2016 New Bloggers Blog Hop

It's that time of year again and I have to say I'm pretty excited about it.  What time of the year you ask?  For the New Bloggers Blog Hop of course.  A time of year for bloggers who have been blogging for less than three years to come together and work with one another to make their blogs as great as possible.  Oh and the best part...make new quilt blogging friends!

This is my second (and last insert very sad face) time participating in the hop.  Why would I want to participate in the hop if I already participated last year?  Good question.  When I participated last year I had only been blogging for just a few months.  Though I learned a tremendous amount, I figured there is always more to learn, I fall within the guidelines, so why not.  Plus the thought of meeting almost 50 new bloggers sounded pretty tempting too.  I consider some of my good friends to be bloggers that I met on the hop just last year.  Even though I have never met them in person, we talk sometimes daily; be it text, FaceTime or email.


So now for a little bit about me.  Hello.  My name is Tish. My blog name came about because of my love for the Lewis Carroll book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.  In my world the books would be nothing but pictures...of quilts of course.  We are all mad here.  Simply mad about quilting.  So if quilting is your passion, I think you'll fit in just fine.  If quilting is not your passion, THEN OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!  Just kidding, grab a brush, paint some roses red and please stay awhile.


My crazy family (including the furry ones) sometimes make an appearance here.  Let me introduce you to my band of merry misfits.

First up is Oliver my trusty sidekick, who has been with me ever since I've taken up quilting.  I think he takes it just as seriously as I do.  Oliver now has a tiny sister, Princess Caroline of the Fuzzy Butts.  Though Miss Caroline is bigger now, this picture is the first time she invaded our quilting space and Oliver's reaction.  These two provide hours of entertainment and never disappoint.

Then we have brothers from the same litter, Newton and Becker.  They are pit bull mixes and I would not trade them for the world.  They have never been separated a day in their life and share a very special bond.  I cannot imagine one without the other and quite frankly, I never want too.  They weigh about 65lbs a piece, but in their heads they are only 2lb lap puppies.  Becker would let me carry him in my purse if I had one big enough.

Last of the furry crew, is Miss Maggie, mother to all.  She has been with me almost eleven years and I estimate she is probably around thirteen in age.  Don't let her size fool you, she is one spunky gal and still keeps everyone in line, including me.  

That brings us to my mini me, Jen.  She is my adorable teenage daughter, forever on a quest to do what ever is necessary to not look like her mother...good luck with that babe.  She's pretty sharp with a bow and arrow and even an air rifle.  She provides me with hours of laughs and an occasional headache.  I wish I could slow the years down, but I've enjoyed watching her turn into the young lady she is becoming.  

  

And last but definitely not least, my husband of seventeen years, David.  Or as he is slowly becoming known, Dave the Quilt Builder.  In my quest to take over the world with quilting (if everyone quilted the world would be a warmer place, just saying), I have recently converted him over to the quilting side.  There may even be a blog in his future, he's still on the fence.  

Guess it's time for me to get a shirt saying I'm taken by a smokin' hot quilt builder.  Wink. Wink.

Now let's talk quilting.  I'm going to go out on a limb and call myself a modern quilter...because I live in modern times.  However, I do not necessarily have a style per se.  I typically create whatever feels right at the time.  I would like to think I would try just about anything/method at least once.  One of the things I love about my quilt blogging friends, is that they challenge me to step outside of my comfort zone and create things I didn't know lived inside of me.  That's what this blog is about, sharing my processes, being inspired, hopefully inspiring someone and having a few laughs along they way.

My Quilty Best Friend Sandra (mmmquilts) on a stick.  You can read more about this shenanigan here.

  Last year I decided to quilt along with Pat Sloan and her mix of surprise designers in the 2015 Aurifil Designer Mystery BOM.  Below is a sampling of four of the minis I created.  You can check out the rest on my 2015 Aurifil Mini Quilt page.

