Welcome to the 2018 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop! And welcome to the Clever Chameleon blog. Make yourself comfy and grab a cuppa. You are always welcome at my place!
Today’s post is a little bit different to my usual fare….. it is my turn to introduce myself on the New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop.
Altogether, there are 32 bloggers participating in the New Quilt Bloggers support group and blog hop this year, and today the third quarter are introducing ourselves, showcasing our blogs and hypnotising you so that you’ll feel a strange urge to come back and read some more….. hoping you might add us to your reading list. Oh. Too soon?! If you’re not already one of my awesome readers, I guess we’ve only just met….. allow me to help you with that!
If you are a regular, come help me show the newbies around…. (psst, there is a prize draw for commenters). And there is new stuff for you as well, namely my backstory and some future plans. But make sure you are comfy, it’s a looooong post!
Hi, I’m Dione
I’m a mad-keen quilter with a slightly off-kilter (but clean) sense of humour and two sidekicks. An imaginary Chameleon and a very real cat. I’ll let you into a secret… the Chameleon is crazy and can’t be trusted. He thinks he can change colour. Yeah, I know, right………? On the other hand, the cat doesn’t do colour.
If you can’t understand me that’s probably because I write with an Australian accent. Or maybe it’s because I often write at times of the day when I should be in bed. I am Mum to two young ‘uns and happily married to an often-travelling academic, so I don’t always get a lot of me time at sensible o’clock. And I don’t always use it wisely when I do. Or perhaps it is just the aforementioned problem with my sense of humour…..
Anyway, I think I was born creating. And for the last 6 years or so, I have mostly been expressing this huge part of me through quilting. But I am a serial dabbler in many arts and crafts, and have always made things. I also love to blog and meet other quilters and teach what I know and absorb everything that everyone else knows…… and I generally write too much. You can find out more about me here.
What is the New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop?
We are a group of quilt bloggers with three or less years experience in running our blogs. We are involved in a forum where we can ask questions about blogging in the quilting niche and share solutions. And we are running a blog hop to introduce ourselves and our new blogging friends under the watchful eye of the hosts of the New Quilt Bloggers group: Beth of Cooking Up Quilts, Sandra of Mmm! Quilts, Tish of Tish’s Adventures in Wonderland and Jen of Dizzy Quilter.
It’s now the third week of the hop and my turn. There were a few suggested topics to cover in this New Quilt Bloggers blog hop post. And there is an extensive prize draw for readers who leave a comment on one or more of today’s blog posts and claim their entries at a host site. So here goes….. all about me and the Clever Chameleon…….
Describe My Quilting Style?
I don’t know how you would describe my quilting endeavours. I hope perhaps that you might say distinctive, or maybe eclectic. My style is certainly not traditional and not strongly modern either. Whimsical perhaps. Weird. No…. that’s my cooking….. I guess it could be my quilting too…..
I can show you a few things I’ve done and you can decide for yourself. My favourite quilts are bright and/or strong on contrast. But I don’t always work that way. The Right Brain rules in my sewing room and she is a moody and fickle beast……
Pre-blogging
I also make a lot of small pieces to try out various techniques. I often stretch them on canvas or frame them to make hangable art. Or make them into cushions.
Since I’ve started blogging
Here are some of my more recent finishes that you can explore further on my blog….
I am a 2018 Island Batik Ambassador and to a point, that is shaping what I design and make at the moment. We have monthly challenges and fabric to showcase. But we also have a huge scope to work in and so far I have not made anything under the Island Batik banner that I am not really proud of.
What Else is on the Clever Chameleon Quilting Blog?
I post on Clever Chameleon two to three times a week. Most weeks I have a Colour Inspiration Tuesday segment on….. wait for it….. Tuesdays. And a second post later in the week. This second post is a little random, but is usually a tutorial on a technique or motif I am playing with or a progress report on a quilt. I am not very good at just showing a quilt finish…. I am an over-sharer for sure. If there is a third post in a week, it is usually a blog hop – like this one.
The Colour Inspiration Tuesday segment comes with a colour board, and a blurb on how I feel it relates to quilting. Sometimes the colours inspire me, sometimes it is the subject. Sometimes the segment is theoretical, but often it degenerates into a full-blown tutorial for a quilting motif or an appliqué. Like this one “She’ll be Apples” that resulted in a fun downloadable apple quilting motif.
