Plum and June New Quilt Blogger Blog Hop!

Hi all!  Thanks for visiting my stop on the Plum and June New Quilt Blogger Blog Hop.  There's a really great group (and lots of us) this year, so I hope you get to visit all our new blogs!

I'm Mary and I come from a long line of creative people.  My great-grandmother was a knitter.  My grandmother knits and quilts.  My mom seems to do a little of everything, and was the one to teach me that if I wanted something I should try to make it first.

I wrote about my Economy Block Quilt here.

From a young age, I remember making crocheted dresses for my Barbies or wrapping fabric scraps around them and stitching them in place.  We'd make dolls and pillows, and every time we'd change the color of my bedroom walls, a new bedspread would be produced.  (One was made from two sheets splatter painted with acrylic paint, then tied together.)

Me at eight (?) making myself a doll with two sets of clothes.

In college, I was itching to make something, and decided to start quilting.  My grandmother gave me her sewing machine (with the desk it was built into!) and my mother and I bought a quilting magazine and a pile of batiks.  It's an amazing quilt, but I laugh about it because I hand-quilted it as I didn't realize free motion quilting was a thing I could do.

Here's the post about this guild quilt I did the final quilting on.

After a few hand-quilted quilts, I realized there had to be a better way and Googled "Quilting" (or something like it) and found the world of modern quilt blogging.  I learned so much from people like Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts and Elizabeth at Oh Fransson!, like how to actually free motion quilt, but also that there were really no rules and I didn't have to buy a pattern magazine in order to make a quilt.  And now I hope to add my voice to the quilting blogosphere.

Read about my kitties here.

My quilting style is always changing, but I love tend to love bright colors.  I use a lot of scraps, and will happily take scraps of any fabric from anyone!  And I love to quilt a quilt to death.


Now Beth has asked all of us to give you all some of our own wisdom.  Here it goes.

Blogging Tip:
I am by no means an expert, but we're all new here.  I'll give you the best tip I've come up with so far: RELAX!!  When I started blogging, I thought I had to post everyday, hit up every linky party, have the best photography, and never show any flawed work.  And for a while it all stopped being fun.  Now I post when I want, enjoy what I make, and I'm trying to be more honest about the whole process.

Quilting Tip:
There are so many great tricks and tutorials out there, but at the end of the day you're just cutting up fabric and sewing it back together.  So my best tip is to have a sharp blade, a sharp needle, and to just go for it.

There's nothing you can't learn from a YouTube video, and it's only fabric anyway.

Dream Vacation Spot:  The IceHotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden.

Seriously, how amazing is this place?

Favorite Book:  The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Favorite Movie: Addicted to Love (with Matthew Broderick creates a giant camera obscura, and Meg Ryan rocks the best of 90s fashion.

Favorite TV Show: Sherlock and Dr. Who (just turn on BBC America and point me at it)

Fun Fact About Me? Toughy, there's a lot of weird facts about me!  At the age of five I could recite the alphabet backwards faster than forwards, and still can (though I haven't done it in a while, so don't quiz me!)  Sadly, this wasn't an early sign that I was some sort of child prodigy.  

Thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to check out the rest of the group!

Michelle @ Michelle Bartholomew

Katie @ Good Golly Ginger

Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs

Karin @ Leigh Laurel Studios

Kim @ Ties That Bind Quilting

Yvonne @ Quilting Jet Girl

Sarah @ Smiles Too Loudly

Vera @ Negligent Style

Jana @ Jane Machado