Hi all!
Until I can think of something more interesting to say, I'll just tell you the basics about me..
I graduated college recently with a degrees in Education for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing/Elementary Education and a bachelors in history (seriously, where did I think THAT was going to take me? haha oh well, I enjoy history!) Anyway, yes, I'm fluent in American Sign Language, however, the majority of the children I work with are aural/oral, which means they focus on listening (through hearing aids, cochlear implants or baba's) and speaking. I find my work very rewarding, and a constant challenge for me to find ways to get material across to these children as well as focus on their language development. It's amazing how not hearing one solitary sound, can throw off everything... Anyway, I digress.
Currently thats the only BIG thing I have going on in my life. I'm not married, though I have a serious boyfriend, I have no children, and I still live at home with my parents :)
I quilt as a way to express myself and to show the people I quilt for that I care about them. Something about physically making something is so much more gratifying than shopping. Don't get me wrong, I get the same thrill when i'm shopping and I find something that i think the person will genuinely LOVE.
Crafting, quilting, etc. are ways for me to de-stress when my Type A personality kicks in (I constantly have to keep my hands busy, even while i'm watching TV... maybe thats why I use sign language?? hmm.. food for thought) Tangent again.. sorry! Anyway - finding a pattern, fabric line or project that matches with a persons personality is a special thing and you have to really know someone to know if they would even like/appreciate something you make..
No one in my area among my friends or family quilts the way I do... and last year for Christmas I gave my boyfriend a quilt.. not your normal gift and it could have gone either way. There was also the added "what if he doesn't like it" and "what if he doesn't understand that this took me 4 months to make" (We'd only been dating 4 months when i started the quilt!) -- BUT he totally got it, and totally appreciated it.. and it was in that moment, that I knew I needed to quilt more seriously and not stress about people thinking I was a 23 yr old "grandma" that sat at her sewing machine.
I'm proud of the work I do, both as my job and my hobby, maybe one day I can merge the two as a side to my "career" - I envy you women that can juggle a husband, children, household, volunteer work, quilting AND a career (whether it be quilting related or not). I hope to one day be able to do the same. :)
So much for short and sweet.. if you made it this far, thanks for reading along!
