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Sunday, June 12, 2016

2016 New Quilt Blogger's Blog Hop

Welcome!  Today is the first day of the New Quilt Bloger's Blog Hop, 2016 edition.  This year's activities are hosted by Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs, Yvonne of Quilting Jet Girl, and Stephanie of Late Night Quilter. The blog hop is a way for some of us fairly new to blogging to get to know each other and get creative and technical advice.

Tell us about you.

I'm Emily, and I've spent the last 10 years in Charlotte, North Carolina.  I have also lived in Virginia, Minnesota, Ohio, and Michigan.  I am a librarian at a community college.  My husband is extremely supportive of my quilting and I swear that if you give me 20 years, I will turn that man into a quilter!  Our son is 2 and loves trucks, penguins, and Elmo.


Why did you start your blog and where did your blog name come from?

I started the blog as a way to track my completed projects.  I used to keep a physical binder of photos with project information, but that became really hard to keep up with once my son was born.  I've always liked dogwoods because they are beautiful trees, and they also happen to be the state flower of the state where I was born (Virginia) and the state where I live (North Carolina).  I added the "Darling" because I felt it needed something else, and there was some family history of using darling for me because as a kid my favorite baseball player was Ron Darling.  You can read the longer version behind the name here.

When did you start quilting and who taught you?

I was an undergraduate at Kenyon College in Ohio, and one of the extracurricular activities there was a Craft Center.  I took a class my sophomore year (1997) from a woman named Elaine Hartley.  Her specialty was handwork and crazy quilting, but she taught us about rotary cutters and how to use a sewing machine.  I stayed in that class the rest of my time there and eventually was the student manager of the Craft Center.  I still have a pin Elaine made; it hangs so that I can see it from my sewing machine.

What do you sew on?

I got a Pfaff Ambition 1.0 "for Christmas & birthday" last year, but we actually brought it home in March of that year and I immediately started using it.  She needs a name.

Favorite Parts of Quilting?

Piecing the tops is probably my favorite part, followed closely by choosing designs and imagining projects in my head.  And petting completed quilts!

Least Favorite Parts?

Layering!  I mainly spray baste, out of laziness and the fact that I want that step done.  I'm also not fabulous at quilting, and I don't feel like my FMQ skills are getting any better, though I've come to like straight line designs more and more.

Favorite Completed Quilts?

My obsession for the last 3 years or so has been I Spy quilts.  The first that I finished is twin bed sized, and I did a little over half the piecing while I was pregnant.  It has 192 different I Spys and no 2 objects repeat. (This quilt predates the blog.)

Here is another of my favorite I Spy quilts.  This one was a baby gift for a coworker and the little girl's first birthday happens to be yesterday. Original blog post here.


I've been challenging myself to try new techniques, and one that I tackled last year was paper piecing.  I've done 3 projects so far, and this is my favorite.  Original blog post here.

I also did my first mystery quilt last year, Scrap Dance. Original blog post here.

How would you describe your quilting style?

I am not even close to a perfectionist when it comes to quilting.  I don't do show quilts for that reason.  If everything had to be perfect, I would not enjoy myself.  I don't consider myself a modern quilter but there are parts of the modern quilt aesthetic that I like.  I like I Spy/Novelty fabrics, batiks, purple, scrap quilts, trying new things when I'm in the mood, and have recently become enamored of solids.

Favorite Quilty Charity?

I have been an active member of the Charlotte chapter of Project Linus since January 2015 and have donated 23 quilts to date.

Blogging Tip? 

Don't be afraid to ask! Like a feature on someone's blog?  Ask how they did it!  I find quilters to be extremely generous in all sorts of ways, and what I have learned through this New Quilt Blogger experience so far is that we are all learning from each other.

Sewing Tip?

I cut my scraps down to set sizes that I know I use frequently.  That keeps my scrap bag at a manageable size and means that when I want to make something, pieces are already cut.

