Meet Maritime Blog Hop is Here!

Welcome to the Running Thimble!  I am a proud member of the Maritime Modern Quilt Guild and it's my privilege to take my turn on the blog hop and welcome you to this little piece of cyberspace. 

If you landed here from somewhere other than the blog hop, than make sure to check out the blogs listed at the end of this post.  I promise you won't be disappointed.

Now a bit about me and my quilts.

I made my first quilt in anticipation of my first baby (who is now double digits).  It was inspired from the only quilts I had ever seen: crazywork squares made of scraps with all the edges embroidered with a herringbone stitch.

First Quilt

My style has changed, but my favourite quilts are still made of scraps.  I love mixing a wide variety of fabrics: modern, traditional, batiks, 1930s repros... like in this plus quilt:

Having had to part with the quilt above, I just had to make another one using the same colour scheme which can be loosely defined as "anything goes bright with anything goes low volume".  I finished this top at MMQG's last Sew-In - always a highlight of my month.

Unless I am at the Sew-In, this is where the magic happens.  Full disclosure: It never is this clean, unless it's picture day, or my mom has just been here...



And speaking of my mom, I learned to sew from her, thanks to my desire to follow the "preppy" fashion that was all the rage in the era of the Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink.  Here I am, sporting my first hand made plaid pants.  I thought I looked so sharp!  You can't see it on the blurry picture, but rest assured that the pattern lines up at the seams.  To this day, it is the first thing I look at when buying clothes with stripes.

Welcome to the 80s...

I still dabble in garment making from time to time, but this is what I prefer to make:

Aside from quilting, my idea of fun times includes long distance running.  As I get close to a big race and training distances get longer, quilting takes the backstage and blog posts get more sparse.  Having just ran a full marathon two days ago Sunday (that's 42.2 km or 26.2 miles) I am nursing sore quads and tight hips and am not quite back in the swing of quilting things.  I have a long list of quilty things to do waiting for me when I find my way down the stairs to by sewing space.

EDITED TO ADD:  Oh my, oh my!  Did I forget to include a giveaway?  Truth be told, I have nothing prepared, so I will go home tonight and prepare a nice scrap bag with approximately 15-20 pieces all bigger than a charm square in my current favourite combo: half of them low-volume, and half of them random brights.  The giveaway is open until Wednesday, May 15th.

Thursday: THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED
Apologies for the earlier note that said open until Wednesday the 15th.
I really meant Wednesday the 13th.

It's been really nice getting to know my guild mates a bit better through this blog hop.  There is a lot of talent and inspiration in Maritime Modern Quilt Guild and I am glad to be a part of it.  Be sure to check Aimee's blog tomorrow, and visit the other ones you may have missed. 

Monday, May 4 - Maritime Modern Quilt Guild 
Tuesday, May 5 - Jenn @ A Quarter Inch from the Edge
Wednesday, May 6 - Adrienne @ Chezzetcook Modern Quilts
Thursday, May 7 - Tracy @ Quilting on the Dark Side
Friday, May 8 - Anja @ Anja Quilts
Saturday, May 9 - Val @ Purple Boots and Pigtails
Sunday, May 10 -  Linda @ Scrapmaster
Monday, May 11 - Jeanette @ Stamp Stitch Create
Tuesday, May 12 - Dominique @ The Running Thimble
Wednesday, May 13 - Aimee @ Candy Coated Quilts