Year-end Review

Journal

Friday, December 31, 2021

I’m almost running out of time for my year-end review. I may not stay up until midnight but I still have a lot of year-end things to do in my sewing space before I’m ready for the New Year – and tidying up isn’t one of them!

Looking back I didn’t have a lot of goals for the year so it was easy to surpass them – I must keep that in mind for tomorrow’s post.

I accepted the Goodreads Challenge and said I’d read 50 books but I managed to squeeze in 53. My new iPad (thank you, thank you, thank you) allows me to download books from the library and over the holidays I read one and returned it with a click of a button. I’m about half-done the second one – no more going out in the rain to return and pick up books.

A quick count tells me I did at least 60 cards throughout the year. I knit or crocheted four afghans as well as several hats and scarves. I finished ten quilts but for many of them the top was already pieced. I didn’t count how many additional quilt tops I worked on or started. I managed 16 miniatures as well as 26 miscellaneous small quilting projects (microwave bowls, tissue holders, mixer covers, etc.).

I finished one large cross stitch this year that was a UFO from many, many years ago, as well as my Hallowe’en stitch along. I finished 24 small cross-stitched quilt blocks before passing the patterns on to Stacia, and I finished a pillow top over the holidays. My Peppermint Purple Stitch-Along has just two blocks to fill in as well as a lot of border but I’ll continue to work on it on my hand stitching days. My Neglected Floss stitch along petered out after two months – not me, the designer – so I’m going to have to find something to fill in the remaining monthly gaps.

I’m looking forward to what the New Year will bring – all good I hope.

Button Box

Quilting
~ 38″ x 53″

I bought this bundle when Stacia, Deloise and I went to Houston for the 2016 International Quilt Festival. It came with a pattern for a 3-Yard quilt. I’ve purchased 3-Yard quilt books over the years, as has Deloise, and we’ve always shared them.

It wasn’t until this year that I dug out the fabric to make a Christmas quilt for my 12-Day package. Much to my surprise there were six different fabrics in the bundle and none of them were a yard in length. I don’t recall what pattern I picked up with the fabric but I found another 3-Yard quilt pattern that I wanted to make.

It took some figuring and adjusting but I was finally able to make the pattern work with the fabric I had. In my head I planned another zinger for the border but there wasn’t enough fabric to do that and I had to adjust the size of the border. The quilt still came out at a decent size for a cuddle under.

Jelly Snowflake

Quilting
~ 50″ x 50″

This pattern was released in July of 2020 as a sew-along; I put the top together that summer although I’m sure I fell behind as the clues were released. I had a batik Jelly roll in my stash and I won a Bali Pop at a Guild retreat that were pretty good matches. Jelly rolls and Bali Pops are just another name for 2.5″ strips.

It wasn’t until I decided to include this in my 12-Day package that I got it sandwiched and finally quilted.

I’m not fond of batiks but with a flannel backing and a good wash it has turned out quite well.

Happy Birthday Will

Cards

January 18, 2022

Precious Things (from the Splendid Sampler 2 series)

I used my newly-acquired paper piecing skills for this card. Newly-acquired but quickly forgotten. Thanks to Deloise for putting me back on track. I’ve added another note to the notes I already had so, hopefully, next time I can do it on my own.

Will turns 17 this year – I can hardly wrap my head around that. Of course if I thought too often of the ages of my grandchildren I’d have to think about the ages of my children and then my own age – so I tend to think of them rather than the ages!

There is nothing more precious than my grandchildren.