New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop
Welcome to Snowy Days Quilting! I am so excited to be participating in week one of the New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop. My name is Bobbi Bridgeman, and I have been quilting for about five years. I started blogging here two years ago when I decided to make a business longarm quilting.
Why Snowy Days Quilting? For one, I'm kind of enamored with snow. I love everything about it, from sitting by the fire with a book while it falls, to cruising through the forest on cross country skis. Nothing beats seeing the mountains freshly capped with a layer of white. And I am fascinated by the uniqueness of the individual snowflakes - each one so beautiful, and so different from the thousands of others surrounding it - just like quilters and their wonderful, one-of-a-kind quilts.
Snowy Days Quilting is also fitting since I live in Montana, where we have more days with snow than without. Summers are short here, so we make the most of them. Sewing machines sit idle while quilters garden, hike, camp, and fish. When winter returns, we make up for lost time, sewing like mad while the snow drifts outside.
I have wanted to quilt ever since I was a little girl. Once I finally tried my hand at it, I quickly fell in love. Now I just can't get enough! I would like to share a bit of my journey with you by showing my favorite quilts from each of the last few years.
One of my earlier quilts that is still one of my favorites is Diamond Sky. I designed it myself and gave it to my sister for Christmas of 2014. I love the bold colors and off-center design. One of my goals for this year is to write a pattern for this quilt.
My 2015 favorite is my Gemstones baby quilt. I designed this for a wonderful lady who has been my friend since we were 13 years old. I had a lot of fun with this one because her favorite colors are also my favorite colors. I still haven't gotten to meet her baby girl, but it makes me happy to know she is wrapped in the love of a quilt.
This next quilt was a little out of the box for me. I love modern quilts, but I don't often find myself making anything quite as modern as this. It was a uniquely challenging experience, and I love the result. I had some scraps that I pieced improvisationally, then I figured out how to put the blocks together. The final design is completely worth the number of Y-seams I had to sew to pull it off. I finished this one last summer.
Quilting Tip
My favorite tip for quilting is to spin your seams. I personally spin my seams whenever possible. It allows pieces and blocks to nest nicely together, and it keeps the top flat.
Here is an example of one of my current projects. Where the hourglasses meet, 8 different fabrics come to a point. Since I spun the seams, there isn't any bulk at those points. They won't cause me any trouble when I quilt them, and the finished piece will lay nice and flat.
What is your favorite quilting tip? I always love to learn new things.
The Blog Hop
This wouldn't be a blog hop without other blogs to visit. My hive for the hop is Blooming Quilters. I encourage you to check out the other ladies in my hive that are posting today:
- Jennifer of Inquiring Quilter
- Fi of Living Cloth
- Laura of Slice of Pi Quilts
- Amanda of Mommy's Projects
Of course, we can't forget our fearless hive leader, Yvonne of Quilting Jetgirl. You'll want to check out her post to see all of the great giveaways going on this week.
I hope you enjoyed this brief tour of my quilting. I have lots more planned for this week. I will be taking a look at some quilts that I enjoyed custom quilting, edge to edge designs that I love, a recent finish, and one of my favorite easy slow cooker recipes. I would be thrilled if you stuck around for the fun.
Did you share your favorite quilting tip in the comments? I would love to hear what it is! If you leave your email address when you comment, I will be sure to send you a note to thank you personally.