Indigo Crossing, Penny Love, Timber and Winter Stars 

This past year would also be a year of design for me.  After getting my feet wet in the 2015 Fabri-Quilt New Block Blog Hop I would go on to write three more tutorials.  They are completely free and can be found on my Tutorials tab at the top of this page.  I hope to collaborate with Dave the Quilt Builder and release our first for sale pattern by the end of the year.

Check out Watermelon Taffy and Nautical Compass in my Tutorials.

Wonderland also contains a Quilt Gallery featuring some of the finishes I'm most proud of.  These are only a few of the quilts that can be found in the gallery.

Zentangle Whole Cloth

Labyrinth

Hello Darling Modern Building Blocks

Mini Swoon

I hope I've convinced you to stick around and have a look.  You never quite know what this chick is up to.  I'm pretty sure I'm getting the nickname "crazy quilt lady" around town and I wear that badge with pride.

Blogging Tip:  Don't be afraid to get creative with your pictures.  I can admit a blog with great pictures or quilt porn (that's for you Jayne) will suck me in every time.  If you have a finished quilt, try to get it in the best lighting and document it well.  Don't be afraid to go into public, put it in a tree or lay it on the ground.  I think I enjoy photographing my quilts almost as much as I enjoy making them.

Quilting Tip:  One word.  Plexiglas.  Yup I said Plexiglas. Oh and don't forget dry erase markers.  One of my most used tools.  I love to lay it on top of my quilts to audition my quilting motifs.  Then I can set it in front of my sewing space to refer to when I am quilting.  Then simply erase and start over again.

From my post Table Runners Finished

How about we close with random facts about me (if you follow me on Instagram you may have read some of these before):

• I'm super short at 4'11"  
• I avoid making left hand turns whenever possible and haven't parallel parked since I took my driving test.
• My biggest fear is needles...yet I quilt.
• I am quite possibly the world's worst speller. (It's possible some of you know this already)
• I have never read Harry Potter or seen Rocky Horror Picture Show.  I'm not sure why because they seem like things I would like.
• I like to take popular songs and parody them Weird Al style to drive my daughter crazy.

So how about you?  Do you have some sort of random factoid about yourself that seems a bit off the beaten path or is not common knowledge?  I'd love to know.  Maybe it will help me feel a bit more normal.  

Now let's talk blog hop talk.  Our blog hop leaders, Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl, Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs and Stephanie at Late Night Quilter have worked very hard to organize all of the new bloggers and wrangle up some pretty awesome sponsors.  So on the dates of the hop make sure you pay each of the leaders a visit to learn more about their hive members posting that day and sign up for the give aways.  You do not want to miss out.  

I was lucky enough to be part of Yvonne's hive, The Sewcial Network.  Our hive is made up of eighteen very talented quilt bloggers, each with something unique to say. 

So today make sure you hop over and check out the following new blogger's posts:

Host: Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl
Amanda @ Gypsy Moon Quilt Co.

Paige @ Quilted Blooms

Melva @ Melva Loves Scraps

I've also added the schedule dates and who will be posting.

Monday, June 20th

Carole @ Carole Lyles Shaw

Anne @ Said With Love

Beth @ Plaid and Paisley

Jennifer  @RV Quilting

Mary @ Made By Marney

Monday, July 11th

Sharon @ Yellow Cat Quilt Designs

Amanda @ This Mom Quilts

Laurel @ Quilts By Laurel

Maria @ Penny Lane Quilts

Monday, July 18th

Jennifer @ Dizzy Quilter

Seven @ The Concerned Craft

Cynthia @ Quilting in Bogor

Amanda @ Quiltologie

So, a big thanks for taking the time to stop by and check out my little bit of the quilt blogging community.  I hope you will come back and visit.  Quilting is always more fun with friends.

