The Bee-ginner Blogger Me

As a participant in the 2017 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop* and a member of the first group from the Better Bloggers Hive to post an introductory post, Happy Monday and Welcome to my Blog where I love to share stories (or should I say explain) about my adventures in Quilting and Patchwork and sometimes some other type of craft.  I've been retired for four years now and it seems like I still don't have enough time to create all the things I want to do.   I'm always looking for ideas to reduce my fabric stash which I've been accumulating for many years.  My project list is long because I'm constantly inspired by what I see on other blogs, publications, Pinterest, etc. I do love Show and Tell and that's what I want my blog to be along with a good exchange of ideas and some quilter angst.

I've been quilting for twenty years but only have limited online experience. I've discovered Pinterest less than five years ago and thought that was the only thing I needed to do but I was so wrong.  I finally went on Facebook around four years ago and it started out with a bang.  Somehow while I was accessing the game Candy Crush which I wanted to try,  I inadvertently signed up for a Senior Single Group and started receiving requests from men to meet. Fortunately my then, future daughter-in-law, overheard me telling my husband that I'd received ten requests and I didn't know what to do, removed me from the site right away.  Since then, I've become leery of doing online anything because of my having the mindset that if I pressed the wrong key something that I don't want known will be sent out to cyberspace.

Last year, I've started thinking about starting a blog since I realized that I wanted more than Pinterest and the Facebook group I was in offered.  I needed to share more and needed a different platform so I could do some explaining.  After much encouragement and IT assistance from Susan Snooks of Patchwork and Play and from listening to a podcast in which a Blogger said that she had a blog because it kept her accountable, I finally started blogging last October. It's been a positive online experience and  I can happily say that my blog has given me a focus for my quilting and a depository for my creations and ideas.  It's the way I can mind my own busy-ness.

It was easy for me to come up with my blog name  Something Rosemade since it's an offshoot of my saying "Oh, it's something I made" and also sounding like handmade. I already had quilt labels made up with this name for several years, and, not to get sidetracked, I have a confession--very few of my older quilts have labels and I know it's a big no-no.  These labels make it a lot easier now to label my quilts and I've been better at sewing labels on my more recent quilts.

And speaking of quilts which is the reason for my bee-ing, I thought I share photos of these four quilts which are examples of my style.

Modify a pattern so I can use one of my die-cutters

Find a hand-piecing project which will use up a lot of stash and is something you can do while on many road trips

Wonderful fabrics with an easy pattern and simple quilting are my favorite quilts to make 

Sometimes I just like to make a simple art quilt or sew a small quilt

I like my quilts to be easy and at my age don't feel the need to be challenged with a difficult pattern. I try to finish everything I start, even if it takes several years and always allow myself to stop a project, especially if it's not time-sensitive, to start a new one.  I have to say that I love my fabric stash and have every good intention of using it up.  And also adding to this dream is having a studio with a gorgeous mountain view in Colorado.  Right now I have a wonderful studio but unfortunately is in the basement but affectionately known as Studio UP (Underground Palace)-- a view would be so nice.  But truth be told, any new studio with a view would have to be close to my new granddaughter Micah Rose, whose arrival made me realize there is no way I could move to another state.

Along with the many quilts I still want and need to make, there are still a lot of things I need to learn to improve my Blog.  It's still evolving and I still would like the graphics to look a little more polished and I know I need to spend some time learning Canva--but Patience and I don't play well together.  I'm not experienced enough to offer a blogging tip except to say that it's a great way to promote your blog by linking it with a link-up party.  There are link-ups, i.e, Crazy Mom's Finish It Up Friday, our own Hive Host, Beth's Main Crush Monday and other link-ups for each day of the week  so you can time your posts to fit into one of them. Blogging is a wonderful way to connect with other quilters, which I have, and I am glad I started my blog.  It's really has been a whole new world for me.  For someone who isn't very computer savvy, starting my blog was relatively easy and not too stressful.  Just like when I first started quilting, I had a little help from a friend which lead me to my wonderful quilting life.  The same can be said for blogging, I had a little help plus encouragement from my first blog friend, Susan Snooks to whom I would like to thank again.  And being a participant in the 2017 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop  is only going to make my online experience even better.  It's all about making sure you're in the right group.  F.Y.I.  Instagram will be my next new experience; any tips or suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thanks for visiting my blog and please visit my hive mates' blogs by clicking on their links below and leaving us a comment.  As our hive name suggests, we want to be Better Bloggers.

