Blog hop – my day

Hello, and welcome! I’m Nicole and I like quilts. I like ALL quilts but I like modern quilts and improv quilts the most (even if that’s not what I always make.)

Some of you are regular readers but I hope lots of you are here via the 2016 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop hosted by: Stephanie @LateNightQuilter, Yvonne @QuiltingJetgirl, and Cheryl @MeadowMistDesigns. I’m in Stephanie’s group and we’re called “Hive Society.”

Button designed by Alli @Woodberry Way

I started quilting in 2007; I was on maternity leave, I had disposable income for the first time, I was bored. And I was ready to admit out loud that I liked quilts. I didn’t know anyone who quilted. I didn’t even own a quilt. I only knew about quilts from books like Anne of Green Gables and Little House on the Prairie. I signed up for a learn-to-quilt sampler class and got some mad skills and an abiding love of quilts. I didn’t finish a quilt until 2010 but I haven’t stopped since.

I’ve made 51 quilts since 2010 and I have another 15 in progress so choosing just a few to show you was pretty tough. My style is a bit of everything which also complicates things. So I went through my trusty spread sheet and chose the ones I liked best or made me smile when I remembered them.

“Batik Wave,” 2013, 28″x22.5″

This quilt was juried into two shows, one national and one international, and it took second place (viewer’s choice, small quilts) in my guild show in 2013. This quilt was a huge success for me and it gave me a lot of confidence.

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“International Scrap Vomit,” March 2013, 98″x98″

I made this quilt at the same time as the “Batik Wave.” This quilt made me fall in love with 2.5″ squares and scrap quilts. It was also the first time I really did something online: I swap fabrics with Katy Jones of “I’m A Ginger Monkey” fame and a lot of other people too, I participated in the quilt-a-long. And to brag just a litttttle bit, there are 1,824 unique print fabrics. One duplicate.

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“Ugly Xmas Sweater Quilt,” Jan 2015, 40″x65″

This quilt makes me laugh and makes me happy. It has its own blog post  which explains the story, the process, and has details for some of the ugly fabrics.

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“Rainbow Log Cabin,” ongoing, 86″x86″

I started this quilt in the fall and it has lots of posts. Right now it’s half quilted. 3/4 quilted? Can’t remember. It’s languishing in half-quilted quilts purgatory.

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“15 Minutes of Play/xandplus quilt,” ongoing, 58.5″x88.5″

This one is another good-feeling quilt. I started it in late November at a workshop I took with Victoria Findlay Wolfe. That was pretty exciting. Katie Pedersen sat across from me. That was exciting too. Also exciting? Not buying any fabric for this. I did mooch some orange solids from friends to add variety but everything else was from stash. I can now close the bin of blue fabric. This quilt also has lots of posts about it.

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So why did I start a blog anyway? I started reading cooking and baking blogs in 2009 then slowly found quilting blogs. It was September 2015 when I got flat out jealous. I was reading someone’s blog and thought “why does she get a book deal and I don’t?” and later in the same week on someone else’s blog I thought “why does she get to teach at QuiltCon and I don’t?” Well, they both put themselves out there and people know who they are. So I gingerly started this blog. It’s going well so far (no books deals or teaching gigs though). I try to sew something every day and I try to blog about it every day. Some days are easier than others.

According to my prompt sheet for the blog hop, there are some scripted bits to cover:

1. My blogging tip: you can’t be anyone else, so be yourself. And take pictures.
2. My quilting tip: if you stitch something, press it.
3. Your dream vacation spot, favorite book, favorite movie, favorite tv show, and/or a random fun (trivia) fact about you: I will go with a random trivia for this one. Everyone is surprised to find out how short I actually am. My personality makes me seem taller than 5’1″ (155cm).

And that’s me! Thank you for visiting my blog and for reading this far.

If you are interested in some super awesome prizes be sure to visit the three hosting ladies (Cheryl, Stephanie, and Yvonne) and enter there. Here’s a list of what’s up for grabs this week.

• Fat Quarter Shop – $50 Gift Certificate
• Aurifil – 12 Large Spool Designer Collection – Bari J, Maximalist Style (50wt)
• Hawthorne Threads – $40 Gift Certificate
• The Quilter’s Planner 2017 Starter Kit (Planner, Pens, Clips, Highlighers)
• Mini Barn Quilts – Winner’s Choice of (1) of the (6) Original Mini Barn Quilts
• Story Patches – $25 Starter Kit (Patches & Pen)
• Stitches Quilting – $30 Gift Certificate
• Meadow Mist Designs – Winner’s Choice of (2) Digital PDF Patterns
• Quilting Jetgirl – Winner’s Choice of (2) Digital PDF Patterns
• Make Modern Magazine – 6 month subscription

Have fun visiting all the other bloggers out there. And happy quilting.

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