2018 New Quilt Bloggers
Welcome to the 2018 New Quilt Bloggers Hop.
Can you believe it has been a year since my 2017 New Quilt Bloggers Hop post, I can’t. This is going to be a great hop. Four weeks of Quilt Bloggers, some you may already follow and enjoy. Others may be new to you.
Our 2018 hosts are Tish @TishnWonderland , Beth @CookingUpQuilts Sandra @mmmquilts and my hive Mom Jen @DizzyQuilter. These ladies have been providing guidance, support, fun and a few laughs along the way. One of the bonuses of checking each of them out this week giveaways. We all love a good giveaway!
First up, let me introduce (or reintroduce) myself. My name is Jan and I am living the retired life in West Michigan. My first blog was when we built our house to keep friends and family near and far up to date, as well as a record for me for future needs of what was where under those walls. If you are just dying to see our house build it is HERE.
My Quilting Journey
Started quilting in mid 2015 and turned to the internet for lessons, ideas and everything in between for quilting. I started out quick making several basic/easy quilts in that first year. Of course, the internet had overwhelmed me with quilty goodness. My pinterest and instagram likes are way too many to ever do myself, so at times I just go back and look at them.
Once I started quilting I wanted to blog to keep track of what I was doing, plans and progress, but I knew I needed to have a name. My constant companion who was always there for me, whether it was sewing, building, walking, anything she was there. Her name became our name, Cocoa Quilts. We lost her after 14 years January, 2017, but here she is:
A few of my favorites you can check out:
This quilt I made with no pattern and a layer cake of Zen Chic Flow. You can see the details on this quilt HERE.
You can read about this quilt here. I used a Moda pattern and Me & My Sisters collection.
This is my first Christmas quilt. I think it turned out quite nice and was done many months before Christmas. Yeah for me, you can check it out here.
My Blogging Journey
Be sure to visit my hive mates and the other hive members. They are introducing themselves and have been working on updating theirs sites in our process. Found this is how quilters do it. Help each other, have fun and enjoy the process, so hop over to each and check them out.
Gail @QuiltingGail
Rachel @RachelRossi
Tracie H. @RiceFordStreams
Wendy T. @PiecefulThoughts
Michelle @CreativeBlonde
Terry @TlcQuilts
April @JandaBendQuilts
My Plans
During the 2017 New Quilt Blogger Hop I listed the below points of things I wanted to do over the next year. Let’s take a look and see how I did.
- Improve my photos
- Okay, maybe I improved on some photos. I still need to work on this item in 2018.
- Learn and Practice FMQ
- Failed here, enjoyed the edge to edge quilting too much. So this will stay on my list for this year.
- Do more than edge to edge quilting
- Success, I quilted all my own quilts using edge to edge, but I stepped out of the straight stitch game and added in a wavy stitch
- Continue making charity quilts (you can read my odd story of how I started doing charity quilts)
- Success, I enjoy making quilts for charity. Sometimes I have quilts I’ve made and stored that I send along when a charity request comes to me.
Hope you’ll follow along on my 2018 journey.
- Adding to my stash, which is very small.
- Build up my scraps so I can make some scrappy quilts.
- Continue in a Quilt Bee, doing charity quilts and swaps.
Questions – I have a few questions for you.
- What one piece of advice can you give to me as a new quilter?
- How do you store your fabric longterm, say you are moving and won’t be unpacking fabric for months?
Please follow along on your favorite platform Bloglovin, Pinterest, Instagram and see what is happening this year.
Don’t forget to visit Tish, Beth, and Jen for those giveaways.
Advice to you as a new quilter? I look to you for inspiration, actually! Just keep making those fantastic quilts and trying new things. Having a quilt community to engage with and ask questions has been really helpful for me.
One piece of advise for a new quilter … forget the fear … quilting doesn’t have to be perfect – enjoy the process and Happy Quilting!
