Saturday, July 2, 2016

One Year Blogging Anniversary!

Oh, my goodness!  I started blogging a year ago tomorrow.  Little did I know what was in store for me.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE blogging.  Who knew it would affect me so much creatively?!  I have been a show quilter for about 10 years.  I spend oodles of hours on my show quilts and it's a blast, I love it.  BUT, with my blog projects I am able to test out and try new things I've never done before.  I can make quilts that are small and I don't have to quilt them to death if I don't want to (admittedly, sometimes I want to).

Here are all the quilts I've done in my first year of blogging.


Blog Quilt #1 is what I called this quilt for the longest time.  I've now named it Spring Gems.  It's almost done being quilting and I will be sharing how I did that later this summer!


Circular Possibilities was the second quilt I made for my blog.  i'd never done a circular quilt before, but this quilt just seemed to scream for it.  I also realized I never posted a finished picture of this quilt, so here it is!  I had a lot of fun playing with Patsy Thompson's Hyperquilting on this quilt.


Butteryfly was named by my son since we were reading Roald Dahl's BFG at the time.  I tried out Karlee Porter's Grafitti quilting on this piece.  I discovered that making it larger scale instead of my usual tiny scale was much more effective.


An Unexpected Table Runner started out with some blocks I had traced on fusible and then later decided not to use, but I didn't want to waste the fusible, so I made this cute little runner.  It's one of the first times I put straight lines in to separate areas of quilting (the triangles of feathers).


Snowflake Table Runner was a lot of fun.  I learned that when pulling fusible off a large piece of fabric, pull a little at a time as you're sticking it down.  Otherwise the piece can get misshapen.  In this runner I also realized the effectiveness of outlining my quilting.  It really helps draw the eye.  I also did some straight line quilting which didn't turn out that well.  I learned to use a walking foot after this!


I call this quilt Fusible Test because that's why I did it.  I used 6 different brands of fusible, one for each flower.  I talk about how that turned out here.  Steam-a-Seam is still my favorite because I can position the pieces any way I like.


Thread Weights.  Yup.  This one still isn't finished being quilted.  I guess it's my project to finish in July!  I used all different thread weights on the blanket stitching of this quilt.  


Prague Posy was inspired by a iron railing I saw on a trip to Prague with my mother and Grandmother.  I decided to try quilting it in a more modern style using designs from Christina Cameli's latest book.  It was fun!  I am learning to love modern quilting.


Mini Dresden Plate was my first project for Island Batik Ambassadors.  I'd never made a Dresden Plate before, but I'd always wanted to.  I'm sure I will make more someday.


All Fired Up was part of a miniature quilt challenge for Island Batiks in March.  I had a blast using their Fire Island line and playing with the quilting.  This quilt took an Honorable Mention at Home Machine Quilter's Showcase and a second place ribbon at the Minnesota Quilter's Show.  


Rain Ripples was my April Showers challenge for Island Batiks.  It too is very modern and I had a great time using Superior Thread's wonderful Fantastico variegated threads to quilt the ripples.  It was also the first time I've ever inserted fabric in the binding.


Playful Pinwheels was my May Playful Paper Piecing challenge for Island Batiks.  I had a lot of fun designing this spinning star and quilting it in a new filler I call Double Bubbles.

And we can't forget the FLOWER IN A POT QUILT ALONG:










For my first Quilt Along I did the Flower in a Pot Quilt Along.  It has been so much fun to see what people have been doing with my patterns!  Please share what you've created in my Machine Applique Adventures Facebook Group.  You can find all the patterns at the top of my blog under the Flower in a Pot Quilt Along.



Modern Checks (another quilt without binding...sigh) was my June project for Island Batiks.  I am really having a lot of fun with modern quilting.  It's very freeing.  I see more of it in my future.



Kaboom! is my newest show quilt, finished this year, that I've been working on for about four years.  I love this quilt and she's done well in two shows so far.  A third and a second place.  

In going through all my projects for this post I realize that I've done a lot more that I have yet to show you!  Good things are coming including a machine quilting quilt along.  The top is done, but I need to get it pinned.  However, the table I need to pin it on is hidden behind all my classroom teaching boxes I had to bring home for the summer since I am switching schools in the fall.  I will have to move them all to get it out or go to my local quilt shop and pin in on their table.  Look for the new quilt along later this month!

There have also been some other highlights:
1.  I became an Island Batik Ambassador and have had a blast making projects with their gorgeous batiks!



2.  My dream has come true and my book comes out August 30th!


3.  I've made many friends in the blogging and quilting universe through my blog.  YAY!

4.  I'm part of the New Quilt Bloggers blog hop and my post about that will be up July 11th!


5.  I'm also part of a Christmas in July Blog Hop.  


It's been a fantastic year!  And the next one will be AMAZING too.  I hope you're having a great summer too and that you get to quilt today!
Suzy

12 comments:

  1. Happy one year! What a wonderful year it was.....sure that you will have many more.

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  2. Congratulations on your first anniversary. It was a big year and I hope you continue to have a lot of fun and growth!

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  3. Happy blogaversary! You certainly accomplished a lot of quilting during that year. Very hard to pick a favorite as they are all beautiful, but Modern Checks really, really caught my eye.

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    1. I'm really starting to get addicted to modern quilting. There is definitely more of that to come.

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  4. Happy blogaversary! You certainly accomplished a lot of quilting during that year. Very hard to pick a favorite as they are all beautiful, but Modern Checks really, really caught my eye.

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  5. What an awesome year! You really got a lot done. Congrats!

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  6. Happy Blogaversary!! It looks like it has been a wonderful year of finishes and accomplishments. Here's to an even better second year!

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  7. happy bloggerversary, your quilting is stunning, I had to repin the butterfly one for inspiration!

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  8. WOWWWWW Suzy what a trip, two jumped out at me which I ahve seen before you must have shown them on Esther's WOW the Raindrops I keep seeing these in my dreams LOL and Modern checks love love this one too. All of them are stunners and I will come back when I have some free time and enjoy them. Cheers Glenda

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  9. Happy one year.....got me thinking of home when you talked about the north suor of lake superior...Yooper girl here....Mom will be coming to maine in 2 weeks for my sons wedding..i will enjoy showing her my sewing goodies...lol...I am looking forward to christmas in july hop..love christmas...ty for sharing your blog with us...anna from Maine.....happyness04431@yahoo.com

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