Around the World Blog Hop

Last week i was tagged by my friend Helen at Till We Quilt Again  to join in on the Around the World Blog Hop.  Helen is a great friend that I met last year when she came to a meeting with the Jersey Shore Modern Quilt Guild.  She is so talented and does beautiful quilting and we hit it off right away.  I am totally jealous of her long arm skills :).


This blog hop introduces you to bloggers that you may not know and are happy to have found through your quilty friends.  So I get to answer a few questions about myself and at the end of the post I will link you to three of my favorite bloggers and next Monday they will do the same thing.  It is great to go back and check out the previous links.

Aunt Carol's Blue Wave Quilt

About Me
I have been quilting on and off for 16 years (I didn't realize it was that long!)
I live in New Jersey along the shore and I am proud of my Jersey Girl status.
I have 2 amazing parents, 2 great sisters (and a brother in law), 2 awesome nephews, and a fun clumsy silly puppy, Maggie.
I love white water kayaking, you might be able to tell from my background photo and my blog name. (Though I haven't been able to boat for little while now).
I am co president of Jersey Shore Modern Quilt Guild

Flight of the Seagulls

How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I am not sure how much my work differs from others.  My style I say is a twist on traditional.  I sew how I feel at the time.
I love flying geese, but I don't like them to be all uniform, I like for them be every which way and all different sizes.
I love to use color and patterns and have no fear of trying something different.
I rarely use solids in my quilts, I like the texture that pattern gives quilts.
I have what I call "Quilting ADD" where I can not stick with one project for long, I need to have options when I sew.
I am mostly self taught and I think that is part of my fearlessness.  :)
When I have something set in my mind that I want to do, like fmq, I just sit down and do it without a second thought.  I feel I can do anything if I put my mind to it.

Modern Mini

Why do I write/create what I do?
I love to loose myself in my quilting and creating.  It makes me forget my stresses and helps with dealing with pain.
Being creative has always made me happy and when I feel my worst it pulls me to a happy place.
Quilting something that I share with my mom.  She joined me in quilting just 2 years ago and it has really brought us closer.  We share most of a stash (we have some that is our own, too) and go on fabric sprees together.  I love to bounce ideas off her.
I am thankful to have to time and support to spend as much time sewing as I do.  I seriously sew almost every day.  I don't know what I would do without it.

Modern Strings
(Look for this one at AQS Quiltweek TN in the BadAss Quilters Society Exhibit)

How does my writing/creating process work?
My creative process is so different as I work on different quilts.
One way is I have multiple notebooks with sketches in them.  As I have a quilt in mind, I draw it out then start writing out the measurements and working out the math on what I might need in terms of fabric.  I like to break down cuts and blocks, too, sometimes.  Midnight Geese was drawn out then broken down to know what I needed to make to create it.

Midnight Geese

Another way is when I have a day that I don't feel like thinking, I pull out a box of scraps and start playing.  My last couple play quilts came from nautical scraps I have amassed in a large bin.  I just start laying out pieces on the design wall and sew the pieces together when I feel they look perfect.  Out to Sea baby quilt was created in this manor.

Out to Sea

Sometimes a doodle turns into a quilt.  I make the doodle part then add to it.  Flight of the Seagulls started as a half drawn quilt that just grew as I worked on it.  I have no fear to change things as I work if I feel that it looks better that way.  (This quilt will be in the BadAss Quilters Society display at AQS Quiltweek in IA)

Flight of the Seagulls 

I love to join in on challenges, too, because I feel it also adds to my creative process.  Project Quilting is one of my favorite challenges.

Frittata Quilt, a Project Quilting challenge quilt

What am I working on now?
I have a number of quilts in progress right now that includes quilts for fun, quilts for friends, and quilts for challenges. (Seriously, Quilting ADD)  And little fun things for my nephews.  I am also part of Stash Bee so I have blocks to make every month for my bee mates.

On the design wall are circle blocks from my month of Stash Bee, my DWR in pieces, and some random blocks for different projects.  See my kayak block? :)

My orange peel quilt for the Orange Peel QAL at Quilty Habit.  Made totally from scraps.  One of the random just playing with fabric quilts.

I haven't blogged about this quilt yet, but one that I am loving more and more as I look at it.  I think I might call it Maze.

Here are the three blogs that I have chosen to share with everyone.

My friend Melissa at Sew Bittersweet Designs creates amazing and beautiful quilts.  She has written a number of patterns that I have had the privilege of testing for her.  One of them I had accepted into the Quiltfest of NJ.

All Framed Up on the Jersey Shore
Melissa's pattern

Diane is a great friend from the Jersey Shore Modern Quilt guild.  She is my co-president and makes beautiful quilts.  I love working with her during our sew-ins.  She blogs over at My StudioQ.

I wanted to tag my friend Peggy who blogs at Stitchin With Peg.  We live in the same town and shop at the same local quilt shop, but I have never met her in person.  She makes beautiful quilts!   (I didn't get to ask her first, oops, but check out her pretty quilts.)

I have photos all over my blog if you are interested in taking a poke around and then head on over to the blogs of my quilty friends.

Tetris Quilt

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you liked learning about how I create my quilts.