2020 Quilty Goals

I find it helpful to set specific, measurable goals for my sewing accomplishments. This includes new skills I want to try, specific quilts or projects I want to make or finish, and quilts that have not yet been started for which I do not yet have fabric or patterns necessarily chosen.

I do NOT like having unfinished projects. I am a finisher! So I definitely want to get some things done.

Here is what I am aiming for in 2020:
1) Complete my Summer Sampler 2019 (that's the green and white and grey quilt) for my uncle.
2) Complete my Book Quilt for another uncle.
3) Participate in the Paper Chain BOM. I still don't even have fabric chosen for this one! I better get on it!

4) Finish up my Doctor Who BOM that I made all the blocks for in 2019. I need to throw on a border to make it bigger but that shouldn't be too complicated.
5) Finish my Atomic Starburst in Alison Glass Christmas fabric (Pattern by Violet Craft) Now that I have a wool pressing mat (my favourite Christmas gift this year) I think I can really knock this one out. 

6) I have a cushion to make for my mom. The measurements she initially gave me were wrong and I've never made a cushion with piping before so I've sort of avoided starting.
7) My mom also wants me to recover her dining room chairs. I will get to them. I think.
8) Sew together bags for my daughter's teachers. They both got quilts last year and she has the same teachers this year so I don't want to do another quilt.
9) A quilt for my older daughter's teacher. 
10) I want to finish the two baby quilts I put together using the blocks from the West End Modern Quilt Guild 2019 BOM.
11)A sew together bag for my sister-in-law for her 40th birthday.
12) I am participating in a QAL with some quilty friends. We have called it Quilting with My Gnomies and we are making Norm and Nanette by Elizabeth Hartman. I have the gnomes all prepped and need to make three gnomes a month (there are 18 gnomes total).

13) IF there is a Summer Sampler 2020 then I will participate. I love the skills I learn by signing up for them.

That is it for the "must" list and at the moment I am so in the weeds with work that I can't seem to dream about my next big project!

Here's to hoping in December 2020 I can reflect on a 13/13 completion!

2019 Year End Recap

I made 11 quilts (not counting mini ones). (UPDATE: Actually, 12, see #10 below).
I made at least four sew together bags.
I made bunny bags for all my nieces and nephews at Easter (well, the little ones at least).

Of the list I made for myself, my goals for 2019, I:
1) Finished my summer sampler, Neutral Summer.
2) Finished my Polaroid Quilt, Photo Finish.
3) Finished my strip quilt, Thank You Rose.
4) Finished the quilt my daughter made when she was 7 and donated it.
5) Made a Stack Quilt.
6) Made a Banner Year Quilt.
7) Made a Meadowland Quilt for my best friend for her wedding.
8) Made 65 fabric pots for that same friend for her wedding.
9) Made a basic Lizzy House patchwork quilt, Joy.
10) Used up the leftover red and white HSTs I had to make a quilt, which I donated. Which also means I made TWELVE quilts, not 11. 
11) Used up turquoise and grey HSTs to make a doll quilt for my daughter (as seen in the collage above).
12) Made every doctor for my Doctor Who quilt ON TIME.
13) I did NOT complete my book cover quilt because once I made a bunch more and laid it out I decided I needed way more blocks. This is a WIP.
14) I made all the blocks for the West End Modern Quilt Guild BOM then turned them into two quilts tops that need to be quilted. Still, I made all the blocks so I count this as a goal achieved.
15) Made a sew together bag for my mom.
16) Repaired all the quilts my dog chewed.

So out of 16 goals I managed to complete 15!!!! Pretty damn good, I think!

Here's to smashing 2020's goals too! (I will write a post for those sooner or later!)

Vintage Wedding: A Finished Quilt

My friend of more than twenty years got married early in September. I knew I was going to make her and her new husband a quilt and there were a few fat quarters I had set aside years earlier that just had my friend written all over them. I started this Meadowland quilt at the same time as the one I made my daughter but this is the HUGE size (80"x90").

The colours and patterns and slightly vintage feel are just right for her (and her husband). 

The backing is this flower fabric that is subtle and also gold so a slight shimmer. 

She LOVED it and it has resided on her bed since she got it so I think it was a win. Which is good because it was a BEAST to quilt!

Ocean Fantasy: A Finished Quilt

I loved this Meadowland pattern by Then Came June when it first went all over Instagram. I decided to join the #MeadowlandQAL and use a bundle I had sitting and waiting to be made into something for my older daughter. 

The quilt along was a ton of fun and the end result was cute. though I determined I really prefer Meadowlands with more limited palettes. The blocks I ended up liking the the most are the ones with only two colours, not three.

My daughter loves it and used it as soon as I told her it was done. It was in heavy rotation all summer until she finally switched over to her down duvet when the weather was more consistently cold at night this past week.

Joy: A Finished Quilt

I love Lizzy House. When I was cutting out the fabric for my Lizzy House Snail quilt I also cut a 5" square from almost every fabric I own of hers. Then this summer I finally put them all together into a simple patchwork in rainbow order.

There is no reason for the quilt other than it makes me ridiculously happy every time I see it. It is a small lap size and it is so delightful.

For the back I went back into my Lizzy Stash and cut some rectangles to do another stripe of colour. The main backing fabric is an orange stripe from her Castle Peeps line that is soooooooo old and OOP. It is so cheerful with the rainbow!

So nice to make a quilt just because it is a happy thing to make!

Elle's Unicorn: A Finished Quilt

A colleague whom I cherish recently gave birth to a precious baby girl. This Lisa the Unicorn quilt (an Elizabeth Hartman pattern) seemed the perfect choice. The background is Kona UltraMarine. 

For the unicorn's mane I used all Alison Glass Sunprints and I LOVE how it turned out. The unicorn's horn is Tula Pink.

The backing is an old OOP Aneela Hooey print that I find charming, in a light pink.

I did organic straight-ish line quilting.

The wee bub (and her mom) loved the quilt!

Edges: A Finished Quilt

Since I first began quilting, I collected the selvedges. I didn't know what I would do with them. I graduated to a giant glass jar to collect them in. The consensus amongst my quilty friends was that though they were pretty, the doubted anything would come of them. Hah!

Here is Edges, a quilt I finished in July. It is made entirely of selvedges, in colour order, using a muslin base to sew the selvedges on in strips. This quilt is HEAVY and no one but me will ever probably appreciate it. But isn't it cool?

I see so many designers and companies in each block and I find it so delightful.

The back is just some random stuff I had  in my stash.

I am still collecting selvedges so I will need a new plan once that jar gets full again!