Blogger Profile: Amy Garro

This week we feature Amy Garro, crafter and blogger at 13 Spools. Amy started crafting when she was just four years old, and got into sewing at the age of seven. Her mother is a nationally recognized artist, so she was able to take lessons from her at a very young age. Amy finds quilting easy because she's comfortable with color theory, composition and free hand drawing. A few years ago, as a stay-at-home mom, she dove into quilting and learned how to machine quilt, which she says was "heavenly"! We asked Amy some questions and here's what she had to say.

I talk about it all the time, but my absolute favorite project I've ever made was my Fire & Ice quilt. So many of my quilts are typical in that while they might be unique, if you looked at a digital sketch of them, you would think "quilt." I definitely don't think that's the case with the Fire & Ice quilt — it's much more about form, design and line. Picking out the 16 colors to use was a blast (luckily I had a great store with a wall of solids to shop at!). Usually after I finish a quilt, I think, oh this aspect worked well/not well, I really like/dislike this fabric I used, or something like that. When I finished this quilt, though, I thought to myself, wow, this really expresses me. Granted, I have no idea what part it expresses, but for some reason, I feel like it was a huge exercise in self-expression, and frankly, it was downright fun to make!

My wedding quilt. As in, it's still not finished 3 years into the marriage. Why? Because I started it before I learned how to machine quilt!! As the world's slowest hand quilter, a queen-size quilt was probably not the best idea. But the half that's quilted looks really good! I honestly wonder if I'll end up making another quilt for our bed before ever finishing that one.

I can do it in 4!  Traditional and feminine, modern and masculine. Is that contradictory enough? All sorts of advice I read online about blogging talked about branding and said you should have a very distinct point of view. Well, I found that I was trying to put myself into someone else's box when I did that. I understand the concept, but I do like several very different styles, and I didn't want to give any up! My favorite two styles I work in are extremely girly, frilly quilts that look more traditional, and really masculine, forward-thinking quilts that I design myself. I don't know that they are technically "modern" because they don't have some aspects that are so distinctive of modern quilting (like lots of negative space), but they certainly aren't traditional!

- taking care of my kids, 20 months and 6 months (I'm a stay-at-home mom)

- writing 

- relaxing in front of the TV with my husband while I draw up future quilt designs

- mixing up a good martini — or, you know, two :)