2017 In Review

My consolation in having so few completely finished quilts this year is that quilting was not the only interest and emphasis for me.  Maybe I'll make more quilts this year, or maybe not....  So, this is a review of my 2017 applique and quilting efforts.

Completely Finished Quilts  (only four)
 
A Blue Plaid Linen Shirt was the backing for this little patriotic quilt.

The green/blue Buckeye Beauty was The Ugliest Quilt of the year.  But it's done!

My favorite quilt of 2017 was this really scrappy one, made of leftovers from another quilt.

A dozen blocks (also leftovers over from another, larger quilt) became one small quilt - large enough to cover legs, small enough to wrap a baby or toddler.

Interim Finishes (as in, finished blocks, finished tops, etc.)

I devoted time to choosing fabrics, pattern pieces, and appliqueing these Cheri Payne Baskets of Plenty sew-along blocks which are currently awaiting a decision on layout, sashing, and borders.  (Poor, late-night phone photo.  Don't bother to enlarge.)

My Gwenny-inspired Medallion quilt top received its final border with appliqued vines and stars.  It has yet to be layered and quilted.

This very red/pink Buckeye Beauty is finished to the top stage.  This is a sister to the ugliest quilt, above.  I like this one much better.

Most Viewed Posts in reverse order, least viewed to most viewed
> A Finish, Compared to...
> Baskets of Plenty #7:  Cheeky Bird
> Baskets of Plenty Block 2, Choosing for Block 3
> The Ugliest Quilt
> First Basket of Plenty, Finished

Posts with Most Comments in reverse order, least comments to most comments
> Albino Crow, Strong West Wind tied with When Does a Project Become a UFO?
> Back to Scrap Squares
> Wrestling
> The Ugliest Quilt
> A Scrappy Finish

Truly, this was a little year on the quilting front.  Three of the complete finishes had been in progress for a while and only one was new, so I was pleased to have finished three UFOs.  In 2018 I hope to quilt several tops that have been waiting and start and finish several quilts at least to the flimsy stage.

I'm linking this post to Cheryl's Best of 2017 Linky Party at Meadow Mist Designs.  Click through to see other quilters' best of in 2017.  Thanks for hosting, Cheryl.

I wish you all the best to you in 2018!

--Nancy.

One Quilt Plus Four Other Finishes in December

This little quilt made from leftover blocks is the very last finish of the year for me.  I stitched the binding today and it now only awaits a wash and dry. 

It's already dark so the photos are with a flash.  Even if I'd finished it earlier I would have needed a flash because we've had such a grey day.  (Love those grey days.  No kidding!)  And it's snowing now as I get ready to post this. 

The quilt measures just 41½" x 54¼" (before wash and dry) -- a little quilt just big enough for a baby, or maybe the top of a table, maybe big enough to go over one's legs for warmth.  I used leftover Cream Rose batting and Americana thread. 

The quilt looks crooked below but it's the angle of the photo.  (If people are born with photography genes, I didn't get any.)  When I see photos of a finished quilt I notice things I didn't when it was in progress.  Like, maybe I should have arranged those blocks a little differently, or maybe the sashing should have been wider/narrower/another color; etc.  But it's done and I'm happy enough with this little quilt.

My other finishes this month were books and, sadly, not quilts.  They were books.  Four books in a month is a record for me.

This first books was one I noticed on a shelf of Christmas books at the library.  It looked light, simple, and Christmasy.  And it was short:  just what I needed after plowing through American Grit for a month.  Away in a Manger by Rhys Bowen takes place in New York City in the early 1900s.  The heroine, Molly Murphy, discovers several supposed-waifs begging in the street.  It doesn't take her long to realize that they hadn't always needed to beg and determines to learn their situation and story.   This was a cozy mystery, a genre new to me -- or at least the name of the genre is new.  Other authors include Agatha Christie, Daphne du Maurier, Mary Steward, Jacqueline Winspear, and plenty of recent authors who are new to me.  I recommend this book as a fun, fast, light read.