To explore the tutorials I have already put on Clever Chameleon for you, you can visit my Tutorials Menu anytime, or head to my Tutorials landing page here.
I also write about other projects I make and about the charity quilting I do.
Last but not least, I am running a block of the month this year called the Beary Colourful quilt. It is a series of appliqué bears, who each have a little positive message to share with the quilt recipient. The bear patterns are free for the duration of 2018.
Why did I Start Quilting?
Well, there is no easy way to answer this question, and to be 100% honest, I did consider skipping this suggestion. You have my permission to skip to the next heading too, if you don’t like unhappy stories. I keep this blog on the lighter side, and you won’t likely find me referring to this chapter of my life again. But maybe my story will help someone. Or encourage you to nurture someone near you by sharing your quilting skills. Who knows?
In a nutshell, I started quilting in late 2011 because I was traumatised. My second child was a difficult pregnancy that resulted in a sick baby. But the baby didn’t look sick, and medical professionals kept turning this “paranoid mother” away. Not once, but many times. Multiple times each for three different serious health conditions over the course of a year. First we battled a tumour in his airway. A problem that could have been easily sorted if it had been found when I first presented him, but nearly killed him instead.
Then a failure to thrive (that was “all in my head”) was eventually found (by accident in a test “to get him off the books”) to be caused by central apnoea. He was put on home oxygen to help prevent him dying in his sleep. And then he reacted to his tumour-reducing medication and became anorexic and constantly hysterical (two known side-effects that were “too rare to possibly be happening to your child”). I am a very introverted but intelligent person, trained in pharmaceutical science, so battling doctors who often treated me as stupid because they couldn’t simply admit they didn’t know, was a living hell.
The nightmares don’t always stop just because you leave hospital…
The rest of the time I struggled alone at home to keep him sort of fed and sort of calm. All the while I battled my own post-pregnancy health problems, grappled with the recent loss of my own mother to breast cancer and mourned the permanent loss of my job that I had cherished for a decade. Then my maternal grandmother, who was my creative soulmate, died. Being a strong empath, I had survivor’s guilt from spending so much time in ICU with everyone else’s desperately ill children and then getting to take my child home. And I felt insanely guilty for sticking my older child in front of the TV too much.
By the time my second baby turned one, I was utterly broken, with a phone directory full of fair-weather friends. I was exhausted. I was deeply hurt. And I was tired of insensitive souls telling me I was fine because “All’s well that ends well” even though it hadn’t really. It just hadn’t ended as badly as it could have. And my world was grey.
Sewing Quilts Mends Hearts
But it didn’t end there, thankfully. Some work friends of my husband’s took me in hand, gave me some fabric and pretty much forced me to sew. Once a week they picked me up from my house, took me away from that all consuming baby and showed me how to play again. And slowly over the next year or so the colour returned to my life.
I still get stressed when I think about that year before I started quilting. I do want to clarify, not all my friends and family abandoned us in that time, a select few were amazing. And not all the medical staff I crossed paths with were appalling, just too many, Writing about it now has my blood pressure sky high and my eyes all watery and I have only just touched the surface. But quilting has become my passion, my happy place. I may have started quilting for distressing reasons, but that is not why I sew now. It’s not what I feel or think about now. So I will testify that creative endeavours in general and quilting in particular have amazing healing and calming properties. And that kind of leads me to…..
Why did I start a Quilting Blog? Blogs are a bit yesterday…..
Well, I don’t get to share my quilting skills in real life a lot at the moment. Two of the three friends I started quilting with moved on to other hobbies and the third moved house. My local guild meetings clash with my now healthy son’s scout night and most other local quilting gatherings cost $$. But I want to share my quilts and my ideas with others. As my new friends gave so freely of their resources when I needed them most, I want to pass it on. So here is my site, and I try to be as generous as I can afford.
