Hey hey, it’s MJ,

            It’s August but let’s be honest with ourselves if you are like me you are still half in quarantine because the world is a crazy place and well, that’s where we are right now. Also this is my blog and I am going to do what I want because that’s what my life is right now. I have a number of hobbies (most of them I am not particularly great at but I try). My mom got me into quilting in probably 2013 so I have been doing it on and off since then, I am going to show some of my finished quilts and some of my current projects. They are pretty basic compared to some of the ones you can see at quilt shows or online that make me sad because I have a feeling I will never be able to recreate a photo in quilt form but guess what; that’s okay. I’m doing something I enjoy and that’s what hobbies are, they don’t have to be perfect you are just having fun. I only have one of my quilts in my apartment, aka I only have one completely completed that I have in my possession, four others went to three of my college roommates and one went to my best friend. She’s got another one showing up eventually (spoilers) but I have to tear out quite a bit of the bottom because on the long arm it went to heck. (I try really hard not to swear here, I do it in real life like all the time but I try not to when I am writing, whether that be blog posts or books.) 

            So quilting projects, this one sits on my bed right now and usually it’s just folded up and that puts creases in it so I have to unfold and refold like all the time because I don’t want those creases to become permanent. This one was my first quilt, half of it is hand sewn and it was a lot of scraps and fat quarters because at the time I was buying a lot of those and not a lot of yardage but I was proud of this when I was done. I call the border on this one “one and a half inch square hell” (that’s about the only time you will see me swear around here) because it was 464 one and a half inch squares that I sewed together and then used it at a border, like it looks cool but I am never and I repeat, never doing that again. 

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            This next one I fondly call me “top in one night” quilt and I did it in the fall of 2014, the picture below is how it looked at the end of that night and then I had to change it because it wasn’t actually anywhere close to being even so I had to rip out and add to actually make the top that I have now, it’s still in my parent’s basement and I will finish it eventually but well, I just haven’t yet. I love it though, again scraps and fat quarters made up most of this one as well which at the time as a lot more my style but not so much anymore. 

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            Vincent van Gogh is my favorite painter, the whole impressionist/post-impressionist era is my favorite era of art so when they came out with the van Gogh collection I had to have it, this is at the latest 2015 (I think) but it was this and the Iris painting in panel form, I have that one two I just haven’t done anything with it yet. I want to eventually hang this above my couch but here’s the thing, I have to finish it first and that clearly has not happened. 

            Last one that is anywhere close to being a full top, I am working on other projects but I am not going to show those yet (maybe next year or in a decade, who knows with my hobby schedule) but this one is one that I just finished putting this part of the top together last week of the week before, I got this is as a kit and it was just long strips and I cut them up and sewed them back together, it’s a cute little beach batik (ba-tee-k) (in case you don’t know how to pronounce it because I cannot spell it without having to Google it) theme and I had a lot of fun making a nice quick project out of this. Now I am just going to have to find the bordering materials and all that because fabric is still hard to find right now. 

            So I enjoy hobbies and I find something new to try pretty frequently but rarely share it so here’s one, MJ quilts. 

            I will see everyone later in the week with another post, I hope everyone has a great start to the week!

            -MJ