My Better Bloggers Bee Mates for this week are:

Jess of Sew Jess Handmade

Rachel  of Making a Beautiful Life

Amanda of Quiltologie

Abigail of Cut and Alter

*The 2017 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop is hosted by Yvonne @quiltingjetgirl, Leanne @shecanquilt and Beth @cookingupquilts. Thanks to the generosity of these threes hosts who are devoting their time, energy and experience to a group of fifty-four Quilt Bloggers, mostly newbees like me, I am learning how to improve or increase my blogging/online experience and knowledge.  It's kind of like a bootcamp but the leaders are nice and helpful and we're one big, happy group ready to share and cheer each other on.  Friendships have even been formed while the groups were warming up. And I had moments where I demonstrated my inexperience. There is absolutely no stinging allowed. Our wonderful hosts have also gather up a nice group of sponsors who are offering some real great giveaways for those who follow the 2017 New Quilt Bloggers.

Since the middle of March, the group  has been separated into three hives: Blooming Quilters (Yvonne), Let's Bee Quilt'n (Leanne) and Better Bloggers Hive (Beth)--my Hive!.  The Blog Hop has been scheduled to post on Monday for the following weeks:

Week 1:  April 10th
Week 2:  April 17th
Week 3:  May 1st
Week 4:  May 8th

You can read the other blogger's posts by clicking on the Blog Hop Hosts' links each Monday during the scheduled dates.  It's a great way to find new quilt bloggers to follow and, I'll mention it again,  be eligible for one of the many giveaways being offered for the 2017 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop.

My inFASSETTuation with Kaffe

This time, not a post about finishing a quilt, just sharing a thought...

Last week was a very great week for me--starting with the birth of my first grandchild/granddaughter, Micah Rose, and ending with registering for a class with Kaffe Fassett.  It doesn't get any better than this for me--two dreams happening in one week.

When I started quilting twenty years ago, Kaffe was my first man crush in the quilting world.  I know at that time there was only Dwight the Quilting Cowboy and John Flynn; Mark Lipinski and Ricky Timms weren't accepted by me until later. I've made many quilts with Kaffe's fabrics, the above is just a sampling.  Not shown are the three which still needs to be quilted, several finished quilts which I don't have a photo of, i.e., the one I made for my dearly departed cockatiel, Chipper, who loved his Kaffe quilt (no, I didn't bury the quilt with him) and the one I gave my daughter-in-law when she was just my son's girlfriend who was then leaving to spend nine months in Israel (now if that doesn't say Mom approved when you receive a Kaffe quilt from me).  I do have one project planned in 2017 with Kaffe fabrics but wasn't planning on doing it until later this year.  I thought it would be good for me to take a break after completing the Kaffe Fassett Champaign Orange Yo-Yo quilt (you can read about it here) last year.  Also, it's been several years since I purchased any new fabric to add to my two bins of Kaffe fabrics or any new books.

To prepare myself for the Kaffe class in October, I purchased some yardage and his book "Quilts in Italy" since the project for the class I'm taking is the Cool Zig Zag Quilt which is one of the quilts in this book.  Let me tell you, this book is chockfull of wonderful quilts, truly inspirational and it renewed my love for Kaffe Fassett.  But, I just realized something after oohing and studying all the quilts in this book.  Besides Kaffe's influence on my love for large prints and simple patterns to showcase the fabrics, the quilting is very simple and quiet, which is my kind of quilting.   Some of the quilts are quilted with simple lines and not very pronounced and I had to look really close to see if it was even quilted.  For me the quilting plays a minor role in the quilts; the focus being on the fabrics, colors and design. I now know Kaffe is also an influence on my quilting style.  Most of my quilts were sent to the longarm quilters, but now I'm ready to tackle the ones still waiting to be quilted or to be made.

