Monday, May 8, 2017

2017 New Bloggers Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to my blog!  I hope that you have been visiting all the blogs that are in this wonderful event.  This is my second year, and I am happy to be here meeting new friends and old friends, and learning from all the wonderful quilters in blog land. We are fortunate to have three wonderful hosts, each who are responsible for a group of us.  The leader of my group is Leeane at She Can Quilt.  The other hosts are Beth at Cooking up Quilts and Yvonne at QuiltingJetGirl.  Be sure to visit all of the hosts and visit all the new bloggers for a chance to win some great prizes!



Isn't this logo cute?  This is the group of bloggers I am in and it has been great to get to know everyone.  Please be sure to go visit them this week!





A little about me...married to my best friend, grandmother to 7 grandchildren, and momma to Mary and Matt, and wicked step momma to three daughters.  Quilting and art are my first loves, and then comes gardening and baking.  My grandsons live nearby, so they are happy to be the recipients of baked goods!  I have been quilting for over 30 years, and am an aspiring quilt designer.  It is something I have always wanted to do....so why not now?  Three of my quilt patterns will be at Spring Quilt Market with Island Batik....very excited!  

For many years I have been a traditional quilter, using reproduction fabrics which I still love.  Kim Diehl is my favorite fabric and pattern designer in this genre.  But lately, I have wanted to do something different, and have been drawn to the idea of changing up the tradition quilt blocks and settings a bit.  I don't consider myself a modern quilter...but I do love experimenting with the concept.  The newest lines of fabrics such as Cotton and Steele, Art Gallery Fabrics, etc are pulling at me and I have been working a bit with those.  Also...batiks!  Loving the quality of the fabrics and the colors to work with!  So needless to say, I was thrilled when Island Batik accepted me as one of their ambassadors and are taking some of my designs to market.  

First I am going to show you a few of my older quilts, then I will show you where I am now....I feel like I am constantly evolving and enjoying the journey.






Here are a few of my favorite recent quilts....







A bit different, right?  Don't get me wrong...I still love to play with my reproduction prints at times!

What else?  Oh!  I am part of our quilt guild's Quilts of Valor group, which I started a couple of years ago.  We really enjoy making the quilts and awarding them to local veterans.  We are part of the Greater Kansas City QOV.  

Also, I started a Project Linus group in our church. I must say, we are a small group, but prolific!  It was started with the thought of ministering to children facing illness.  But I have learned that it provides a ministry to the ladies that are sewing these quilts.  This week, one of our ladies died.  Iris fought an 8 year battle with cancer, yet continued to come to the sewing bees, to learn new skills, and provide blankets for the children.  Her family told me how much she enjoyed being able to do something like this.  I truly believe that when we give of ourselves, we receive so much more back.

Hopefully you will come back and visit my blog often.  I try to post once a week, but sometimes life gets in the way.  I am learning so much from other bloggers on this New Quilt Blogger adventure and trying to improve my blog as much as possible.  My patterns are available on Craftsy in digital form for now.  Marketing myself is the hardest part of all of this....any suggestions are very welcome! 

Thank you for stopping by....wishing you lots of time to follow your love of quilting or whatever inspires you to be creative!

grace and peace....Sharon

p.s.  Oh!  and this is Bella...my faithful companion, the yellow cat!


Yes...most of the time she is sleeping on the job! 






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