For me blogging seemed to be the obvious outlet. I used to be a laboratory research scientist and I took pride in passing my skills onto students. This is my quilting equivalent of that career, which I loved at the time but does not seem to be for me right now. You could say I have swapped one PhD for a whole stack of PHDs (Projects Half Done). 🙂 I also have dreams of somehow contributing to my children’s education costs through my quilting. I guess I am hoping that people might like to buy my patterns if they can also connect in some way. Time will only tell on that one.
Come Join the Party at Clever Chameleon!
You’re still here?! Oh my goodness!
Do you like it here and would like to see more? Or even get more involved? Here’s some things you can do…..
- become friends. Follow the Chameleon by email, Bloglovin’, Facebook or Pinterest. More followers for the Chameleon means more love from commercial companies and more resources to hand back to you. Win win!
- spread the word, tell your quilting friends….. same deal as above!
- leave comments. Not just today for a prize, but regularly for love. Blogging is lonely work some days. It is nice to know someone appreciated your post/pattern/tutorial.
- become a pattern tester. I am in the process of creating my first two properly published patterns. So I am starting to look for awesome, selfless pattern testers. Please let me know if you are interested.
- join my new party……
A party you say?!
Clever Chameleon went online just a smidgen over a year ago. April 26 was my first “blog-iversary”. I had wanted to make it into a Thing, but in the end I had to let it go. Too much else going on behind the scenes, mostly good stuff. But the Chameleon still wants a party! Who can blame him? – after all, it’s so easy for him to get dressed up! And I want to keep building Clever Chameleon Quilting into a community that shares.
So, will you come to the Chameleon’s party please?…. Tomorrow? Short notice, I know! Join us for Colour Inspiration Tuesday tomorrow and we’ll do our first ever linky party and make the Chameleon happy. Bring a recently finished project or one that you’re still working on and be prepared to strut your colours. All you need is a quilt photo you can upload, or a URL from a blog post or Instagram. The rest will become clear when you get there! Yay!!!
P.S. Please don’t leave me sitting at my party all alone with an imaginary Chameleon…… that won’t feel good!
In the Meantime…..
Make sure you enter for the New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop prizes…. there are some great things on offer, and you might just win something…. On the first week I won a fat quarter pack from Northcott and it has already arrived…. all the way to Australia!
All you need to do is leave a comment here, and then visit one of the hosts to claim your entry. There are six other bloggers you can visit and leave comments for too, plus four more entries to gain at the hosts’ sites. For a total of 11 entries to a huge list of prizes.
You are of course welcome to write whatever comment you like. But if you are stuck for words, tell me what your favourite advice is for staying motivated. Mine is this:
“Most people overestimate what they can get done in a year and underestimate what they can get done in a decade.”
Too true! So when things are progressing too slowly for my liking I just remember that!
Ok, leave me a comment and then go visit these new bloggers and find yourself some great new reads…….
Linda @ Cozy Quilts by Linda
The other member of Sunshine Quilters posting today – Cate @ Chaos Theory Quilting
Roseanne @ Home Sewn by Us
Tara @ The Quilt District
Karen @ Tu-Na Quilts, Travels and Eats
and the other Australian in the group Rashida @ No 3 Quilt Studio.
And the hosts again so you don’t get RSI scrolling back to the top of this post….
Beth of Cooking Up Quilts, Sandra of Mmm! Quilts, Tish of Tish’s Adventures in Wonderland and Jen of Dizzy Quilter.
Until Tomorrow…..
If you are new here as a “New Bloggers Blog Hop Hopper” (say that five times as fast as you can! hahaha), I hope you have enjoyed your visit. If you are one of my regular readers, then I hope you have learned something about me or my blog that you didn’t already know. And if you are one of the early adopters of my blog and have taken me under your internet wing in the last year….. there are a few of you amazing ladies and I hope you know who you are…. then please know I am insanely grateful. You have done more good than you can possibly know.
Hope to see you all again tomorrow!
Hi Dione!
Great post! I was moved by your story of how/why you started quilting. Quilting can be a great healer! I still love your Beary Colourful bears but have not broken down and started one YET!
Good luck with your present PHD!
Quilting Gail
Hi Dione, I am a recent new follower and I can’at remember how I found you. I enjoy your style! And your sense of humor too. 🙂 And your passion for creating. The New Quilters Blog hop was the one of the best things I participated in, and in fact, I think Sandra, Jen, and Tish were all participants the same year I was. They are AWESOME! I am looking forward to getting to know you and watching you create!
