2018 is here and that means it is time to think about goals for the year. I have a list of quilts that I want to get done, and of course, there’s the American Patchwork & Quilting UFO Challenge, but I received a gift from dear friends that perfectly sums up what I hope to do this year:
I started a new tradition last year of writing a year-in-review blog post after I ran across some others doing it. I find the process of taking stock of the entire year to be a good reminder of just how much I actually did accomplish.
American Patchwork & Quilting UFO Challenge – I tackled the challenge again this year, realizing that I had far more UFOs (often more intended-but-not-started projects) than I knew. This year, I managed to complete all 12 projects, which means a grand total of:
I’ll be taking up the challenge again this year because I am sure that I can find 12 more projects waiting to be made.
Personal Quilts – 2017 marked my 20th year of quilting and I ended the year by finishing my 100th quilt. (I just counted and realized that I made a total of 13 of those quilts this year, which makes me a little triskaidekaphobic and if I’d realized, I would have pushed to finish one more!) In addition to the three quilts I finished as part of the UFO challenge, I also finally made a quilt for my own bed.
Protest Series – At the end of 2016, I had no idea that I would start a series of protest quilts. But, in the beginning of 2017, I found myself inspired to create politically-motivated works. For the first time, I had quilts that needed to be made and was making quilts that I really felt were pieces of art. I made seven of them this year.
Art Quilts – In addition to the Protest Series, I made one additional art piece and a commissioned piece.
It’s been an exciting year, not just because I got so much done, but because 2017 was the year that I really came into my own as an artist. I’m looking forward to 2018!
The photo I showed when I first started the Summer of Scraps project only represented a portion of the scraps that I have. I also have a bin full of bits and pieces of batik fabrics:
So, this week’s project, which was also a UFO on my list for the American Patchwork & Quilting UFO Challenge, was to create Block 8 from the In Full Bloom quilt pattern by McKenna Ryan using my bits and pieces:
I feel like I’m finishing up a school year and getting ready for summer because I have been finishing stuff up like crazy. Last week, I finished quilting “Rajah Quilt Revisited” which was a 2016 Block of the Month that I started in January. This week, I finished a quilt that had been in the UFO pile for a decade. Yes, you read that right. I pieced these tops in October of 2007. (I think. It could have been ’06 or maybe ’08.) I made them to be a Halloween costume for my DH and me. We each pinned a panel to our shirts, wore berets and threw drapery fabric toga-style over our shoulders and went as a pair of french doors. (Yes, it took some explaining.) After Halloween, I stuffed them in my drawer with the intent to quilt them one day.
One day arrived in April, which was the month when these were supposed to be finished for the American Patchwork & Quilting UFO Challenge. I pulled them out, started quilting the first one and then moved on to the other. It was at that point that I realized one was shorter than the other. (The one I started quilting, of course.) My DH is a foot taller than I am so I made my panel shorter, but in the decade that they sat in my drawer, I totally forgot that detail. So I pulled out stitches, added more fabric and started quilting again. Of course, as you’ll see in the photo, I still mis-measured. But, they are done, not perfect and after a decade, having them hanging is worth an extra half inch of fabric!
French Doors, 2017.
This was supposed to be my finished quilt for March for the American Patchwork & Quilting 2017 UFO Challenge, but it needed to be completely quilted and bound so I’m happy to have it completed by June. This quilt was the 2016 Block of the Month from The Quilt Show, called “Rajah Quilt Revisited.” It’s based on a quilt made on a women’s prison ship that traveled from England in 1841.
My quilt was machine appliqued, machine pieced, machine quilted and hand quilted and I am happy to say that I made it for myself so I get to keep it!
Rajah Quilt Revisited, 2017. 68″ sq.
Many of my UFOs for the American Patchwork & Quilting’s 2017 UFO Challenge have been stacking up because they’re ones that require a lot of work. March’s project was to quilt an entire quilt and I’m still working on that. April’s project was the same. But May’s project was an easy one to get done in one month because I only committed to making one block from a McKenna Ryan kit. Easy peasy and done!
I’m happy to say that this month’s UFO for the American Patchwork & Quilting UFO Challenge has only been a UFO for a year (or maybe two?) and even better yet, it’s something that I made for myself. It’s a travel sewing kit from the tutorial on the “lots of pink here” blog.
Now that I am ready to travel, where should I go?
Happy Valentine’s Day! It’s also Creative Play Date Day. I’m not feeling very creative today because I am still getting over the plague that my daughter brought home from school so I decided I would just play today. For me that means working on personal quilts rather than professional ones, like this one:
This is a nearly 10 year old UFO. I made the tops in 2007 (I think) as a Halloween costume for my husband and me. (With berets and drapes, we were “French Doors.” It required explaining.) I always planned to turn them into quilts and I am finally getting around to it. C’est la vie!
January is not even close to over yet and I already have my UFO completed for the American Patchwork & Quilting UFO Challenge. #apqresolution
I had one of these place mats made already so I only needed to finish three. And, it’s only January and I already have an item ready for my guild’s show boutique in October.
Since last year’s American Patchwork & Quilting UFO Challenge freed up some great space in my UFO drawer, I’ve found 12 more UFOs for this year. (Well, 10 more UFOs since 2 carried over.) Here’s the stack, ready for finishing!
