i'm a nosey little stitcher...

i found Renee's blog and was reading through past posts and found this post and she has given permission for me to post. (yes i go back and read all posts when i find a new blog....i'm a night owl and there's nothing on tv late/early)

so i'm curious to hear how y'all would answer these questions:

1) Where are you located?
2) What makes a good blog?
3) Who is your favorite quilt artist, famous or not?
4) Who taught you how to quilt?
5) Do you like piecing or applique better?
6) Do you like patterns or kits better?
7) If you quilt from a pattern, do you make your own patterns?
8 ) What is your favorite fabric line?
9) What is your favorite thread?
10) Do you quilt for fun or as a profession?
11) How long have you been quilting?
12) How many hours a week do you spend on quilting?
13) Do you machine quilt on a domestic home sewing machine, mid arm, or long arm?
14) What is your favorite sewing machine?
15) How do you spot a Professional Quilter from a Hobby Quilter? Is there a difference?

so copy and paste the questions into the comment form and let me know your answers....or you can email me, add in side bar....or you can post to your blog, but please comment me with the link.....

thanks in advance for taking the time to answer....


here's my answers:
1) Where are you located? just north of metro Atlanta (you know- couple country miles north)

2) What makes a good blog? one with good content, with lots of pictures. one that shows me who you are, good and bad. don't hold back....i think of mine as an online journal of my everyday thoughts and happenings that i think people would like to read. it's like i'm the star of my very own reality show...
3) Who is your favorite quilt artist, famous or not? me *giggle* just kidding,  i think all quilters are my favorite because they all inspire me in different ways.
4) Who taught you how to quilt? my granny. i learned the 'old school traditional' way. making templates out of cereal box cardboard, gluing sandpaper to the back of them, tracing around them on the fabric with absolutely no never mind to straight of grain, then using scissors to cut them all out. yup.....thank god for rotary cutters...i swear the invention of the rotary cutter saved quilting....then when i got 'serious' about piecing, i self taught myself from library books. let's have a moment of silence for all the fabric sacrificed to the whole 'trial and error' phase i went through...
5) Do you like piecing or applique better? i like both..i machine piece and i hand applique. applique is what i do in the evening while watching tv. if you would of told me three years ago i'd be a hand applique nut, i'd called you a liar....
6) Do you like patterns or kits better? hmmm, i'm not a follow-a-pattern-type of quilter. i have quilter's ADD. i use them as a jumping off point and then go my own direction....kits- sorry, why have a quilt that has an identical twin? then it's not my quilt...i just added labor to someone else's vision....*shrug* (see that whole rule thing again...i'm starting to see a pattern :) )
7) If you quilt from a pattern, do you make your own patterns? yup, i EQ baby :) i so love getting out the calculator and doing the math. makes me fell smart...unlike dealing with a burpy computer, which makes me feel really stupid :)
8 ) What is your favorite fabric line? the ones made from cotton...i like kaffe fassett's color combos...i am a batik freak though...haven't met one i haven't liked....i'm really trying to be in the front running for she-who-dies.....gotta give yourself goals.
9) What is your favorite thread? for long arming i love shiny polyesters...like little strings of diamonds on a cotton quilt *sigh* for piecing i use coats and clarks machine quilting cotton, my vintage machine likes it. she doesn't like aurifil, too thin- hard to balance tension.
10) Do you quilt for fun or as a profession? it's not a profession- it's a lifestyle...hi my name is shannon, and i'm under the influence of all things quilty :)
11) How long have you been quilting? piecing: easily 15+ yrs....long arm machine quiting: 6 years
12) How many hours a week do you spend on quilting? *snicker* the hours i'm not sleeping or eating. i want to be buried with my thimble on my finger and a needle in my hand- threaded and knotted
13) Do you machine quilt on a domestic home sewing machine, mid arm, or long arm? long arm: APQS 2005 Millennium lovingly named Nemo
14) What is your favorite sewing machine? it's a tie: Nemo, i spend the most time with him, plus it's almost like he is an extension of my 'soul' and my granny's 1954 singer DSM (anna). she is the machine i learned on. i love vintage singers...i'll have to blog about my 'collection' one day soon
15) How do you spot a Professional Quilter from a Hobby Quilter? Is there a difference? i'd say yes and no. that's a good question... the dictionary defines professional as someone that takes part in an activity that others do for pleasure in order to make money. a hobbyist is defined as an interest engaged in for pleasure...in quilting i don't think there is a definite line. i am a 'professional' quilter by definition, but i don't see myself as a 'professional' quilter. at the same time, i'm serious about my passion so i don't label myself a hobby quilter....it's fun and challenging. that's why i like it so much. it's an outlet for my creativity and i just happen to get paid for it...a win/win for me and my customers :)