My Five Year Blog Anniversary

It was five years ago today that I closed my eyes and pressed the key to publish my first post which started with a whimper.  I thought I would observe this milestone by keeping it simple, no photos, but with some interesting stats. I’ve come along way now having posted 193 times mostly about my almost 200 Finally Finishes and, yes, my Blog was a good way to do some Show and Telling and keeping me accountable. What I didn’t mention or realize back then was this would be a good way to meet and connect with so many quilters all over the World. I appreciate all of the readers whom some have become dear Blog Buddies or Bee Sistas, for the inspiration and support provided and, of course, the laughs; may this always continue. I wanted my Blog to be about Quilting and Patchwork but somehow with the birth of my first and only Grandchild, family talk crept in plus sometimes I have to brag and thank the Master Quilt Holder who help hold up many of the quilts in all kinds of weather and surroundings. While the technical aspects of blogging is still a big annoyance, like Bloglovin’ no longer picking up my Blog and sometimes a mystery (creepy comments and questionable views)  which makes me want to stop, but then, there isn’t any other way to  share and keep a record of my activity, is there? I am thankful that I was able to use my Blog as a way to see how much I have grown as a quilter and also to use as a way for me to maintain a certain level of creativity and productivity. 

I thought I would share some interesting stats and/or observations I noticed while rereading some of my posts from years past;

• My top five posts are listed on the sidebar on my blog and I find it amusing that in this group is my 2017 post about being a Bee-ginner Blogger and participating in the New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop where I met some of my dearest Blog Buddies.
• Around one-fourth of the quilts/patchwork I finally made were either gifts or donations and half of this total was for my most favorite recipient, my beloved granddaughter followed by donations to the blanket ministry at my Church and gifts for new babies.
• Before I started blogging, I did not have much confidence or experience as a machine quilter and I have since improved. Out of all the 191 quilts/patchwork which are Finally Finished, only fifteen were quilted by check. Also, I only have around ten quilts made during the last five years which are still waiting to be quilted, pretty good in my books, considering there are around twenty-five quilts made before Blogging which as we say are UFOs. I will say that straight-line quilting is a great way to quilt your worries away.
• I participated in 40 QALs, some being with only one other person but mostly with the rest of the country or the whole wide world. This is a wonderful way to be inspired and stay motivated and  also to be introduced to patterns you would never dream of making like anything Jen Kingwell or her family of which I have developed a “fond fright”.
• I imposed upon myself a new fabric purchase fast twice and yes I need to do it again. I should mention I see a correlation with purchasing new fabric and weight gain.

Just for the record and I wasn’t going to mention, but it’s good to have this info since I know I can refer to it later, is that less than a handful of the Finally Finished were bedside quilts, 92 were lapsize, (my favorite size), 50 were baby quilts and 40 were wall size or decorative. I don’t think I could have compiled these Stats if I haven’t set up Page sections where I listed all of my activities for each year.

Before I end my “simple “ post, I have to thank again, Susan of Patchwork and Play for being my first friend I made in Blogland (she lured me with of all things a Jen Kingwell quilt) for her encouragement and guidance in starting my Blog, always being an inspiration, assuming the position as the best torMENTOR and fabric coach down under and my most favorite person to throw under the bus. It would be the most wonderful surprise if she ever came knocking on my front door but hopefully she won’t bring Jen Kingwell (just joking) with her.

I hope Quilting will always stay being an adventure for me and worth sharing. Cheers and Happy Quilting!

February DrEAMi: Specks, Strips and Squares, Oh My Quilt

This quilt was an unexpected finally finish for February, or as it is properly called by Sandra of MMM quilts, a DrEAMi!. It wasn't even in my plans to make which means a Squirrel was involved. Screamer, the Squirrel, was sent to me by my down-under Quilt torMENTOR, Susan of PatchworknPlay who is one of the major reason why I started blogging with her just saying "you should start a blog-it's easy" or something to that effect.  She has a way of making me do things especially with the beautiful quilts she has made with her fabulous fabric and color combinations.  I first started following Susan when she was posting a Jen Kingwell pattern she was then making called "My Small World" and I then became aware of Jen's many wonderful, but complicated patterns.  I should have then realize that Jen and Susan seem to go hand to hand. I finished my Gypsy Wife quilt several years ago and it still makes me go cross eye when I think about the making of this quilt and, in typical fashion, as I have done with other challenging quilts, I took the easy way out and eliminated the setting strips and set the blocks sampler style.  My thought was that after all the hard work making all of these blocks, I wasn't going to do a jelly roll race at the end--this coming from me who loves to make easy quilts with strips, especially 2.5" strips.  To further solidify my feelings of any Kingwell patterns are a test of quilt fortitude, I did finish Smitten. So getting back to Susan's involvement with the making of the Specks, Strips and Squares (S3) quilt. Now remember she has a way with her words, being a teacher and all, after I had posted about finishing my Classic Meet Modern BOM quilt this past January and mentioning that it was challenging and refreshing to make something a little bit harder, she left a comment "I hope the success of it encourages you to try more difficult designs and blocks! Perhaps Delilah (a Jen Kingwell pattern) could be your next one??"  Disclaimer:  I did warn Susan about this post earlier and that I was going to throw her under the bus so hopefully I didn't break any sanctity of comments and deter anyone else from ever leaving me comments.  Well, after reading the mere mention of Jen Kingwell's name, I went into mind numb mode with a screaming "No" and my eyes started crossing, my usual reaction which is what I call Fear of Jen Kingwell patterns. Some time later, I retreated to my sewing studio with Sue's comment fresh in my head; I'm lucky I didn't fall down the stairs thus wasting the time I've already done doing physical therapy for my healed fractured knee--don't you love my dramatics and guilt I'm throwing into this post?

