Creatin' in the Sticks: Blah

Showing posts with label Blah. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 31, 2019

2019 Top 10

Today is a day of reflection on the past year and planning for

2020.

I've compiled a picture list of the top 10 projects from the past year

that are posted on the

Creatin' in the Sticks blog.

(the pictures are links to the original post)

#10

And the #1 blog post of the year:

I'm so happy about Wavy Strings going to the International Quilt Festival

and

that certainly helped to take it to the #1 spot for 2019.

The only criteria used to place the top ten were visits to the 2019 posts.

That would, of course, place the quilt blocks that were offered for free at the top of the list.

When I started this list, it was surprising the number of visits that come from

30 Quilt Blocks in 30 Days (2017).

Some of the blog posts from that would have made the cut for the top 10 visits in 2019.

I limited this list to 2019 blog posts.

So many other quilts were left out of this list and were just a few visits away from making the cut.

There is a lot to be learned by checking the stats of posts.

Overall it was a great year!

Have a safe and happy new year.

See you in 2020!

Sunday, December 15, 2019

December Progress

Does this ever happen to you?

I've been stitching on the Island Batik Ambassador challenge for this month,

3D.

I love these sorts of quilts and have been taking progress pictures as I go.

This morning I was ready to start putting the top together when I saw that one of the half square triangles was going the wrong direction.

I went back and looked at the pictures and, sure enough, there it is in the pictures I took several days ago.

I've even shown the pictures to others (hubby) and no one noticed.

I'm so glad I noticed before the quilt went together.

I would have been heartbroken.

The rest of the day just felt "off" after this discovery and I was afraid I might do something like that again.

So I just made more half square triangles with the Accuquilt Go!

and

called it a day.

I missed blogging yesterday for the

31 Day Blog Writing Challenge

and

I'm about too late for today (Sunday).

But my Christmas shopping is done and the rest of the month looks to be smooth sailing.

If I can get my stitching mojo right...

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Oh, December, You Get the Best of Me

I missed it, December 11th happened and I worked right through it without

making the blog post that I said I wouldn't miss.

I'm participating in the

31 Day Blog Writing Challenge

and

yesterday was a fail.

I am working my tail off to get everyone ready for the holidays.

I would like to tell you that designing quilting and sewing patterns is

all I do, but I am a hairstylist first.

It is my first passion and December is always busy.

I'm afraid my blog is suffering a bit.

Why I signed up to blog every day of December is a mystery to me.

BUT,

I will catch up with my blog tomorrow.

I really do have some sewing going on here

and

some news to announce.

Soon...

Monday, December 9, 2019

Favorite Tip

I'm participating in the

31 Day Blog Writing Challenge.

Today I am just under the wire to post here so it has to be quick.

I don't know how my writing skills will improve at the rate I'm going,

but I'll keep on trucking with the challenge.

On days there hasn't been a sewing project to blog about,

I've been using

Cheryl's prompts to keep up with the challenge.

Today's prompt: Favorite Tip

A college English teacher once told me to get it done,

get it done, get it done. Then go back and perfect it until you are happy with it.

But first, just get it done.

OK, that's more like advice, but it's the best.

I've used that little tip so many times.

Almost every day.

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Skills I Wish I Had

I'm participating in the

31 Day Blog Writing Challenge.

I've managed to write on my blog for the first 8 days of 31.

(I'm including today)

On days there hasn't been a sewing project to blog about,

I've been using

Cheryl's prompts to keep up with the challenge.

Today's prompt: Skills I wish I had.

I wish I had better quilting knowledge on my long arm with both the computer and free-motion. I want to have the courage to tackle free-motion on the long arm like I do with my domestic. I wish I knew how to digitize my own designs. I wish I knew how to do the updates on my long arm too. Guess I better get on that soon.

I wish procrastination wasn't so easy. lol

I wish I was a faster stitcher, designer, and writer, then this post wouldn't have taken me an hour to write this little post.

I have a lot of stitching skill wishes. So many techniques I wish I could try and conquer. So many projects I wish I had time to do.

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

31 Day Blog Writing Challenge

I'm joining Cheryl Sleboda

for her annual

31 Day Blog Writing Challenge.

I'm trying to up my game by blogging every day in December.

That's 31 days straight

and

designed to build good blogging habits as we head into 2020.

Do I have that much to write about?

Luckily for me, Cheryl has prompts to help us along the way.

The first 3 days of December were reserved here in the Sticks for

A Time for All Seasons Block of the Month

and

The Christmas Virtual Cookie Exchange and Blog Hop.

Today I'll use Cheryl's prompts 1-4 to catch up.

#1 - Introduction

I'm Carla

and

I live outside of Dodge City, Kansas - (out in the sticks)
I started this blog back in 2012 and the name, Creatin' in the Sticks, just seemed fitting.

Creatin' in the Sticks is the name of my business where I sell PDF quilting and sewing patterns. I am a designer for Thermoweb and a 2019 Island Batik Ambassador.

#2 - Sewing Space

My studio is above our detached garage.

I love that I can work and leave my mess and no one knows

because it usually looks like this...

I'm usually fighting deadlines and this is my ugly.

#3 - Machine

You can see my Janome MC6600P in the above pictures and she is certainly a workhorse.

She is humming pretty much every day.

This is the machine that should get more credit that she does though.

This was the first sewing machine that was my very own.

Mom and Dad gave it to me for Christmas before I graduated High School.

The old Kenmore will stitch through just about anything and I've stitched a lot of miles on her. I did my first free-motion quilting on her without a needle down feature. That seems like such a challenge now that I'm spoiled with the modern features of my Janome.

#4 - Favorite Tools

This is such a hard prompt for me. Every tool is a must-have once I have it.

I mean, I didn't know how cool a rotary cutter was until I had one. The modern conveniences we enjoy in quilting is amazing.

If I have to choose, it would be my new pink Oliso Iron and wool mat.

There is just something about having a pretty iron and that wool mat is a game-changer.

Thanks for visiting my daily blog in December.

This should be fun.

Monday, December 31, 2018

Best of 2018

2018 was a fun year here in the Sticks.

My son and his girlfriend made a coffee mug for me for Christmas

so I've filled it with coffee and I am joining

Cheryl over at Meadow Mist Designs

for the

Best of 2018 Linky Party.

To participate in the party, I'm supposed to highlight my top 5 posts from 2018

which is hard to do.

My #1 highlight is the best of 2018, for sure!

I'm a Grammy.

My little Granddaughter was born in January and it's been the most amazing thing.

My blog has had a lot of little projects for her this year

and

I'm sure there are a lot more to come.

2018 brought more visitors to my blog than ever before.

The reason?

I created 30 quilt blocks in December 2017 and decided to have a blog hop with 30 talented designers using the blocks in different ways and layouts for each day in April.

The enthusiasm for the block tutorials has led to my top blog visits ever.

So my #2 blog highlight of 2018 is my 30 Quilt Blocks in 30 Days Block tutorials.

My #3 highlight has to be the finished quilt that includes all the 30 blocks.

I named the quilt "Blocks" for that reason.

It's a fun modern quilt and is perfect for a beginner

can be a quick quilt for the more experienced quilter.

I've been making quilts from each block and hope to eventually make all 30.

Project Quilting is always a highlight of my year and this year was no exception.

My friend Kim at Persimon Dreams hosts this super fun challenge for 12 weeks at the beginning of the year. A challenge is announced and you have 1 week to make a quilty project and link it up to win prizes.

My six projects are highlight #4 for 2018: