Monday, January 2, 2023

A Recap of My Quilting Life for the Year 2022


 

Image by Harisankar Sahoo from Pixabay.

In this post, I go over my posts during the year and give you a summary. of the quilts I made, and any big events. I make a yearly recap every year.  Like last year, I did not have any rules - I could start and finish as many quilts as I wanted without any guilt. The key was just to enjoy the journey. This lead to some fun finishes in 2022. Then I created a rule to finish more quilts than I started. Let's see how that affected my quilting.

January


 I started the year in problem solving mode. I wanted to find a better storage solution for me to keep my sewing space organized and bought two of these sets of drawers.



 I made Pink and Other Colors as a part of the weekly Project Quilting challenge. I made this in one week!


I made Flight in another weekly Project Quilt challenge.

Also in January, I worked on a UFO called Lansing Leaves. I finished the migrating geese borders by adding solid pieces and attached them to the center. I also pieced the backing with the scraps. Then I put it away. Out of sight, out of mind.

 

February 

 

In February, I made Orange 2-22-22 for another Project Quilting challenge. These challenges really help with my productivity. The fact that I could have a quilt finish on a fun date helped with the motivation too.

 

I also started the Aunt Daisy quilt. It is a traditional, full size bed quilt. It is fun to make these types of quilts, but although I have to be more productive to make the many pieces, there isn't a lot to show for it. I am calling it Jazzy Blues because of the colors I am using.


I made some postage stamp blocks. This is a long term leader / ender project.

March

 
In March, I picked up a different UFO, and tried to come up with different fixes. I finished quilting the body of Olympics Twist. I still need to finish quilting the borders. I also kept making blocks for the Postage Stamp and Jazzy Blues quilts.
 

April

 In April, work got really busy, to make up for the slow years and to accommodate different political decisions made by our customers. Zeus passed away during this crazy time.

May

 

Work continued to be busy in May with overtime, but I was able to devote a few minutes every day to finish Be YOUnique.

June

I didn't get much done in June, as work was even more busy than April and May. Why do two projects at a time when you can do four?

July

I spent my holiday weekend in the hospital getting my gall bladder removed.  I kept working on the Postage Stamp blocks and on the Jazzy Blues blocks.

August

In August, I finally had a small finish, USA, using the scraps from the Jazzy Blues blocks.

September

 I continued with making a Mini of the Month with Be a Peacock in a World of Ducks. The name is just to distinguish it from the other peacock quilt I made this year.

 

In September, I adopted a dog. I call her Zoey. She is very affectionate and energetic and requires a lot of training and attention so she has slowed down quilting progress.

October, November and December

Work got busy again, but without the overtime, I was able to make more Jazzy Blues blocks. I also played around with different layouts for this quilt. I also worked on moving the sewing room to another part of my house. 
 
I also spent a few minutes here and there continuing with my years-long Konmari project, where I touch everything in the house and decide whether I want to keep it. It's a big project because it is a big house but I've made lots of progress without burning out over the years by working on small areas at a time.


On the last week of the year, the lineup finished with Stand Tall.  I quilted the camel that is part of the same series, but alas, I did not have time to add the binding and embroidery on it.

Recap

 
So how did I do with my finish more than you start goal? Depends on how you do the math. Officially, I do not have more finishes than I have starts. I started seven quilts and finished seven. But I did make a lot of progress on the Jazzy Blues quilt - almost all of the blocks are made. I also made progress on three UFOs -  Olympics Twist, Postage Stamp, and  Lansing Leaves. I also quilted the camel quilt.
 
I am satisfied with the results. Having rigid rules would have meant that I shouldn't have started Jazzy Blues, knowing that it will be a big time commitment that will keep me from making other quilts. I enjoy it too much to follow that rigid rule.
 
I want to thank Wendy for her small quilt of the month challenge and Kate for 15 minutes to stitch challenge. They helped motivate me and gave me "permission: to enjoy myself and spend time quilting. I also want to thank all of my blog readers for coming and reading my ramblings. Your support means a lot to me.


6 comments:

Tanya said...

It was an eventful year for you wasn't it. Surgery, the loss of Zeus (I miss him) and the entrance of Zoey into your life (we aren't calling her Jaz any more... I'm a bit behind.) Your quilts all are a great representation of who you are! Creative, one of a kind, colorful and fun!

Queeniepatch said...

Happy New Year
You are so organised and regularly report on your annual progress. I think you have been very productive in 2022.
I really like your orange, it's a vitamin boost in February - just what we need at that time of the year.

Wishing you a productive and enjoyable year of quilting in 2023, too.
Queenie

Kyle said...

2022 was a very productive year. It's all about having fun and enjoying what you're are doing.

Kaja said...

Despite the ups and downs it seems as if 2022 was a good year for your quilting. Let's hope 2023 continues in a similar vein. Happy New Year!

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

Thanks for putting together this great post of 2022. Teaching/training a new dot has to cut into your time quite a bit. Small quilts are definitely more fun to make than large ones for a little instant gratification. It's always nice to have some ongoing projects to work on when you want to sew.
Have a great 2023. I hope your new sewing space is working out well.

Michele Bilyeu said...

Awesome! What beautiful things you made. Seriously, I love each one. My blog was algorithmic-ly out of sight since last October. Incredibly challenging trying to "fix" it. Worked on it doing fixes I had no idea of how to do! I'm hoping search engines are finally picking me up again as of today!