It's hard to believe that another year has come and gone. The New Year 2019 is full of promise. We were greeted by a stunning sunrise, all pinks and oranges, this cold and crisp morning. Hopefully, some quality time will be spent quilting today, and all through the year.
The first order of business is to see what was accomplished last year. Counting my bag of used thread spools we find that 18,650 yards of thread passed through my machine. Wow! Wish I could find a cute craft idea that would use those white plastic spools, but I haven't found anything yet.
Twenty quilts were completed in 2018: 4 Queen size, 2 Lap size, 4 Baby quilts, 7 table top quilts, a wall hanging, a table runner and a mini-quilt. This year my quilting is much denser and I've done more free motion quilting successfully. The discovery of Crayola Ultra Washable markers to draw in my quilting lines has been amazing!
I pieced my first selvage-edge quilt blocks this year, and enjoyed learning that skill. With the passing of quilt designer Cheri Payne, I have also been trying primitive piecing and applique blocks. One of her quilt designs was completed, and another is in progress. Her philosophy of making each primitive quilt block uniquely your own, rather than following her exact pattern, has been freeing. I am now comfortable using her pattern as a guide, and taking it in my own direction. No guilt!
This past year my embroidery machine was humming too as I stitched designs on dish towels and aprons for the Ashland, WI museum, and my daughter even sold a few at a craft sale up there.
Of course, there's a UFO list to finish in 2019. Here's what I have in progress....
7 tops ready to quilt (queen and twin sizes)
5 tops ready for borders to be cut and added
3 quilts with blocks completed but need sashing
2 quilts still piecing blocks
4 types of blocks as leader-ender or scrap clean-out projects
1 Storm at Sea that's still not started, but getting close
Wishing you all a New Year filled with quilting adventure and creativity!