Advice for a new quilter? Youtube is your friend! I am fairly new myself but I have found that it works best if I find two or three different tutorials addressing the same subject because I have sometimes learned something new from each version of the tutorial that I watched. Have fun in the 2018 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop!
My advice is to sew along with a friend. The time aewinfvand talking is therapeutic, and if either of you get stuck, you can help each other out:$❤️❤️
Hi, what a bright friendly blog space. I have a tip for you (I wish I could take my own advice). Embrace solids! They really catch my eye when I see them in other folks’ quilts.
Your photos look great to me. My advice to a new quilter is to learn all of the rules, and why they are the rules, then break them and see where you go. Quilting is an evolving art form – have fun!
I store fabric in plastic tote bins, sometimes for many years as we relocate around the country. I have yet to have a problem with odor or fabric deterioration. I do keep the bins in the house, not in an attic or basement.
Jan, such a nice re-intro post! I didn’t remember you living on a lake, I’m jealous! Your quilts are beautiful with equally nice photography! It doesn’t look like you need any advice!
I always enjoy seeing your projects Jan; your color choices are so inspiring to me. Improving photos is on my need to do list. The biggest problem I have with that is just finding time to do one. more. thing. Sometimes all a quilt needs is straight line quilting. It gives such a modern look to quilts. You’ll jump into the FMQ pool when you’re ready. It really is a lot of fun!
Hi Jan! Great post! Hmmm…advice to a new quilter.
My mission this year has been to chip away at my UFO pile, so I’d say finish one project before you start the next! I know it’s difficult (clearly, I haven’t actually learned this lesson yet), but I think it’s a much more fulfilling way to approach quilt projects.
As far as storing fabric, I like to cut a cardboard bolt in half (they sell boards that are this size, but I’ll take free!) and then fold my fabric around that to store it. I’ve got a post on my blog about it, I’ll use it as my website link below for you so you can see what I mean 🙂
Hi Jan,
Thanks for sharing! I love your quilts; so much color and fun.
My advice is to have fun with your quilting and don’t be afraid to try something new as you learn. Maybe a combination of colors that you wouldn’t usually try, or a new technique that you see. The more experiments that you do, the more confident you’ll be!
I wish that I had more space to store my fabric! It is currently folded and on shelves in my linen closet. But that gives me opportunities to take it out, touch it, refold it, and put it back again, so the fabric-a-holic in my says that it is OK.
Happy quilting,
Sharon
My advice don’t be afraid to try new things!
Advice for a new quilter: Once you have mastered the 1/4″ seam, relax, let your imagine flow and be creative…….there are no quilt police.
Hi Jan – it was great reading your post and getting to know you! Your quilts are beautiful!
I too am a new quilter and share the same goals you mentioned – the only advice I can offer is finished is better than perfect! My cutting and piecing have improved tremendously the more projects I work on. I still dislike the “quilting” step so I force myself to finish so I can reward myself with a new project 🙂
Hi, really lovely to read your post, we are joint posties today 😉 your dog is gorgeous, sorry for your loss, but I love how she lives on through every quilt you make 💕
Hi Jan, like you I started blogging to keep myself motivated and to have a place to show it to a few family members. Your quilts are beautiful, and I love how your dog will live on through your blog’s name! The one piece of advice I can give for FMQ is that I spent a lot of time doodling on paper to get some the shapes down. Once I can draw it, I can quilt it too!
Jan, you Cocoa was a beauty! Love that you just jumped right in regarding quilting. What I love about quilting is that there are no mistakes, just circumstances waiting to be circumvented/redirected. That is my story and I am sticking to it…:-)
Found your blog on this wonderful 2018 Blog Hop.
Hi Jan,
Thanks for the link to your new house build! I am going to go and read those posts – I love the whole process of building and find it fascinating. I know – I’m weird. I had to laugh when you said you have now grown to include wavy lines in your edge-to-edge quilting. Me too! I have been fooling around with rulers also, and still want to build my confidence in FMQ. Time and practice – that’s what we need!
