New Blogger's Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to my stop on the 2016 New Quilt Blogger's Blog Hop!  Thanks for stopping by! This Hop has been a fabulous experience for me.  I've made some changes to the layout and the look of my blog, and, I think I've finally started to get into a blogging rhythm, thanks to my participation.

Most importantly, though, I've discovered some fantastic blogs and bloggers, and I look forward to following them from now on.   Joining me on the Hop today are Shannon, Suzi, Kathy and Olusuyi, from my group, Hive Society.  Take a few moments and visit them, won't you?  Links to other great reads can be found by visiting the hostesses' sites, below.

I certainly do want to thank Yvonne, Cheryl and Stephanie, our hostesses and mentors for the time they've devoted to this  Blog Hop.  They are so dedicated!  Also, don't forget, there are fabulous prizes that you can enter to win if you visit one of our mentors' sites.

Now for the introductions!  My name is Tami and I've been sewing, quilting and crafting since I was a kid in 4-H.  My mom was a quilter, and also my 4-H leader! I have many happy memories of her quilting and teaching others to quilt.  Throughout high school and college, I sewed, embroidered, cross stitched and quilted, to some degree.  Even as a new bride, I kept up with sewing habits.  But, it all came to a halt when my oldest daughter was born.

These quilts were made years apart, but ended up going to sisters.  

As my girls got older, I began to realize how much I was missing by NOT having some creative endeavors in my life, but I wasn't very successful in making time to peruse my former hobbies. When a job change a few years ago resulted in an extensive schedule change, I was SURE I'd finally have time to do all the things I'd once loved!  I started this blog to keep track of all the wonderful quilts and sewn projects I thought I'd make.

Probably the most fun I've ever had making a quilt.
The letters were a Quilt Along from Temecula Quilt Company.
I didn't quilt along, instead I made them all a few at a time,
 long after the QAL had ended.  

If you check  my blog archives, you'll see that my first attempt at quilt blogging resulted in 11 measly posts.  I struggled to find a flow with both sewing and blogging, and the "Free Time" I thought I'd have, well, "Sew Much" for that!  (See that?  A reference to my blog title!  Get it?  Hahaha)

This is an OLD quilt.  Older than my oldest child!
This is the one quilt I made back in those days that wasn't given away.
 I spent many happy, child-free hours piecing and appliqueing.  

At the beginning of 2016, I decided I needed to try again.  I was spending a lot of time reading quilt blogs and drooling over pictures of quilts on Facebook and Pinterest.  I knew that lots of bloggers had close relationships with each other, and shared in the quilting and blogging process.  I wanted in!!!  So, here we are! I've been a pretty consistent blogger for the first half of this year, and I am getting better at managing my time to allow for sewing and blogging, both.

A quick, fun, and almost modern quilt.

It helps that my girls and now 10 and 13.  They are busy girls, involved in all sorts of wonderful stuff, but they are also self sufficient, and I can usually find an hour a day to spend in my sewing room, if I set a schedule and stick to it!

The pictures between paragraphs above are of some the quilts I've completed over the years.  Looking at them,  you'd get the impression that I am a traditional. not a "modern" quilter, wouldn't you?  I guess that's mostly accurate, but the truth is, I love it all!  The quilts I've been drawn to make have been more traditional, yes, but that doesn't mean I don't love the more modern patterns as well!  I just really love it all!

For me, it's not so much about what the final product looks like, its the creativity involved in the process.  It's the problem solving required when things don't go quite as planned.  It's the peaceful state of mind that comes over me when I sit down at the machine.  It's knowing I am part of a centuries old tradition of MAKING.  And, it's being part of an incredibly generous, knowledgeable and caring community.

This week, I will be sharing posts about three fabulous things happening in our on-line quilting community.  I am going to tell you about The 70273 Project, the Needle & Foot Book Share, and as I've been doing for a few weeks now, I'll link up my list of Five Things To Be Happy About on Friday with Gypsy Moon Quilt Co.  I hope you'll join me to learn about these things.  I have so much respect and admiration for the ladies behind these projects.  They are excellent examples of why I want to be part of this quilt blogging world.  Be sure to follow me on Bloglovin' or Feedly so you don't miss these posts!  There are links to both in my sidebar.

Now, it was suggested that we wrap up our posts with a quilting/blogging tip, a question for our fellow bloggers, and some random, fun facts about ourselves.  So, you go...

