Around the World Blog Hop

Hi Ya'll!

Can you believe it?!  I am still here just plugging away;)  Two kiddos, one in school and baby girl at home presents very little free time to blog.  That's ok though, with time, right?  When Pam over at Mama Sparks World invited me to do this blog hop I jumped right in because hey it will get me back on here to talk to ya'll about what I have been up to in quilting!   Bet you didn't think I was doing much of that quilting thing lately?  I am, but in spurts and not every day.  I am on kiddo schedule not mama schedule lol

I am very happy to be back so lets get started!!

Who am I ?

I am a SAHM, military wife to two kiddos.   My hubby, Josh works very hard so that I can stay home with my monkeys! My son, Ayden is 6 yrs old and has started 1st grade last week.  He is doing awesome already!  He loves to read and is darn good at it!!  My daughter, Jade is 6 months old and always smiling.  She may get it from her mama.  It can be contagious you know;)  Such precious, precious times to be had with my kids.  They are worth more to me than anything in the world and I am so blessed and thankful for them in my life.

here we are with my MIL (mommy) Teri while she was visiting from WI last month

Obviously I love to quilt!  I started quilting shortly after my son was born and haven't stopped since!  Before that, I never had the urge to sew one single stitch.  I had my Grandma's sewing machine at one time and gave it away.  What???!!!  Who knew I would be quilting away to my hearts content today?  Wish I had kept it now, but there's nothing I can do to change the fact that it's gone.

Recently I have started crocheting and have really taken a liking to it!  I like to cook, although the hubby I think enjoys cooking more!  I do love to bake though and I try to eat healthy as much as possible.  If you follow me on InstaGram, you will notice that I post pics of smoothies or salads from time to time too.  I can't help it!  Maybe it will inspire someone else to choose a healthy snack/meal too.  Ok off my soap box lol

granny squares crochet project

What is this mama working on?  (besides sleep, eating and changing diapers)

the first and foremost is my APQ Quilt Along quilt probably since Jade was born.  Yup.  So about 6 months now give or take.  I love the color scheme and the simplicity of the cutting.  I dislike the many,many pieces and the time it has taken to make progress on this one.  Comes with the kid territory though as I have mentioned.  I was working on the sashing yesterday and thought wow I am so ready to put all of this together!  This quilt will be for Jade when she is a little older and she is in a twin size bed.  I am ahead of the game on that note.

Secondly, I have all my stars from Elizabeth's Paper Piecing Lucky Stars BOM last year that need borders and then all sewn together into a top.  Every once in awhile I think of what color/pattern of fabric I would like to add to those stars.

I participated in my first swap a couple months ago!  So MUCH stinking fun folks!!  It was the strawberry swap and it was headed up by @frampuna over on IG and you can see her and a collaboration of strawberry swap goodness on Flickr here.   This is what I sent my partner:

This is what I received:

So the next question really has me thinking:  How does my work differ from others?

I tend to follow along with a pattern.  I like structure.  I like cuteness to be a part of my quilt blocks!  Perhaps then my personal touch on quilts is truly what fabrics I choose and how I use the pattern to my liking.  Specifically,  I  add embroidery stitches or recently I had to tweak a pattern to make it work for a table runner.  That was a huge shrinking of size and somewhat out of my comfort zone.  I used a paper piecing pattern for the center too.  It all worked out though!

Here it is:

 Do ya'll think my work stands out from others?  In what way?

Why do I create?

My passion is fulfilled. I truly love it!   You get the question, "Who made that?"  I can reply with, "I did!"  No greater feeling than that.   It's a release to be free from the daily mundane activities.  Let loose and stitch to my hearts content!

There is also the idea of being able to gift something I MADE to others that they can treasure for a very long time.  If I have all the fabric on hand and other sewing notions it can be a low cost gift too;)

 I may be able to inspire others to quilt i.e. most importantly my Jade!

I hope that you were able to learn more about me through this post and if you have any other fun questions (not too personal hehe) leave me a comment.

I am passing the torch onto another blogger whom was nominated by me to do a blog post about herself on Sept. 29th!  So go check her out and see what she's all about............

thebusybeequiltshop.blogspot.com Jamie has become a great friend of mine in the last year or so!  We have a lot in common especially quilting.  Her blog is fun to read and she keeps it real!  I love it!  Go see what she's sewing these days!

In closing, I would like to say thank you sincerely to my friend Pam at Mama Sparks World!!  We met in person for the first time in 2012 and then we got together again in 2013 and had a great time at some local quilt shops here and ate delicious food!  I miss you friend!  

Enjoy your day!

Sara