Greetings: We are Bob & Suzanne

The Early Years

It was a dark and stormy night. Bob and Suzanne were born as small children, Bob in Oklahoma and Suzanne in California. They both lived uneventful and mundane lives until two fateful events occurred. The first was when they met, sometime in 1993, somewhere in California. The second was when they took up quilting, shortly after meeting.

The story goes like this: We (Bob and Suzanne) were deeply in love (cough, cough) and therefore hanging out together a lot. However Bob was attending UC Berkeley extension classes for Windows programming and had a fair amount of homework as well as working full time. Suzanne was working full time also but was not attending school. Because we were hanging out together all the time this sometimes got in the way of Bob’s school responsibilities. So Bob suggested Suzanne find a hobby to fill her time while Bob did his homework. Of course this went over well. But a few days later Suzanne said that she would like to take a quilting class at a local quilt shop. Suzanne suggested that perhaps Bob would like to take the class with her. Here our stories differ a bit with Suzanne claiming Bob was very enthusiastic and Bob claiming he was less than enthusiastic. Be that as it may Bob agreed to attend the class and therefore ended up still having homework to do as well as a new hobby.

Our Quilting Histories

Our first quilts were the obligatory rail fence design. Tied not quilted. We each made separate quilts. This is a trend that continues to this day. In many cases, though not all, we make the same or similar quilts, from the block or pattern perspective, but follow our own visions.

Suzanne’s First Quilt

Bob’s First Quilt

Our second quilts were small 4 block samplers, also in a class offered by a local quilt shop. Nothing really exciting about these except that one of the blocks was hand pieced and one was hand applique. It was about this time we decided to stick to machine piecing and avoid applique. We have done so ever since, for the most part.

After this it all becomes a blur, there was a Lone Star and some Flying Geese and maybe some others that have faded into history. But at some point we diverged somewhat and began taking classes independently. Suzanne went off and did an Impressionistic quilt and a large sampler. Bob discovered Paula Nadelstern’s Kaleidoscope quilts and did a couple of these after taking a class with Paula. Paula’s Kaleidoscope quilts have been a great source of inspiration to Bob and the techniques and design concepts learned have stuck with them to this day. Other classes came and went, with most adding some skill set or design concept that became part of our repertoire.

We machine quilt everything, on regular sewing machines. At first we just stitched in the ditch and called it a day. Then we started echoing more often. But after a few classes we have developed the confidence to free motion quilt more often, though we are by no means expert at this. We hope to improve drastically someday.

Now Bob and Suzanne have developed the confidence and skills to make some fairly decent quilts. Our techniques differ a little bit and our end products are sometimes wildly different but we have also assimilated each others approaches so that sometimes it is hard to tell who made what quilt. As a rule of thumb, if it’s wild, Bob probably made it. If it is color coordinated then Suzanne probably made it. Suzanne spends more time then Bob making quilts and therefore has made a larger number of them under her belt. And since practice makes perfect Suzanne’s capabilities and speed are superior. Bob is a former engineering type and so is  not too technically challenged and is superior at things like drafting new designs and creating websites and fixing sewing machines.

Accolades

Not too many accolades have come our way but a few come to mind. One of Suzanne’s quilts was displayed for two years in the Panama Embassy as part of the US Department of State’s Art in the Embassies Program. A couple of times we’ve entered, and had accepted, quilts in the Mid Atlantic and Pacific International Quilt festivals. Unfortunately we did not win any big, or even small, prizes. Both Bob and Suzanne have won a few Viewers Choice ribbons in one of the local quilt guild shows. Bob’s won mostly because all the husbands that were dragged along with their wives to see the show voted for Bob’s quilts because he’s, like, a guy, and his quilts are wild and crazy, which guys like. Bob often hears applause in his head but that’s usually because he’s gone off his meds.

Cats On Quilts

The cats in the Cats On Quilts section deserves some mention. Bob stole the Cats On Quilts idea from a Flickr group. We love our cats and they often like to hang around with us and help with our quilting. They can be a real asset. We like to photograph them when they examine our quilts with their butts. The cats shown in the Cats On Quilts section are:

Where We Hang These Days

Currently Bob and Suzanne live in a cabin at the base of the Allegheny Mountains as they come into the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

Other Interests

In addition to quilting Bob and Suzanne enjoy camping, gardening, hanging out with our cats, drinking and nature photography. When you get bored looking at our quilts you could become even more bored by viewing Bob’s Nature Photography.