Board Member Introduction ~ Rita from Red Pepper Quilts
We have an amazing board, hard at work planning Quilting Month for April! Today we have Rita’s interview for you to enjoy. Rita blogs at Red Pepper Quilts, where she creates beautiful quilts, designs quilt patterns (including the pattern for Georgia’s Quilt shown below) and also sells finished quilts and custom quilts in her shop. Click over to peek at her latest top which incorporates Kaffe Fassett fabrics, and then get lost in all Rita does at Red Pepper Quilts!
SMS: How long have you been sewing?
Rita: I have been sewing for almost ten years – my first quilt is dated 2001 – coinciding with my youngest child starting primary school.
SMS: What do you enjoy about sewing? What are your favorite things to make?
Rita: I absolutely love simple sewing and find it very relaxing. My favorite things to sew are quilts! I also belong to a community based sewing group which meets once a months and really enjoy the company of the other sewers. I particularly love sharing sewing ideas, playing with fabrics, prints and colors!
SMS: How do you find time to fit creativity (sewing and any other creative loves) into your life?
Rita: Finding time to sew is often at the expense of housekeeping! I am the mother of two teenagers and work 20 hours a week most of this being on the weekend. This leaves me free to sew weekdays whilst my children are at school. However, and I am sure I am not alone here, the 9am to 3pm time slot often disappears without having switched on the sewing machine. Therefore I am often up late (read very late!) in the evening to get my creative fix.
SMS: Do you have a favorite sewing tip or skill that’s made things work better for you?
Rita: My favorite sewing skill is machine stitching the binding on my quilts. For a while there I had nice stack of “finished” quilts that still needed the binding hand stitched to the back of the quilt. I just could not find time or inspiration to hand stitch, which I avoid at all costs. I was determined to work out a way to machine stitch the entire binding process. All my quilts now have machine stitched binding, which I find not only faster but also neater.
Georgia’s Quilt by Rita
SMS: What’s a favorite thing you’ve made lately? Why?
Rita: My latest favorite is a quilt that I made for my niece Georgia. Georgia started school this year and celebrated her 6th birthday in March. Like most little girls that I know she loves all things pink:
Georgia’s Quilt detail.
I love the huge range of pink fabrics, the colors ranging from purple pinks, to those pinks tinged with red and orange. They all “clash” together wildly, yet harmoniously. Again, just simple log cabin blocks, and straight easy piecing. I loved piecing this quilt and although it is very pink, by using fresh and modern fabrics the gap between girly pre-schooler and older girls has been bridged.
SMS: Can you tell us a little more about yourself?
Rita: I live in Melbourne, Australia with my husband and two teenage children and a Miniature Schauzer. All of my sewing and quilting takes place in the open plan kitchen/dining area of our home, and my fabrics now reside in the large kitchen dresser. My sewing stuff has gradually taken over without complaint from my family. How lucky am I?
I am from a family of four girls, and from even my earliest memories, my mother always had a craft project on the go. My older sister and my mum shared a passion for sewing and quilting, and never in their wildest dreams did they imagine that I too would start sewing. I was inspired by their creativity and from the moment that I picked up one of their quilting magazines I have been supported and encouraged by them every step of the way.
My formal education saw me become a Chartered Accountant! What was I thinking? However, I have not worked in the profession since having my children, and have no intention of returning. I feel much more comfortable juggling being a wife, mother, quilter, blogger and working a non-demanding job, however I do tend to drop one or all of these balls now and again!
41 Responses to “Board Member Introduction ~ Rita from Red Pepper Quilts”
Advertising
info@sewmamasew.com
I would like to see a tutorial by you on machine binding a quilt please! I really enjoyed looking at your quilts and I, too find sewing relaxing too–SOOOO much creativity and free will in it!
Can’t wait for Quilting Month to begin! I ALWAYS look at SewMamaSew and RedPepperQuilts blogs – my absolute favorites! You are lining up quite a cast of experts and I know April will be lots of fun as a result! Thanks!