~smile~ Roseanne
Snap! On the Pinterest just going back and looking LOL because there are so many. Cocoa is a beauty. Dogs just add a level of incredible richness to your life, don’t they? We still have our sweet goofy Rocco, but lost our beloved Naala in Dec 2017, quite suddenly, only 10 3/4 years. Love the quilts you’ve shown, so bright and cheery. Love where you live (not too far from me I think!) Checked out your house build link, wow, gorgeous!
Hi Jan,
I’m pleased to meet you. I think your quilts are wonderful. My advice to new quilts comes from a new one myself. Don’t give up. Keep it up. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Most will appreciate your hard work anyway.
I’m just getting back to quilting after a long break. I’ll be watching this blog hop for ideas for myself. You’re off to a great start.
I have my “keeping” fabric in 24x16x8.75″ rubbermaid containers. These are not see-though, are not too heavy to lift when full and stack well. No advice, other than to have fun, but you already realize that! Thanks for sharing.
I’ve visited your blog before, and it’s nice to see you on this tour. I have a special place in my heart for “Me and My Sister” fabrics, so I like your 2 quilts posted on this page.
Guess I would say, Just enjoy the process–something new learned with every quilt you make! For long term storage I would use plastic totes.
bjkaup(at)(abbnebraska)(dot)(com)a
My advice is to go ahead and just quilt “edge to edge”. I keep saying that I want to learn FMQ, but I just don’t have the time. I’m kind of happy just to complete my own quilt by using my walking foot. Non-quilters don’t know any different anyway. Your quilts are very cute!
Don’t be afraid to try new things. I am 75 and am still learning. Our quilt guild is giving a free workshop on FMQ in June, and I signed up. Take advantage of classes either at a local quilt shop or on line from Craftsy, etc. Check out what others are doing for inspiration. I have my stash in an antique china cabinet, book shelve unit, bins, and plastic containers. My suggestion is label, label, label.
As a new quilter, take time to enjoy the process. If one way of doing a technique doesn’t work, try another. With all the resources available on the Internet, there will be something that will resonate. My fabric stash is way too large and I bought racks at Costco to set it on. But I cover the fabric with sheets to minimize dust and fading. It would be both a nerve wracking and cleansing experience for me to pack and move….I’ve been in this location for 25+ years. Good luck.
Long term fabric storage I put in totes all though I’ve read somewhere that fabrics should be allowed to “breath”.
love your colors in your quilt’s
I’m not sure there is any advice I can give – you’re doing a great job. Just enjoy it
Just have fun – it is supposed to be fun – so just do what you like, make what you want and enjoy it!
Great post, Jan! New qulter advice? I really don’t think you need any advice, but I wish someone had told when I was a new quilter that perfection is overrated.
Cocoa was a beauty. For a 3-year old quilter, you are amazing! Advice? Just have fun. Do what you love.
New quilter advise. There is not such a thing as too much fabric and have fun!
When you get frustrated, or things aren’t going well, STOP…BREATHE…take a deep breath ..repeat…until you are ready to try again. Our subconscious gets taken over by creatvity solving and we simply forget to breathe!!! Enjoyed reading your post today, thanks for sharing.
Advice to a new FMQ quilter? Practice, Practice Practice! Set aside 10′ a day for machine quilting and you will be surprised at the end of a week, let alone a month how much you’ve improved. Thanks for sharing your quilt journey!
My advice: Go for it! You won’t learn if you don’t try.
Awesome quilts. So pretty. Thank you for sharing. Advice for new quilter – when you think it’s too difficult, you’ll look back and think it wasn’t so bad! Have a great day! angielovesgary2 atgmail dotcom
Advice: if something seems intimidating or even just new, try it as a mini. Less time, less fabric, and less hassle if you end up hating the technique! Nice to see some of your completed quilts!
Advice: don’t let the UFO stash get out of hand. You have a great blog and great quilts. Enjoy the hopping this year…miss the gang…but we do stay in touch, don’t we.