Do you know what my most important preparation for this class is going to be--pronouncing his name correctly:  Kaffe rhymes with Safe and not how I've been pronouncing it for the past twenty years--sounds like Cafe'.  I have over six months to practice.

BTW:  I normally post on a Friday so I can link up with Crazy Mom's Finish it up Friday and Busy Hands Quilts Finish or Not Friday but am wondering if there is a link-up for posts focusing on what you're thinking about in Quilting and not just about what you're making or made.  As a participant in the 2017 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop,  perhaps I can learn how to do a link-up like "What Were You Thinking Thursday" or "Wondering Wednesday".  But then again if there is already a link-up for something like this, please let me know. Sometimes it good just to share a thought.

Sophie: A Quilt for the World's Worst Dog

I think it's expected that when a fabric line comes out with a family (two-legged or four-legged) member's name, a quilt should be made, even if it's for my Sophie, the World's Worst Dog.  In 2011, Moda came out with Sophie by Chez Moi and ,of course, I had to purchase a fat quarter bundle along with some yardage with the intention of making Sophie a quilt.  

Do Not Let This Sweet Face Fool You

My oldest son refers to Sophie as the World's Worst Dog because she, with the heart-attack bark, gets pretty vocal whenever someone comes to the door, or walks down the street and worse yet when you least expect it. According to my son, if you were to do a Google search for the World's Worst Dog, Sophie's picture would appear.  I attribute this to her being part Lhapso Apso which brings out her guard dog instincts and also being part poodle brings out the Diva in her which means she can be pretty demanding at times, like don't pet me with one hand if you have two hands.  And Sophie doesn't win any points with me because she is the reason why I have to make a new Winter quilt for my bed since she chewed a chunk off on the border/binding and I don't dare lay some of my nicer quilts on any of the beds because she loves to scratch at quilts and mess up a made bed.

After having this fabric in my stash for five years, I finally made a quilt top with the fabric last year.  I had just purchased Victoria Findlay Wolfe's Rock the House die by Sizzix, which makes an 8" block and thought this would be the perfect block for the Sophie Stash.   It reminded me of a Great Granny Square Block but with fewer patches.  I used three different fabrics for each block, but the same fabric for the side triangles (the green mini houndstooth) was used on every block.  

Because the side triangles were cut on the bias, they stretched and matched up pretty well when the blocks were sewn together.  However, I wasn't happy with the way the border laid with the blocks once they were sewn together.  I should have put sashing between the blocks to stabilize them but was going for the nine-patch on point look.  Lesson learned for the next time.   I was planning on doing straight line quilting myself but because the border wasn't laying right I decided to have Jan my longarm quilter quilt it instead who did a wonderful job even with the wobbly borders.  Let's just say I would not be comfortable giving this quilt to anyone but Sophie.

Sophie's Quilt measures 52" square and is already laying on her look-out chair right next to the window in the living room.  Hopefully, when Sophie appears as the World's Worst Dog on a Google search, she'll be sitting on her quilt.

So after more than  five years, Sophie's Quilt is a finally finish along with my Barbara Brackman Stepping Stone quilt which is also now quilted and bound.  I previously wrote about this quilt in an earlier post (you can read it here). It's nice to have another two quilts, especially ones that have been on the plate for awhile, to scratch off on my 2017 Project List along with adding more yardage to the Minus 100 Yard Challenge.  And now it's time for some playing around.........