Quilting Confession #2

Confession is good for the soul.  You may remember a few weeks ago I made my first quilting confession about not making bags, baskets and other fun projects that are 3 dimensional.  Today I have a bit of a different quilting confession.  It's more of a quilt blogging confession.  Nothing bad.  Actually I hope you take some advice away from this confession.  

When I started blogging a little over a year ago, I seriously knew nothing about blogging or what it really meant.  It was just something I felt led to try.  With that being said, I decided to start my blog through a free hosting site (blogspot).  Why would I pay for a .com?  How the heck does it even work?   

About three months later, I randomly decided to purchase my domain name(s).  I still had no idea how to use them, but I figured I would purchase them anyway for at least one year (this is my confession by the way, owned domain names for a year, didn't do anything with them).   I figured if I stuck with blogging for a year, then I would explore how to use them. (I say "them" because I bought tishnwonderland and my name tishstemple)

During the 2015 New Bloggers Blog Hop Cheryl over at Meadow Mist Designs shared her domain name horror story.  After she had been blogging for a while she decided to try to purchase her .com only to discover it was for sale but the person who owned it wanted several hundred dollars for it.  Fast forward to yesterday, my cousin asked me to check to see if a domain name for his local woodworking business would be available.  Yup, sure is.  But the person who owns it wants almost $1300 for it.  And yes, that is the correct amount of 0's.

So if there is any part of you that thinks you may want to own your .com I STRONGLY encourage you to hop over to godaddy or any site that you can purchase a domain name and check it's availability.  If it is available for a reasonable price, grab it.  Even if you don't do anything with it right away.  This was my advice to my quilty partner in crime Sandra last night over at (and it's official now) mmmquilts.

Since she lives too far way, this is my Sandra on a stick for all you Jeff Dunham lovers.

And as luck would have it, it was Sandra that was able to figure out how to change our blogs to our domain names.  Thank you, lady!

And let me tell you, it's much easier to tell people they can find me at tishnwonderland.com than tishnwonderland.blogspot.com...non bloggers seem to lose focus after the first "."

I'm going to plug it one more time.  I wouldn't keep harping about it if I didn't think it was important.  Applications are still being accepted for the 2016 New Blogger Blog Hop.  

You have until the end of the month to sign up.  If you are new to quilt blogging, (less than 3 years) and would like to make some new friends and learn lots of blogging advice and tips, please go sign up now!  

Blogging advice and tips?  Yes, things like how to make an image for your blog or add those cute little buttons on the side bar.  Do people never respond to the comments you leave on their blog?  Maybe you are a non-reply blogger and you don't know.  That's what happened to me last year and because of the hop, I learned how to make sure my settings allow for people to email me back.  There is even a (private) Facebook page to ask questions or maybe you know the answer to a question being asked.  It's just a great way to grow as a quilt blogger.  I have to say, some of the nicest people I know (though technically not in person) I have met through last year's blog hop.  Have I sold you on it yet?  Go sign up!  

Also starting today through April 23rd, Craftsy is having a 50% off their top classes sale.

This is a great way to grab that class you have been waiting on for a great price.  You can click here to check out all the great classes on sale.  I cave to peer pressure, so you know what I'll be doing this evening.

Along with my Craftsy shopping, I can't wait to crack open my copy of my new quilting books.  You can never own too many FMQ books.  It's just a fact.

Miss Caroline is pretty excited too.  It means extra snuggle time.

So I will leave you with a question on the original topic of discussion.  Do you own or use your domain name?  If you do own it, are you glad you bought it?  I know to some people, it may seem like a waste of money.  After all it's not a tangible item you can hold.  What are your thoughts?

Today I'm linking up with TGIFF, Can I Get A Whoop! Whoop! and Let's Bee Social.

2015 New Quilt Bloggers--My Introduction

On May 29th, I stumbled onto a post from Stephanie at Late Night Quilter looking for new quilt bloggers to join the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop.  With little time to spare, I completed the online form and submitted my blog for possible selection.  I anxiously waited all weekend to see if I would be chosen...and I was!  Over the past two weeks I have already met so many fantastic bloggers who have opened my eyes to new information that I had no idea existed or of its importance.

