The Five Favs Series with: Areanne of Pine State Stitches
Episode 17
The Story behind Five Favs
This series developed out of my love of movies, and specifically, movie lists. Critics and film geeks alike spend hours pouring over lists, ranking everything from best movies of the year (pretty standard fare) to top five music documentaries (getting a little more granular) to top five movie characters that shaped who you are (pretty personal and specific!). I thought it would be fun to play with this idea in the quilting world. Since we spend so much time in our sewing spaces, they contain interesting snapshots of who we are as creators, and can offer a sneak peek into other aspects of our lives, too. And so- the creation of The Five Favs Blog. This is a top five of the guests favorite items in their sewing space.
This month, I am so excited to have Areanne from Pine State Stitches on the blog! When I first came across Areanne’s work, I was immediately in love with her use of bold shapes and colors. Turns out we have a lot of the same artistic inspiration (ahem, Joseph Albers) so it makes sense that I am drawn to her work. Whether it’s a new quilt pattern, a sewn garment, a knit top, or a house project, I’m always excited to see what Areanne is working on because I know it’s going to be gorgeous! She has a fabulous new pattern coming out soon so I hope you will follow along for her latest adventure.
Welcome Areanne!
About Areanne
“Hello, my name is Areanne Collins and I’m the designer and quilter behind Pine State Stitches. I released my first pattern in 2020, and currently have eight quilt patterns. I love to design quilts that feature modern, geometric designs. I find a lot of inspiration in other artists, such as Josef Albers, Ellen McFadden, and the quilters of Gee’s Bend. When I’m not quilting, I’m either sewing, knitting, gardening, or working on making my house cute! I love to share what I’m working on with social media, and can be found most actively on Instagram and TikTok.”
Where Areanne Works
“My sewing space is currently in a spare bedroom in our new home. We just moved into our home here in Boise, Idaho last autumn, and now I have my own dedicated sewing space! For the longest time, I’ve only had a tiny corner of our bedroom or living room, so it’s been nice to have a full room to spread out all of my projects and tools, and not have to put everything away after each studio session. This isn’t the final studio space, though! We plan to move one of our boys into the spare bedroom that I’m currently using as my studio in a year or so (they share a room right now!) and I plan to set up shop permanently in our bonus room. It has a lovely built-in desk that is so much sturdier than my fold-up card table that I’m currently using to sew on, and lots of natural light, but I want to repaint the room and replace the flooring, which is a big job. So for now, I will sew in the spare bedroom until either the new studio space is ready or my boys want their own room.”
Fav 1 - Sewing Chair
“A few years ago, I needed a new sewing chair, but I didn’t want to spend several hundred dollars on one. I was at the thrift store with my family (they were in town for a visit) and was looking at the furniture when I saw this one on display. My heart rate skyrocketed. It was 100% me, with its green fabric and wood accents. My dad helped me get it down and we ran through the checklist: is it comfortable? In good condition? Did it squeak? It passed with flying colors, and the best part: it was $12. My dad helped me roll it out to the car, and my adult siblings happily gave up their seats and crawled into the back of the car with my chair for the short drive home. My chair is so sturdy and comfortable, and I love sitting on it when I sew.”
Fav 2 - Libby
“A fun fact about myself is that I am a huge book nerd. I love reading, and I love it so much, I went and graduated with a master’s degree in library and information science. I am always reading, and often I am reading multiple books at once. Libby is a library app that allows users to check out books and more on their personal devices, and I use it 100% of the time I am in my sewing room. Whether it’s cutting fabric, pressing, sewing, quilting, I am listening to a book from my library. My current read is Wild Reverance by Rebecca Ross. I am listening to the audio version through Libby and it’s fantastic so far.”
Fav 3 - Clear Bins
“A UFO is an unfinished object. I have projects that went from a WIP (work in progress) to a UFO for some reason or other, but I want to finish them! I decided that placing these UFOs in some clear bins would help me keep the projects both visible and organized, and maybe someday I can get them back onto my work table and complete them. My clear bins are from the brand The Home Edit, and I got them a few years ago from Walmart... but now they are only sold through The Container Store. I'm not sure if they have the same ones still, but they are large, stack, and I think they are great!”
Fav 4 - Block Print
“I acquired this block print art last summer during a trip to Japan with my husband. We rented bicycles for the day and rode all over Kyoto, and my husband specifically wanted to visit an art store and find something for us to bring home. After sifting through some pieces, I found this one titled Ayanishiki. Ayanishiki is a type of Japanese textile, and I think these are a collection of those types of fabrics that were dyed and woven. I thought it would be the perfect decoration for my studio! I am hoping to find a frame for it soon.”
Fav 5 - The Current WIP
“The best part of any studio space is the current project being worked on. It’s why you’re in there! My current WIP is a sample quilt for my upcoming pattern, Chaos Cabin. It’s an intermediate design that is a strip piece and block based quilt. It comes together quickly, and the main reason I believe it to be an intermediate design is because there is one block that is a bit fussy, and then there are a lot of strips that need to be lined up correctly in order for the design to have its maximum effect. This could be frustrating for a beginner quilter. For most other quilters, it just requires a bit of finesse. The blocks come together quickly thanks to the strip piecing of the blocks, and this quilt has such a fun, fresh design that makes it all worth the effort!”
Thank you all so much for checking out this series and learning a little bit more about Areanne and her sewing space! I’ll have a new guest talking about their favs next month!
Where To Find Areanne and Pine State Stitches:
You can follow Areanne on Instagram and TikTok, and be sure to check out her website!