2017 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop

I am a new blogger (almost a year!) and a new quilter. One of the first blogs I started following via email was quilting JETgirl. She has a section on her blog called Advice and Tech Help For New Bloggers from the previous New Quilt Bloggers blog hops. It is extensive and has been a great resource for me. I think I read every article!

I daydreamed about being in the next New Quilt Bloggers blog hop and when I saw the announcement that the 2017 registration for it was open, I heard a voice say “you go girl!” (turns out that was me talking to me) and so I did! When I got the email welcoming me to the group, I was so excited I could have pinched someone!!! (and not too hard, I’ve learned that lesson:). So here I am, a participant in the 2017 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop!

The three wonderful women co-hosting this year’s blog hop are:

Beth of Cooking Up Quilts

Leanne of she can quilt

Yvonne of Quilting JETgirl

They have each been charged with a bee hive of new bloggers and have shared their time, support and expertise with us all. They believe in nurturing and supporting new quilt bloggers. I am so thankful to them and only hope that one day I can might be able to do the same.

Behind the scenes the entire group was able to talk, share and ask questions to each other. Everything from blog aesthetics to tech help was covered. We can talk to the entire group or within our hive and even had small critique groups to provide each other with direct and friendly feedback. Friends helping friends in this vast blogging world :)

It is worth visiting/following our hosts awesome blogs and there is a great giveaway during each of the four blog hop weeks by the sponsors of this hop too.

I am in Beth’s hive and we voted to brand it tada…

Better Blogger’s Hive

 

Now, I introduce my four fellow Better Bloggers Hivers who are posting today as well:

Jan of Cocoa Quilts
Sarah of 9658 Textiles
Yanicka of Finding myself as an artist
Vanda of Quilt in Piece

I must also mention the first group of ladies from the hive who posted last Monday and who deserve a loud shout out for setting a high standard for the rest of us:

Jess of  Sew Jess Handmade
Rachel of Rachel Lance Making a beautiful life
Amanda of QUILTOLOGIE
Abigail of cut&alter
Rose of something rosemade

If you are looking for new, fresh and creative quilting blogs to follow, I recommend visiting any one or all of them.

Like many of you, my mother talk me how to sew. Our first project was this little doll cut from a pre-printed fabric pattern. Oh I just love her ♥

Doll circa 1975

Fast forwarding many (many, many) years later…In my forties still sewing here and there, I decided I should make a quilt like I have always wanted to do.

I have always preferred making my own designs to following patterns (translation: I tend to wing it and not follow instructions!) This has its pros and cons of course.

• Pro: At first I started making little raw edge applique quilted wall hangings that I love and feel are totally uniquely me.

Raw Edge Applique Mini Quilts

Raw Edge Applique Mini Quilts

• Con: I am hopeless with exact measurements and things like even seams! But I still longed to make a bed quilt that looked like a “real” quilt with blocks and all. I cut the fabric and hoped it would all go together. It did (just no close up of the corner points here!) It provides a reminder of where I started and it is well worn from much snuggling use.

My first quilt

So this is when I decided to focus on actually learning the basics of quilting. I read blogs, watched videos and googled the interwebs a lot! I also joined my local Modern Quilt Guild, and was enthralled by the quilts that members brought in to show. Going a quilt guild and starting a blog was new (and a tad scary) but it opened a door for me to a whole new wonderful world.

Now I am at a place where I am not “winging it” but focusing on the task before me. Where I used to rush through steps that I found not as fun as sewing, I am now taking time and enjoying them. Measuring, ironing and cutting fabric have all become a form of meditation for me. I get the bigger picture; every part is a part of the process. Perspective can be hard to change or it can just change for you. Both make up the balance of life, love and art. Wow, I think I actually got some zen going on !!!

I have sewn several baby quilts and have made and am working on traditional and not so tradition quilt blocks. The improvement I have made inspires me to keep on going…up,up,up!

MQG Wonky Star Blocks

MQG charity project: D9P baby blanket

Babydoll quilt with Pinwheel blocks

Hey thanks so much for stopping by and spending some time with my quilting journey. It’s a young one that I see growing old with me. Sparkle on y’all! I know we can!!!  ~Abbie

Abbie&Bean 2017