2015 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop - Week 2!

It's Week 2 of the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop!

My hive, the New Bees Hive, has a new lineup of posters today!

Cristy @ I Love You Sew
Patty @ Walnut Street Quilts
Sarah @ Sarah Goer Quilts
Eileen @ Eileen in Stitches

Don't forget to check out all the other blog hoppers this week! You can find their links here.

I have really enjoyed reading about these new bloggers and I think you will too. So far I've been able to find a small connection with everyone, be it a favorite book or a similar taste in aesthetic.

I want to give a shout out to the blog hop hosts: Yvonne at Quilting Jet Girl, Stephanie at Late Night Quilter, Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs, and Teri Ann at Childlike Fascination. These ladies are incredibly knowledgeable and helpful! Thank you!

Also, check out the hosts' blogs for a giveaway! Yes, I said giveaway. Run, don't walk!

2015 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop!

Hello and welcome to the first week of the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop!

If you’re new to my blog, let me introduce myself. My name is Sarah and I’m an easy-going, glass is half full, whatever floats your boat kind of person; and I find it incredibly difficult to write these types of “intro” posts. They always make me feel self-serving or like I’m at an addict meeting. To be fair though, I probably SHOULD be at a Quilt and Fabric Addicts Anonymous meeting. (Shouldn’t we all???) (I want ALL the fabric!) So here are the bare bones, nitty-gritty facts: I’m in my early thirties, I live with an amazing man (no kids…yet), and I’m a stay-at-homer currently from North Carolina, USA.

I think I learned to sew when I was 6, 7, or 8ish years old. I can distinctly remember my mom teaching me how to thread her old JC Penny sewing machine, which is odd because that’s the only time I ever remember her using it. So I learned that much at least from my mother. I made up the rest as I went along. As a kid I was constantly crafting: sewing doll clothes, weaving loop potholders on that plastic loom thingamajig, pretty-punch (does anyone even remember that?!), cross-stitching, crocheting, latch hook (anyone?), etc. You get the point.

The Old Workhorse

It wasn’t until my teenage years that attempted my first quilt. I do not come from a crafty family so this attempt was met with a few sideways glances but I went to the store, got some fabric, and began a love affair.

My First Quilt

Since then, I quilted on and off until about 2010 when I started getting really serious about it. I had two new nephews on the way and naturally they needed baby blankets. I really think that baby quilts need to come with a warning: “This is a gateway quilt into a life full of fabric and sewing addiction!” Ha! I didn’t document many of the things I made pre-blog but here is a small sampling of some pics I rustled up.

Pre-blog Work

Those were all things quilted for other people. Right now I’m really focused on quilting for myself and I think my more recent projects show my quilting style a little better.

Like this mini I recently made. LOVE IT! Blogged about here and here.

Simple Celestial Mini

Simple Celestial Mini

Here is my most recent top in all its bright and cheery glory. I can’t wait to start some FMQ on this one! Blogged here.

Reverse Irish Chain

My Xbox and Botox quilt is also waiting for some FMQ love. It’s on the never-ending to-do list. Blogged here and here.

Xbox and Botox

In the spirit of the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop I thought I share a few tips with you!

BLOGGING TIP

Have you ever wondered how to add those great html grab code boxes under one of your buttons? Oh, you have? Me too! Check out my blog button on the sidebar to see an example of a grab code box. I tried a few different ways and found an easy way to do it. If you’re familiar with adding a button to your side bar you should have no problem adding a grab code box. All we are going to do is add some <textarea> code. This will add the box and then whatever you want in the box is placed between the <textarea> elements. Trust me, you can do this.

Step 1: Add the html for your button like you normally would.

Step 2: Then add this. <textarea rows=”3” cols=”20”><YOUR BUTTON HTML CODE></textarea>

Step 3: IMPORTANT!!! You have to change the < and the > in YOUR BUTTON CODE to its alphanumeric equivalent or this won’t work. What that means is every < in YOUR BUTTON CODE ONLY needs to be changed to &lt; and every > to &gt; for example:

<textarea rows=”3” cols=”20”>&lt;YOUR BUTTON HTML CODE&gt;</textarea>

NOTE: most button links have four < or > to change.

Also, you can change the width of the grab code box by changing the cols=”XX” number. Have fun and play around!

I really hope that made sense, if not just send me a message and I’ll help you through it!

QUILTING TIP

This is a much easier tip, I promise. If you are like me and don’t have space for a permanent design wall, you can use a temporary one. Here is a picture of mine.

Reverse Irish Chain up on the design wall

I hang up some batting with pant hangers hung over the door frame. That’s, um, that’s the door to my bathroom… my only bathroom. So my design walls have to be really temporary; as in they can’t stay up for more than an afternoon! I need a way to keep individual block components together after I figure out where they go on the wall. My solution, and my quilting tip, is to (carefully and in a very organized fashion) transfer each block and it’s components to blank pages. Each block gets its own page and all the pages stay in a particular order. This method helped tremendously on my last quilt.

