Greetings from Lanakila!

I am Lanakila Alexander and I live in central North Carolina in the bedroom community of Fuquay-Varina. My husband of 9 years and I share our home with his 2 dogs, my 3 cats, and our 30-gallon saltwater habitat. We do not have any human children. I work at North Carolina State University in the city of Raleigh. I have been working in Student and Academic Affairs for 14 years and am currently a glorified den mother for statistics graduate students.

I am an avid reader, active geocacher (2Alxndrs), and am currently the President of the Capital Quilters Guild. Our guild is hosting the North Carolina Quilt Symposium in June, so I am really learning a lot about the quilting communities throughout the state and the region. I only began quilting in earnest about 2 years ago. I’m an accomplished seamstress, having done commissions ranging from reupholstering a boat in marine vinyl to silks, satins, and sequins in bespoke gowns. Although I have made baby quilts for friends throughout the years, I always just considered them ‘craft’ projects. My perspective has clearly changed.

I’ve always had a sewing room but, over the last year, I have developed more of a ‘sewing house’; there is fabric strewn throughout. Fortunately, my husband enjoys watching me work and he has a great sense for color that comes in useful when I’m waffling. He’s also pretty good about helping me shop for specific projects when we are on roadtrips. He knows the kinds of things I like, and he sees my stash, so he usually finds one or two things that I don’t already own that I’d regret not buying. Whatta guy!

This is my first year in the Stash Bee. I saw our hive sister Mary Ann post about it and decided to check it out. Luck has us in the same hive! I really enjoyed digging through my scraps for this block. My stash is quite varied in that I don't have strong preferences for brands. I do prefer brighter colors over Civil War, and blenders over wild prints, but am not at all unhappy to work with any fabrics!