Hi from another PhD downunder (NZ) who started quilting to stay sane after her kids health took over (Autism, CFS). It’s probably more expensive than therapy in the long run, but a lot more productive!
Wow, to think all that happened and now you share your life and talent with us in blogland. I have so enjoyed your story, “all in your mind” It isn’t really happening, you have inherited it, it’s your age, the medical gurus have said all this to me so many times, I can understand your frustration. I am so thankful that wee boy is now so much older and healthy .Staying motivated.. one thing is, If I stop quilting suddenly, who will ever finish up what I started!!!
Thank you so much for a very gripping post. You had me on a roller coaster of emotions! I love all your quilts, before and after blogging. I’m glad you blog. I don’t think it’s at all yesterday! It’s for those who want to show more, say more and build more. I have IG, and it’s great for what it is. I won’t FB because of privacy issues and other things. Tweet? I don’t really need to know someone’s, anyone’s snippets – I want a REAL conversation, so I’m glad you are blogging! I will try my best to remember the Tuesday Linky – don’t cut it off too fast. I’m slow! LOL
Thank you for being you ! Found you with the BEARY BOM.Can’t believe you think so like me and I’m 85!! Think I print more than quilt! Have a nice notebook started with the bears, but haven’t started sewing. Love paper work and math so I better get started. dawn
Hi Dione, lovely post, really enjoyed reading it and finding out more about you. Your quilts are beautiful, especially love the turtle, fab way to remember a holiday. 💕
Im a relatively recent follower and a fellow South Aussie . I love your blog and your quirky way. I don’t blog but love to follow a variety of quilters that do. Im very happy you decided to keep quilting. Im collecting the colourful bears with the hope of making my own one day. Keep up the great work
I can definitely relate to your story. So glad to hear that your son is now healthy. I am a creative person…I made costume jewelry for a couple of years while taking care of my elderly Mother…it kept my sanity. I then turned to quilting and it was a Godsend while taking care of my husband of 60 years ..nursing him thru Parkinson’s and congested heart failure. He passed away a year ago so now quilting is my salvation as well as my dog, Todie, who is my constant companion. I am 82 and still well and mobile and quilting away. I mostly like to make placemats and tote bags but do make a few quilts in between. Good luck on your endeavors.
Read every word. What do they say? Out of adversity comes… Fabulous quilts from a funny, creative, soul. Glad you got yourself back (you must have, or you couldn’t make these quilts), along with a healthy son. And I can see why you don’t make nine patches any more. Thanks for sharing.
Great intro post! Love your sense of humour.
Thank you for sharing. Beautiful quilts! Have a wonderful day! angielovesgary2 atgmail dotcom oh, I signed up to follow you by email 🙂
Hi, I’m one of your fellow 2018 New Quilt Bloggers. I just wanted to say that I laughed out loud when I read the first bit of your post. I too have an imaginary friend…a bat named Riff-Raff who used to “hang” out on the blog my cat Ed used to write…sigh…yes it’s true. I love your style both in writing and quilting. I cannot wait to see what comes next.
Dione, I will need to go back and read your post at least one more time. There is so much that I don’t want to lose, but first and most important I am sending you hugs. We all need them, but sometimes get too busy, or reluctant to offer or sometimes to shy to ask. In our family we are huggers, and strong supporters of each other. As a great grandmother, I have lots of hugs and love to share as I receive so much.
Additionally, I look forward to your visit with me via the net. Your blog is always welcome, interesting, and inspiring. Your generosity in sharing your family of bears has increased my family by five already, and my little guys have found a number of bear cousins, as I share pics of mine, and your link with other quilters who are members of the Nova Scotia online Quilters group.
I too have a little blog, but I’ve not been faithful to writing. I need to focus a bit more perhaps. Maybe I can learn to link, and join the blogging world more completely.
Since my first viewing of it, I’ve wanted to make a quilt like your Vanatu turtle (spelling issue)quilt. If you are thinking of patterning that one, I’m interested. I have done some pattern testing for a Canadian designer, so could possibly be of use to you in that category.