Rita’s work is truly inspirational – so glad to see she’s on the board at SMS!!!!!! Go Rita!!!!
Love your work, Rita, I check your blog often.
I am SUCH an avid fan of Rita. Her quilts are amazing and she will be an equally amazing addition to your board!
Gosh! This just keeps getting better and better!
YAY Rita… Great interview… love following your blog and love your work at Red Pepper Quilts… From me
at carpetmice… Lx
I wanna be Rita when I grow up. I LOVE HER STUFF, when ever I can’t come up with any new ideas, I go to Red Pepper Quilts and always come up with good ideas while checking out her new projects. She is generous in sharing and her knowledge too.
glad to see her recognized.
Rita is amazing in design and color – what an awesome addition to SMS.
I love your quilts – they are so inspirational!
That Quilt looks so beautiful, looooooooooooove the colors!
I second the motion of a tutorial om machine binding! I hate hand sewing & I really don’t like sitting under a quilt doing it because I live in the land of perpetual summer!
Nice to meet you Rita!
Your quilt for your niece makes me feel sooooo happy!
This is so my style of what I would like to learn to do.
(I LOVE pink!)
You are very talented and I enjoyed reading about you
and your love for sewing!!
Thanks for the post! I would also love to see a tutorial on machine binding!
That quilt is beautiful. And machine sewing beats hand stitching in my book any day of the week.
I just love Rita’s style…very clean and cool looking pretty quilts.
I really enjoy reading Rita’s blog. Always great inspiration there.
Your Kaffe Fassett quilt is so beautiful. I love his work and fabrics.
So happy to see Rita here. I love reading her blog and am looking forward to seeing her here also!
Love the pink log cabin. Bookmarked your blog so when I get some time I can go back and check it out.
I LOVE Rita’s quilts and her work always inspires me to keep at it even though I am far from her skill level yet. Thanks for featuring her and adding her to the board!
I would love to know how to do machine binding. Your quilts are beautiful!
Rita’s piecing is impeccable! I love her quilts!
Another great addition to the board!
Rita – it’s so great to see you here! I am a big fan and have followed your blog for a long time. I am truly inspired by every one of your quilts!! And I will be trying that machine-stitched binding on my next quilt.
Congrats Rita!
Oooo, I’m getting excited about quilt month. I would like to join the chorus for a machine binding tutorial.
I’ve always liked Rita’s designs.
I just found your blog recently, Rita. I’m enjoying it so much, and now here you are!
Two tastes of Red Pepper…….yummmmm.
Congratulations Rita! I love Rita’s blog and all her beautiful quilts, looking forward to seeing more of her here on SMS!
How great- very creative! Welcome!
Took at look at Rita’s blog and the Chaos quilt is amazing!
So girly and beautiful! Inspires me to get back to work on my log cabin quilt!
Welcome!
I have been following Rita’s work for a while now and I’m thrilled to see her interview here! On top of an amazing eye for color and layout, she consistently tries out new ideas and has a great sense of humor!
I’m going to second almost everyone. A tutorial on machine binding please! Welcome
Beautiful quilt. I can’t wait to see more next month.
I read Rita’s blog regularly (where you’ll find lots of great quilts and tips). Her work is wonderfully inspiring and she’ll be a great addition to SMS!
Saw the quilt, had to see her blog!
I LOVE Rita’s work, and am a *hidden* reader of her blog.
She is a great inspiration to me, and thanks to her wonderful work I made my first steps in the field of quilt making.
Thanks, Rita, and good for you – SMS.
I subscribe to Rita’s blog, and LOVE the tutorial about machine stitching the binding. While I would love the time to hand-stitch the binding on all my work, machine stitching is sometimes so much more practical. Thanks for providing the info (and the inspiration with your great binding fabrics too)!
Looking forward to more from Rita!