The blog hop is being hosted by Terri Ann at Childlike Fascination (my hive leader), Stephanie at Late Night Quilter, Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs, and Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl.  The official blog hop kicked off last week with 17 new bloggers introducing themselves, giving us all a small glimpse at who they are.  Over the next three weeks the rest of us will do the same.  So without further ado...

Hi.  My name is Tish and I am a quiltaholic.  Even my vehicle says that I am.  My habit is funded by my day job - doing accounting work for a small company.  I love my family very much because they support and enable my addiction.

    (I should probably note that I love them for countless other reasons.)  

This is me and my husband, David.  We have been married for 16 years.  It's important to us that we support each other's interests and share the things we love.  Sometimes we do those activities together and other times, we just yell encouragement from the sidelines.

We are also the proud parents of a teenage daughter...

You can read more about Jenny's Quilt

three dogs...

and a cat.

For the most part I am a self taught quilter.  Before I found quilting, my chosen past time was cross stitching.  Cross stitching was an activity that both my grandmother and I enjoyed doing together.

My change over from cross stitching to quilting happened when I walked into a quilt shop to see how much it would cost to have someone turn a set of my cross stitches into a quilt.  I had no intention of trying quilting. By the time I had left the shop the lady had talked me out of my original idea and convinced me to purchase 20 fat quarters and a Turning Twenty book.  Once I got to the car all I could think was, "What the heck just happened?".  From that day on, I was hooked.  I would love to show you a finished picture, but I have never gotten around to binding it.  Can I consider this my first quilt if it's still not finished? (don't you love the scenic air freshener)

For years now, I have enjoyed picking out fabrics and piecing quilts.  My only machine is a domestic machine, so I never thought that I would take on the task of actually quilting my own tops.  With encouragement from a good friend, my husband and checkbook limitations, I decided to stop whining about how hard free motion quilting is and jump in with both feet.  I've only been seriously FMQ for a little over a year and a half and the more I do, the more I want to do it.

Since I am self taught, one of the most valuable resources I have found are the blogs of other quilters.  Because of those special people who have opened up and put their work out there, I have been able to grow as a quilter.  If not for those bloggers, I'm not sure I would even be at the quilting 101 level.  My goals in starting a blog was to connect with others and hopefully inspire and encourage other quilters in their own goals.  I have found, in general, I am my own worst critic and, consequentially, my biggest road block.  The first step to recovery is admitting the problem.  Once I admitted this to myself, I have found that I stress less about my quilting and have been able to accomplish more.

The name of my blog comes from my crazy childhood fascination with Alice in Wonderland.  In my world the books would be nothing but pictures...of quilting of course.  Maybe it seems silly to some that I still use TishNWonderland as my name for most things, but it's me and I make no apologizes.  I hope to hold on to some of my childlike (good qualities) and be a bit whimsical in this crazy "drag-you-down" adult world.

Now that I have rambled on, I hope your still with me! The last time I counted I think I have seventeen quilt tops that I still need to finish.  In the picture below are three of my UFO's that hope to fly some day.  I keep a sticky note on my desk to remind me.  Do you find yourself overwhelmed by a stack of unfinished projects? Do you leave yourself reminders as well?

Now on to my finished quilts...  Quilting can be an emotional experience.  The story behind this quilt is extremely emotional for me.  I hate to admit it, but I thought about burning it at one point.  Just looking at it made me so upset.  I promise I'm not crazy.  I call it the Death Quilt.  Do you have any quilts that you have an emotional bond with? 

Read about The Death Quilt.  I promise it has a happy ending.

My favorite things to quilt are miniature quilts.  Since I do all of my quilting on a domestic machine, it is easier to move them around in the smaller throat opening.  My quilting addiction knows no bounds!