Have a great week, and keep connecting.
Lynn
Hello Lynn
just read your post and the line ” Nova Scotia online Quilters group.” has peaked my interest , would love to hear more about this online group please.
Jennifer
Nova Scotia
Jennifer. check out this generous and fun group. Just look up Nova Scotia Online Quilters. Darlene D’Eon is the administrator, and a friendly lady.
Great post, Dione! I laughed at the first part, and got a bit teary-eyed at the second part. And I’m curious about tomorrow’s party! Your quilts are lovely, and I can fully understand why you don’t make many nine patches these days!!
Loved reading your post today
have been a follower for a while, do keep all the Berry Bear patterns for one day.
Have come across the same “wall of it ‘s all in your mind” syndrome,no I don’t have a little one now but a Husband with a rare heart birth defect( don’t see very many older adults with it ) .
Yes Quilting has been my salvation, have been quilting from the ’70s. do belong to a Guild however meetings seem to clash with medical appointments.
I quilt a lot for the IWK( a children’s hospital) keeps me sane.
Happy quilting and looking forward to tomorrow’s post
Jennifer
Nova Scotia
Dione! So glad to meet you! Thank you for sharing that you commit to only 2 – possibly 3 posts a week. At times I find it overwhelming to post even though I have much I would love to share. Commitment to blogging is lacking on my part! This blog hop is starting to convince me to get back to it. I love meeting people Just Like You!
I will whole-heartedly agree with you that quilting has amazing healing and calming properties! I have always adored hand made quilts but was never financially able to purchase one, I had a cheap sewing machine and no knowledge of quilting. Over the years finances were more stable and I started my buying spree! Yippee! But still, No knowledge. I met some nice ladies at a Quilting Bee and gleaned from them. Working 60 – 80 hours per week left me little time. BUT then, my husband and I were granted custody of a 3 year old grand daughter ( our children are all grown and moved out). The transition of being care-free to toting a toddler was life-altering for me. She is healthy, happy and full of life. Although Very Much full of Girl-tude! I needed an outlet for the stressful time and took to quilting like never before! I studied books, magazines, practiced, went to meetings and I am still Learning! I am smitten with the quilt-bug! I truly appreciate your story because your tragedy makes my circumstance so much lighter and less significant. – Four years later we still have a live-in grand daughter and she keeps us busy!
Please keep me in mind as a pattern tester when you move on in your ventures and looking forward to reading & quilting more with you!
Oh, I don’t think blogging is ‘yesterday’!! I enjoy writing and connecting with readers. Added you to my Bloglovin list. Every year there are those who begin blogging and those who stop, and I enjoy seeing what others do.
Glad to see that quilting helps you cope with all that life has dealt you. Love your colorful, bold quilts.
Dione, if you are weird then I’m right there with you 🙂 I absolutely loved your post and your sense of humor shinned right through! Oh my goodness, what a story of how you ended up quilting, and thank goodness for those ladies that introduced you to it. Let me say your quilts are beautiful! I’d never thought about stretching a small project on canvas to display it…that’s a really good idea. I look forward to reading more from you and I’m going to try to remember to come back tomorrow. You shall not party alone!
I appreciate all of the interesting info. Modern medicine is not always so great as many of us have learned the hard way. Quilting has been my zone of sanity and relaxation. I love the colorful pictures of your projects; they are very inspiring. Your colorful bear BOM’s are going to be my next project!
Read every word and thoroughly enjoyed your writing style! I am a fairly new quilter, but agree that it is great therapy!
All I can can say is WOW! Your quilts are so color gorgeous and your story very compelling. I am glad you have worked through some of your grief. I hope the colors in your quilts show the color of your life now. I might be interested in testing a pattern of yours in the future.
What a story you have so far in your young life! I am so glad you found quilting friends. Quilters are a special group, loving, caring, generous. Good for you for blogging. I love your color inspirations. My favorite color is green, so I’m really enjoying your month of May. Thanks for the blog hop!
Hi Dionne, nice to read your blog and get to know you even if I am across the world. Beautiful creative quilts love them. I am more of a traditional quilter but love artistic quilts too. I guess I feel I need a pattern and many artistic quilts are free form. I look forward to seeing what you create.
