwork and quilting to others.

Queens of British Fashion celebrates three amazing British designers - Mary Quant, Vivienne Westwood and Katharine Hamnet.

Although I love to work in many different styles, I consider myself predominantly a modern quilter these days.  I like to make big quilts - and I adore free motion quilting.  More about that later in the week too!

Office Doodle 1 - and me!  Winner of the Festival of Quilts Modern Category 2016.

I hope to get to know lots of new quilters this week - please do say hi on the Instagram account!