Blogging Tip:
Everyone, I know, finds what works for them, with regard to writing and posting.  It's a matter of trying different schedules and routines to find what feels right.  One thing that has worked well for me is to write a post in its entirety, in kind of a stream of consciousness way.  I just type, keeping in mind the pictures I want to post, but not putting them in.  Then, I try to walk away for a bit.  I find that when I read with "fresh eyes" I find quite a few things that I need or want to change.  I often decide to change wording, or I find a misspelling that wasn't caught.  Sometimes, I even decide to remove some content and save it for a different post.  After I'm happy with the post, I read through one more time, add pictures in the appropriate spots, and add links where necessary.  I find that I'm more efficient at these things if I do them all at once, than I am when I stop the flow of my writing to add an element.  Again, you need to find what works for you, but maybe there's an idea here you can try!

Question for YOU!:
So, how do you do it?  How do you manage to sew, blog, and do all the other things you have to do?  No matter what I try, I never seem to be able to quite find the balance that makes it all work the way I want it to.  Do you set a sewing schedule?  Do you finish one project to completion or have several things in the works?  Do you sew first thing in the morning?  Do you multi-task and blog while doing other things?  Is that even possible?  Give me all your best productivity tips, please!

Five Random Facts:
1.  I grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin.  No farm for me now (although I'm very grateful for that upbringing) but still a Wisconsin girl.
2.  My youngest daughter recently earned her black belt in karate.  It seems unreal to me that I have a black belt living in my house.  She's one of the most amazing people I know.
3. My oldest daughter is currently away at band camp, on a college campus, 100 miles away from home.  I just dropped her off today, and am missing her already.  She has gone to camp every summer since she was 8, but this seems different, somehow.  Keep your fingers crossed for a great week for her!
4.  My beverage of choice is usually ice water.  The more ice the better.  I also enjoy iced tea, peppermint tea, a good Bloody Mary or mojito and coffee, but ice water is the best.
5.  After being a second grade teacher for many, many years, I am now a Special Education aide.  I adore the kiddos I work with, and I am loving the more relaxed schedule that comes with NOT being a full time classroom teacher.  I am still a licensed teacher, and I tutor several kids in the summer.  I always have this nagging feeling I should go back to my "real job," but for now, I am enjoying life, just as it is.

Thanks for taking the time to read and get to know me! I hope you'll check back this week!  I'm so glad to be sharing this quilt filled world with all of you!

Quilting Friendships

I am very happy to have been participating in the 2016 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop for the last few weeks.  So far, the participants have had an opportunity to learn about blog improvement by reading great tutorials, asking questions of fellow bloggers and having our blogs critiqued by fellow participants.  It's been a true learning experience for me.  This week, the "Hop" has started.  These ladies, from my small group, called Hive Sewceity and led by Stephanie from Late Night Quilter, have been "up" this week, taking their turn introducing themselves and sharing what they've learned about blogging and quilting.

Allison @ Woodberry Way     Sarah @123 Quilt 

Mary @ Stripquilts     Jodie @Persimmon + Pear

I hope you'll pop in and say hello to each of them.  There are two other hives led by Yvonne of Quilting Jet Girl and Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs. If you visit the hostesses, you'll be able to find links to all of the bloggers who are the stops on the hop this week.  Oh!  And the hostesses also have a chance for you to win some fabulous prizes each week of the hop.  It will be my turn to post some fun facts about me on July, 11.  I hope you'll stop by.

The New Bloggers Hop is a wonderful way that we quilters build our community.  I've heard from many quilters that they met their quilty bff's and formed swap groups or bees during previous years of the Hop.  And indeed, I have already had a fabulous time conversing with my fellow participants as we've visited each other's blogs and left comments.  Often those comments turn into a series of exchanges via email.  It's so fun to hear my email notification ping, and have some happy words from a new friend.

A year ago, I was involved in a couple of quilting groups on Facebook.  Through one of the groups, I was paired with a quilting pen pal.  The idea was that we'd correspond regularly and send small gifts and packages to each other.

My pen pal is Rose. We began sending Facebook messages and eventually e-mails to each other in June of last year.  Eventually, we exchanged packages containing quilting and sewing related goodies, as well as a few things just for fun.  Rose and I have hit it off wonderfully.  We are different in age and background, but that doesn't matter.  Our e-mail discussions have ranged from life goals to relationship issues to parenting questions (she is a new mama to a beautiful little qirl!).  And of course we talk about quilting and sewing, too.  We both live busy lives, working,  raising our kids, nurturing our marriages.  So, sometimes, weeks go by with no word from each other.  But, then an email will arrive and will set off a conversation that goes on for a couple of days, one e-mail at a time. On more than one occasion, a note from Rose was just what I needed to lift my spirits, or inspire me to make a move I've been contemplating. We talk about our sewing and quilting goals, and have been great sources of encouragement for each other. Ours is a true friendship which I cherish.  The fact that we both love to bless the other with gifts, handmade items and sewing stuff - oh my! Icing on the cake!

