13th Year!

Thirteen years ago today - Monday, January 26, 2009 - I wrote my first blog post!

Six people commented on it. Looking at those comments... only one person still follows and comments on my blog: Debbie J. www.aquilterstable.blogspot.com. Wow, Debbie! How fantastic is it that you and I continue to follow and read one another's blog posts after 13 years?! Thank you so much for that!

If I'd known I'd attain this blog-longevity, I might have written about something other than making my first Pavola to celebrate Australia Day (today).

Though in the first month of blogging, I wrote only four posts, in November 2009 I wrote 22 blog posts! Seems like a lot, but back then blogging was the primary means of communicating with other quilters. With the pervasiveness of Facebook and Instagram, many people withdrew from from blogging, and reading blogs.

Early-on, I followed more than 80 blogs. Though 75 blogs are still on my reading list, many of the makers that I still call friends have stopped blogging. I miss, and feel sad about no longer knowing that they're creating and doing. When they dropped the blogging habit, our closeness went away too.

In 13 years of blog-posting:

• I've written 1,138 blog posts
• on average, that's 88 blog posts a year
• or, 1.7 blog posts per week
• I wrote 163 posts in 2009, compared to 68 posts in 2021
• since March 2019 I've written 124 Book Recommendations
• thanks (blame?) for those reviews and ratings go to my friend Karen E.
• refer to "Books List" (top of home page) to view and/or download those titles
• received 13,100 comments, and replied to nearly all of them
• "no reply commenters" can find my replies to them on that particular blog post
• I documented the making and finishing of 156 quilts
• quilts range in size from 10" X 10" to 98" X 109"

In 13 years of blogging, I've blogged about...

...visiting Australia four times, when our daughter lived in Five Dock, a Sydney suburb;

While in Sydney, I taught beginner quiltmaking at Darling Point Anglican Church, sharing the experience with these friends, Di B. and Di. J.;

...numerous quilting classes and workshops I taught, among them, 35 five-week beginner quiltmaking lessons;

...winning my first and only Best in Show at the 2012 Machine Quilter's Showcase in Overland Park, Kansas. 

My prize was a Bernina 440QE sewing machine;

...moved from our Iowa home of nearly 33 years to live in Florida ('nuf said);

...met my best Florida friend on July 10, 2012;

...welcomed five grandchildren into our lives by marriage and by birth;

...made and maintained special friendships through quilting and social media;

Deb @ireniebeanie24 in Iowa

Carla @lollyquiltz in Kansas;
Cindy@liveacolorfullife in California;
Doris @madebyabrunette in Iowa

... in 2013 was diagnosed. and received radiation and drug therapy for non-genetic breast cancer; and the same year was diagnosed with severe peripheral artery disease, caused by genetics. I've had seven angioplasy, three stents put into my femoral arteries, and live with PAD through drug treatment;

... in 2019 said a heartfelt good-bye to our dear Hogan;

On November 5, 2010 I wrote a post about The Modern Quilt Guild, a "new quilt guild." I encouraged readers to check out!;

I co-founded the Des Moines MQG in 2010

and when I moved to Florida, Central Florida MQG was founded in 2012

...in 2013 I attended my first modern quilt show, QuiltCon in Austin, Texas...

And now I'm counting down the days until I will attend my fifth QuiltCon. In 21 days!

... along the way met some well-known quiltmakers;

Christa Watson

Angela Walters

Victoria Findlay-Wolfe

Christina Camelli

Lee Monroe 

Jo Avery 

Jacqui Gering, in her Kansas City studio

Alex Anderson

...had the pleasure of hosting two international friends, both met through the Internet and our blogs!

Edith QuiltsundMehr.blogspot.com from Neftenbach, Switzerland in 2013

Di @darlingdi from Sydney, Australia in 2017

... and could continue to reminisce about much, much more! Sewing projects, weaving, braiding, fabrics, techniques... dozens of events and activities that have happened in the past 13 years! Thousands of pictures have been uploaded to blogger!

Most of it has been good, and that makes me very grateful. Especially knowing that all of my family and I made it through the worst of the pandemic. I'm earnestly thanking God that the COVID-19 vaccine was created.

The last thing to share today is a Kawandi. 

This is the ninth small one I've made since learning this hand-stitching, scrap technique from Sujata Shaha, in a November 2020 virtual workshop.

 For the first time, I tried a planned layout of scraps. It finished at 18" X 24". 

I can't imagine what the next 13 years has in store, but I hope it will continue to be about family times spent together, friends, and sharing quiltmaking with others. For sure, I plan to blog about all of it! Linda