Linking up with:

Crazy Mom Quilts

Busy Hands Quilts: Finish or Not Friday

Minus 100 Yards Challenge YTD Total:  -70.75 yards

The Grandma Quilt It Was--Introducing Micah Rose

Isn't she lovely, just thirteen hours old

I previously wrote in a post that I finished a quilt which was started over ten years ago and I called it the Grandma Quilt (you can read about it here) in anticipation of holding a future granddaughter wrapped in it.  I planned on bringing this quilt to the hospital on the day of the delivery.  But then I realized, even though we did not know the gender of our soon-to-be born, first grandchild, I better have a Grandpa Quilt to bring along to the hospital since I didn't think a grandson would appreciate being photographed in a very pink quilt (you can read about it here).

The quilts were brought out in the waiting room and predictions were made. The prevailing thought was that it would be a boy since the first born in each of our families were boys.  During the fifteen hour wait, I had one exchange with the Uncle-To-Be who was so confident that he was going to have a nephew, agreed to my bet that if it was a girl, he would wear a dress at Easter, he the one with the linebacker body.

We had to wait over an hour after the delivery until the gender was revealed because the parents wanted skin-on-skin time with the baby first.  The Doctors, Nurses and staff were told not to say anything to us and I must say their lips were sealed tight.  I even held up both of the quilts asking them which quilt would look best with the baby and I was getting nervous because I thought they stared at the Grandpa Quilt too long.

I guess you can tell by this photo that I, the new Grandma, got her wish and also won the bet.  (BTW, doesn't my sweet hubby of 43 years look like Sean Connery).  

Look at sweet Micah Rose--posing like a future quilt judge and giving her disapproval at the uneven quilting stitches.  I mentioned to my son and his wife that I was taking this quilt back with me since it was my Grandma Quilt but I ended leaving it with them since my sweet granddaughter already likes snuggling in it.  I'll get it back once I make Micah Rose her own since I have so much of this fabric.  And if you see a 6'4" man weighing 300 lbs walking down the street in a dress this coming Easter, he would be Uncle Courtney.

Hexies and Waiting To Be A Grandmother

We finally have taken the much anticipated four-hour drive to be there for the delivery of our first grandchild.  Of course any traveling involves a good road trip project so I grabbed a project involving hexies and handpiecing.  I just realized that there's a connection between this latest project and my first hexie and handpiecing project.

The above quilt was one I started around twenty years ago when I was a relatively new quilter.  At that time I loved Grandmother Flower Garden quilts which I thought was a quilter's rite of passage to make one.  I can't remember how I started but I think I purchased an initial package of 1" paper pieces and then cut my own from old stationery.  I did hand cut all the fabric hexies with my 30's reproduction fabrics and then basted what seemed like thousands but actually were only hundreds. I sewed them together to make the flowers and then was ready for the next round which would have been to cut and baste hundreds of more hexies for the reproduction green hexies which went around each flower.  By that time, I realized that the reason why the quilts were named Grandmother Flower Garden was because I was going to be a Grandmother by the time I finished this quilt.  So the flowers were put away for several years until I came up with the idea to appliqué them onto plain squares of muslin.  Then I finally came up with the layout which worked perfectly with the 30's reproduction plaids in my stash and the quilt was finally finished around five years ago.  I joked then that I still wasn't a grandmother.

And here I am in the hospital waiting room yesterday, during the 15 hour wait, sewing the latest hexies together into flowers, just like the first project. This time, the hexies and fabric were bigger and die-cut by my Accuquilt Baby Go and the flowers will be sewn together to make a one-patch hexie quilt.  Soon after this photo was taken, I'm finally became a Grandmother.   Stay tune for the details!

Linking up with Quilting is more Fun than Housework, Oh Scrap

A Finally Finish: A New Wall Quilt for the Family Room

Just in the time for the start of Spring, a new wall quilt made with bright and wonderful fabrics designed by Pat Sloan.  Last year, I participated in Pat's 2016 Secret Garden Mystery Quilt (the free patterns are still available on her website--2016 Secret Garden Mystery Quilt) but I only made nine out of the twelve blocks.  All of the blocks finishes to 15" and showcases four of Pat's Moda fabric lines:  Hometown Girl, The Sweet Life, Bobbins & Bits and One for You, One for Me very nicely.  I love it when a fabric designer uses the same color ways for several of their fabric lines so you can mix them together, especially when you have scraps leftover from a previous project, and then can use them for a new project like a sampler or block of the month quilt.  It fits with my idea of the more, the merrier in choosing fabrics for a quilt.

