Monday, July 13, 2015

Hello Blog Hoppers!

After reading all your amazing stories and see your gorgeous talent, I'm a little nervous to share mine, but here goes nothing!

My name is Hannah Jennings, I am a stay-at-home-mother of two and recently decided to take my love quilting and embroidery to the next level with a blog and, after being asked by about a dozen people recently, I am starting a small Etsy shop.

 
 

My first two quilts were Tshirt quilts, and that's all it took to spark my interest and love of quilting.
I have been breathing and thinking quilts non-stop.


 
 

My first "real" quilt using a pattern was a Swoon quilt by Thimble Blossoms, which was a raffle quilt for a Pachyonychia Congenita Awareness Fundraiser I hosted June 2014.  It was very successful and I plan to do it again next year, June 2016. Sadly, we didn't participate as much this year since we went out of town to attend our first Pachyonychia Congenita Patient Support Meeting for our daughter, who has this ultra rare genetic disorder. I'm keeping an eye out now for a pattern to fit the bill for next years fundraiser raffle.  Any suggestions would be wonderful *hint hint*




I really LOVE applique and the endless possibilities with it.  I made these next two quilts for a local quilt show back in March.

 
This griffin appliqued quilt, named "Celtic Fusion," is one my father actually drew out and designed and I just brought it to life for him.  He designed it, selected fabrics and chose the quilting design; and I'm pleased to say it one First Place in the Novice Division! It measures 84x91, my largest quilt to date.


"Fate" was a mini quilt  I made for my Instagram swap #disneyquiltswap2015.  We are a Disney family and I was excited my partner loved the movie Brave because this movie-poster inspired mini was very fun; again, I used a fusible web applique method to create Merida and her surroudings, I beaded in the little Will-O-The-Wisps, and machine embroidered the quote.
 
Ok, one more quilt to share: It's one I made earlier this year for my grandfather. I used Lori Holt's pattern Vintage Camping and I'm very pleased with how it turned out.  I made the van black and tan to mimic my grandfathers actual expedition, and the camper in silver to resemble my grandfathers airstream, complete with his airstreams actual number, which I embroidered on the front.  My grandfather is ramming the roads with his camper on a caravan tour this very moment so watch and wave if you see him!  He was out west romping in the deserts earlier this summer and now he is somewhere up north.  What a way to explore and travel, right?!
 
 
 
I have been making my own quilt labels using my embroidery machine and I love having one of the  "pictures" to accent the writing.
What is your preferred quilt label? 
 
Ok, quilting and embroidery aside, here is some more about me:
I am a book worm, live in Georgia (hence the Magnolia), been working in the Insurance field on and off for the last 6 years, my favorite books are The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, and have two cats named Monster and Emerald and my favorite artist is Teagan White (think Fort Firefly and Acorn Trail). 
 
 
My blogging tip is to utilize the scheduling option if you're like me and time is of the essence.  I have to manage my time and prioritize, and sometimes sitting down and writing multiple posts at once makes more sense, so I opt to schedule them so they can be published throughout the week without my need to hover and fret.  My planner is my best friend!!!   Planning ahead is also key; think of your blogging goals (how often, what topics, which photos) and set aside time to make the project, take the photos, edit photos, and create posts... for me, this can take days so often I have several projects/posts in the works at any given moment.
 
My quilting tip is to be INVOLVED!  Research and join local quilt guilds in your area, search out fellow quilters using social media, you'd be surprised that we are EVERYWHERE!!! Hashtags on Instagram are wonderful.  I love Instagram's quilting community.  There are always fun giveaways, eye candy, sneak peeks at upcoming fabric collections and patterns, and mini quilt swaps to participate in.  You can learn so much from fellow quilters and joining some form of a community will help you branch out and try new techniques, patterns, styles, and everyone is always happy and ready to help with any questions you may have. 
 
Well, on that note, participate on over to my fellow blog hoppers and say hello!  I hope to get the chance to know you better and please stay tuned because I have a bunch of fun stuff (including a giveaway) coming up.  Thank you for stopping by!
 
Quantum Quilters
July 13th
Silvia @A Stranger View
Ida @Ida Rather Be Quilting
Amy @Indigo Cottage Quilts
Hive Hosts
Quantum Quilters
Host: Yvonne @Quilting Jetgirl
New Bees
Host: Cheryl @Meadow Mist Designs
Sew Fabulous Hive
Host: Stephanie @Late Night Quilter
Sewcial Swarm
Host: Terri Ann @Childlike Fascination
 

38 comments:

  1. I'm A GA quilter too! I was a week 1 hopper. It's great reading about your adventure in quilting.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by! Where abouts in GA are you? I'm in the Athens area.

