So as mentioned previously, I am part of the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers. The focus of this group is for seasoned bloggers to provide technical advice and support to us newbie bloggers. Part of the support is participating in my first blog hop and the Sew Fabulous Hive!
It’s fun for me to have new visitors to Chopping Block Quilts, its fun for the visitors because you get to discover some amazing new quilting blogs and are eligible to enter to win a slew of amazing prizes from our fabulous hosts!
Super Quick & Random facts about me:
On the Line, Ready to Play Ultimate Frisbee
Name: Carrie
From: Arizona
Currently Resides In: Costa Rica (the Central Valley near some Volcanoes, not the beach)
Husband: 1, married 6mo or 2.5mo depending on which wedding you count
Puppies: Bernadette Shiva Garbage Disposal (9mo), IsaDora Paulina Gozer Sombra (7.5mo)
Scared of: Balloons, Needles/Knives/Blood (I got 4 stitches from a rotary cutter accident in college)
Began Quilting: 2002
My First Quilt made in 2003, loved by Dora today
Check this out if you really want to know more quick facts and my quilting history.
Blogging Tip:
Get involved! Whether your goal is to increase readership, get sponsors or simply have a better blog, the quilt blogging community can help. I joined the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers on a whim and fairly last minute. While the technical aspect appealed to me most, I have been overwhelmed with the new followers, generosity of advice, and support related to all aspects of blogging and quilting.
As part of being more involved in the quilting community, I am starting my first Quilt Along on the Midnight Mystery Quilt from Meadow Mist Designs. Fabric has been selected (and I am toying with the idea of making a second colorway).
Midnight Mystery Quilt Fabric Selection.
Print from 2012 Palmer Collection by Anna Griffin
I am anxiously awaiting the release of the first block in July. There is still time for new members to join this QAL and I encourage you to do so!
Quilting Tip:
While quilting is fairly popular in Costa Rica, most of my quilting supplies have come from my stash in Arizona lugged down on various trips. Batting is included in said supplies. A few years ago I learned about the proper way to join pieces of batting from the Encyclopedia of Quilting (I just don’t remember if it was this one or this one)
To reduce bulk, you overlay the batting by a few inches and then cut along the overlap in a wave like pattern. The pieces are then joined together using a flat stitch.
Joining batting pieces
The result when quilted is batting that does not have bulky seams where it overlaps. I must apologize for not having better photos but I am now inspired to create my first tutorial! Check back soon!
Confession:
I love musicals. Live, in movies, and on TV. Disney, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Andrew Lloyd Webber and more. They are my go-to background noise when sewing. I can’t help but sing along.
Often times I wish life were more like a musical. I can make a song out of almost any situation. Usually they take the tune of some popular song with original lyrics. Sometimes they are awesome, sometimes they are awful. My brother can do the same, although he keeps his talent hidden. I think we learned it from our father as children. It makes life a little more joyful.
Hop! on over to the other members of my Sew Fabulous Hive this week:
Erin @ Twin Mom Quilts
Anja @Â Anja Quilts
Adrian @Â Quilting Fabulous
Skip! to our wonderful hosts:
Stephanie @ Late Night Quilter (our Hive “Queen Bee”)
Yvonne @Â Quilting Jet Girl
Cheryl @Â Meadow Mist Designs
Terri Ann @Â Childlike Fascination
Jump! at the chance of winning some great prizes this week (and in the upcoming weeks). See our “Queen Bees” above for giveaway entry details!
Thanks for stopping by!
Chopping Block Quilts 
I love the colors for your mystery quilt! Can’t wait to see it! How I understand having to haul sewing supplies back home from the States!
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Thanks Erin! How do you transport your stash from the States? I usually end up with an extra suitcase and carry on bag full of fabric (without any extra shopping done while I’m visiting!)
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Oh, your fabrics for the mystery quilt look beautiful! Your dogs have fabulous names!
I would love to hear one of your songs!
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They have both earned extra names as time goes by. I’m actually worried they might be too long.
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I love your fabric choices for the mystery quilt. I signed up to do it too. I join batting scraps all the time.
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It is fabulous that you’ve been able to move your stash and live in a country where quilting is popular. Love the colours chosen for your mystery quilt. What is the second colour way that you are contemplating?
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Hi Carrie! Fellow Hive Member here. We make our day into musicals too! I have loved them since I saw Grease for the first time! Moving to some place new is exciting and strange. Looking forward to seeing more quilts from your mobile stash!
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I drive my daughter nuts making up lyrics to songs…especially in front of her friends. I look forward to a tutorial on connecting batting. I have a huge pile of small pieces that are just begging to be used.
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Hi Carrie, nice to meet you! I used to make up pop songs when I was younger, I wonder if I could still do that now, might have a go in the car on the way home from work! Please don’t tell us more about the rotary cutting incident, I nearly fainted at the mention of it!
