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:
- My blogging tip: you can’t be anyone else, so be yourself. And take pictures.
- My quilting tip: if you stitch something, press it.
- 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.
Hi Nicole, love your quilt Batik Wave and I agree take lots of photos.
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I love your wave quilt. Its gorgeous! It’s also always fun to make a quilt from stash.
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Hi Nicole!! Your quilts are beautiful! I love the Batik Wave especially. I have been longing to try one similar but chicken out. Lol Pam
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No need to ‘chicken out’ Pam, just do something smaller and simpler to start. You’ll do fine!
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Wow, you are a very productive quilter! I love that you have a spreadsheet to keep track of it all. It was nice to get to know own you a bit more! Enjoy your day on the HOP!!
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Your 15 minutes of play quilt just glows and really speaks to me. I also really like your tip to press something if you sew it! It is great to get to know you better and I hope that blogging continues to be a good experience for you and that the blog hop is good experience.
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Loving the rainbow log cabin! Really nice to read about you – I’m a small person too just 5ft!
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Wow! Your wave quilt is amazing! That is truly artistic! I really enjoyed the tour of some of the quilts you’ve made. Wouldn’t mind if you had showed us all 51. 🙂
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Anne of Green Gables and Little House on the Prairie were the staples of my childhood. I absolutely love your 15 minutes of play quilt. It was great getting to learn a bit more about you!
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Super fun getting to know the bloggers on this hop. You quilts are beautiful, great bright colors witch I love. Have a good week. Hugs, Heide
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Very nice to know more about you. Good thing you put yourself out there otherwise people like me would never have gotten to see your awesome creations. I keep meaning to use spreadsheet for my Quilting stuffs but never actually started. Thanks for showing how important that is, I certainly will now. I hope you get those books and teaching gigs real soon 😃. Lovely quilts by the way
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Nice to meet you. I’m always looking for more blogging inspiration. You have a strong voice. I love that umbrella piece.
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Wonderful post Nicole! I love your quilts in progress especially the scrappy quilts!
I blog over at thismomquilts.wordpress.com and use a deleted blogger blog profile to comment on blogs that are not WordPress ones. It’s the only way I could figure out how to not be a ‘no-reply’ blogger. I am hopping on the last week of the hop!
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Sorry Nicole. I bet that previous comment makes no sense at al. My WordPress blog shouldn’t be deleted, I hope. I’ve checked it out and things seem to be working fine. Unless one of my kids came by and deleted some stuff.
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Thank you for sharing your story. I love the variety in the quilts you chose to share with us. So diverse! I agree that being yourself on your blog is so important. It makes the experience enjoyable.
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Hi Nicole, I think your blogging advice about being yourself is wonderful. It’s too easy to compare ourselves to others and then build up unrealistic expectations for ourselves. Everyone’s quilting journey is different, but I love reading about them. International Scrap Vomit is amazing!
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Hi Nichole! It’s nice to get to know you better. The quilts you chose to share are wonderfully eclectic! Batik Wave is artistic and wonderful–no wonder it got juried into two shows! International Scrap Vomit is probably the funniest name for a quilt I’ve ever heard, but it’s lovely and wow–sewing all those squares together and ending up with a quilt that’s even close to flat and square is an awesome achievement! Your Ugly Xmas Sweater quilt makes me smile. Love that backing! Rainbow Log Cabin and 15 Minutes of Play simply glow! They are so lovely you must finish them soon!
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I’m on board with so many others, the wave quilt is fabulous. I also love the “Ugly Christmas Quilt.” I did not see one fabric in it that I didn’t love. Kudos for making 51 quilts, I never stopped to count mine. Keep quilting! Best, Mary
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love all the quilts you’ve shared today!
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I really enjoyed seeing your beautiful quilts. Very nice to meet you.
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Your rainbow log cabin quilt is wonderfully modern. I am impressed that you kept track of how many quilts you’ve made. I haven’t done that and since most are given away and that I never thought to take pictures of them before doing so, well, it’s a loss. Great meeting you on the hop.
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Batik Wave is Sooo Pretty, love it.
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Nicole, the Ugly Christmas Quilt post just cracked me up. So funny and yes the fabrics are horrid but you made such a fun object of them. I enjoyed your blog hop post immensly =)
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Hello Nicole, excellent intro post. You have made some lovely quilts. I love your blogging tip, and it applies to so many other areas in life too. I do wish I had taken pics of my earlier quilts, but I didn’t so I’ve let go of it. Great tip for pressing, I was shocked when I realised how many quilters don’t.
Smiles
Kate
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Hi Nicole, love your post today, and especially your tips and your batik wave quilt!
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Hi Nicole,
Great meeting you and hearing about how you came into quilting. Love your tip about sewing and pressing. Your quilts are pretty.
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Nice to meet you. Love the wave quilt.
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I wish I would have had the foresight to start a spreadsheet or log of all the quilts I’ve made! Now, I have no idea how many I’ve made. I was at my daughter’s house last fall and she had a Halloween quilt hanging on the wall the I made and I didn’t even remember making it!
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Scrap vomit!! Too funny!! Love the log cabin and Batik waves!
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51 quilts……wow! I press each and every little seam. Really like your spreadsheet. A random fact – I spent a week in Fort Resolution in the Canadian Arctic. Fort Resolution is appropriately 100 miles south of the magnetic North Pole.
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Love to get inspired by blogs
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Really a nice blog post. I like the way you linked to the back stories of the projects. thanks for sharing!
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I am so happy that someone else has a partially quilted purgatory…
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I really enjoyed your quilts ty for sharing…keep up the great sewing…. happyness04431@yahoo.com
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Nicole, I’ve never read a blog that made me laugh out loud. But, the Ugly Xmas Sweater Quilt post brought tears to my eyes. You are my kind of crazy 🙂
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I’m so glad I discovered your blog through the new quilt bloggers group. Your 15 minutes of play quilt is great. One of my favorite color combos. I scrolled back through all your posts about this quilt. I belong to the Bainbridge Island MQG, but I had to miss Victoria’s workshop because we were down in Arizona at the time. Maybe will get to meet in person some time, but I’ll follow you virtually in the meantime! (I’m part of the Sewcial Network hive.)
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Nicole, nice to meet you! I really enjoyed seeing and reading all your quilts in all styles! I’m going to read more about the Ugly Christmas Sweater now!
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Nicole, so nice to get to know you. That “Ugly Christmas Sweater” Quilt!! Aack! I love it, lol.
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Beautiful quilts, amazing talent and I love how you write. Very clear and definitive. Your blogging tips are such good information.
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It’s great to read a bit more about you. I love that you are into all styles of quilting. The Batik Wave is gorgeous!
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It’s nice to meet you. I like Modern Quilts and Improv quilts the best too although that’s not all I make either. The wave quilt is a real show stopper. I’m going to go and read the back posts myself.
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Great to meet you. The Batik Wave quilt is awesome and I really love that rainbow log cabin quilt. I hope you’re able to save if from purgatory and finish it up soon! So excellent! (Incidentally, the link in the paragraph under that picture is broken.)
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