Some questions and a feature

Firstly, how did the Small New Blog Meet-Up go for you?  Shall I make this a regular feature?  How often should it happen?  Once a month, once a fortnight, once a week?  And how many followers should the requirement be for a "small" blog?  20 or under?  30 or under?  50 or under?  I have decided as well to delete the "new" from the feature so it just becomes Small Blog Meet because a "new" requirement is pretty pointless.  So the button will look like this next time:

New icon

And now I'd like some advice and suggestions as you lot always have more and better ideas than me.  As I have mentioned about twenty trillion times, I am shortly off on holiday and will be taking some hand sewing with me.  Of course the hexalong will be packed but I want to take a second project, with my Happy Mochi Yum Yum bundle as a starting point.  


So my questions are: what fabrics shall I add into this bundle - solids, blenders, other prints.  What colours, what scale of prints.  And what shall I make?  Not hexagons because I'm already hexingalong.  Some ideas I have had are an EPP version of this quilt - Cathy from Cabbage Quilts is the Queen of Colour as far as I am concerned and this quilt is just such a beauty.  

japanese fruit salad

Or what about an EPP Storm at Sea?  Something like this from Quilt Market.


What about some Georgetown Circles:


Maybe some Applique Outside the Lines:

Or what about some modern Dear Jane blocks:


And finally, yesterday Becky at Patchwork Posse had a lovely Trunk Show post about me.  I confess my trunk of actual quilts is still pretty small so I threw a few blocks in there too to fill it out a bit. You can link to the post through the button below if you fancy popping over there to say hi.

Comments

  1. I really like the storm at sea. But to make it work with these, I'd be thinking to use these patterns in the place of those on their side squares in the middle of the stars and use a gradation of solids/blenders colour matching the fabrics to "work into" the patterned fabric. Does that make sense? I know what I mean, but it's often hard to translate what's in my head. My main thought is to have the solids/blenders so as not to detract fromthe stunning pattern, but to also show ase the prints.
    Anyway, that's my 2 cents, but then I use a lot less patterned fabric than your average quilter. Maybe I was an amish quiltmaker in a former life :)

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  2. Well obviously I couldn't give any help on fabric choice but that storm at sea quilt is unlike anything you've done before and is really striking. It's also a holiday sort of title for a quilt, except for you it would have to be storm in the pool.

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  3. oh come on, you know you want to .. join our Contemporary Jane quilt along .. we're going great guns and having a blast .. that fabric would be a fabulous spring-board - you could add anything! check us out http://under-the-willowtree.blogspot.com/

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  4. Ooh that storm at sea is amazing Lynne, but so are the georgetown circles, they would look great in bright solids too. Thanks for the linky love, you are funny!! xo

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  5. Oh now -
    fabrics: I'd go with solids so your prints really pop
    project: I like the first quilt and have always been a big fan of the Storm at Sea block
    In the meantime I'll email you details of another project that might interest you and something that can be PP'd

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  6. My vote goes to the storm at sea, just gorgeous!

    I love the small blog group, I have joined up on quite a few today, added in the google widget to my blog and have 2 people following me already. Thanks Lynne!

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  7. What a lovely feature at Patchwork Posse! Looking at your fabric and book selection- circles and triangles come through all the images, maybe a combination of what you see, you are not one to follow a prescribed route

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  8. I have no idea, just don't drop the fabric in the pool! Popped over to Patchwork Posse :)

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  9. Love the first quilt, would be a great scrap project. Storm at Sea is always glorious and this is a lovely example.........knowing you you'll probably come back with several projects done and more ideas..........I would opt for some more solids to pull out the colours from that zany pink print........you will need a separate suitcase.

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  10. Another vote for the storm at sea, just cos it seems the most holiday-ish! Although I am really intrigued by those Georgetown circles, never seen them before. Do you have a pattern?

