Issue 2 Contributor - Marit

You may well have already come across Marit thanks to her fabulous Spiderweb tutorial! Such a quick and easy way to make spiderweb blocks!

Marit took part in the Designer Challenge in Issue 2 of Fat Quarterly. We caught up with Marit to find out a bit more about her and her inspiration.

Check out more about Marit on her blog.

Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from?

I am a norwegian woman, living in Stavanger, a pretty town on the west coast of Norway. I have always liked making things with my hands, and used to do a lot of knitting and sewing before I discovered my big hobby: quilting. I am trained as an architect, and quite interested in structure, pattern, texture and color...

How did you start quilting?

My start was a fascination with the Amish and their quilts. Reading about them, I got inspired and made a few small quilts myself. Years later, by a lucky coincidence, I was invited to join a local quilt guild and my fascination with quilting grew. Then I discovered the whole world of quilt-blogs, after reading about this new phenomena in a magazine. I am so happy to have found this online community of like-minded creative people sharing the love of quilting!

What is the favourite quilt you have made? Why?

It is not easy to pick just one! I like to try different techniques and patterns, and have been lucky to end up with a lot of favorites ; ) To name a few:

The short stories was made as a quilt-a-long with the lovely Penny of sewtakeahike.typepad.com. I loved trying a new technique and staring my favorite Heather Ross prints in colorful log cabin blocks:





My Mars & Venus is a playful star-constellation inspired by Bonnie's Maverick star ( http://quiltville.com/ ) and my two playful kittens:





I love to take an old pattern and make it in fresh, colorful modern designer fabric. One of my favorite patterns is the spiderweb. When I made this scrappy spiderweb wall-hanging I discovered a nice way to make the blocks without piecing them to paper, saving a lot of paper-ripping hassle.



I put a tutorial on my blog. I love this pattern, and am planning to do it in different color-ways. There is a little stash of halloween fabric waiting to be cut into strips...



What is your favourite fabric line or designer?

I have many! I am very fascinated with color, and quickly fell in love with Kaffe Fassett and his designs, both patterns and fabric. I love the whimsy and cute Heather Ross fabric . Denyse Schmidt is also a big favorite. Looking at my stash, there is a nice contribution from all three... But there are so many young modern designers who makes fresh and colorful fabric lines, and I keep discovering new favorites...



Where do you do your sewing? Do you have a dedicated sewing area or do you use the dining room table?

I would love to have a little studio or room for my sewing. Instead I use the whole house. The sewing machine is set up on the dining table. I also have a removable design wall in the same room. A big piece of cotton batting is hanging from curtain gliders covering the wall. When this "design-wall" is not in use I display one of my quilts here. The kitchen nearby is where I do all my cutting and ironing. I love how the kitchen counter has the perfect hight to do so. Fabric is stored in the office, next to my computer. As you can imagine, there is a lot of setting up and taking down equipment. I even carry my office chair up the stairs every time I am using the sewing machine. It is worth it to get the best ergonomic position and rest my neck and shoulders as much as possible. I also like to quilt by hand, and often sit in the living room in the evenings, one eye on the television and the other on my quilt.

What are you working on at the moment?

I usually work on several quilts at the same time. Right now I have started making blocks for a lap quilt for a lovely 15 year old girl. I am also working on my 1" Heather Ross hexagon quilt top, slowly sewing the small pieces together by hand. In the evenings I like to do some hand-quilting and am currently halfway done quilting a wall-hanging.