Each block with its own sheet

I have to admit that while I enjoy all the parts of the quilting process, except basting (who likes basting?! Seriously?) my favorite part of the process is the initial design phase. I’m a nerd and I love the math. There, I said it. If you ever catch me staring off into space, odds are I’m doing some calculations in my head. I always keep a notebook and graph paper handy so I can write down my designs as I’m inspired. Guilty confession: I have over 150 quilts/quilt ideas on my quilty bucket list. (I hope they have donuts at the Quilt and Fabric Addict meetings).

So I have two questions for you! What is your favorite part of the process and how many projects are on your bucket list?

A FEW RANDOM FAVORITES

Favorite Movie: Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (because I like History, lol)
Favorite TV Show: Jeopardy
Favorite Food: Birthday Cake
Favorite Animal: Elephant
Favorite Book: … IDK, I read them all! Currently re-reading the Stephanie Plum books.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! Please hop over to some of the other blogs in the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop. I’m in the New Bees Hive and here are the links to some of the New Bees who have posted today!

Ashley @ Crafty Ashley B
Gayle @ PedalSewLightly
Hayley @ MooBirdStitches

WIP Wednesday - Reverse Irish Chain

It’s been a busy week over here, what with the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop and all, but I did manage to find some time to work on my current WIP.

As you can see, I still have some ironing to do.

This fun little project is a pattern I call “Reverse Irish Chain” because, well, that’s what it is. The print fabric and the background fabric are inverted from a traditional Irish Chain. I started with this gorgeous fat quarter bundle of Utopia by Frances Newcombe. The colors are so rich and bright.

After I stared at the fabric for a while, and petted it for a little while more, I cut into it and put it up on my temporary design wall. I’m usually one for a “design bed” or a “design floor” but on special occasions I like to pull out the big guns and hang up some batting; cause I’m fancy like that.

It was pretty much standard Irish Chain patchwork from there; large squares and 9-patches, over and over.

I have a few more rows to add and I’m hoping I’ll have a finished top by Friday. I already have a few ideas for how I’m going to quilt this one.

That’s all for now!

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Linking up with Freshly Pieced’s WIP Wednesday

And…

Sew Fresh Quilt’s Let’s Bee Social

How to add Tabs to Your Menu Bar in Blogger

This was probably the most frustrating thing for me to figure out when I first started my blog. It's actually really easy. So without further ado –

STEP 1

In your Blogger Dashboard go to the Overview Screen and click on the “Pages” link on the left side of the screen.

STEP 2

Your Pages Screen should now be up. Click the “New Page” button. IMPORTANT: Don't click the little "Compose/pencil" button at the top of the screen; this will create a "Post" not a "Page."

STEP 3

The screen for creating a Page looks a lot like the screen for creating a Post. IMPORTANT: Give the Page the title that you want to see as a Tab in your menu bar. When you are finished writing up the body of the Page, hit “Publish.”

 STEP 4

You should now be back at the Pages Screen and your new Page should be listed. Now click the “Layout” link on the left side of the screen.

STEP 5

Now you should see the screen for your blog layout. Click the “Add a Gadget” in the horizontal space below the Header.

STEP 6

A Gadget menu will pop up. Scroll down until you see the option for “Pages” and then click on the plus sign.

STEP 7

A Configure Page List will pop up. You should see a list of the Page/s you created earlier. Check all that you want to have shown as Tabs in your menu bar. NOTE: I leave the title blank because I don’t think a menu bar really needs a title. Click “Save.”

STEP 8

After you click save you will see your Layout screen again. You will now see a horizontal “Pages” box where the “Add a Gadget” box used to be. IMPORTANT: At this point make sure that you click the “Save Arrangement” button! I have forgotten this step before and lost a lot of work, yikes!

STEP 9

View your blog and see your beautiful new Menu Bar!!!!!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! If you are still stuck or if you have any other tech questions, please let me know!

I’m a Small Blog!

Today is all about being part of the “Small Blog” Community. What I mean to say is that I signed up for the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers BlogHop! (It also means I spent all day stalking new-to-me blogs rather than getting anything done!)

Hooray! Holy cow…? I feel like I’m definitely going out on a limb here, a fairly sturdy one but a limb nonetheless. I remember seeing the blog hop hosted by Plum and June last year and thinking that I really needed to get in on that. I SO was not ready at the time and I’ve spent the better part of the last six months stalking blog land in hopes that there would be one this year. And there was! It starts today! I’m so excited! (Can you tell?! Lol.)

I’ve already posted a little intro/about me post on the group’s page but I thought I’d post something here too. My name is Sarah and I’m part of the thirty-something crowd. I think that’s a big part of why I consider myself a “modern" quilter. I definitely love clean, fresh designs, and lots of color. Right now I’m really focused on sewing up my older stash and trying to flesh out older quilting ideas. It’s hard because I constantly have new ideas and I want all the new fabric collections. Oh the trials of life, right? ;)

Anyway, I look forward to meeting lots of new bloggers and having some fun on this blog hop!

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Did you know that Lily’s Quilts hosts a new blog meet up/link party on the first of every month? I’ve been meaning to link up for the past few months but I’ve missed it every stinking time. Not this time. This time I’m on the ball!