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  11. What beautiful quilt you've shown us: the Storm at Sea is beautiful, but so is the Japanese Fruit Salad from Cathy.
    The Georgetown Circles reminded me of another project on the www (too daunting for me).
    The King George (reviewing the troops) quilt along by Cartulinas
    Details can be found here: http://cartulinas.wordpress.com/king-george-sal/
    Background info + original quilt here:
    http://www.vam.ac.uk/things-to-do/blogs/quilts-hidden-histories-untold-stories/england-expects

    Can anybody tell me how to hyperlink these links when you're commenting, please?

    I think this is just your kind of project.
    I mistyped and wrote: king of project
    Well maybe ...

    When are you leaving, we could've house swapped?!

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  12. Oh, you already know it:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilysquilts/5831874597/
    Why did you stop?
    Or did you?

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  13. Wow well I am guessing you are not flying, being able to take all that lovely fabric with you!
    I really love the storm at sea quilt.! Kxx

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  14. I love your original bundle, where did you purchase it? I think the Storm at Sea quilt is amazing, I would use plain colours and add some blues.

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  15. I enjoyed the new blog meet up. I was at 11 followers and now I'm at 20. What if you do something every 3 months. First you did under 20 maybe next under 50. The first time we introduced ourselves, maybe next time you have certain questions that need to be answered.
    You mentioned you took off the "new" but now the button is totally gone from our blogs.
    Thanks again for taking theime to start the meet up.

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  16. I vote storm at sea too .. but I do love the georgetown circles too ...

    I think you should take something easy to baste but challenging to piece, if you know what I mean ...

    I loved the small blog meet up ... I visited some really great new (to me) blogs and am now following them too ... Yay! I think monthly would do the trick ...

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  17. It was so nice to see so much of your work all together over on Patchwork Posse. Nice trunk show!

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  18. I like both the storm at sea and the triangles quilt...I wonder whether the triangles would make a more portable project as you could stitch the pieced triangles and then start to stitch them to the large triangles without having to worry much about fabric placement whereas you may need to regularly lay out the storm at sea blocks. Or how about a clamshell or a stylised flower which would showcase the print? As for adding extra fabrics I'd go for some solids or tone-on-tone type blenders, some small prints and maybe some more stripes and dots, particularly if you could highlight the cranberry pink (at least that's what my screen looks like!). Also, depending on your project, an extra couple of large prints could work well. I found this site http://www.paperpieces.com/index.html (have no idea how to make that into a hyperlink, sorry!) which sells EPP papers, there are lots of ideas there! What ever you do will be wonderful so have fun! (Sorry for the extra long comment - blame the heat!)

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  19. I 'd say storm at sea because you just finished a circle-type quilt, but the Georgetown seems more hand-piecing friendly to me. Anyway, I say pull out the bluey color--is this Sarah Jane coordinate about the right match? I like the way it reads solid but isn't. http://quilthome.com/product_info.php/cPath/38_1197_1198/products_id/11536

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  20. I love the Storm at Sea but it's really easy to machine piece. If you're looking for a hand piecing project, I think the Dear Jane is a good choice. There are a number of blocks that would be best done by hand, especially some of the applique blocks.

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  21. love all those bright colours and the small blog meet idea is great as I only have 2 followers!

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  22. I think I'd go with solids, to emphasize the prints...

    As for the SBM, thanks! I had 9 followers and now I've 13, so for me it was very helpful. I also enjoyed jumping around other blogs in the link-up party, you really got a wonderful idea!

    I'm with Cindy Lou (comment no. 16) as for the "rules" of the SBM: every 3 months, increase number of followers by 10 or 20 each time (till a reasonable limit, say 100, for example) and themed presentation (specific questions or requests) each time, so we don't repeat ourselves...

    thanks again for the opportunity!

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  23. I love the small blog meet up idea. My blog has been rather neglected lately and I must turn things around! As for your holiday plans, well, can I say firstly lucky you! And secondly, my pick would be the piece o cake appliqué. Have fun! but don't drop too many pins in the sand!