The Darling Dogwood Speed Trivia

1. Name: Emily
2. Sign: Sagittarius
3. Favorite Color: Purple
4. Favorite TV Show: Gilmore Girls & The West Wing
5. Favorite Number: 12
6. Favorite Vacation Spot: in the mountains (VA or NC)

My question for you:

If you had to make a monochromatic quilt right at this moment, what color would it be and why?

Thanks for stopping by!  Please check out some of the other bloggers spotlighted this week in the New Quilt Blogger's Blog Hop.  And this is just week 1 of 4, the fun continues through July 18th.
Miranda @ I Have Purple Hair

56 comments:

  1. HI, I'm GRANNYcanQUILT and I'm happy to meet you. I thought about your question and would love someday to make an all green quilt. I Can see it already, it would be bright chartreuse-y green in the center with mossy, woodsy greens in the corners and foggy grey greens popped in all over the space. I love green. Thanks for sharing a bit about yourself.

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  2. Hi Emily, enjoyed getting to know you more today! I would go with blues. I've actually thought about it before, but haven't got around to it yet. The list is so long, you know!!

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  3. Hi Emily, What a great post to get to know you! Loved seeing your finished quilts.
    Hmmmmm....as for my monochromatic quilt, I would say green.

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  4. Hi Emily, great reading your post and finding out more about you. I love your paper pieced quilt, so cute. My monochromatic quilt would be grey. I haven't used grey much in the past but just now I have a definite leaning towards it. Or there again it could be because I couldn't sleep last night for excitement.
    Smiles
    Kate

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  5. Looking forward to your blog. I wanted to do this but had just taken on a new part time job, so I am hoping next year.... I would do a monochromatic quilt in blue. I love it, have a lot of it, and never tire of it.

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  6. Hi Emily. You've done a great job with this post, well done! I would kind of like to do a low volume quilt one day, I'm drawn to the subtlety of them. Loved your story and quilts

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  7. Hello, Emily-White-so many shades. My ambition is to make a magnolia flower quilt from a beautiful pic I took of one in the yard-like you, my FMQ needs more practice-not happy yet-Susan

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  8. I love greens so that would be my choice. Love your I Spy quilts. How did you collect so many fabrics? Did you swap or buy? Glad to meet you.

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  9. Emily, so nice to meet you! I love dogwoods too, well anything with nature, really. For that reason, I would make my quit with all greens! Great idea on your eye spy quilt to separate the blocks by color, it adds one more element of interest for a child.

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  10. So lovely to get to know you better, Emily. If I had to make a monochromatic quilt right now, I'd probably go with teal. I do love a good monochromatic quilt... I think it is awesome that you have made and donated so many quilts to Project Linus; it is always a goal of mine to make and donate one or two to them each year as well.

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  11. very nice to get to know you here and your Quilts are beautiful well done

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  12. great to know a little about you. i would make a purple quilt
    quilting dash lady at comcast dot net

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  13. Howdy back at ya...i grew up in michigan....A monochromatic quilt i thank blue....
    love it...happyness04431@yahoo.com

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  14. It is still a new experience for me to go on these blog hops and they are so much fun. I loved reading about your quilt history. I have never made a monochromatic quilt but I think I would lean towards red. For some reason, even from childhood, the color red just calls to me.

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  15. So nice to meet you Emily! You and I have a couple of things in common: if I were to make a monochromatic quilt, it would definitely be purple. I love purple!! And one of my all-time favourite TV shows is The West Wing.

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  16. Nice to get to know you, Emily! I would make a yellow monochromatic quilt as of today. Tomorrow, it might be some other color!

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  17. Hi Emily!!! Right now if I made a monochromatic quilt it would be aqua. I'm still obsessed with that color. I don't really consider myself a true modern quilter so I made up my own label, modern-traditional. I just feel like I'm somewhere in the middle. Your paper pieced quilt is darling!

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  18. Thanks for giving us an idea about who you are. My monogram quilt would be taupes, in the Yoko Saito genre.

