How I Started Quilting
Hello everyone! I am Tera Nicolo-Smith and welcome to my website!
When you make a quilt top, you put a lot of time, effort, and money into it. I know this because I make them too! It can be scary to send all that hard work to a quilter, especially when you don’t know them. That is why I want you to get to know me. I want you to feel comfortable sending me your quilt tops, knowing I will take great care of them. This is the first of many blog posts to help you get to know me. I got into longarm quilting because I want to meet more quilters. I want to make friends! I hope you feel the same way!
Why Did I Start Quilting?
Like most quilters, I have dabbled in many creative endeavors. My first real hobby was knitting. I know this is supposed to be about quilting, but we have to talk about knitting first. I felt like I was watching too much NetFlix and felt bad about my low productivity. Knitting was a hobby that would let me watch NetFlix but still have something to show that I was productive! After I had been knitting for about a year, I decided to knit a baby blanket for my friend’s newborn. It was a simple pattern and I thought it would be a quick one-week project. Boy was I wrong! That sucker took me at least one month to make, and it wasn’t even that big!
After that semi-disappointing baby blanket, I started thinking about what types of things I loved. I loved making things with my hands, touching soft things (yarn and fabric), and cuddling up under blankets. My search for blanket making quickly led me to quilts.
I started searching Pinterest and I found an entire world of quilts! There were so many different types: modern, traditional, colorful, two tone, round, square, hexagonal…..and on and on and on. They were so beautiful, but looked like they would be so hard to make!
That is when I found Purl Soho’s patchwork quilt kit. It came with all of the supplies needed to make your first lap sized quilt (plus an awesome instruction book). So, my amazing hubby bought me the kit for Christmas and I pulled out my 15 year old Brother sewing machine I bought at Walmart. That is how I ended up making my first quilt. It was super simple, but I WAS HOOKED! I have always been someone who thought I had to take classes in order to do something, but I learned how to quilt with this kit and a lot of “googling”. I truly believe it is a hobby that anyone can learn.
Quilting With Friends is Always Better
I have always been someone who doesn’t like to do things alone. I don’t like to shop alone, eat alone, watch TV alone, and I did NOT want to quilt alone. So, I rounded up my mom and crafty aunt. Now we are all on the quilting train. It is so fun to share our progress pictures and I LOVE it! This experience showed me that I need more friends that quilt!
How did it Lead to Longarm Quilting?
In 2019 I made a goal in my planner to take a longarm rental class (with my mom) and start longarming my own quilts. I was getting tired of straight line quilting and hated wrangling the quilt through my domestic machine. Bad news….I did not achieve this goal. Then 2020 came (DUN DUN DUN)! No quilt shops were holding their rental classes! This, of course, led me to be obsessed with longarms. I started researching EVERYTHING about longarm quilting machines. I REALLY wanted to buy one….like REALLY bad. They are super expensive, so no amount of research made me feel comfortable pulling the trigger. Then I talked to my therapist and she convinced me that life is short, and if 2020 was good for anything, it was to motivate us to pursue our dreams. So, I went for it! I tested three different machines and bought the one that was calling my name.Now I am obsessed with longarming! I used to love piecing quilts, but now my real goal is to piece my quilt tops as fast as possible so I can get to the quilting.
I quickly realized that I need more quilt tops and fast! But how do I get more quilt tops? I offer it as a service to my fellow quilters. This achieves both of my goals: meet more quilters and quilt more tops.
Now to wrap it up with 5 random facts about me!
One of my most memorable moments in college was when a random janitor came up to me and told me I had an old soul. I’m not sure how he saw so deeply into my soul, but he was right!
I am obsessed with basset hounds. I have had three dogs in my lifetime, and all three are/were bassets!
I say the word “Fuzznugget” way too much. I’m not sure where I picked it up, but I just can’t stop saying it.
My favorite food is pizza and my favorite vegetable is broccoli. I feel like a cheesy broccoli pizza would probably be delicious!
I am a gamer wife and have become obsessed with watching two Twitch Streamers: WitWix and Summit 1G.
Well, that wraps it up!! I hope that you are as excited to talk to me as I am to talk to you! To find out more about the services I’m offering click here! I would love to know how you got started quilting, or hear 5 fun facts about you! Leave a comment and let’s get to know each other.
Talk to you soon!
Looking to start quilting but not sure what tools you need? Let me help you build your toolbox with the essential tools for beginner quilters.