Next I read The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin, also the author of Better Than Before, a book about habits.  She discovered the tendencies while researching how people created habits and discovered that the way people respond to expectations can be grouped into four different categories, sometimes overlapping.  They are upholder, questioner, obliger, and rebel.  You can read a little more about the tendencies here.  I found this book really  helpful in understanding my "rebel" husband.  She also offers an online quiz to learn your own tendency. 

Then I moved back to fiction and read Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate in less than a week.  This story was inspired by the Tennessee Children's Home Society scandal of the early 1950s.  The story is told in the first person by two individuals:  Avery, a 30-something daughter of a N.C. senator whose father and grandfather had been senators; and May Crandall, a resident in a nursing home.  Avery meets May when she attends a birthday party for a 100-year-old resident.  May greets Avery and walks away with the dragonfly bracelet Avery's grandmother, Judy, had given her.  It happens that Judy is also in a nursing home struggling with memory loss.  When Avery returns for her bracelet, she visits May and becomes aware of a possible connection between May and Judy.  May's story of her childhood was sad and sometimes horrible but the resiliency of the human spirit wins out.  I loved this book. 

Wonder by R. J. Palacio is the last book I finished this year.  It is about a boy who was born with some genetic that caused his face to be malformed.  It was told in the first person by the boy, August; by his sister, Via; Via's boyfriend, Justin; and several of August's classmates.  It’s a story about seeing past appearances; about accepting others and being kind; about bullying....  You may have seen a preview for the movie but based on the preview, I think the book is better.  It was definitely worth my time to read it.

I'm linking this post to
> Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts
> Finish it up Friday at crazy mom quilts
> TGIFF at Kathy's Kwilts and More
> Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
> Show Off Saturday at Sew Can She
Thanks for hosting, ladies.

--Nancy.
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Short Days, Early Nights, Christmas, and Quilting

I love this time of year -- late fall and early winter -- when the days grow shorter and the dark of night comes earlier.

After gracing us with fall's bright beauty and dropping it to the ground, I imagine the earth breathing a sigh of relief then settling in for a cozy winter rest.  Following nature's lead, I take it a little slower in the late fall and early winter.  If it weren't for the busyness of getting ready for Christmas, I would slow down even more.  But already the days begin to grow longer and here we are, heading for spring and summer again.  I'll enjoy the next month while it still gets dark early.

Christmas was wonderful with my daughter and her family here -- three little grands ages 5½, nearly 4, and nearly 2.  Busy, busy, busy, and such fun.  The only sadness was that my younger daughter wasn't able to be home.  She works as a nurse and couldn't have both Thanksgiving and Christmas off.  There's an incompleteness when a family member is not home for Christmas.  It's hard to believe that Christmas is really over, though.

The week before Christmas, while my younger daughter was home, we attended Merry Tuba Christmas Columbus.  If you've never been before, I encourage you find a Tuba Christmas in your area and go.  It's such fun to hear Christmas carols played by tubas, with their great, deep blubbery, vibrating "voices."  I wondered what the collective noun for tubas was and found tumult, croak, and rumble, but none of those really quite describes the sound of 15 dozen tubas playing together.  The best way I can describe being in an auditorium with nearly 200 tubas playing "We Three Kings of Orient Are" is being in the belly of a whale.   The sound surrounds you.  You can google Tuba Christmas and watch/hear videos but they just don't do justice to the live sound.

It is also fun to watch tuba players applaud.  Because their hands are holding those heavy instruments they can't really clap.  Instead they lift their tubas up and down, up and down, again and again.  Click on the above photo to see the tubas in the air.  Yes, next year, I encourage you to try to attend Merry Tuba Christmas if you can.

Quilting time took a hit over the holidays but that's okay:  time with family is better than time quilting.  Those who were here left yesterday afternoon.  After taking it easy last evening I was ready to get on with things today.  I cut binding....

