Hello and Welcome if this is the first time you are visiting my blog something rosemade. I am happy that Benita has invited me to participate this year and looking forward to visiting the other Quilt Bloggers online and finding new ones to follow. You can check out the other Online Quilters posts by clicking on the link above.
I've been quilting and buying fabric for over twenty years now and only been blogging for two years. Next month will be my start of my third year and "Wow" for how far I've come along but" My Oh My" do I still have a lot to learn. I am just thankful that my posts, sometimes few and far between, go through without taking down the system. But I'm even more thankful for the many friendships and connections I've made. Three out of the four fellow Bloggers who I became "Sistas" with from participating in the 2017 New Quilt Bloggers Hop are also participating in this Meet & Greet also. My blog wouldn't be if not from forming an online friendship by leaving comments on Susan Snook's PatchworknPlay blog and her suggestion to me that I should start a blog and it's easy and she'll help-which she did. This is something that I would not be able to help you do but I may be able to find someone to help you start a blog.
Benita asked the Bloggers to include a photo of our favorite quilt and having made so many, I couldn't decide. I sent her a photo of a quilt made last year "Big Cat Crossing" which I think represents my style and approach to quilting--lots of fabric and "making it easy" which is my theme for this year along with being on a Fabric Fast. I love making simple quilts with just strips and squares and sometimes rectangles and have done several tutorials on making "Staggered Strips and Squares" which you can find here and here. Surprisingly, I have not made one this year but have done some sort of variation with quilts made with strips and squares. You can see the other quilts I've made this year here. I should also mention that my favorite cuts are 2.5" strips and 4.5" strips or squares and it really helps that I use a die-cutter.
I've acquired quite a stash of fabrics over the year, i.e., Civil War, Reproduction, Asian, Traditional, Modern, etc., and I can still say I still enjoy the variety and love it when I can combine two different fabric lines like Modern (Cotton+Steel) with Traditional (Thimbleberries) together like I did with my Stacked Squares quilt made last year. It was a great way to reduce the stash and the guilt of having these fabrics sit on my shelf.
Since being on a Fabric Fast this year, it has given me the chance to work with fabric that has been sitting far too long on my shelf. So far, 9 out of the 15 quilts finally finished this year were made from stash; one quilt, Thirties Tart, was made from a bundle of fat quarters purchased thirteen years ago. Thankfully, the Sweettart Pattern designed by Shannon of the Fleming 9's came along to rescue this sweet bundle off my shelf. I also did not participate in many QALs this year since I really wanted to work on quilts I've already set aside the fabric with patterns. If I did participate in a QAL, it was because I had just the right fabric.
Sometimes I have the fabric but not the pattern in which case I then came up with one on my own which, of course, had strips, squares and rectangles like my just finished The Big Easy Quilt #1. I like to let the fabric decide what the block should be and more often than not, the bigger the cut, the better.
Enough about me and being a simple quilter, it's time for you to visit the other Quilt Bloggers. It's nice that the Meet and Greet is for the entire month of September so you can take your time to visit. Be sure to click on the link above to be eligible for the drawing. The more Bloggers you visit, the more chances you have for winning a great prize.
Thanks for visiting and Good Luck in the drawing! And also a big thanks to Benita for putting together this Meet and Greet for our enjoyment. I just love inspiration and eye candy.