Read more about Falling Leaves

Read more about Sunny Lane

Three of my 2015 Aurifil Mystery BOM.  Read more about Flurry, Chubby Churn Dash, March, Secret Garden, and Spring Tiles

My quilting advice is two little tricks I use when I'm FMQ:

1) If you are having trouble with hand/foot speed coordination, try setting your speed control to slow or medium.  Then you can put your foot all the way to the floor and just worry about how fast to move your hands around.

2) When I am using thread that matches my fabric and I'm trying to put a dense filler in a small space, I will mark lines I do not want to run over with a marking pen so that I can see them better.

Hopefully, just as Alice and her journey, you have made it safely to the end of my blog.  This seems like the longest post I have ever written, or possibly I went a little overboard with pictures.  I just wanted to give everyone a small glance into my world.  I hope you will take the time to visit my fellow Social Swarmers and get to know them.


Wanda @ Wanda's Life Samper
Brianna @ The Iron and Needle
Sandra @ The Bias Edge

Also do not forget last weeks Swarmers...

Shayna @ Wife Mother Creator
Francine @ Mocha Wild Child 
Jane @ Twiggy and Opal
Robyn @ Hoops and Thimbles

and don't forget to visit our fearless hive leaders.  Links for all of the other hop participants can be found on their pages.  Plus they have some pretty awesome giveaways going on as well.  And everyone loves a great giveaway ;)

Terri Ann at Childlike Fascination
Stephanie at Late Night Quilter
Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs
Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl

Quilting has helped me to find my voice and confidence.  I hope that you will join me for my future adventures.  I have a few ideas for future projects.  Maybe if I get brave enough I will try hosting a Quiltaholic Support Group Linky Party.  Not so much that we help each other overcome our quilting and fabric addictions, but that we can help support each other when we are stuck on a certain project or just give advice.  So, I must ask, are you a quiltaholic too?

Guess Who's Part of the "Reply Blogger Club?"

This girl!  Well, I'm pretty sure this girl. (I will cry if I'm not)  Before joining the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers, I didn't even know what a "no-reply" blogger was.  Actually before last night I didn't know there was such a thing.  But I was quickly learning that I was one.  Gasp!  That is 100% not what I wanted to be.  I started blogging so that I could connect with other quilters and chat about the art I love so much.  With the help of several people I finally figured out what was happening.

The problem had to do with the fact that my Google+ and Blogger accounts were connected.  (If I remember correctly, I set them up at the same time)  I was pointed to this post at Sew Many Ways so that I could fix the problem, but when I clicked on my picture in her first step, I did not get the same options.  I couldn't find my blogger profile and I was beginning to think it was abducted.  After an hour or two of playing around (and walking away when I was frustrated) I finally found the answer.  I had to un-connect my two profiles.

I started off by clicking on the Cog

Next I chose the option to "Revert to Blogger profile."

Then I followed the instructions on the next two screens.

I switched to the limited Blogger profile.

Entered my desired display name and continued on to Blogger.

Then I was taken to a stripped down version of the dashboard I was use to.

This is where the directions from Sew Many Ways kicked in.  I clicked on my name...

and chose Blogger profile.

Next clicked the Edit Profile button.

Now the important part...make sure that Show my email address box is marked.  After that I scrolled to the bottom and saved my changes.

Then I returned to the blogger screen and clicked on the Cog again.

This time I clicked on Connect with Google+ and followed the instructions.  Then I was back in business.

Thankfully, my new friend Ashley @Crafty Ashley B was kind and patient enough to let me keep posting on her blog until I figured out what I had to do.  And also a thanks to Eleanor@ Cat Approved Quilting and Sandra@Musings of a Menopausal Melon for letting me try test posts to their sights as well.  Now all I have to do is kick back and wait for my Reply Blogger Club Tshirt and key chain to come in the mail.  It's a hard club to get into....just kidding.  

If you were struggling like I was I hope this post is helpful.