Hi Jan
Great blog post – and the advice I would give to someone who wants to try free motion quilting but is afraid to – make a few placemats or zipper bags. Even better if you use busy fabric! Then practise the FMQ on those sandwiches, turn them into something useful and no one will ever see the actual quilting. That’s what I did before I FMQ’d my first. I had spent so much time cutting and piecing it was scared I would ruin it (and scared I would never be able to make another!). Sew, I made several placemats, zipper bags, and even a few Christmas stockings…and voila, I felt comfortable enough to do a simple all over flower meander.
Cheers
Terry
Glad to meet you and I am looking forward to seeing what you are working on.
Best advice I can offer is don’t forget to have fun. This is a great hobby not torture. Store fabric in the dark, light will destroy it over time. Everyone has their own method. I fold it in squares.
Advice to a new quilter: Don’t buy a cheap new sewing machine in the supermarket. You’ll hate sewing after the first evening. Try to find a used, good sewing machine. It can also be cheap, but that’s ok. Store your fabric so that you can see it. Plastic boxes are great.
Best tip? Perfect just one step in the quilting process at a time. Work on cutting accurately, then on binding, then something else. Until you have practice at each step, it’s easy to become overwhelmed at trying to perfect ALL the steps in the process at the same time – and there are a lot! Enjoy the journey.
Thanks for joining the blog hop and sharing your story. I love your Christmas quilt! I have yet to make a Christmas quilt but hope to someday soon. My advice to a new quilter is not to be afraid to try. I always have a moment of fear when the quilt is pieced and before I start the quilting that whatever design I choose will mess up the quilt, but that has not happened yet. I love FMQ and think it adds a lot to the design of the quilt.
Jan, the best advice I have for any quilter (new or not) is to keep on connecting to other quilters! Go to workshops, take classes, join a guild, volunteer at a show. Even if you take a class about something you already know how to do, you’re bound to pick up some great tips that you otherwise might have missed. YouTube tutorials are great, but you miss out on the kinds of spontaneous interactions that lead to unexpected learning moments.
As far as long-term fabric storage…umm, I have plenty of space. But I can’t guarantee that your fabric will be intact when you want it back. If that’s not an attractive option to you, plastic totes should be fine–just make sure they have enough of a seal to keep bugs out.
Enjoyed your Blog! Tips for a new quilter is to practice, practice, practice which is something I need to do as I’m trying to learn fmq. I store my fabrics folded on shelves in cupboards. I need to find a way to store scraps as they are just in a basket and I need to do something with them.
Hi Jan: I also need to work on photos and fmq. There are only so many hours in the day. If we keep working at it one day we will get there.
Advice to a new quilter – don’t let your stash get too big. It can get out of control fast! (Speaking from experience.)
My advice to new quilters: have fun and be proud of your work. Even when you are less than happy with what you have created, good or bad, be proud of it. Every stitch is a stitch forward and sometimes it’s hard to remember that. It can easily cause us to become frustrated and rob us of our joy. All of my fabric is stored in totes by color, which actually hasn’t been helpful because I hate dragging those totes out. It’s been great to read more about you. I love the photos of your quilts. I’m a sucker for a pretty quilt in the wild 🙂 I love your blog name. Cocoa was beautiful! There is nothing quite like the love of a dog.
Love your quilts and your work. I’m a new blogger and learning lots from all of you. My advice is to enjoy your art to the fullest! I try to follow “quilting rules” but sometimes I just have to veer on the road less traveled and see where I wind up!
I am a new quilter too, started in 2016! FMQ is not on my agenda anytime soon – good luck, love your quilts & your sweet blog name! Thank you for sharing, Susan
Hi there, really enjoyed seeing your quilts. I have been quilting for years now and still never mastered fmq! I am the queen of straight line edge to edge quilting. Enjoy the rest of the hop!