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  19. Hi Emily! It's so nice to get to know you better. I made a neutrals quilt recently and loved it. But right now, looking at my stash, I have tons of blues and tons of purples. So my monochromatic quilt would be either blue or purple!

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  20. Hi Emily, thanks for the great post and getting us kicked off. I enjoyed learning more about you and seeing your quilts. The I Spy quilts are cool! If I was doing a monochromatic quilt right now I'd probably go with black and white. I think I have a stash of those I need to work through!

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  21. Great post, I love your voice that comes through in your posts. I would make a blue monochromatic quilt because I have so many blue fabrics and it is my favorite color.

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  22. I am so glad you are trying out new things. I think that's one of the most fun things about quilting is checking out what everyone else is up to. if I had to make a monochromatic quilt right now I think I'd go with green as I am enjoying summer!

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  23. So very nice to meet you! Your writing really reveals who you are as a person, not many people can do that! I got really excited when I saw the Scrap Dance Quilt that Carole put on last year. I am Brenda (the one who writes/talks a lot) and did that quilt and this years Scrap Dance Tango. Are you doing the Mystery quilt this year? So nice to meet you...I will follow your blog. Have a fantastic creative day!

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  24. Love that rainbow I-Spy quilt you made last year, so cute! Blue/Aqua monochromatic would look fantastic.

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  25. Hi Emily - lovely to read this post and find out more about you and your quilting. I have to say I love the girl and umbrella mini - I follow The Tartan Kiwi on IG and really like her patterns. I think it would have to be an blue quilt at the moment. There are so many different blues out there I think it would be great to do a graded piece in blues ... hmm no that's got me thinking! Hope to stay in touch after the Blog Hop. x

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  26. Hi Emily, I love your blog. Your quilts are pretty and full of color.

    We have a bit in common. I am a librarian too. Public library, though. One of my favorite colors is purple and any iteration of it. Love, love, love The Gilmore Girls and The West Wing.

    I was in the New Quilt Bloggers Blog hop two years ago, and learned so much. I met some great new friends too. It is an inclusive and kind community.

    If I had to make a monochromatic quilt, I would probably uses all shades of blue. I tend to shy away from blue, and am collecting more blue fabric in order to try something new, using lots of blue.

    I'm glad I stopped by, read your blog and got to know you.

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  28. I love the way your post is set up! Great way to get to know you and love the question and answer style. Love the quilts you've showcased :) And I am an Ohio girl so we've got something in common (aside from quilts LOL)

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  29. Eeesh. Sorry about that. I had too many windows open, and left a comment here that was meant for Kate!

    I love your scrap dance quilt. I think if I were to make a monochromatic quilt, it would be aqua. I just got pink out of my system!

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  30. Great post.Fabulous projects.

    I made the scrap dance too but it`s waiting to be quilting .
    If I had to make a monochromatic quilt right at this moment,it would be purple, to gift it to my goddaughter for his birthday.

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  31. Monochromatic quilt would have to be blue, it seams like that is the color I have the most of in my stash and in my scraps.

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  32. I love your colour blocked eye spy quilt. My monochromatic quilt would have to be blue because I love blue!

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  33. I've always wanted to make a quilt all in pinks, my favorite color! And all for me!

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  34. I've always wanted to make a quilt all in pinks, my favorite color! And all for me!

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  35. Hi Emily, What a great introduction and blog post about yourself. I love that you aren't into perfection either. My favorite new saying from Angela Walters is "Finished is better than perfect." My monochromatic color choice? RED!!

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  36. Nice to meet you Emily! I am currently really stuck on teal/aqua/cyan/mint colors and so my monochromatic quilt would be in these colors. I think I am stuck here because there are lots of babies joining my extended family and those colors seem to be gender neutral to me.

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  37. Emily, your work is so colorful! The creative quilting on the woman in the rain is super fun - love how the "rain" is blocked by her umbrella. My color? Light gray for sure!

