2012 Quilting Review

It is time for my annual year end review of my quilting accomplishments for the year.  This year, I did not blog very much.  I also did not do a lot of quilting.  I have taken care of some medical problems - nothing serious, but lots of little things that meant I got to know a lot of different doctors.  I even spent a couple of nights at a sleep clinic and now have a CPAP machine.

My project-by-project job had some extra projects this year, which was very good news.   I also spent a lot of time writing and reading hubs on HubPages.  I am still trying to have a large portfolio of articles there.  I have reduced the clutter in my house - that is going to be an ongoing project, but I have made great progress.  

Okay, enough chatter.  Let's see if I can find some quilts I have made this year! My latest finish is this coin quilt.  I belong to the Small Quilt newsgroup with Kathy Tracy, and her challenge this year was to make one small quilt each month.  She specified which quilt to make each month - sometimes she provided a pattern, and sometimes she chose one from one of her books.  This one is adapted from her Remembering Adelia book. I added the small inner border.   It is the only quilt I made all year from this challenge.

This is another small quilt I made this year.  It is adapted from a pattern in a book, Red, White and Sometimes Blue by McCalls quilting.

This is a small quilt I made as a request for a friend. It is inspired by a quilt I saw at the quilt show.

That's it - three little quilts.  I am actually proud that I did manage to get three quilts done.  I am tempted to make another small quilt to add to the list, but I think I need to keep my focus on my Hubpages goals.  We have to write 8 articles a month as a part of the Apprenticeship Program, and I have 3 more to write this month!

Besides these three quilts, I did make progress on my block of the month from last year, but that progress has been slow.  We were supposed to be using thangles to make the quilt, and I chose to use a different method.  All of the blocks are made, and I am working on the star points.  This is an old picture, and many more of the star points have been added.  I think I probably would have made more quilting progress if I hadn't been forcing myself to make more progress on this one.  I am glad I allowed myself to work on the little quilts in the meantime.

2013 Quilting Goals

I got scared when I saw that I had made 2012 quilting goals, but it looks like I was kind to myself and expected very little quilting to be done.  I think 2013 will also be a slow quilting year, but I do hope to make more progress on my current quilts.  I'd like to finish three quilts that have been in the works.  Since I have moved my studio to another room, I have been inspired to make use of all the fabric and supplies I do have and hopefully will have more than three little quilts to show for 2013.

I hope all of you had a wonderful 2012, and I wish you all the best for 2013.  Happy New Year!

Quilting Orgy

No Mom, not that kind.

I've been madly trying to make up for lost quilting time.  I've been sewing anything and everything that wants to go under my pressure foot.  Big or small, new or old, it doesn't matter.  All sorts of parts and pieces are piling up on my sewing table, all jumbled up in a glorious mess.

The HSTs are star points for the BOM I did last year.  Instead of buying the package finishing kit, I chose to buy my own fabric, so that my quilt wouldn't look like all the others.  As usual, I wound up buying much more fabric than I need for this quilt.  Of course, I can use it for other quilts, including my Jane Stickle quilt and my other fall quilts.

The little pink things are for the hearts quilt - my newest project.  I like to have a new project going to keep my momentum going on my older quilts.  When I tell myself that I can't start a new project until I have all the old ones done, my motivation to quilt completely leaves, so now I use the new projects as a jumping ground to finish the older ones.

The purple / orange/ blue/ green thing at the very bottom is my Wildflower Garden quilt.  This one is even older than the BOM.  I had a minor error on this block and ripped it, but for some reason, didn't manage to sew it back together.  Now it is done.  All the pieced blocks are done. I need to work on the applique on this project.

I've also been madly skimming through my Google Reader.  I can't just delete the whole and start over.  So I skim and keep all the ones with the pretty quilt pictures, and keep adding to that never ending quilts-to-make list.

The hearts quilt is actually completely pieced.  I still was not able to free motion quilt it.  My machine is very fickle with free motion quilting, and I'm not in the mood to make it behave, so I am hand quilting it. It is another small quilt, and I am hoping that it will be my next finish. I'm actually enjoying the hand quilting.

Quilt Related Post

Are you sitting down?  I don't want you to go into  shock that I have written a second post so close in time to my first one.  Or that I might actually have content that relates to my header and blog name.

All right, I have to admit that I didn't actually do any quilting.  I really wanted to save you from the trauma.  See how nice I am.  I simply went to the store to pick up the last of my block of the months.  And their BOM marketing ploy worked, since I did wind up buying some fabric as well while I was there.  I am going to use a star setting, and use the fabric shown to make some of the stars around the BOMs. Who knows, maybe next time, I will have some completed blocks to show you.

March BOM

I have finished the March Thangles Block of the Month.  These sweet and simple blocks are looking great.  I had some new friends look at my blog and they were impressed with them - the color and the pattern.  It seems strange because they are so simple that I don't think they are deserving of that type of attention.  I didn't tell them that though, and they are nice in their own way.  And they do each have 13 pieces each.

But I did come home and look over my Jane Stickle blocks and am making another one.  I have 66 blocks done, and I have considered making other blocks from the many block programs going around blogland lately.  I have been very distracted by all the different beautiful blocks and quilts out there, and making a few blocks might get it out of my system so I can get focused on finishing those things I have already started.

BOM #2

I picked up my January block late in the month and made it the same day.  I was simply debating whether I really wanted to participate.    One of the advantages of getting a late start with the January block of the month is that I could go back to the LQS and get the next block soon after. 

New Block of the Month

Our local quilt shop (LQS) is having a block of the month program again this year.  I collected blocks another year as well, but then either they stopped doing it, or I did, or both.  But they are doing it again this year.  The label says it is Series #7 of the Thangles Block of the Month.  They give you fabric to make two 6" blocks each month for $1.  You have to take the finished blocks the following month to get the next set of blocks for $1. Otherwise you pay $2.  I like this plan, because it will keep me current. The blocks are then put together in a straight setting.  But if you want to enclose the blocks in star points, then you can buy the kit for the optional setting.

They had four different colorways to choose from, and I chose the Civil War ones.  I have decided to make the blocks, and use my own fabric for the star points.

Have you heard of Thangles?  I had a roll of triangle paper that I had purchased for a previous LQS project.  I think it was part of a class.  That paper comes in a roll, and has lines that you sew down and lines where you cut.  It makes it very easy to make a whole bunch of half square triangles at a time.  Thangles is a little bit different because (I think) it is designed to work with jelly rolls.  You know how you would need 2 7/8 fabric to make a 2 inch hst?  With Thangles, you can make 2 inch hsts out of 2 1/2 inch jelly roll, because the paper aligns the pieces so that the some of the little points are already cut off.

I don't normally make practice blocks, but since I had limited quantity of the Civil War fabric, so I did this time.  I am thinking one of the practice blocks will be for Ally's Christmas challenge.  The deadline is tonight for this month, which I won't be able to make, but maybe I will be early for next month.