Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  I hope you all enjoyed the Holidays and are refreshed for a brand new quilting year with no seam ripping in it yet!

I gave myself permission to stay away from the computer over the last few weeks so I could enjoy time with family, and recharge my batteries in the process. I'm afraid that means I haven't been very prompt at replying to comments, but I very much appreciate your visits in my absence!

I also missed the ritual review of the year's quilting, so I took some time today to assess what I  accomplished last year.

I think I have blogged about all of these, though I think this is the first look at the finished quilt in the lower right corner.  All of these except the black and red Sparkling Trail were started and finished in 2019.  That's unusual for me! Clockwise from top left we have:

Tic Tac Meow - February

Sparkling Trail mini - finished top January 2015, quilted February 2019

Leftovers - May 

Triple Sunset - October

Sprinkled - December

Geese Across the Table - November

Starlight Plaid- November

Mostly Clear -  September

In the center:

Simply Snow - July

I'm astonished that I do not have a better full photo of Simply Snow, as I was very excited for that finish. I will definitely take better ones when I figure out how to wrestle the pattern into a manageable size.  In the meantime, all the snowflake block patterns without a setting are still available in my Etsy shop.

In the pattern department, I was more productive than in the previous year!

Leftovers, Mostly Clear and Starlight Plaid are available in my Etsy shop.  Triple Sunset is still currently exclusive to The International Association of Quilters, but will be available more widely soon!  Connecting Threads is offering Connecting Geese as a pattern download as well as a kit.

I have four unquilted quilt tops and one unquilted table runner left over from previous years, and I only added two new ones to the unfinished pile in 2019. I think that's a pretty decent showing.

I'm not sure when I'll get to Connecting Geese, on the right.  It's a rich fall color scheme so perhaps I'll squeeze the quilting in for next fall.  Topiaries, on the left, is already about 1/3 quilted.  It is taking longer to quilt than I anticipated, because I'm quilting it more densely than I had planned.  The quilt had better plans than I did.  Quilting pictures of that one coming soon!

Dare I list what I plan for this year?  Let's just call this list inspiration.  I'm sure there will be some distracting squirrels and life in general thrown in here as well, so I won't promise everything will get done, but I can check back here when I don't know what to work on next.

Patterns to write:

• Sprinkled
• Topiaries
• Matt's Kaleidoscope or a variation on it
• Simply Snow - I will make this work!!!!
• Another couple of ideas already simmering

Tops to quilt

• Topiaries - 1/3 quilted at the moment, with a plan for the rest
• HST quilt - I plan to hand quilt this, so don't expect a finish in 2020!
• RSC Butterflies quilt - it's basted, but the quilting inspiration has yet to strike
• Connecting Geese
• Tiles

Scrap busting (do I really think I'll make a dent in my scrap pile?)

• 2020 Temperature quilt
• Rainbow Scrap Challenge 

Well, this look perfectly manageable, I think.  It will be interesting to look back at this list in December and see how much of it got done, what was deferred, and what surprises were added. What are you planning for this year?

Focus…

Focus, or rather lack thereof, is a problem for me this week.  I have too many quilty things I want to get done so I am making just about no progress on any of them.  Some are old projects, some are new, some are not started but definitely swimming around in my head with the rest, some are sewing, some are blogging, some are pattern writing…

In no particular order, here’s a peek at the competing projects, some of which you have seen before.

1. Seeing Stars needs:

• a backing
• basting
• machine quilting (no clue what to quilt here!)

 

 

2. Vintage Sparkle needs:

• a pieced border to continue the sashing stars into the border
• a plain border to frame everything
• prairie points
• a backing and basting
• hand quilting

 

3. As yet unnamed Christmas quilt

This one just jumped up on my wall with a mind of its own last week.  It’s the same layout as Sparkling Strings so I can test cutting directions for a possible pattern. It needs:

• cutting setting strips
• piecing
• basting and machine quilting

 

4. Baby quilt for hubby’s co-worker needs

• cutting
• piecing
• backing and basting
• quilting

(but I do have a plan and the fabrics are pulled!)

 

5. Kaleidoscope quilt needs:

• basting (I don’t have clear space to manage it right now, but soon I hope!  The backing is pieced and waiting)
• hand quilting

 

 

6.  Two table runners

These are way down on the priority list but I have the pattern designed and the fabrics selected! One for summer and one for fall…maybe summer and fall 2015 at this rate!

 

7. A few non-sewing but quilting-related projects competing for attention:

• stash maintenance chores (but that’s a whole post’s worth all on its own!)
• I’m thinking about a new page for the blog: how about quilt math reference tables?
• 3 or 4 patterns I could write, if I can wrestle required diagrams into submission

8.  Sleep

I’ve gotten tired just thinking about all these, so I’m off to bed.  Maybe after a good night’s sleep I’ll be able to prioritize things and make some progress on something!