About VA
Hello and Welcome!
I’m so glad you came to visit me here at VA Fibre Arts! My name is VA (they/them), and I am a queer artist, quilter, and sewist living in Rural Ontario. I have spent my life surrounded by talented and inspirational seamstresses who have fostered my creativity and taught me the skills needed to make my wildest ideas become a reality. Thanks to their guidance and support, I now have over a decade of sewing experience ranging from stuffed animals, to functional garments, to gallery installations.
These days I spend most of my time piecing and designing quilts.
I designed my first quilt in December 2014 hoping to make something unique for my residence room at university. At the time, I only knew the pattern as some kind of bar quilt, but later came to learn the block I had used was called a Rail Fence. Learning this inspired me to name my quilt the Rainbow Railfence. I completed my Honours Bachelor of Arts and Advanced Diploma in Art and Art History in 2019 and finished the Rainbow Railfence in December of 2020. While my first quilt never made its way to my university residence, it did help me to learn a lot about quilting and to experiment with my own ideas. Since I started that quilt, I have participated in a variety of quilting challenges, including Block of the Month programs, and have further explored creating my own quilt designs. I now have an unfinished object (UFO) bin bursting with finished quilt tops waiting to be quilted and bound.
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Along with fibre arts, I also enjoy drawing, print making, and fantasy cartography. The longer you stick around, the more you will see the other mediums I enjoy influencing my quilt-making.
About the Blog
I created VA Fibre Arts as a place to experiment with original designs, share research into both modern and historical quilt-making methods, and create new and wonderful works of fibre art! While my blog primarily focuses on quilting, I will occasionally delve into some of my other interests as well. I hope the content I share here will inspire you to try something new, to reach out, or to continue to develop your own passions!
I release new posts every Monday, exploring a variety of quilt-making topics. Generally these posts relate to my ongoing projects, including information on block histories, experimentation with new techniques, short tutorials, and some of the tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way.
I also post regular Project Updates, journals where I share exactly what projects I’m working on, how they are progressing, and problems I’ve encountered along the way!
Beyond the projects I choose for myself, I’m always excited to learn new things! If you have an idea for a challenge, project, or topic that you’d like to see me tackle, I would love for you to reach out and share your ideas! I can be found on Instagram @vafibrearts or you can email me!