Dione, I know sharing your story was hard, but oh my, how far you’ve come! And thankfully your son is well. As a nurse, I’ve seen way too many physicians dismiss concerned mothers as paranoid mothers, but many are in the right and who knows a child better than his/her mother?
I’m so glad to have gotten to know you over the past few weeks through your wonderful work and blog! Keep doing what you are doing!
Very well written post Dione, and I enjoyed reading it . It is amazing how crafting of any sort can help us deal with the life’s adversities, and I don’t mean that to sound trite. It just really does seem to help in some way. Like yourself, I find the guilt that accompanies the difficult things in life is hard to bear, and so unfair to us ad the difficult things are hard enough in their own. I hope you enjoy the rest of the blog hop. I know I did when it was my turn
Your work is beautiful and I enjoyed reading your story 🙂
I am so glad that you found quilting for the help that it gives you and for our inspiration and enjoyment. I LOVE your Bloomin’ Nine Patch !!!!
Thanks for your introduction. I look forward to following your creative ventures. It is very hard to move from “being a competent professional” to a “crazy, over reacting mother”. This is something I have experience with. Creativity does keep us sane and focused on learning new things.
Thank you for a wonderful blog post, Dionne. I look forward to reading many more and picking up lots of cool tips. You sound like an amazing woman and I can tell that quilting saved your life, literally. I started quilting the last decade I was working as a release from the stress of the job….and the kids leaving home. It is my best creative outlet. I wish you many more happy years of quilting.
Quilting helps to cope with all that life has deals out for sure. Love your colorful quilts.Thanks for sharing
You Shadow Applique is beautiful!
Great post Dione! I even learned a few new things about you 🙂 I’m sure there is much more to learn… I’m so pleased you started quilting and blogging, otherwise I never would have “met” you 🙂 xx
Hello Dione! This is Tracy @ It’s a T-Sweets Day! What a touching post about your introduction to quilting. Oh, how sewing mends the soul as well as the seams. You have definitely mastered the quilting art. I especially like your Judy Niemeyer quilt. She has such a flare for design. And your textured quilt, “Blooming’ Nine Patch” is also a favorite. That one must have been a tricky one to quilt! I am so glad I was able to meet you today. Enjoy the Blog hop!:)
It’s wonderful that you have found this outlet after all of the turmoil you’ve been through. And your work is beautiful!
I’ll try to remember to hop over to join Chameleon’s party tomorrow. Do you happen to have badge code so that I can add it to my linky party list? Spreadin’ the word!
Hello Dione, I began following you a short while ago when I came across one of your Bears in Pinterest. They are so adorable and I have several reasons to make quilts with them. I enjoyed reading all that you shared, although I shed a few tears during your very traumatic times. Do not ever hesitate to email me and pour out any thing that you need to share! I am a talker, big time, but I love to help people and even just be there if they just need someone to listen. I look forward to getting to know you and your blog better. Thank you for sharing and you have a great blog starting!
I’m a recent follower and found you through dezertsuz and am collecting the beard bom. Hope to get started soon. Very touched by your story and am happy your boy is well and doing good. It’s a shame the docs didn’t listen to you. I’m a retired R.N. Who worked in pads and felt nobody knows their child like a mom. Glad you persisted. Enjoy your blogs; however, I’m bold challenged. Keep up your enjoying words and works.
I am one of your followers. I am sorry you had such a hard period of time. Glad quilting helped you through it. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Dione,
I hope you aren’t feeling overwhelmed with all the comments today! You have left me almost speechless, which is a very rare occurrence I can assure you. Not only am I glad that I have met you, and already read/follow you, but I am even more so now. First of all, congrats on your one year anniversary. If someone had asked me, I would have thought that your blog was much more established. As to blogs being yesterday – too bad for them. They are missing out on all the coolness! We each started our blogs recently so it isn’t THAT yesterday for 32 of us! And as to why you started blogging – well, here’s a big ole {{{hug}}} just for you. I wish I had known you then to be supportive, but that was not in the cards. I can support you now, and join in on your lovely colorful bears. I’m so glad I found my way to you and your blog!