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  24. You could always take some of your FWQAL blocks. I read the author pieced hers by hand. :-)

    As for the blog tour, I didn't get a chance to scoot around yet but I liked the idea a lot. It's an enjoyable experience though it takes a lot of time. I think I'd vote for maybe twice a month or once a month.

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  25. First of all Lynne,thanks so much for starting the Small Blog Meet! It was so much fun to meet new bloggers and have some wonderful comments on my own blog! I have added many new blogs to my already long list of blogs I stalk.
    As far as picking something to work on while you are away...what I know about hand stitching could be put in a pin head, so I have no opinion! But the choices are amazing, so good luck with that!

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  26. I would love to see you make a storm at sea quilt...I can picture quite a storm with you around! ;) But I adore that triangle quilt at the very top too...You've got a rough life with decisions like this! ;)

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  28. SBMU went well for me - I gained 10 followers; that's a 50% increase.

    My opinion, once a month; I would say a small blog is under 50 but I would now that I have greater than 20! LOL

    Thanks so much - it's been fun getting extra comments on my blog and even more fun checking out new blogs!

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  29. The Small Blog Meet was fantastic. I found 20 new followers in the past two days and the lovely messages that people have left gave me a great lift in spirits and confidence that I can do the quilting and blogging thing.
    I have been putting it off for so long because I never thought people would find my blog.
    It's fantastic as I suppose we all started from scratch.
    It would be great to do it every few months as I have found, there are some beautiful blogs out there.

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  30. I've gone from none to 16 followers thanks to the Small Blog Meet up so am a very happy bunny and am now following all the others who've joined up so far. I knew there are many very talented people out there; thanks for helping me find some of them.

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  31. Oops! sorry, every couple of months I'd say and under 50.

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  32. the first one, definitely, you'd do such a good job of it, I'd love to see that!

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  33. Hey Lynne, the Small Blog Meet Up worked out great. I got all of those nice comments and 8 more followers. It gave me a big boost. If you dont mind doing it again I think every couple of months would be good. And I guess anything under 50 followers as a requirement cause at that stage you are probably still able to regonize new followers.
    Btw, I really like the Storm at Sea quilt!

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  34. My vote is for the one from Cabbage Quilts.

    I missed the Small Blog Meet Up :(
    Hopefully there will be another and I can join in.

    Love your beautiful hexies, they are so inspiring. I am overbooked for now, but love the eye candy!

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  35. Love your blog! I too would like to know where to get a pattern for the Georgetown Circles..like the ones shown here. I've been wanting to do something "round" and this may just be the one. Thank you! Toni

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  36. I really cannot thank you enough for hosting the Small Blog Meet-Up! I know that everyone starts out with no followers, but when it is you out there all alone it doesn't feel that way. Knowing that there were others out there at the same point as me really helped build my confidence both as a blogger and as a quilter. I have found many great blogs this week thanks to you. I truly appreciate it!
    I also agree with most others that doing it again every month or two is plenty. And I think having some sort of directive question is a great idea.

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  37. I missed the Small Blog Meet-up! I just saw the post today so I guess I missed the party, ha! I hope you do it again soon though. I have 20 followers now but would still like to participate in future meet ups! Great idea you have.

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  38. I thought the Small blog meet up was great and it would be nice to repeat, maybe every couple of months - I don't now what rate people start new blogs at...

    For the hand piecing, they all look stunning but my favourite (and the one I could never manage to do by machine!) are the Georgetown circles. I'm sure, whichever you choose, you'll come back with something amazing :)

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  39. I just found the Small Blog Meet-Up, so yes, please do it again :) I think once a month would be often enough, and maybe up the followers limit to 30. SBM is such a great idea and so thoughtful of you, thank-you.

    I've got a small stack of Happy Mochi that I haven't decided what to do with yet, too. Right now I'm leaning towards diamonds...

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