While in this mindset of  my Fear of Jen Kingwell patterns and putting away fabric, I came across my stash of Jen Kingwell fabric and scraps.

The scraps came from these two quilts made from a Gardenvale Jelly Roll (right) and Lollies yardage and a Behind the Scenes Jelly Roll (left) and some yardage.  Even though I had other projects I wanted to work on, I thought maybe purging any thoughts of doing a Jen Kingwell pattern, I would use her fabric from my stash and challenge myself to make a quilt with what I had; taking the easy way out once again by doing something with just strips and squares.

Since I had a Gardenvale charm pack which I received in a giveaway, I considered using either my Jelly Roll Charm Chase or my Staggered Strips and Squares patterns, but the two packs of the Speck mini charms and not having much variety with the yardage I had to make long 2.5" strips, I came up with a pattern to spread out the dots, stripes and the multi-color check print in some kind of order. This quilt is made up of 4.5" squares from the charm pack and yardage, 2.5" x 8.5" rail strips from yardage and 2.5" x 6.5" rail strips from the Speck charm pack and yardage.  It measures approx. 54" x 72".

How do you like this backing?  Would you believe that I bought this from IKEA around 2010 and is not quite the Nummer fabric that I loved and has been discontinued. I thought I make my annual mention/plea that I wish IKEA would bring back their sheeting fabric, especially Nummer, which was perfect for quilt backing.  The home dec they now carry is just too heavy although the prints are fun.

Here's a close up shots of the quilting (my go-to wavy and straight line  with black Aurifil thread) and backing.  I showed it to my son, Demando, who promptly called the backing a Nightmare and questioned who would want that on the back of their quilt.  Obviously, someone like me who thought it was sort of representative of my fear of Jen Kingwell patterns and thought it would add a quirky touch to the S3 quilt. This backing does have it's limitation, I would never use it for a baby or child quilt so I had it for awhile until the perfect quilt top for it was made. I guess it also proves that I've haven't had to make a quilt for someone I don't like because that would be the perfect time to use it.  Let me say I was getting kind of spooked when I was quilting it during the wee late hours in my downstairs studio.  The only non-Jen Kingwell fabric in this quilt, besides the backing, is the black with white dots used in the binding.

I had to include a close-up of the screaming monster which I think my mind looks when someone mentions they're working on one of Jen's patterns. Doesn't it look like it's screaming a long, expressive "Noooo!" I'm glad I could finally let others in, which I may have already done, on my Fear of Jen Kingwell patterns in this post; it's all in good fun now. Knowing me, I wouldn't be surprised after this post, I'll probably do another since I do have her Glitter templates which have been sitting around for awhile. 

They say that good things come in threes or is it three times the charm. So after thinking about this, I have done three Kingwell patterns, Gypsy Wife, Smitten and Flutterby and I've now made three quilts with Jen Kingwell fabrics so I think I've earned an unofficial merit badge and I should be pretty good for awhile before I attempt another pattern. Leave it to my beloved Quilt torMENTOR Sue who left me a new comment, thus a new challenge, on my Pinky quilt about making another one called Blinky after an Australian book character named Blinky Bill.  I'm going to need some Koala fabric. BTW, I never responded to Sue for her Jen Kingwell comment so I hope she accepts this Post as my reply.  Also, do check out her Delilah quilt, it is absolutely stunning; it inspired some of my fabric and color choices for some of my quilts last year.  Send her some love but don't tell her who sent you.

Linking up with MMMiQuilts DrEAMi, Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework, Oh Scrap! and My Quilt Infatuation NTT