I made these bags, one for me, one for Rose.  Sewing to share is so rewarding!

Sometime in the last year, Rose and I decided to do a round robin exchange.  Without too much discussion, each of us made a center block that would be sent to the other to add on to, and then exchanged back and forth until the owner of the center declared the quilt "done!"  I went small with my block, hoping to have my first mini quilt to hang on my sewing room wall, and Rose went big!  She will have a bed quilt by the time we're done!

When Rose's block arrived, I had to take a deep breath.  Both because it was really, really lovely, but also because it was bigger than I'd expected! I had to wrap my head around making a border on a larger scale than I'd been thinking.  My older daughter looked at it and said, "It's so regal.  Like it belongs in a castle."  That set the wheels spinning, and eventually I had a plan.

But it was a lot of work to get from the idea to the point where I could start sewing.  A lot of searching for a pattern, drawing up my idea, working out the measurements, making practice blocks...oh!  And choosing fabric.  That was the fun part!

Then, the sewing started.

And continued,

 and continued.

See that little block off to the right?  Naughty block turned sideways...

 Roses's center is about 45 in square.  It took a lot of blocks to go around it.  And each block had a lot of pieces!  Or so it seemed when I was working on them.

But it was fun, and a joy to make something for Rose.

Somewhere in the process I made a calculation mistake, and my blocks didn't meet at the corners like they were supposed to.   I had to get a bit creative to make everything work.

Its hard to tell from the pictures, but the first border is a very pretty purple print.  That,  and the Greek Key blocks are my additions.  I think they are a good fit for Rose's center!

There are some imperfections here.  There were some things that I went back and fixed. But, there comes a point when finished is better than perfect.   I wanted to get this in the mail so that Rose can enjoy it, and add her next border.

She has received it, and tells me she is happy with it.  I hope she is.  I can't wait to see her next step.  I am also eagerly awaiting the arrival of my block back from Rose.  But, as I told her, the anticipation is half the fun, and I will be patient for as long as it takes.

I'd love to hear about YOUR quilty friendships!  What is the best quilt related gift you've given or received?

I'm linking up this week with Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story,  Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts, and Can I Get A Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  If you visit the parties, remember to stay a while and share some comment love!

New Blog Look! (A W.I.P)

If  you've visited my blog before, you might notice that things have changed a bit!  I'm very excited to show off what I've learned so far as part of the "2016 Advice and Tech Help for New Quilt Bloggers" Blog Hop.

Click the button in my sidebar to learn more about it!
Hey!  I have a button in my sidebar!  WHEEEEE!

When I first set up my blog, I will admit, I just grabbed a Blogger template that didn't look too intimidating, and played around until I figured out the very basics.  I didn't really understand how it all worked, and to be honest, I didn't care too much about how my blog looked.  My purpose for blogging is 1. To write about what I make, simply because I enjoy it and 2. To connect with other bloggers.  I don't intend to win sponsors, host ads or make money from it.  So, as long as it functioned, I was fine.

But, sometime in the last year, I started to read a lot about the experiences other bloggers had as part of the 2015 New Bloggers Hop.  Not only had they improved the look and feel of their blogs, they also made new connections and on line friends in the process.  Now, that's hard to resist.

So, I signed up and was accepted! We haven't even made it to the "hop" part yet, and I've learned so much already! This week, we worked in small groups to critique each other's blogs.  Just the process of looking at other blogs with a critical eye really got me thinking.  For the first time, I paid attention to the content of a blogs side bar and how all the elements worked together - or didn't.  I started to think about how the blogger's personality and style came across through the formatting choices they made.  And, I realized that the appearance of my blog really didn't say much about me at all.

So, I started to do a little research to find out how other people made such great looking blogs.  I read quite a few articles and played around with some sites like PicMonkey and Canva.  All of this was very new to me, and I had quite a few moments of frustration when I couldn't figure things out.  But I walked away and came back, stuck with it, and in the end, I've made some great changes!

I have a new header that I really like, and which, I think, gives a good sense of my style.  I have tabs for pages which I will be developing.  I have a new "about me" blurb that sums up who I am and why I sew, and I have a button in my side bar!  That's not bad for a day's work!  

There are things I still want to add.  I need to find a way for other bloggers to  follow me.  I'm thinking possibly Feedly, since I recently discovered that as part of the hop.  I want to establish an Instagram account with the same name as my blog and link it to my site.  And, of course, finish the content for my pages.

And, I'd like to invite YOU, since you happened to stop by, to comment on the current look, and let me know what essentials I am still missing.  Your input is VERY much appreciated.

I'm linking up to Can I Get A Whoop Whoop at Confessions of A Fabric Addict