I have a layer cake of Pat's Sunday Drive (my winnings from the World Series Bet with Dee from Cleveland) which I haven't opened yet.   I might have a project in mind now to use it with all of the other fabric lines since  the Dandy Drive Sew Along (you can see it here) starts in April which Pat is doing with Sarah J. Maxwell.

This quilt was picked up yesterday from Jan, my longarm quilter who did a wonderful job of quilting a simple floral design using apple green thread which makes my heart sing.  I love how it complements the prints and colors of the quilt.  This is one of the few quilts that I've bound and finished the same day it was quilted or picked up from the longarm quilter.  It was ready to be photographed today, the sun was shining but unfortunately the wind wanted to be in the photo also.

The new wall quilt replaces the one that has graced the family room on and off for the past ten years which is another quilt I made from a Pat Sloan quilt. I think this was her first quilt featured on a magazine cover (McCall's Quilting).  As much as I don't change my wall quilts very often, it seems right that this quilt is being replaced with a newer Pat Sloan quilt.

It's always nice to have another project to scratch off the list of 53.  So far, I've finished almost a third of my projects for 2017.  If only I can stop adding new ones.

And the fabric fast continues but not for very long because I have a Fat Quarter Shop discount coupon for Cotton + Steel fabrics plus the International Quilt Show in Rosemont, Il is coming up in April.  My quilting sista Carol will be joining me and I love stealing from her basket.  Wish my other quilting sista Dee can join us; I also love stealing from her basket.

Minus 100 Yards Challenge YTD Total:  -61.75 yards

Meanwhile, still on standby........

Linking up with Finish or Not Friday

Blanket Ministry Quilts: Bound, Labeled and Soon To Be Delivered

Baby Quilts #2 and #3 for the Blanket Ministry were quilted and bound and finally finished today.  #1 has been finished for several weeks now and the reason why I wasn't in a hurry to finish the other two was because I wasn't sure how I wanted to quilt them.

Thankfully, divine quilting inspiration finally kicked in.  When I first started making baby quilts for the Blanket Ministry, my machine quilting skills were pretty basic and something that I wasn't very comfortable with doing.  Since then my machine quilting has vastly improved and am glad I quilted each one of these quilts with a different design.  One of these days I'm going to try free motion quilting.

I will say that once I finished the Blanket Ministry quilts, I feel much joy and satisfaction, especially when I sew these labels on each one of the quilts.

I'm happy I finished the quilts before the end of the month and met my goal of making one baby quilt a month.  These are ready to be dropped off at the coordinator's house which means I am now free to work on other projects with a certain peace of mind for the next two months.   And also I was done before the much anticipated arrival of the first grand baby.  It seems like the grand baby is in no hurry to arrive now.  The plan was to induce by the 24th but the parents are thinking if the baby is fine and under no stress that they will delay the inducement.  I think they must have read a book on to torture new grandparents to be.

I know I'll be busy until the big day because I have three quilts ready to be picked up from my long arm quilter which means I will have binding to do.  It's quite possible I could be hand sewing a binding on one of these quilts in the car when we finally take our road trip down for the delivery.

The fabric fast continues but I know the end is coming soon.  My Fat Quarter Shop Sampler Box for March arrived today and it's absolutely wonderful.  Look what was included in my box, this is definitely a sign that it's time to buy--Cotton + Steel fabric. (This discount is only being offered to Sampler Box Subscribers.)   I'm holding off until April 1st because I want to say my fabric fast lasted a whole three months.

Minus 100 Yards Challenge YTD Total:  -58.25 yards

Meanwhile, still on standby........

Linking up with: Sew Some Love Linky http://katandcatquilts.blogspot.com
                            Finish or Not Friday