Around the World Blog Hop

Last week, Caroline of Trillium Design extended a very nice request that I participate in the "Around the World Blog Hop".  I have followed her blog for quite a while now.  I don't even remember how I found her first, but we both share a home state, both are into science and she even was kind enough to write up a paper pieced pattern I designed for an on-line contest.  In a few weeks, I'll get to meet her in person at the Sewtopia Retreat in Salt Lake City.  It'll be my first ever retreat of any kind, and I'm very excited!

The "Around the World Blog Hop" asks us to answer 4 questions and nominate 3 other bloggers to continue the hop.  I hope you enjoy the questions below:

1. What am I working on?

Besides trying to stock up my Etsy shop and "inventory" of things made from Pendleton Wool for the holiday season, I tend to focus my quilting time in the Fall getting tops that I've made ready to quilt and quilting them.  This "Sea Star" quilt is next!

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I really really really like science of any kind, and many of my quilts reflect this.  I also tend to use darker colors as the backgrounds of my quilts, and no matter how hard I try, "wonky" and "asymmetrical" seem to be modern quilt themes that I just haven't been able to embrace.

My recent addiction has been to paper piecing!  I love the variety of shapes you can create with it!

3. Why do I write/create what I do?

Why does anyone?  I think it's human nature.  When so much of the work I do as a mother and wife gets undone as fast as I do it; cooking, cleaning, laundry, giving rides, sewing is something tangible that I have to hold onto. It satisfies a creative need that I think everyone has.

4. How does my writing/creating process work?

I just write from the top of my head.  You can tell, and frankly, I have never considered myself a writer.  It's not my strength.  When I found quilt and sewing blogs, it instantly appealed to me as a way to share the visual images of what we all do, and to connect with other people who share my love of sewing.  I love looking at other quilts almost as much (sometimes more) than I do making them.  I'm afraid lately posting on Instagram has been satisfying that desire to connect as much as blogs do with even less of a time commitment, so I'm a bit guilty of neglecting my blog because of that.

When it comes to sewing, I use leftover school notebooks as idea files, and also have picture files on my computer and on Pinterest that I add ideas to.  As I mentioned, science is a big inspiration for me, but I also love on-line challenges.  Life is always an influence, as is the on line community.

I use graph paper as much or more than my EQ 7 computer program.  Luckily I love math and find the quilt math really fun :-).  Why let a computer do it for me?

OK  so how about you?  Part of the blog hop is to nominate 3 other bloggers.  If you feel like adding to it, please do.  I've met many people in real life after I've met them on-line.  3 of these people are:

Shanna of "Fiber of All Sorts".  She and I met after swapping fat quarters on-line, and after she saw that I also lived in Eastern Oregon.  She's helped me get my UFO's almost all finished with her "Lovely Year of Finishes", and is always up for a trip to a local fabric store, or a trip to the coffee shop!  She's just as nice as she is talented.

Marlene of "Kissed Quilts" and I met on a Fickr group, I believe.  She has a long arm business and just opened up a brick and mortar quilt store in Grand Coulee, WA.  She has quilted a few quilts for me, and used to be a regular lunch companion when she lived in near by College Place, WA.  She is a true wizard when it comes to EQ7, and has given me lots of advice and support about starting up my very small business.  She has been winning awards at quilt show with her amazing quilts!!

Finally, I got to meet Debbie of "A Quilter's Table" in real life when we took a Spring Break trip to Seattle, WA a few Springs ago.  She is very talented, and even more generous with her time and wonderful comments.  I've been following her blog for a while now, and she keeps rising over and over again to a new level of inspiration with each new quilt that she makes.

Part of what keeps me blogging is all of the wonderful people I've met through it and other social media.  We all know that people who sew and quilt are some of the kindest, more creative, down to Earth people that there are!!  If you've made it this far, thanks for reading!!