... for this quilt, which I worked on during nap times and late evenings and finished hand quilting a few days ago.

I hope to have a Friday finish this week but we'll see if I can hand stitch 120" by then.  If not by Friday, surely I can get it finished by the 31st for one last finish in 2017.

I'm so grateful I didn't have 17 unfinished projects to finish this year.  I would not have met the challenge.  I'm still considering what's in store on the quilting front for 2018.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

I'm linking this post to
> WOW at Esther's Blog
> Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication
> UFO Challenge at Jo's Country Junction

--Nancy.
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A Little Slow Stitching

I quilted for about an hour as I listened to and watched the Christmas Devotional tonight.  Doing something with my hands that requires very little thought seems to help me concentrate on what I'm hearing.

This quilt is slowly coming along.  I have 1½ squares to finish quilting, but then I have the sashing and borders to quilt, too.  I thought about claiming this for my One Monthly Goal this month but that might be just a little too much pressure for December.

I'm not thrilled with how the plaid fabric is not aligned on this block but obviously it didn't bother me enough to change it before I stitched the blocks together.  There's a strange kind of symmetry to it, though -- if one looks carefully and long.

As Lori, of Humble Quilts might say, it's a humble quilt.  It will keep some baby warm, or cover a table for Christmas, or hang on the back of a chair, or....

I hope you had a good Sabbath.

I'm linking this post to Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.  Thanks for hosting, Kathy.

--Nancy.
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Not Quick and Simple

I wanted a quick, simple back for this quilt.  Nothing fancy because, after all, it is a scrap quilt.

I had a piece of fabric that was wide enough for the quilt itself but didn't have four extra inches on the sides.  I added a strip of fabric to make it wider, layered it, and pin basted it.  Then I started to quilt it.  Ugh.  The fabric looked like it should be easy to quilt but it wasn't.  This style of plaid/homespun has been around for a good while and I've always loved it but I'll never try it for quilting again.

Back to the drawing board, but I knew it would not be a simple, easy, quick back.  I didn't want to shop for fabric or buy fabric (time, money) and I didn't have any other red piece large enough.  So I pulled some fabrics I thought would work together.   

Yes, pieces of shirts.  In retrospect it would have taken less time to go buy fabric if I could have found fabric I thought would work for the quilt.

After a few hours I came up with this.

Now the quilt will be scrappy, both front and back.  I layered and pin basted it today and have already started quilting it.

It's hard to describe how satisfying it is to sit and hand quilt for a while each day, and how unsatisfying it is not to have a quilt ready after finishing one.  I rarely have a next one ready but I think it should become one of my goals for next year.

We visited our somewhat local historical farm, Slate Run, last week.  They had this quilt in the frame.  I thought it an interesting pattern.

All of those blue/grey squares are set in, not sewn as triangles.  I was in awe.

The farm is set in the 1890s and they try to keep thing accurate to that time period.  I don't know if they succeeded with these fabrics but even if they didn't, this will be a great quilt.

Happy sewing, quilting, or whatever you're doing.

--Nancy.
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A Sweet Little Finish

Those leftover blocks are now a finished top.  For those of you who visited and left comments on my last post (also about this top) I'm sorry for the repetitiveness of this post.  I just want to document the finish.

In that post I was still deciding which direction the stripes in the border should go.  I chose perpendicular to the edges and like the effect.  Each side of the border has three seams.  I didn't want to interrupt the rhythm of the stripes so aligned them, which was much easier to do than I expected. 

The measurements for this little finish are:  9½" blocks + 1½" sashing + 1" green border + 4½" red border equals a quilt that measures 42½" x 53¼".  Though the measurements might add up to to something different, those are the actual measurements.

It's a sweet little top that will be big enough for a baby or the top of a table.  It won't be the next quilt in my hoop, though.

I'm linking this post to
> Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
> finish it up Friday at crazy mom quilts
> Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts

Thanks for hosting, ladies.

--Nancy.

