2015 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop and Monday Makers! #43

Welcome to 2015 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop! 

Last year, I participated in Plum and June's blog hop for new quilt bloggers. It was such a nice experience for me which taught me a lot about quilting and blogging but also allowed me to make new friends who share the same passion with me. 

When Quilting Jetgirl, together with Meadow Mist Designs, Late Night Quilter and Childlike Fascination announced that they were hosting the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers, I decided to participate for all the same reasons.

Today is the first week of the blog hop and at the end of my post, you will find the other bloggers who are joining in the fun.

Let me start with telling you a little bit about myself.

My name is Nurdan, aka Hug-a-Bit Quilts. I was born and raised in Turkey, met my (Aussie) other half there as well, got married and followed him to Australia to start a completely new chapter in my life. We have been married for six years and have a three year old boy who is excitedly waiting for his baby sister's/brother's arrival in 20 weeks! Eeep!! I work part-time as executive and program manager at one of the learned Academy's in Australia. I love listening to music, catching up on my favourite Turkish soap opera (but currently addicted to Orange is the New Black!!), reading, visiting my favourite blogs, and of course quilting, which is quite difficult to find time to do recently. We will be moving to Buenos Aires early March 2016 for three years. I am so looking forward to this for many reasons, one of which is having much more quilting time!!

I have always been a crafty person; I have tried lots of different things when I was in Turkey through community learning centres. Among these are antique painting, silk painting, hand and machine embroidery, some unique traditional Turkish embroidery...

My interest in arts and craft has always been something I had inside which never required encouragement from my parents or others. That's how I learned knitting, crocheting, cross-stitching and sewing. I remember, as a child, sitting next to my mum while she was doing machine embroidery and just watching her and asking lots of how's and why's. It always felt like a therapy.

How I started quilting and why I quilt

I had no idea about what a quilt was until we came to Australia and visited one of my husband’s friends. I saw all those gorgeous wall hangings and beautiful throws on the sofas. The lady of the house told me that she made all those QUILTS. I developed an immediate love and that love has grown more with the first quilt I made for my son when I was expecting him.

These two are my first and still my favourite quilts; they are so special to me as they remind me of my baby's first days and the start of my quilting journey.

See how brave I was that I free motion quilted my first quilt?!

I designed this cute owl quilt. I had no idea about Y seams those days but this quilt required lots as the blocks are not log cabins even though they look like it. Again, something I just thought could work if I did it that way.

 And here are a few pictures of my more recent finishes.

 Rise Up

Scattered Colours Table Runner

Layers of Charm
Very proud of this quilt as I designed the quilting pattern myself. Just love how it turned out.

My son's quilt-in progress                       

You can find more photos of these projects and other projects on my blog.

People ask me why I make quilts; isn't it taking too much of my time, isn't it a waste of time??? (instead I can sleep for example-suggestion!). I make quilts because I, first of all, like making things. During the last few years, I found that sewing and quilt making make me feel relaxed; it eases my ever-talking mind, allows me to express myself. It is keeping me mentally active and healthier which then leads to a better physical health. Playing with colours and fabrics is my toy which I can never get bored of playing with. What would I ask more?

I can't finish my projects quickly because of other commitments; this used to stress me a lot. Now I just enjoy the process and be grateful that I have a spare room in my house where I can be just me, close the door when I finish and come back to it whenever I want to. This is also my quilting tip to you all. Don't just rush and finish things for the sake of finishing them, don't stress yourself, enjoy the process.

Now I want to tell you a few things about me that not many people know!
1. I was singing at a pub when I was a university student in Turkey to pay my costs. I had quite a large group of audience!
2. I received an offer from a recording company in Turkey. After many discussions and initial recordings of a few songs, I turned it down because of the cost of the whole thing.
3. I can play any musical instrument after trying a few times- this is being able to play a tune, not symphonies from Mozart LOL
4. The story of my blog's name: I finished my second quilt for my son and showed it to my husband. He loved it so much and praised me which made me very happy. Immediately following this conversation, I said "Come on, let's hug a bit." and we cuddled on the sofa. That moment on, I decided that this was the name. It took a year to start my blog but I never gave up on the name.
5. Can't think of anything else to say; I must be quite a "sharing" person LOLL

Still reading? Great and thank you very much for stopping by!! Now that you know a little bit more about me and my quilting story, I want to finish with a question: Why do you quilt and what do you like about quilting blogs?

Please also be sure to check out all the other bloggers in this week's blog hop and do not forget to link up with Monday Makers!

Denise @CrafTraditions

Bernie @Needle and Foot

Ali @Needle Down

An InLinkz Link-up