Your quilts and your blog are lovely. To get my head around FMQ I just had to do it. I picked a large quilt for someone who doesn’t know quilting and did it FMQ. By the time I had done three of these the stress was gone and it felt natural. Not that it’s perfect but it is fun. Storing fabric? Make sure your fabric is dry and stays dry, and isn’t affected by light. It would be disappointing to come back to it to find fade marks.
Advice to a new quilter? Finish what you start so you won’t end up like me with way too many UFO’s lol!
Hello from elsie michigan.Advice scrap is fun but to much fabric is over whelming. To much stash gets old and then it’s put to the back of the room as your bringing new fabric in.So only store up colors that will blend with every thing….I have to much stash but I am making my self use what I have before buying new…And it’s hard…. happyness04431@yahoo.com
I, too, have too much fabric. And, I am getting so old, I may never sew it all. I am trying so hard not to shop too much so that I can sew up all my beautiful fabric before I quit or die. ha ha ha. Just keep cutting. One of my favorite quilts is one I totally improvised. Sew what you love. It doesn’t matter if you love color blending that others don’t like. If you love it, then those colors work! My sister used to tell me green and blue didn’t go together when we were kids, but look at the grass against the sky. She was wrong! I love her still. Have fun with whatever moves your heart in quilting. You own your heart. Always remember Thoreau and march to your own drum.
I really like your color choices. Very pretty.
I’m a new quilter myself, so I can’t give much advise directly related to quilting. I’m not new at other crafts and I’ve found the best advice is to not be afraid to try something new, and if it looks wonky, that’s okay. Wonkiness adds to the charm.
Storing fabrics for long term use varies depending on where you live, Right now I live in a humid climate, so protecting from moisture is the main concern. Plastic Bins are probably the best way to store fabric.
Lovely to meet you, Jan. You’re making some wonderful quilts, and hardly need advice at all. The internet is a great source of ideas, but the most fun I’ve had is sewing with friends/guild members. If there’s a group near you, join it. Quilters are the most upbeat folks ever, and you’re guaranteed to enjoy spending time with them. Keep up the good work.
Hi Jan, lovely to meet you. Advice to you as a new quilter, have fun and follow your heart when making quilts. I hear you about FMQ. At one point I avoided it, but with practice and learning by buying books and watching quilters such as Angela Walters and Christa Watson I am feeling more in control. So if I can do it, you can too.
Hello Jan! So nice that you sort of have a memorial to your dog in this blog. I love your quilting style! I’ve got to say that the best builder of piecing confidence was being part of bees, although I certainly wasn’t confident to start with but of course I already know you’ve taken this step 😁
Nice to meet you! My advice is to take it one block at a time. So often I get bogged down thinking about finishing an entire quilt that I forget it’s just one block at a time. Oh, and learn the technique of chain piecing. It’ll help speed things up.
Your quilts are lovely; so colorful and bright. My advice is measure twice, cut once. I still forget this hint!
Hi, Jan! I’m glad to meet you through the NQBBH! I love the story of your dog Cocoa as your constant companion. Our family has a golden doodle who keeps me company all day. You’ve accomplished a lot as a new quilter! I used to store my fabric in two Rubbermaid tubs in the basement. I didn’t have a lot of time to sew and little space for it. I learned that I’m not a stash quilter; I prefer to shop fo a particular quilt. Enjoy the rest of the hop!
Jan – I somehow forgot that you are a new quilter too!! The quilts you make are beautiful!
As for fabric storage, I used clear plastic totes that snap shut. The larger ones I use are gasketed so I know moisture can’t get in either. I like the clear plastic so I see what is in which tote. I definitely have a ton of fabric now!
It’s been really fun learning about you and being in BeeHives with you 🙂
Advice from a fellow bee hive member. Fire the quilt police! Enjoy the process. Never be afraid to not finish a project ~ sometimes your orphan blocks are just what another quilter needs 😊 join a guild and have lots of show and tell to share