Throwback Thursday, 2010: Welcome to Wonkyworld

I made the denim quilt top that is my blog wallpaper

I started blogging around 2008-2009, but in 2010 I started using Google Blogger. Friends told me about it, and Blogger seemed to resolve some of the technical issues I had using the blog template from iWeb. It also offered a way to reach more people.

I decided to call the blog Wonkyworld, and the first post was on October 5th, 2010. I was just testing the waters, but soon switched over to Blogger permanently. Hard to believe it's been 4 & 1/2 years and almost 600,000 page views since launching this blog.

1840s "Sprigs of Laurel Medallion" from Baltimore

The first quilt that appeared on Wonkyworld was this 1840s "Sprigs of Laurel" Medallion from Baltimore. This quilt came from a thrilling eBay auction on October 16th, 2007, when I entered a sniper bid in the last moments and outbid the other bidder. When my first Wonkyworld blog post was published, I had just discovered the identity of the other bidder, who saw the quilt on my blog.

2011 exhibition at Benton County Museum - my first!

Much has happened since 2010, a world of opportunity- museum exhibitions, magazine publications, web seminars, lectures, appraisals, I started making quilts, and my first book is coming out any day now. Before Wonkyworld, I'm not sure if any of these things would have been possible.

block, sash and cornerstones from the MacMillan Family Quilt, 1868, KY

Starting a blog was a way of sharing the quilts I collected for the previous 20 years-- and sharing the quilts was really all I ever wanted to do. Before blogging, hardly anyone knew about my collection.

two rare, 18th century resist quilts "just hanging out"

Wonkyworld is my journal, the diary of a 21st century quilt collector, and readers have been able to watch the whole journey unfolding. That's the thing about this blog. Until recently, collectors' activities have been mostly private.

Patchwork Professional Magazine, Germany

You couldn't read much about the incredible bargain finds and all the things it takes to build and share a collection. Exhibitions and publications just appeared magically, and the only people who saw what went into those efforts were the ones working behind the scenes. The process was gradually demystified when it became the subject of an ongoing series of blog posts, and it was something that made me unique.

Photoshopping a quilt, a 1990s school project from Macon, Georgia

Process is a popular subject among the thousands of great quilt blogs, but most are related to construction, technique, and making quilts. This blog is more about the thrill of the hunt, buying and sometimes selling, antique, vintage and new; photographing quilts and studying them; it is about washing, conserving and storing quilts, preparing them for exhibitions, donating them, and all the amazing discoveries along the way.

at QuiltCon, February 2015

Most of all, Wonkyworld is about revealing my process as a collector. When I started the blog, sharing my quilt-related activities seemed like the natural thing to do, but in hindsight, it was really something new. So, today I thank the readers for 4 & 1/2 great years and close to 600,000 page views. I hope you'll keep reading along. There's always something interesting going on at Wonkyworld.