A Little Bonus Quilt from Leftover Blocks

I had a dozen 9½" blocks left over from this quilt and, being tired of them laying around, I decided to put them together into a little quilt.  Trying to finished those unfinished projects, you know. 

I knew I wanted to connect the inner sashing between blocks and decided the olive green worked best with the various colors in all the blocks.  I like how open this layout and setting looks.  I tried it with red cornerstones and decided it closed in the blocks too much.

The narrow, olive green border was an easy choice but the wider border took a little play.  I had several ideas including red-and-light 9-patch blocks; a light border; and several reds.  The striped red fabric won.

But then there was the decision about which direction the stripes should go.  stripes going parallel to the edges uses less fabric and needs fewer seams.  Stripes going perpendicular to the edges needs more seams and careful alignment.  And they both give a different appearance to the border.

This red striped fabric came from thrift store shirts.  Surprisingly, I found two at different stores at different times!  When I find a shirt with fabric I like I always hope to find another but it so rarely happens.  I'm thrilled when it does.

I particularly like the squares created by the cornerstones, sashing, and corner blocks.  To me it adds another level of interest.

Another quilt on its way to a finish this year!  Can I keep up my one finish per week that's been going on for nearly a month now?  We'll see.

I'm linking this post to
> Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework
> WOW at Esther's Blog 
> Let's Bee Social #186 at Sew Fresh Quilts
> Midweek Makers #81 at Quilt Fabrication
Thanks for hosting, ladies.

We're having a heat wave here in Ohio.  I know it's not as hot as some areas of the country but our humidity is high and the dew point is just as high.  When we walk outside we walk into a wall of moisture hanging in the air!  I hope you're having good weather wherever you are.

--Nancy.

Between

Having just finished a quilt top and an applique block, I find myself between projects.  I took a break last week to sew a simple summer dress (and need to sew a few more but have to find fabric).  And of course there is Basket of Plenty Block 6 to work on but, aside from those, I'm between ends and beginnings.  Now I'm looking at my quilts and blocks that were interrupted in process or that were laid aside for one reason or another and that I want to finish.  In no particular order....

Stars

These 9" stars are left over from another quilt.  My options are to make more blocks (I already have two cut, ready to be sewn), add sashing and/or make alternate blocks, or turn this into a center medallion and make smaller blocks to go around a border.  I don't feel like this needs to be a large quilt but it's too small as it is.

Basket of Flowers Gwenny Medallion

This was a challenge quilt-along last year.  I had to put it away because visitors were coming.  The outer border needs to come off and be replaced with some other "something fishy," the challenge for that border.  At the time fish tails was what I came  up with but I think this quilt needs a wider last border and one that possibly incorporates blue to help unify all the borders.  Hmmm. 

Red and Green

These were impulse blocks.  The inspiration for these 5" (4½" finished) blocks was a farm stand filled with pots of red roses in bloom.  In 2013!  Since then these have been taken out and put away several times.  I couldn't seem to give up the idea of only red and green blocks and only a layout of circles alternating with sashed four-square blocks.  Either I must reconsider possibilities or give up on these blocks.  I saw a road sign the other day and new possibilities came to mind.

I have a few other scattered blocks, one or two of a kind, which are not enough for me to call them works in progress.  But these, above, are definitely works in progress and need finishes.

Do you notice a dominant color among these quilts?  Gosh, I need to expand my color range.

Being between, I've been trying my hardest not to begin another quilt, but I succumbed.  I don't have a single patriotic quilt in my home and remembered seeing several small quilts with flags on them.  The flags are stitched and are now awaiting the next steps.  I tell myself I might be able to finish a little quilt by July 4th.  Maybe....

What are you up to these days?

I'm linking this post to
> Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun that Housework
> WOW at Esther's Blog
> Let's Bee Social #183 at Sew Fresh Quilts
> Midweek Makers #78 at Quilt Fabrication

Thanks for hosting, ladies.

--Nancy.
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