My Turn! (2014 New Quilt Blogger Blog Hop)

It's finally my turn to introduce myself for the 2014 New Quilt Blogger Blog Hop, and on my birthday too! It's so nice of you to drop in to help me celebrate. Too bad we can't share cake through our computers.

A huge thank you goes to Beth of Plum and June who has put so much into giving us new bloggers the chance to introduce ourselves. There certainly are a lot of us and it has been so much fun meeting new people these past few weeks.

My name is Leanne and I've been quilting since the start of 1997 (17 years!). My mom gave me a quilting magazine as part of my Christmas gift and taught me what I needed to know to make my first quilt as a wedding gift for a friend. It was almost double bed size and featured hand applique, hand embroidery and hand quilting. Unfortunately, I don't have any idea where I could find pictures of it right now, but I do know it had horrible ripples on the back, because I didn't baste it enough, and the binding was a total mess. But it was my first quilt and I was incredibly proud of it!

Since then I've learned a lot. Here are some of my most recent finishes.

My Spin placemats, one of three patterns available in my Craftsy pattern store. It took me a long time to realize I could design my own quilts rather than following someone else's pattern, but now I'm having fun playing with designs.

My Scrappy Log Cabin, which took me a ridiculously long time to finish, but I'm so happy that it is finally done and I can see it every day when I look in at the bed in our spare room. I haven't posted about this one yet but, as you can see, I finally got pictures so it will get a post of its own soon.

My Schnitzel and Boo Mini Quilt Swap quilt, which is my absolute favourite of all the quilts I've ever made. I feel like with this quilt I can comfortably say my free motion skills have progressed from beginner level to intermediate level. Still far from perfect, but I love what I'm able to add to a quilt now with the free motion work and I'm no longer terrified that I'll ruin a quilt top by trying to fmq it.

And here is one of my many, many works in progress, my epp hexie flower quilt. I'll soon be finished the top, since I only have to fill in the rest of the edges so that they will be straight. Then I get to figure out how I want to quilt it. After piecing the whole thing by hand it seems a shame to machine quilt it, but I know hand quilting would take me f-o-r-e-v-e-r. I know this because I have one quilt that took me six years to finish!

My blog's name, Devoted Quilter, is actually the result of me playing with words a little. Yes, I am a devoted quilter, but I also post a Christian devotion on Mondays. These devotions are snippets of how I see my faith relating to everyday life. Sometimes the devotion relates to quilting, but it could also be about anything from our family vacation to the Olympics. You can see all the devotions I've shared here.

As part of the blog hop, we were each asked to post a blogging tip and a quilting tip. I have two tips and they could both be applied equally to either blogging or quilting. First of all, if you don't know how to do something, don't be afraid to ask for help! Quilters, and quilt bloggers, are a generous bunch and will do whatever they can to help you master a new skill.

Second, don't get stuck thinking that the way you've always done things is the way you have to do them. I started out hand quilting everything, and thinking that machine quilting was somehow cheating. But I wanted to give quilts as gifts far more often than I could if I spent years hand quilting each one, so I gave in and tried machine quilting. Now I can't imagine why I resisted for so long! I love machine quilting and the level of detail I can do and still finish quilts in a reasonable time frame (well, except for my scrappy log cabin). So don't be afraid to branch out and try a new way of doing something. It may become your new favourite.

For some non-quilty information about me, my husband Paul and I will celebrate our 15th anniversary in a couple of weeks and we have three great boys. Aiden is 12, Zachary is 10 and Nathan is 6.

This was taken on a snowshoeing afternoon back in January

I love the ocean and I've lived close to it all my life, in Nova Scotia, Nunavut and now here in Newfoundland.

I also love to read, especially fantasy like Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire or Brandon Sanderson's The Stormlight Archive. I also enjoy Karen Kingsbury, Kristen Heitzmann and the Love Finds You series. What do you like to read? Any favourite authors I should try?

I'm slowly getting into gardening. So far we have strawberries and this year I added a patch of green beans. I don't really know what I'm doing, so I'm just figuring things out as I go along. Our growing season is pretty short, but I'm enjoying seeing things sprout and grow.

I've been a part of the quilt blogging community for almost a year and a half and it has been a wonderful experience. Thank you to everyone who follows my blog, or follows me on instagram (I'm @devotedquilter). It's so much fun to get feedback on the things I'm working on and to make friends with quilters all around the world.

Now that you know a little about me, here's a list of the other participants in the blog hop today. I know they'd all love to hear from you too.

Sharon @ Fabrics and Flowers

Serena @ Sew Giving

Carmit @ Quilting Rainbows 

Jehn @ Jehnny And The Boys

Jenny @ Jack's Room

Deborah @ Sunshine Through The Rain

Jennifer @ A Quarter Inch From The Edge

Jane @ Where Jane Creates

Carla @ Granny Maud's Girl

Thanks for stopping by and have fun visiting everyone else!