Grow Your Blog

It's that time again -- time to meet new bloggers and visit new blogs. If you're new to "52 Quilts in 52 Weeks," welcome! If you're a current follower, welcome back!

Grow Your Blog is the brainchild of Vicki at 2 Bags Full. Visit her blog to view the list of more than 200 blogs, all celebrating today!

About 52 Quilts

"52 Quilts in 52 Weeks" came about when I bragged in July of 2011 that I had made 35 quilt tops so far that year. Elder Son said "hey, that's almost one quilt per week!" And the challenge was on! Could I really make 52 Quilts in 52 Weeks?  Well, yes! I have for three years now, and I'm underway for a fourth! Younger Son insisted "52 quilts in 52 weeks is a great idea for a blog," so Thanksgiving weekend I dipped my toe in the blogging water.

The Younger Son (aka My Little Sailor, currently assigned to the USS George Washington aircraft carrier in Yokosuka, Japan) is my tech editor. He updates the blog header each year, and wrote a really touching blog post last Mother's Day. Best of all, he is a professional photographer, so my profile photo makes me look 10 years younger (and 20 pounds lighter!)

I've done a lot of test-sewing, twice for Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks magazine, for Amy Gibson's Sugar Block Club, and as a member of Quilty Pleasure's 2013 Scrap Squad. I've also test-sewn bags for Sara of Sew Sweetness and several other designers. I make a quilt for each of my Mother's great- and great-great grandchildren when they turn 12 (there's a lot of them!). Last November, I made a 25th Anniversary quilt for the first of my nieces and her husband to celebrate that milestone.

2012 ushered in my first monthly "UFO Challenge." I had been complaining about how slow the person whose UFO Challenge I was following had been about announcing what number quilt we were to work on that month. DH said "Hello, you could choose your own numbers!" So I did, and we're on the third year of the 52 Quilts UFO Challenge. NO, I'm not challenging readers to make 52 each year -- just one per month!  The UFO Parade kicks off the first day of each month, details here.

Quilters are always asked "when did you start quilting?" and "what kinds of quilts do you like to make?" Well, I made my first quilt when I was 9 years old. My family had just moved from our farm into town, and it was summer, and I had no friends yet. So my Mother showed me how to draw squares on fabric and cut them out with scissors -- this was long before rotary cutters! I made dozens of 9-patch blocks that weren't sewn together into a quilt top until years later.

The advent of the 1976 US Bicentennial brought many home crafts, including quilting, back into the national consciousness. I made my first "real" quilt using Eleanor Burn's "Log Cabin Quilt in a Day" pattern. Still no rotary cutters, so we clipped the selvages and tore across the width of the fabric to make strips. The quilt was nay blue and mauve calico -- the height of color fashion in 1976! Long arm machines and free motion quilting were as yet unheard of, so Mom and I tied the quilt with pink embroidery floss. I gave that quilt to the Goodwill in 1996 when my husband retired from the Air Force and we moved from Virginia to Colorado. Now I wish I hadn't!

Two years ago my friend Deb (The Dishcloth Diva) invited me to a meeting of the Front Range Modern Quilt Guild. It was my first experience with modern quilts, and I fell hard! I've only made a few quilts that I really consider "modern," but I love the modern fabrics. My favorite fabric designers include Anna Maria Horner, Pat Bravo and Lizzie House. I guess my style is "modern traditional," that is, traditional designs with modern fabrics.

There's a Giveaway!

Pattern designer and long-armer extraordinaire, Kristy Wolf of Sassafras Lane Designs, graciously donated one each of her entire pattern line for my Grow Your Blog giveaway. That's 12 (really, 12!) patterns! I've made several of her designs, including yesterday's 'Wiley Way." Go here to see all of their designs.

And "Main Street" (photo of final quilt will be posted March 7):

Here are photos of all the Sassafras Lane patterns:

Want to win? All you have to do is:

1. Comment on this blog post. Tell me if you're a quilter or if your craftiness takes another form.
2. If you're a no-reply blogger, please include contact info. If I can't find you, I can't send you the prize.
3. My blog is set not to allow anonymous comments so that the robots cannot find me. If you do not have an ID, you can still enter by email at the address listed under "About Aunt Marti" in the right-hand column of this page and I will post your comment for you so you have a chance to win. 
4. International entries welcome, of course!
5. Giveaway ends Valentines Day, February 14 at noon Mountain Standard Time. The winner will be announced on Saturday, February 15.

Thanks for visiting. I hope you find some fun blogs today!




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