Hi there – today’s featured quilter is Penny from Sew Take a Hike, and I love Penny’s quilts!  I hope you enjoy the interview and Penny’s quilts —
1. When did you begin quilting?
About 3 years ago
front of completed "a little help from my friends" quilt
2. Why do you quilt?
Hmm.  Well, actually, I never had a desire to quilt!  Before I started, I had several friends who warned me that if I were to start quilting, that I would never want to do any other sort of sewing.  This honestly kind of scared me, since I love to sew all sorts of things.  I ended up taking the plunge by making a wonky log cabin block I first saw on twiddletails 3 years ago and have not looked back.

ticker tape twist

3. What is your favorite quilting tip?
One thing I never thought I would do is hand quilting.  However, since I also love to crochet and have a large supply of crochet cottons, I thought I’d try out a little hand quilting with it.  This decision was largely influenced by Victoria Gertenbach’s work quilts.  I love the look of them, and how the stitching just really makes the quilts.
Anyway, when I started hand quilting, I put all my knots on the back of the quilt, thinking that’s how everyone did it.  Then the light came on and I did a google search for “hiding knots when hand quilting”.  Learning how to hide knots as I hand quilt has totally rocked my world!

the storyteller

4. What was your inspiration for your Quilt Festival quilt?
Actually, my best friend Glynis, who I made it for.  I knew I wanted to do a hexagon quilt for her, so I started cutting out hexagons from random fabrics that I liked, or she had given to me, or fabrics that were in my stash that she had said she liked.  I layed them all out randomly (random is very much me, not her) and as soon as I realized that if Glynis were making this quilt, she would intentionally place each and every hexagon.  So I picked them all up and started over.  I ended up cutting out 90 more hexagons so I could create the flowers with a white background.

pretty hexie quilt

5. Do you sew other things?
Lots.  I just love to sew.
6. Anything else you would like us to know about you?
Quilting has become a great adventure for me.  I sew on something every day and feel like my day is not complete unless I do!
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Penny, thanks so much for sharing about our journey, and your quilts!  I hope to see lots more in the near future.
Amy