Around the World Blog Hop, more or less

A little while ago, my blogger friend Jay tagged me in the Around the World Blog Hop.  Is there anyone left who hasn't been tagged in this? I think perhaps not, as everyone I asked to tag (which was admittedly about 5 people) had already done it. And a few of the others who I might have asked, had already asked me (after I'd said "yes" to Jay), so I knew I couldn't ask them.  I'm not a huge person for tagging and nominating and chain letters and all that sort of stuff, but I don't mind giving you a few recommendations as to where you might go to enjoy reading a new blog. So I've just put some links to blogs - an international selection - at the end. If you want to take part in the blog hop and haven't yet done so, I think you should feel free to jump in - grab the questions from here and just go for it.

So. First question:  What am I currently working on?

Well, what I am not currently working on, is more like it. I always have a bunch of different stuff on the go. Here's a selection.

Here are a couple of quilted quilts, back from the longarmer, which are waiting to have binding attached. There's a third hanging around somewhere too.  So I guess they count as something I'm working on at the moment...

I'm always trying to keep my scrapbasket (above) and strip bag (below) under control; recently someone donated a load of fabric, much of it decent quality poly-cotton to me, so at the moment, I'm trying to use that up in a purposeful way.

I tend to make loads of blocks, accumulate them, and then have a massive go at turning them into tops - here are some of the block sets I have, wiating to be made into tops (actually, some of the ones in this photo  have been dealt with, though many of them are still hanging about). 

I do a lot of cross-stitch as well - above is a sneak peek from a Hallowe'en mystery, which I'm not supposed to show; below is part of a larger piece of a girl with a cake - I'm only working on this one sporadically, so I don't suppose it will go very quickly. 

I also make a lot of ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) which are little works of art, the size of a collector's card (e.g. baseball cards or Pokemon cards or whatever). This is a fairly recent series of house-shaped cards for a swap.

I am also currently collecting an entire deck of Altered Playing Cards (a subset of ATCs), with a butterfly theme - here are a couple of the ones I made for the swap, which is now nearly done - fours, with a Flower Fairy theme

and 8's.  I'll spare you the photos of the other numbers in each suit...

Question 2: How does my work differ from others of its genre? 

Well, I'm not sure it does, really.  Certainly in quilting, I make what I like, mostly, which tends to be simple, geometric blocks, using a scrappy or controlled scrappy look. But lots of other folks do this as well.  Perhaps mine differ in that I make a lot more tops than finished quilts, and then donate the tops to Project Linus.

Question 3: Why do I create what I do?

Several reasons, really. I like to have something creative to do. I hate being not busy. I like to try new things. I like to swap things with people. I also organise swaps sometimes - the only current one is the series of little quilt swaps called Another Little Quilt Swap. Of which another round will probably begin before too much longer....

Question 4: What is my creative process?

I'm not sure I have a specific process. In quilting, I just tend to look at what I have and see if there's anything obvious I should do with it. For instance, an abundance of 3" squares in my scrap stash might lead to someting using squares and rectangles. And abundance of strips will lead me in a different direction.  Sometimes I'll see something someone else has done and have a go at that. Is that a process?

Some places for you to visit:

I used to read many, many blogs (off and on - never could keep up). A few years ago, I cut them way back, and only kept a small selection (like maybe 100) that I look at with any regularity. Sometimes I add some, sometimes I take some away. But at the moment, here are some I read a lot, most of which, whose authors I consider friends, even if I haven't met them in person.  And a couple I just like to keep up with because their lives are so different to mine. And still interesting.  With an emphasis on the international...

Ruth's Place. Ruth is a knitter, quilter and scrapbooker, originally Australian but currently living in Papua New Guinea. I started following Ruth's blog when she lived in South Africa a number of years ago - trying to remember how many - not sure, but it was considerably before her daughter was born, and the daughter is now 6. Yikes - where does the time go?

Celtic Knots. Cathi is a displaced Yank, like me, and in fact, we were in person friends way before blogs existed. She's currently in Ireland and although she has a quilting history and knits too, her currently big thing is scrapbooking and cardmaking and designing for companies in that industry. She's on a number of design teams... She took part in the blog hop earlier this summer, so you can read her blog hop post here.

Sew Kalico. A displaced South African in Yorkshire (hmm, sensing an ex-pat theme to my blog reading!) who sews and quilts and raises kids... I've been reading her blog for many years as well, and we have become in person friends as well as online buddies. She also is taking part in the blog hop, so you can read her posting here.  The person who tagged her (Plum) also tried to tag me, but I was taken. But hey, go check out Plum's blog anyway!

Sophie Junction. Again, a longtime online friend,  currently living in New Mexico, though we have yet to meet up in person. Sophie runs the Block Lotto, of which I am a huge fan, as well as writing her own blog. She also asked to tag me, so I'm thinking she'll be posting a blog hop post soon - perhaps today!

Life at the Black Bear Cabin. Lisa lives in the mountains of Colorado, way more in the middle of nowhere than I'd be interested in living, but I do love to read about her adventures. Again, we haven't met in person, though we've been acquainted online for a long time, and are of a similar age, so have a lot of cultural reference points in common, at least in our childhoods!  Lisa is a quilter, but has a lot of other things keeping her busy, too, not the least of which devising ways to keep the bears and raccoons out of her kitchen...

Veronica Roth. (Vancouver & Oxord.) Veronica is an artist with her hands in many pies, and a prolific blogger. Her blog always has fantastic photos, too. I've only been reading it a few years, but it's very peaceful, and of course, having lived in Oxford in the past myself, I always enjoy seeing what she's up to when she's there.

Comptonia. (New England) Quinn is a knitter, among other things - I started following her blog a few years ago as well, I think as a result of a blog hop of some sort. I like a lot of what she blogs about, but mostly, I enjoy her goats. It's almost like having my own goats, without any of the work.

There are loads more - if you are out of ideas, try some of the links in my sidebar. Or jump around from the many links you will no doubt find on these fine ladies' blogs. Sometimes, when I have free time, I like to indulge in a little random hopping - you never know who you might come across...