Tuesday 2 August 2011

Small New Blogs Meet-up

Small New Blog Meet-UpThis is far from being a new blog since I have just written my 500th post.

But I do qualify for the "meet up" - I have less than twenty followers.

I would like to meet some new blogging friends so have decided to join the fun.

The creator of this meet-up, Lynne (what a great name! LOL), from Lily's Quilts, has asked that I start by introducing myself and my quilting.

Warning: it's a long introduction and current followers have probably heard it all before!

My name is Lynne. I have been married thirty four years this year. WM ("Wonderful Man") and I live in the metropolitan area of Sydney, NSW, Australia. We have one child, a daughter (DD), who was married in January 2009. She has two sons, one nearly eighteen months old, the other just five weeks old. In this blog I refer to them as Older Grandson (OG) and Younger Grandson (YG).

I have been knitting (on and off) since I was about five years old. I completed my first garment when I was sixteen - a sleeveless sweater with cables on the body and stripes around the lower band and arm holes. I became a serious, every day knitter, some time about 2006 and started this blog in relation to my hobby (hence the title).

My grandmother, who had her own business as an upholsterer/decorator, bought my first sewing machine when I was seventeen. She also taught me to sew because the high school I attended, despite being girls only, did not teach Home Economics! My first garment was a four-gore skirt in floral patterned voile which Nanna made me line for reasons of modesty! I loved that skirt and wore it for many years.

After I was married and working full time, I took "garment assembly" classes one evening a week for four years at the local technical college; so I have been sewing, on and off, for over thirty years.

In March 2010, when OG was just three weeks old, DD and I attended a craft fair. One of the sewing machine companies was running a hands-on workshop, making blocks that were to be turned into quilts for Haiti. DD and I both made one block each and, after a hiatus from sewing for many years, I remembered how much I enjoy the process.

So, DD and I went to our local Big Box Craft Store and bought fabric to make a quilt for OG to lie on the floor - it would keep him warm and protect our beige carpet from baby "spills". We didn't know what we were doing so we followed what we had done at the Craft Fair and chose seven coordinating fabrics. We didn't know how much to buy (I was overwhelmed by too much choice and was therefore not thinking clearly) - one fat quarter didn't seem like enough, so we bought four fat quarters of each!

We made one very wonky quilt. At that time, DD christened us the "Hacky Packy Quilters" (she loves alpacas).
finished size - 30" x 30"
As you can imagine, we had a lot of fabric left. Then we found the Modern Sampler quiltalong on Elizabeth Hartman's blog, Oh Fransson! We needed twelve fabrics so we supplemented the seven with another five. We made thirty of the thirty-six blocks, and ended up leaving five of those blocks out of the quilt because we just couldn't make them work.
finished quilt was 50" x 50"
We ended up using them in a laundry bag instead.

the fifth block is on the other side of the bag
We still have a small amount of those fabrics left but they will get used in scrappy quilts (eventually). This year in March we attended another Craft Fair and met a wonderful lady called Elizabeth, owner of Aussie Patches. Her warehouse,where she holds monthly "Sit and Sew" classes, is an hour and a half's drive from here. We attended three "Sit and Sew" sessions (April - June) but because DD's second baby was due in July we had to stop attending.

While there, I designed and began my Country Houses (applique) quilt. Now I am attending weekly classes in my local area and am finally at the stage of joining the quilted blocks together. I have a few quilts on my "to do" list when this one is finished, plus some other sewing projects.

one block of fifteen - unfinished size of each block 17" square

I look forward to meeting many new bloggers - please feel free to leave a comment; like most bloggers, I love receiving them.

And, if you haven't voted on my 500th post yet, would you please pop over there and vote - it's all for a good cause (or three). Voting will remain open until 8am (Sydney time) Saturday 6th August. Thanks heaps.

15 comments:

  1. Hi, What a great blog. I like how you have code words for your daughter and grandchildern. Great idea that Lynne had for us under 20 bloggers.

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  2. I really like that stripey quilt.

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  3. How fun that you and your daughter started quilting together! Very nice to meet you!

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  4. Wow! 500 posts! I have a long way to go.
    I just wanted to say hi and hope to keep in touch through blogging!

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  5. Hi, I've jogged over from lynne's blog to say hello. My mom and I learned to quilt together because of a new baby as well. I wonder what it is about quilts and quilting that makes it work this way....hmmm I'll have to think on that one.

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  6. Hi Lynne, Glad to meet you and I'm looking forward to reading about your creative adventures.

    http://licklepickle.blogspot.com

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  7. I found your blog through Lily's quilts and thought I'd pop over and say hi, your quilts are beautiful! I'm looking forward to the weekend when I can sit down and read through your blog properly.

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  8. Wonderful intro! And nice to meet another Lynne of course.

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  9. Great intro-and yes, we would be blog friends all over again!

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  10. I love OhFransson's site too! :) Nice blog - love the bright colours!

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  11. Love the story about your first quilts. You and DD are very courages to just dive in!

    Look forward to seeing more of your guilts.

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  12. Love your early quilts and the story that goes with them. You and DD are very courages to just jump in feet first.

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  13. Hey Lynne, thanks for leaving a comment! I was in a similar situation since my blog is almost 1 year old but i only had 13 followers. Now that has changed! Woohoo!
    I love your purple blue quilt!

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  14. Love the intro how you got started I will vote in the 500 post. I am from lily's blog.

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  15. I love your intro and story. I started out as a knitter too (not a very good one though) but have found myself crazy about sewing and lately quilting because of the beautiful fabrics available.

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Hi. Thanks for dropping in. I look forward to reading your comment.
I like to answer comments; if you are "no-reply blogger" I will try my best to get back to you on your blog! I'm not on FaceBook so I can't contact you there!