Little Lady Patchwork: Guest Blogger and GIVEAWAY Time!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Guest Blogger and GIVEAWAY Time!

Today I am so excited to be hosting

a special guest blogger!

I would love to introduce you to

Melanie Thornton.

Melanie is the owner of the fabulous

web store, Above All Fabric.

For those of you who are new to her store,

Melanie carries a wide variety

of fabrics, patterns, trims,

notions, and ribbons

that would satisfy the taste buds of

any sewing enthusiast!

If you hop over to her store,

you will see that shipping in the US

is never more than $5 !

Above All Fabric also has a perks plus/reward points program.

(I personally love reward points

and I am so glad to be able to earn them on the

fabric that I purchase!)

In addition to running her online store, raising her family,

quilting, and sewing,

Melanie even found time to help start

the Tucson Modern Quilt Guild.

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So here is a little bit about Melanie in her own words:

Tell us about yourself and how you got started sewing/quilting.

I started sewing at a very young age because my mom sews. She would make us matching outfits and stuff like that. My grandmother (95 years old) is the quilter of the family. She still completes multiple quilts each year. In high school, I had made several jean/flannel quilts. Simple squares, tied with yarn ... nothing very fancy. Then after I went to college, I decided one summer to make a sampler block quilt. So I bought a book and learned about templates and 1/4" seams. I machine pieced my quilt (a queen size) but decided I needed to be true to the tradition of quilting and hand quilt it. On my! It was totally overwhelming! My grandma showed me how to do little stitches- and I was terrible at it! It took me forever to ... and so finally about 10 years later, I hired someone to finish it for me so that my family could actually use the quilt! Looking back at it, the quilt is no longer my style but I love that we can use it.

What lead you to open your own store?

Well, basically, I'm crazy! I started to sell my own items several years ago. People were always asking me where I got my fabric. Several things influenced my store- so when we sold our house, I used some of the money to start the store.

What types of fabrics are you drawn to?

I find that my fabric styles definately shift over time. I am usually an earthtone girl...love browns and greens and yellows (not sunny). I love sewing for my daughter and find I can use anything from tonals to bright prints for her clothing. For quilts, I love things that will switch from room to room rather than focusing on making something for a particular room. I've also done quilts for each of my kids first birthdays...that was fun. I want to do that for my nieces and nephews too!

What kind of projects are you currently working on?

Right now I am working on a few projects that aren't ready to be revealed yet! Isn't that mean! I am also trying to finish up a couple of outfits for a show that I have next week. I also have a Make Life quilt that is completely pieced and I just need to sandwich and do the free motion quilting!

What is your favorite fabric line and why?

Gosh, a favorite is so hard to choose! I love Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow. I am also excited about Patty Young's new line that is coming out... and Kate Spain is my favorite Moda designer right now (I love her new line that is coming out in January).

What project (quilting or non-quilting) would you like to tackle at some point in the future?

My goal this past year has been to sew more for myself, which has been great. BUT I have not made myself pants (besides PJ pants) and with the extra curves motherhood has given me, the whole idea of flattering pants is kind of scary to me (I use my kids as an excuse, but let's be honest, the donuts don't help much)! So maybe 2011 will be the year of the perfect pants!

Thank you Melanie for sharing a little bit about yourself!

___________________

Now for the GIVEAWAY!

Melanie is giving one of my fabulous readers a

fat quarter bundle of

PURE by Sweetwater for Moda!