~smile~ Roseanne
I’m so glad you found sewing and for sharing with us via your blog. Congratulations on your one year anniversary
I have followed you for a little while because of the monthly color challenge. I have not sewn any of your bears yet, though. They are just adorable! I do not do much applique. I’m more of a piece and paper-piece, girl. I may try one down the road, though. Thanks for the wonderful post!
Hi Dione,
I found you via the New Blogger’s Blog Hop and I am glad I did! A very moving story – I have heard from others how healing quilting is and I believe it. It is definitely my happy place! Motivation? Well, I am not so good at that either – kind of waiting for retirement in a couple of years to make a serious dent in my stash of unstarted projects. Thanks for blogging and your amazing quilts!
Anne
I love finding new blogs. Thanks so much for sharing your talent and inspiration.
I’ve been enjoying you for awhile now, since I found you through the color of the month challenge. I absolutely love your bears💚💚💚
I can’t believe you have only been blogging a year. You do it very well. I enjoy every one of your posts. Thanks for sharing.
I completely FEEL you, very similar reasons why I started quilting. Now 28 years later, I am caregiving for my mother and find it’s my only private space and it calms me. Your post was so wonderful to read. More please!!! Thank you for sharing today, from the warmest place in my heart♡
Always interesting incite into your blog look forward to it each time.
Dione, I enjoyed reading your blog very much. I agree that quilting is a wonderful way to calm frazzled nerves and regroup from difficult circumstances. You tell the story well and have such an energetic, upbeat vibe overall. I look forward to following your creative journey.
Hi Dione
Thank you for sharing your story with us. Isn’t it incredible that a joy found in pain and sorrow can lead to sharing the love of finding fabric with a world full of new friends. I love your Beary Colorful Quilt Along, but dare not start another one right now. Hopefully the fall will bring more time to add new projects to my Have To Do Like st and I can catch up with you all then!
Nice to know you better. You’ve gone through a lot to keep on stitching. I really hope that blogging is something of the past. I enjoy reading other peoples stories and see their creations. I hope blogs continue to stay around for a long time. Your bears are so cute!!
I am one of your regular readers since a few months ago. I love your blog. Thanks for sharing your story. It made me tear up. Whenever life gets hard again (and it will) remember where you’ve been and that you did indeed get through it.
read your posts often. nice to see your pre-post quilts.
Thank you for sharing your quilting and blogging inspiration.
Hi Dione, was truly moved by your story, I am glad your son is now big and strong 🙂 Its also nice to have Aussie buddy on this blog hop, so definitely would like to keep in touch. I’d love to pattern test for you when I am able, so would love to be on your list and hoping you can do the same for me. Good luck with the blog hop 🙂
I really love your Tropical Sundance quilt–also the folded blooms one (can’t imagine the patience it must have taken to do that one! First time reading your blog and enjoyed it very much!
Glad to hear you son is in good health. I follow by email, and love your colorful bears!
I am so touched by your story! You’re amazing! You put my “origin story” to shame. Anyway, your quilts are intricate and stunning, and I’m glad I got to read your story, and I’ll continue to watch what you do next!
Goodness, what a heart wrenching story! I’m glad to meet a fellow Aussie, I’m in Perth but originally from Adelaide. Blogs are a great way to tell a longer more detailed story than on Instagram- all the best for your link, hopefully I’ll remember to link up!
Quilting heals the soul. Your quilts are beautiful.
Wow very colorfully I love it… I love making colorful quilts for babys..tyty for doing this hop so am enjoying it..
What a wonderful post. I loved reading the whole thing. Yes blogging is so yesterday but it is still my favourite medium even though I seem to have less time for it now. Instagram is o.k. for eye candy but blogging has heart and soul to it.
Dione, thanks for sharing your story of why you started quilting. I hate that you had such a bad time of it, and happy you found quilting as a sort of therapy. I loved seeing all your amazing quilts. Tropical Sundance is amazing! I had to giggle when you said you couldn’t leave patterns alone. That is the sign of a pattern designer! 🙂
Dear Dione, it has been a pleasure actually being able to ‘meet you’ in some detail. Like you, your post has me all teared up, which doesn’t make typing easy. And like you I have had issues with family members, and doctors whom just don’t seem to state a simple 3 word phrase ‘I don’t know’, which would increase my respect for them. But with the ups and downs, and losses, I am very glad you have found the time to share this and all your lovely work. I follow on Facebook and email, and love your Blooming Nine Patch, your Beary Colourful characters, and your colour inspiration (actually, I love it all). Much love and support from Canada!