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So lovely to get to know you better, Carrie! I agree that life would be so much more fabulous in musical form. My husband and I regularly make up songs for our grumpy cat whose name is Puppy. There was also that time that I busted out into a “wrap” song when wrapping Christmas presents and my mom started beat boxing – that was pretty epic. 🙂
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Welcome to the hop Carrie! I’ve used that technique to join batting and I love it, it does such a great job preventing bulk issues like you mentioned. Love the fabrics you picked for Cheryl’s Mystery quilt along it’s going to be stunning!
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Carrie
So awesome to meet you! I scrolled down and found your t-shirt quilt which is awesome! I also discovered Quilt for Keeps and love the message. I haven’t blogged about it yet but hopefully I will.
Deb
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Sounds like you and your brother could give Wayne a run for his money on Whose Line is it Anyway!
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Hi Carrie, I already follow you on Bloglovin’ and have saved your t-shirt quilt to one of my collections. One of these days I’m going to make one for myself. Thanks for the great batting tip!
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I’m going to do Cheryl’s mystery too! Great fabric choices there. You and my youngest daughter would get along like a house on fire. She, too, adores movies, texted me early this morning with the sad news (“please Mum I hope it’s not true”) that Jack Horner has died. She studied to movie scores, loves all the Disney musicals, as well as the oldies, thanks to my mum, her nana, who did the same with us kids, so Oklahoma! West Side Story, etc. are huge loves…ANYHOW…love your dogs’ names, and the pic of Dora on your quilt, which is a great quilt btw. Great pose, too, at ultimate frisbee!
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OMG!!! Can I just blame being menopausal and having NO brain…meant to check the “Jack” of Horner….oops, googled him and he’s a paleontologist apparently, but very much alive…. litlle Jack Horner…noooo. It should be James Horner, whose music I, too, adore and will sadly miss.
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Carrie, I love your first quilt – I have a thing for log cabins 🙂 Thanks for the tips, I do some Frankeinbatting sometimes, but never saw the wavy cut. Great idea! And the Mystery QAL, thanks for adding one more project to my list – note sarcastic tone here -, but seriously, thanks, I did not know about it – now I want to join in. 🙂
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Oh my! I’m such a musical person too Carrie! Love them to bits! When we were kids we used to do the “life as a musical” thing very often. Or we’d just jam out songs from the golden days of Hollywood musicals while we were walking down the street.
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You’re doing such a good job on the intro blog. Great tip on the batting, will have to do that next time. I have several small pieces of batting that I don’t use because I don’t know how to put them together. So glad that you put this in your blog, now I know.
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I am forever singing to the dog, made up, random! One year while on vacation, my sisters and my mom took a nursery song and did our version of a rap! I’ve done that with batting too, great tip and one that is very, very handy!
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Thanks for sharing, Carrie. Would love to hear more about the two weddings…glad to hear it was just one husband. LOL I think I’m going to jump on the mystery QAL bandwagon.
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Cute puppy!
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Hello Carrie nice to cyber meet you. I really love musicals too and often listen to music when I have my creative groove on. And may I say that I think life IS like a musical in many ways. Many situations inlife lend themselves to soundtracks, and sometimes in a frustrating situation, breaking out into song can make everything better or at least break the tension…Thank goodness for the internet; I don’t live in Costa Rica but in a small town in Texas so I often order stuff online. See you around,fellow hive-mate. ( And sorry I took so l8ng to reply, I am out of the US until July 3 and have had communication challenges.)
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Your Night Sky quilt is so beautiful, and I am in awe of you taking on the Aviatrix Medallion quilt and can’t wait to see it finished. I still need to improve my sewing on blocks that are made out of rectangles and squares but have dabbled in triangles just a bit. I am also joining Meadow Mist Designs’ Midnight Mystery Quilt-along, so I imagine I will have a chance to improve my skills with triangles. I’m registered for Jeni Baker’s Mastering the Half-Square Triangle workshop at QuiltCon in February which I hope will increase my confidence and skill with triangles. The quilt I am feeling too intimated to try is the Beach Balls pattern that I blogged about in my Sunday Stash #2 post.
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I am mortifiied that I copied and pasted a comment to Twin Mom Quilts on your blog. So let’s start again, your first quilt that has the Dora stamp of approval does not look a rookie made it. I really appreciate your quilting tip. I only have a few batting scraps so far but imagine I will have a lot more fairly soon since I have several projects that I want to finish in the next several months. I look forward to seeing more of your future creations.
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That’s a great tip for joining batting!
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Sarah-
Thanks for stopping by (and sorry for the delayed response). Not sure if you’ve seen but I posted more detailed instructions on how to join batting .
Enjoy your time in the California sun!
Carrie Bawolek Chopping Block Quilts
On Sat, Jul 18, 2015 at 1:49 PM, Chopping Block Quilts wrote:
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