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  38. Hi Emily! My youngest daughter shares your name. She is a spitfire! You and I are both Sagittarius! I was born on December 15. I love The Gilmore Girls, too. I'm going to get my girls started watching it this summer. I think they'll love it, too. Your blog is fun to read. I love that you admit you are not a perfect quilter and t b at you quilt west you love, modern or not. I will be following you, for sure, and look forward to it!

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  39. Blue or red would be my choice. I am also a Sagittarius

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  40. Congrats on being on the new blogger list. My colors have to be in blue/teal values since I purchased a large fat quarter bundle more than a year ago and still haven't cut into it because it's just too pretty. Good luck with your blog!

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  41. I would find it extremely hard to make a monochromatic quilt as I love color...lots of it. But I do have a lot of teal on my shelves. Great looking blog! Karen

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  42. Glad to meet you. We both have Project Linus quilts in common. I'm definitely a rainbow person, but would like to do a blue and white quilt, more traditional. I've been blogging for 2-plus years and always appreciate any blogging hints and help.

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  43. Hi, Emily! I've only just recently heard of Project Linus and I think it's such a wonderful cause - I'd love to get involved as well. Your quilts are lovely. I really like how you grouped the colors together on the baby I Spy quilt. And isn't Gilmore Girls the greatest? I just started re-watching all the episodes with my eleven-year-old daughter. It's even better than I remember! 😀

    I have a current low-volume obsession, so I would definitely have to make an all cream & white quilt with lots and lots of texture!

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  44. It's fun to meet you Emily and to learn about how you became a quilter! I love that you started in college. I don't make show quilts for the very same reason you mentioned - it wouldn't be as much fun. It's so impressive that you've made 23 quilts for Project Linus - hooray for you! Going monochromatic for a quilt!... hmmm I'd choose red.

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  45. Hi, Emily! I've never made an I Spy quilt but yours look like a lot of fun. I actually am making a monochromatic quilt right now. It's a black and white quilt. It was great learning more about you. :)

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  46. great quilts!! If i were doing a solid quilt it would be shades of purple and grey

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  47. Hi Emily, thanks for sharing so much on your hop stop. I really like your Singin' in the Rain mini and your scrap quilt. Both are gorgeous. I'm originally an Ohio girl with ties to the NC mountains.

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  48. I enjoyed reading your post and learning a bit more about you. I'm visiting from the Sewcial Network hive. I think my monochromatic quilt might need to be orange. Good job on all your Project Linus donations. I had the opportunity to donate a couple of quilts to them this year, too.

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  49. So nice to read your story.
    If I had to make a monochromatic quilt I would have to say grey, followed closely by yellow.
    I haven't tried paper piecing yet, but that little umbrella looks like just the thing to get me started. Thanks for sharing!

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  50. Hmm... If I had to make a monochromatic quilt, I would have to go with PURPLE! I really enjoyed learning about your process, and I have yet to make an I Spry quilt. They look so fun!

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  51. Hello, nice to meet you. I love the ispy quilts. I have a plan to make one too, but each fabric will feature bunnies!

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  52. Enjoy visiting blogs and meeting bloggers. How I love the inspiration you offer to the quilting world. Thank you for you time and talents! I would like to make a quilt from either shades of gray or blue.

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  53. Emily, so great to learn a bit more about you. I think you have one of my dream jobs. I love libraries and books. I love all of your eye spy quilts and especially love the mini. If I had to make a monochromatic quilt at this moment it would be in shades of blues and white/creams.

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  54. Hi Emily! So nice to meet you! My favorite color is purple, too, and that would totally be my choice for a monochromatic quilt. I love you girl in the rain quilt. So simple, so pretty.

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  55. Hi Emily, I'm coming in a bit late, but I wanted to say hello and that I love your quilts! And to answer your question, I would probably choose a pink quilt, because I have GOT to reduce my pink stash.

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  56. Congrats on starting your blog! I would make an all orange quilt but it would be tough as I love ALL the colours.

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