Thank you for sharing your very moving story and your beautiful quilts!
Love all your bright colors! And yes, quilting can heal a troubled heart. Thanks for sharing your story!
Thanks for sharing why you got started quilting. So glad to hear your son is doing well now! I love your Bloomin’ Nine Patch quilt. Like the ‘Out of the Box’ design. I help teach 4-Her’s quilting and love working with youth. Keep up the great work!!
Thanks for sharing your story, Dione. I have found that quilting has a way of finding people when they need it. So glad that was the case for you.
Hi Dione,
It has been so nice to “meet” you! Love the chameleon too, so I hope that he’ll turn purple when he reads this because it is my favorite colour.
Your quilts are gorgeous! So glad that you’ve decided to blog and share your creativity.
Happy quilting,
Sharon
I had to giggle about not having a quilt for your own bed. I started quilting in my 30s just turned 70 and just put a quilt for my own bed on last month! Let’s not count how many years that took.
The Vanuatu quilt! That’s when we ‘met’! 🙂 An island I dearly hope to visit one day…your story of how you got into quilting is pretty raw, and if I had tears in my eyes, and an elevated heart rate, I can barely imagine what you lived through and then felt just writing that for us. Thank you for sharing it; I am so glad you are here, and that we’ve become friends. I love your quirky sense of humour (recognize a kindred spirit in that and more). You are incredibly talented, as exhibited by all your work but the most recent IB finish, well you know how I feel about that! And THOSE are the origami flowers I made for my friend’s quilt that I nearly revisited for the new technique challenge! Hers was a wallhanging, my GOODNESS nowhere near the size of the beast, er beauty you made! Now I’m off to your birthday party!
I love your quilts and your sense of humo(u)r. What a delight it’s been to get to know you through the NQBBH.
Wow, your quilts are beautiful and you are so talented! Thank you for sharing your difficult story. I am glad you have friends who made you start quilting!
Dione, Well, call me SHOCKED! I met you through your blog last fall and have been a faithful follower. I love your humour, your creativity and quirky writing style, (or maybe it is just some expressions that are quirky). Anyways, you have one of the most thoughtful, articulate, inspiring and educational blogs. I eagerly open each one as it comes to my inbox. However, I don’t take or make the time to pass on my high regards because life is busy and I figure you know what you are doing and how good you are. So, imagine my surprise to read how recently you started your blog! Happy Happy Anniversary! You are truly amazing. Thank you for sharing so much about your experiences, it was very revealing and truly touching. You are a very strong woman. I am so glad you found your way to quilting because you have enriched my life and many others I am sure. I wish you every success, happiness and fulfillment in all you do and health and love within your family and community. Thank You! Jan
janice.snell@gmail.com
Great blog post and very interesting!
I would be interested in being a pattern tester but right now I have too much on the go so i wouldn’t want to commit and not deliver. I see you are also on Gails PHD list. Good luck with that. We can cheer each other on!
Cheers
Terry
Your story breaks my heart, but I’m glad you found color in your life. Your color choices are beautiful.
So glad your son is doing well.
Thanks,
Peggy
peggy_verdongibbs@att.net
So, Dione, & what do you do in your free time 🙂 I really think you have a book to write (seriously) 🙂 Regards and warm hugs.
Dione, thank you for sharing your story. I am so impressed with what you do and your approach and so grateful that you have found this community. I can’t imagine the difficulty of the years preceding this, but I so understand being the empath in the room. Glad you found a way to be creative and energized for you!
So glad I read your blog post. You are a talented quilter!
It was interesting to learn how quilting entered your life and how it brought some comfort and hope. Quilting and other hobbies have always been my go to’s to de-stress and I can’t imagine a life without them. I came upon your blog when you began the Beary Colourful BOM while I was visiting another blog. I have so enjoyed your posts. Keep on sharing.