Recap of 2022

Happy New Year!  Bring it on 2023!

I brought in the new year zooming with Chookyblue and other friends from around the world.  Mostly, all were already in 2023 but I and another lady from Missouri were still in 2022.  After midnight, that was it for me, but the other ladies down under kept on zooming.

On the most part, I'm happy with the results of my quilting year.

Let's start with the good stuff!  How many quilts got finished last year?  Thanks to the binding challenge with no-blog Mary, 15 quilts got done.  Very good indeed.  Goodness, just look at all these beauties!  If it wasn't for the challenge, I'm not sure these quilts would be finished, but would still be in a pile waiting for their turn.  To me, the binding challenge is very rewarding!

On the quilt binding challenge, so far, there are 7 quilts to bind.  That will bring me to July.  There will be more tops going out to the LAer, so no problem with having 12 quilts to bind this year!

Now, onto the UFO's.  Progress has been made and ..... finally ..... am under 30 projects!  First time in many, many years.  Woohoo!  Very happy about that.  For 2023, only 6 projects have been selected to finish and .... of course ..... there will be new projects.  There is NOOOO way I'm going to just be working on old stuff.  Nope, that is not ever going to happen.

For my 6 UFO's that I want to finish ..... no, I'm not going to show or list them.  You will see them as they become a finished top.  Not going to put any pressure on myself.  Whatever gets done, gets done and I will be happy with the results.

So, 2022 was a good year and I look forward with excitement to see what I do in 2023!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

December and January binding challenge

Well, we DID IT!  No-blog Mary and I bound at least one quilt per month for 2022!  A few extra quilts  were slipped in by both of us but mostly we stuck to one per month.  Sometimes, we each waited until the last day of the month to show our quilts and other times, our quilts were done well in advance of the month end deadline.  Still, we got at least 12 quilts done and that is such a beautiful word!  Ahhh, the feeling of success is wonderful!  What a great way to end 2022.

This is Mary's December quilt:

and this is her January quilt:

My December quilt is my School House quilt and there will be another post next year showing this quilt in full.

For January, my quilt chosen will be my red/white "Gingham Swirl".  The binding has already been cut and sewn together.  Just need to sew it onto my quilt and I will be happily sewing the binding down on one of our cold winter nights.

Wishing you all the best for 2023!

Happy New Year!

Cherish your day, cherish your life

Another top done!

It feels good to get this top done and ready to bring to the LAer in the new year.

This top went together rather quickly which is so surprising to me.  What I try to do is assemble pieces to make at least one block before going to bed.  In the morning, those pieces are ready to be sewn together.  This way, it feels that something is getting accomplished and it motivates me to get more ready for the next day.  It was a good evening when five to ten blocks got ready for the morning.  This top came mostly from scraps and I had to dip into my stash just to get a nice variety of fabrics towards the end.  Win-win!

I've been doing this also for borders and binding and it seems to be working ..... because I got this top done too!  Talk about magical!  This project has been on the go since .... well ..... many, many ages ago!

Then, I plugged away at some knitting and this hat got done!  You can't really see, but that is an elephant head on top of the hat.  So cute!

The project I'm working on now is this old ufo.  Will it get done before the new year?  We'll see.  I'm not really thrilled with the fabrics and am seriously thinking that this will turn out to be UGLY and I don't do UGLY!  LOL

With all the talk of that major storm ..... we got snow, but not a whole lot but it is still coming down.  This evening, I put a hot pot of soup outside (just outside our kitchen patio doors) on top of the snow to cool down and I could hear what sounded like freezing drizzle hitting the top of the snow.   In case you wonder, I do this quite often in the winter because the hot pot (with cover on) and whatever is inside cools down quite quickly.   I do this only if the temperature hovers around zero or way below zero .... you know, food safety.

Wishing all who celebrate Xmas and other celebrations, to have a safe and happy time.  

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

"Candy Crush"

This was a fun quilt to make and there is another already cut out and just waiting for assembly.  This has become my go-to pattern for kiddie quilts.  This would also be good to make out of boy fabrics and plaids and stripes.

Some close-ups of fabrics used.

Quilt Details:

Source:  photo on Pinterest

Block size:  2" x 4" finished rectangles

Started:  September 2022

Finished:  November 2022

Size:  61" x 84" (top size before quilting, washing and drying:  62-1/2" x 86-1/4")

Batting:  Hobbs poly

Machine quilted by:  Kathy Wareham using "Belladonna" design by Lorien Quilting

There .... another quilt ready for Xmas giving to a great niece.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Stars, stars and more stars

I'm hoping that my great nephew loves his new quilt that he will be getting for Xmas.  It has been awhile since his last quilt and he was due for a new one.  Ignore the shadow in the bottom part of the photo .....

Here it is sideways.

A closeup of the quilting called "Sea of Stars" by Christy Dillon of My Creative Stitches.

A cotton sheet was used for the backing and if he wants to reverse the quilt on his bed, he will have an interesting look there also.

This was a fun quilt to make ..... until those stars.  Ugh.  They were paper pieced and not my favourite to do.  This quilt got stalled because of those stars.  Now, it is done and ready for gifting.

Quilt Details:

Source:  My design using EQ7

Block size:  7-7/8" x 7-7/8"  Why didn't I make the block 8" square?  I'm puzzled by that size.  Oh well.

Started:  April 2021  Top finished: October 2022

Finished:  November 2022

Size: 56-1/2" x 80" (top size before quilting, washing and drying:  59" x 84-1/4")

Batting:  Hobbs poly

Quilted by:  Kathy Wareham

It feels good to get this quilt done and ready for Xmas giving.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Ozark Cobblestone quilt

I've been meaning to show this quilt but the timing for photo taking wasn't good.  We had snow and then a thaw, then rain and it would have meant this quilt would be dragging in the dirt.  So, indoors it had to be.

A close-up of the border (an altered version found in EQ7 called Combed Swag Border).

A close-up of some of my fabrics.  The block was found in Blockbase and it is called Ozard Cobblestone or Y007, but I changed the name to Ozark Cobblestone as it sounded better.  Tehe.

All these pieces were hand pieced using EPP (English paper piecing) method.  This was a labour of love and I so enjoyed the hours put into this quilt.

Quilt Details:

Started:  October 2010 (top finished March 2021)

Finished:  October 2022

Quilt Size:  100" x 100-3/4" (top size before quilting, washing and drying:  101-1/2" x 101-1/2")

There wasn't much shrinkage as this quilt was dried (folded in half) on a clothes rack.

Batting:  Hobbs poly

Machine quilted by:  Kathy Wareham using "Augusta" design by My Creative Stitches

There we go ..... another quilt finished and being used.  I'm so glad that the plunge was taken to have my quilts machine quilted by another person.  To me, at my age, it is so worth it.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

December Binding Challenge

Only one month left for no-blog Mary and my binding challenge.  It has been a good year so far!

This is Mary's quilt to bind:

and this is my quilt:

Now that December is here, it is time to haul out a few Xmas decorations and change all the display quilts over to Xmas quilts.  

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells .... jingle all the way .....

Cherish your day, cherish your life!