In the third members spotlight, we have the wonderful Amira. You can find Amira on her blog http://littlemushroomcap.blogspot.com/ or @amira_littlemushroomcap on instagram or on Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/80151063@N06/. So I’ll let Amira start for our first part of the spotlight on her.

Hi, I am Amira, Malaysian who is currently in Australia for the last 2.5 years. I am a postgraduate student doing Physics at the Australian National University here in Canberra, Australia.

What got you interested in quilting?

How did I get caught in this quilting world? I could say, I have always been sewing all my life. Ever since I was a little girl, I would hand sew a lot of Barbies clothes and would make small items such as coin purses. I owe the talent and interest to my mum who also has sewing as her main hobby. We aren’t exposed to quilting in Malaysia as the weather is 24/7 365 days very warm already. So there was no need to snuggle into quilts. When I came here to Australia a few years back, I knew the first thing I have to own is a sewing machine. So, I bought a sewing machine from the local quilt store. Browsing through the store there, I knew I wanted to learn how to do patchwork and quilts! With limited time for quilting classes during the day, I decide to learn through the net and magazines. And it never stops till now. I also mainly start patchwork and quilting because there are so many gorgeous fabrics out there these days!!

How has your style changed over the years?

Since I have not been quilting for long yet (~3 years), I am still in search for my own style that I love. In the meantime, I am enjoying learning all sorts of technique and style. I am also not limiting myself to modern style of quilting and rather open about the title modern quilter. I would love to learn more about modern quilting and hence I am here in the modern quilt guild!

When did you first find modern quilting and who are your quilt idols? 

Modern quilting came to me when I found Jacquie Gering’s blog http://tallgrassprairiestudio.blogspot.com/ which I fall in love with in an instant. I bought the book “Quilting Modern” not long after that. I made a baby quilt and table mats with a bit of inspiration from the book. Of course, it is then I get to know Katie Pederson the co-author of the book. Not long after that, I also found Elizabeth Hartman. I also bought her book the Modern Patchwork. I love her style of patchwork and quilting. Although she uses repeated blocks, the end results maintain its simplicity and I would say remains modern. I love repeated blocks and believe I myself have made more quilts with repeated blocks.

I also love the modern quilting trends which I believe started with Angela Walter’s gorgeous freemotion work. I love to do freemotion myself with my domestic machine. I love that Angela lets herself free with freemotion and yet produces incredible jaw dropping quilting results.

Where do you find your inspiration and what is inspiring you right now? 

I find inspiration from everywhere. I see quilts wherever I go. Don’t we all? 😛

There are also bucket loads of talented quilters on Instagram, too many to list down. Every one of them is wonderful.

Here are five other things inspiring me: Spring. Buildings photos. Tiles designs. Textures in nature. Seeing other people’s quilt design – currently loving QDAD group in facebook.

 

Do you do any other craft besides quilting?

Other than quilting, I have also started to crochet and knit. Often crochet and knitting projects are going at a very slow rate due to more sewing time and very limited “free time”.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the first part of the members spotlight on Amira. Stay tuned for the second part where we’ll learn more about Amira including what she is working on now