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  2. I love your swoon quilt. Nice to get to know you a little better.

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  3. Great to meat you!!! I'm now following you via IG (@winkowl). I am very impressed with the quilt your dad designed... Wow!!

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    1. I found your notice on IG; thanks for the shout out! I am now following you, as well. I love the baby quilt progress, I'm impressed you hand quilt! How long does that usually take on a quilt that size?

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  4. Lovely to meet you! Your quilts are so unique and must be so treasured by the recipients 😊 I didn't know Georgia was known for magnolias - my excuse is I'm on the other side of the pond! I definitely agree with your quilting tip - I've gained so much (including lovely new friends) by joining local quilt groups. My quilt labels are fairly simple with writing traced over a light box from a computer print out (I wrote a blog post about labels a few months ago). I like your personalised machine embroidered label.

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    1. Thank you, Allison! I'm always nervous sharing my quilts and projects because they aren't usually from patterns and tend to beat to their own drum. Sometimes straying from what's popular or common can be ill received. Fortunately, the quilting community seems very receptive and polite, ha! I will definitely check out your quilt label post. Thanks for the input; I'm always curious what others are doing that may work better.

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  5. I have bounced all over on quilt labels and have been doing a poor job of using them lately. I think I am going to look into very small tags I can sew down and into the binding on the back, but we'll see. I did make some custom fabric labels through spoonflower.com, but I just haven't been taking the time to piece them in recently. My mother makes beautiful and unique labels for all her quilts with fabric markers.

    I read up a very small bit on Pachyonychia Congenita, and I wish you and your family the best as you navigate such a rare and unusual condition.

    I think that your unique quilts are all really fabulous, and I am especially drawn to your Brave quilt and the mini for your granddad! I hope the blog hop has been a good experience for you and helped get your blogging journey off on the right foot.

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    1. I'll check out the spoonflower labels, that sounds intriguing! They have such a great array of fabrics; have you purchased fabric from them? I always worry about texture/quality of printed fabrics...

      Thank you for the well wishes; my daughter is 2 now and is just starting to really get painful blisters/sores. Last weekend really got her good to where she wanted to be held and carried the rest of the time.

      Thank you for the comments and all your help and support during this amazing blog hop! It has been eye opening and extremely informative. I have so much to catch up on now that I am back home from vacation and want to backtrack to some items I bookmarked, like adding tabs at the top of my page!

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  6. You are so right. I just returned from our BSer's retreat and gleaned so much knowledge. L

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    1. There is nothing like being a part of a group to challenge yourself to explore new things and try new methods!!!

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  7. I really should make more of an effort with labels - I usually write on the back with a permanent pen! I have no excuse as I have a basic embroidery machine I could use!

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    1. They do take time and energy; I just feel like I need them on gift type quilts for family and friends... but I think a sew-in option may be quicker and still get the job done!

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  8. It took me forever to start bothering putting labels on my quilts, but I finally decided it was worthwhile. I had some printed out by Spoonflower. The prices are quite reasonable, and it's so convenient just to be able to cut one out and sew it in. They were a bit of a pain to organize though, because you can't resize images online, so there was a lot of back and forth before I got my images to a useable size.

    Let me know if you're having any difficulty deciding on a quilt pattern for the raffle. Personally, I love the Robert Kaufman site for free patterns. http://www.robertkaufman.com/quilting/quilts_patterns/free/

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    1. You're my second Spoonflower reference, I will def be aware of the size thing. I think a sew-in option would be much quicker and efficient for me. And thank you so much for the link for pattern ideas for next year's raffle!!

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  9. I was just thinking about quilt labels this weekend. In the 15 years I've been quilting, I have not come up with a quilt label style that I like that I feel represents me and my quilting. One more thing to add to the to do list I suppose. I'm going to look at spoonflower as was recommended above. Hannah, your quilt labels are inspiring and add so much character to your quilts!

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    1. Thank you! I plan to check out spoonflower, too, for maybe something more generic for sale quilts. But I love having something unique for gift quilts to family and friends.

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  10. Hi Hannah . Lovely to meet you , my turn was the last week . Great fun . I loved all your quilts , especially the t shirt one . I've never had a label , just stitch my initials in the corner , never thiught I warranted one , though I did have a label when I used to knit. I'm a book worm too , reading a spool of blue thread by Ann Tyler at the minute . I'm away now to check you on Instagram xx

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    1. Thank you for stopping by and commenting! I like the idea of simple initials in the corner!

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  11. Hi: I'm visiting from Sewcial Swarm. Love the black and red swoon and that must be your lovely daughter in the photo in front of it. I often don't do labels but I'm thinking I should more often. Quilting is a big part of my life and I like you am involved in lots of groups. It's great isn't it. Not on instagram yet but when I am I'll check you out.

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    1. I def recommend Instagram, it has a huge quilting community! And nothing beats just having tons of photos of quilts and blocks in your feed, right? Thank you for the love on my Swoon. It was a huge hit last year! Thanks for stopping by!

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  12. Hi Hannah. I've enjoyed reading your post for the Blog Hop. Your camper quilt is adorable. I bet your grandpa totally loved it. Your embroidered details on the quilts and customized labels are wonderful. I tried making my own labels for a bit (although I don't machine embroider) but ended up getting some Spoonflower ones printed with my blog header on them. I'm quite happy with those.

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    1. Thank you! I have been hearing such wonderful things about the spoonflower labels, I love that you were able to print them with your blog header...great idea!!! Thanks for stopping by!

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  13. First of all, hello , nice to meet you. And second - I LOVE THAT QUILT LABEL you made for your grandad - it's wicked awesome! You seem to really be progressing quickly as a quilter, judging from the looks of your quilts. I love the camping quilt - so fun. My labels are small - but I love them - I got the idea from Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts. They are just little silkly tabs with The Zen Quilter on them. But yours are great, and add something to the piece.

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    1. Thank you! I have been all over the place with my labels so it's been great hearing from everyone what they do and prefer to get a handle on other options for the future. And I love your name, The Zen Quilter!!!

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  14. Your quilts are beautiful and your daughter...what a gorgeous little girl! I loved reading about you Hannah!

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  15. Great post Hannah! Your appliqué work is lovely and I think that might be the cutest label I've ever seen! I've only ever labeled one quilt and that was just done with a sharpie! Anne of Green Gables is a fave of mine too, have you ever been to PEI? A Green Gables pilgrimage is a must!

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    1. Thank you! PEI is on my bucket list; at this stage, I think we are waiting for the kids to get a little bigger for attempting that romp. I've always wanted to go! I used to dye my hair red to be more like her, and I always loved how dreamy and girly she was! Any tips or places to definitely go while in PEI???

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  16. Love your quilts - the Swoon is awesome! Thanks for the tips, I love using IG, but I definitely need to do a better job planning my posts.

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    1. Thank you! And yes, I'm always struggling, too, with planning and balancing blogging with time consuming quilting and life!

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  17. I have never heard of the Swoon quilt, but this past week, it's all I've been seeing. Definitely need to add this to my to-do list. Thanks for sharing your quilts. Happy quilting.

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    1. Thank you for stopping by. I would love to see how your Swoon turns out and what colors you choose!

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  18. Hi Hannah, I just love the header of your blog with the watermelon slices! Very fresh and unique. I bough half a yard of printed quilt label fabric when I first started quilting. I've used a few but find them too large and silly looking. My plan is to hunt down and order some small and simple name tags from the internet when I find time! Your Swoon quilt is very dramatic! And your daughter is so precious. Great work making a charity quilt to raise funds. Recently, my Guild made a raffle quilt using the Carolyn Friedlander "Aerial" pattern. We each made a few of the paper pieced blocks.

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    1. Thank you! I wasn't sure about the watermelon at first but it has grown on me, and I love seasonal stuff, and this was too precious to pass for Summer. I live in a college town so I chose the local/state football teams colors (UGA Bulldawgs) to help drive interest in the quilt for the raffle tickets. We sold them $10 each and it was a huge success! I love that your guild did one, too. I was pleasantly surprised at how many people were truly interested in the quilt and several asked about purchasing one.

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  19. Hello, nice to meet you! I really love that Swoon quilt, it's gorgeous!

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  20. NIce to get to know you! Love the quilt you did for your grandad and that he's bombing around the countryside. Beautiful Swoon quilt too. That's on my 'to-do' list.

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  21. Your quilts are inspiring. I like that each as a unique story. I hope to get an embroidery machine one day soon. What machine do you use? I was thinking about getting an used Ellisimo. Also, I thought about opening an Esty shop. Do you have any advice for a newbie? Thanks so much for sharing your quilting journey with us! Dena, Quantum Quilter

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  22. Welcome to the blogging world. Great to get to know you. I just don't get tired of looking at beautiful Swoon quilts like yours, which is good, because my pieces for my first swoon block are cut but not yet sewn together. I really like the Thimble Blossoms Fireworks pattern, too. I think it's lap size, but maybe that's an idea for your next fundraiser quilt. I love your Disney mini. I admired it when I saw it during the swap. Lovely work all around. Thank you for sharing.

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