Well, here it is...New Years eve. Another year bites the dust. In looking back at this year, I can't say it was the best one I've ever had, but probably not the worst either. Quilting wise, I've learned a lot, made a few new friends, gained a couple of new customers & just flat expanded my abilities. I think I did well.

I just inventoried my studio to see what I had in the hopper for projects. Believe it or not, I only have 5 UFO's! Not bad! I also counted up the kits that are awaiting made, I have 6. Also not bad.  And, believe it or not, all of these are not full size quilts! Most of the kits are under 44" wallhangings.  I think I can manage to finish off all of these in 2014.

Something I didn't count in the UFO grouping, but maybe should have, is three leader/ender projects. One is scrappy blocks made out of 2" X 3 1/2" rectangles. When I have 2" strips left over from something I just cut them up & throw them into a bag. Then I just grab & sew.  Another one is a bow-tie. It's just a simple scrappy that I got off a tutorial by Missouri Star Quilt Co. It utilizes 5" charm squares, so I've cut a bunch of them up & am using them to make this quilt. The 3rd one is also going to take awhile to complete. It's a Cathedral Window quilt. Hopefully I'll get it to King size when it's finished. I'm going to use the sewing machine method & not do it all by hand. After doing the Grandmother's Flower Garden all by hand, I'm not doing it again!

I've come up with a way of doing things this year. I hope I stick to the program!
Monday - will be known as "Scrappy Monday". I'll either cut pieces for those scrappy projects or sew on them. If I make a concerted effort one day a week, I may just get them done in my life time!
Tuesday - "UFO Tuesday".  Get them back to the WIP status, one at a time til they're done.
Wednesday - "UFO, Queenie style". My quilts to be quilted are starting to pile up & I need to get them done!
Thursday - "Trim it day". Get those quilts that are quilted & ready for binding.
Friday - "Binding Day". Yep, finish those quilts & don't forget the label!
Of course, if there's time left over from one of these, work on the scrappys.  Of course, this will work nicely only if I don't have a customer quilt to quilt! Then, I'll try & get back to that days schedule when I'm done with theirs.

I hope everyone stays safe tonight & have a Great New Year!

Whew! Have I been busy! We just finished up our guild's annual quilt show for another year. It's a lot of work putting on these shows, but hope all that attended had a good time & enjoyed all the quilts that we displayed.
Good news! I had three entries & took home 3 ribbons! WOOHOO!! Also, two of my customers entered their quilts & both took home ribbons! So, everything that I had a hand in that was judged came home with ribbons! I think that makes for one successful show for me!  On to what am I entering next year! I've got some ideas, now to get them done.
I'm still exploring Irena Bluhm's ideas. I really like the idea of painting rather than piecing. Not that I object to piecing, but I like being able to come up with the shading of the designs that you can't do with piecing. I've got a quilt on paper that needs to be finished up & made into a quilt. I might have it ready in time for next years show. We'll see.
I will finish up what I affectionately call Mr. Eagle. I really didn't want to put him in this year as he would be competing against Heart Abloom & Bird of Paradise. They're all in the same class.  He'll definitely make the show next year.
I did get most of my swaps done & in the mail in the last couple of weeks also. Just the Secret Santa one to go.  I have some things left to make for that one & then in the mail it will go.
I'll try & do better at posting on the blog this next year. I know that once a month for updates is a bit too infrequent. Maybe if I set a goal of once a week I can do better.
Til next time...........happy quilting!

Well, here's another quilt for the guild's annual quilt show.  This one is called Bird of Paradise.  It's one of Judy Niemeyer's older patterns that I had picked up several years ago & finally got it together. I've heard quilter's say her patterns are hard, but I didn't. Once you get her technique of doing paper piecing down, it's not hard at all!

Well, I guess I got to the end of what's allowed in one post, so will continue with this one.  Here's the other picture I was trying to load.

As I said, I still can't believe I did it!

In between quilts, I also made a wallhanging.

I also found a picture of the full quilt of Calyspo too!

In between all this, I got 7 charity quilts quilted! Now you know why I haven't posted lately!

Well, I keep saying to myself that I will update the blog. Then promptly forget! Shame on me! I've done a lot since the last post!

Let's start with a customer quilt. I did Paula's Calypso quilt for her own use. It's her first quilt & did a very good job.  She helped me with adding the quilting designs to the blocks & then I quilted it.

Each of the striped blocks had a different sea shell & the solid blocks we put palm trees into. Came out great.  She's entered it into our guilds quilt show next month. Hope she gets a ribbon!

I also did a custom quilt for some trucker friends of mine. Their daughter just graduated High School & is of Indian decent, so I designed this quilt for her.

I just did a simple stipple to quilt it, as I didn't want to detract from the overall design.

Then, I got Hearts Abloom quilted.  But, I was quilting on black & I had done the design & didn't know how to transfer it over to the quilt.  I found somewhere on the internet to use water soluble Solvy, the heavy kind, to transfer over the design, quilt through it & soak it to remove the Solvy.  To test the theory, I made a vest.

I think it came out just awesome!

Then on to the quilt since the experiment worked!

I still can't believe I made this!! It looks like one of the more experienced quilters out there did it!  Here's some detail of it:

Will have to finish in next post.

Playtime this week! My Pastor & his wife just adopted a little girl from China. They had adopted a little boy from Korea previously. I decided to welcome little Sophia with a quilt. But, I didn't want big brother to feel left out, so I made him one too. Their room is done in Oriental, hence the cranes.  But, couldn't leave Mom & Dad out! So I made them a wallhanging!

Well, I must be on a roll lately with finishing up UFO's! Here's 2 I've finished!
The first is my Grandmother's Flower Garden. I started it in March of 2011. This was my truck quilt that I was working on while being loaded/unloaded & any down time I had. There are 3,979 1" hexagons in this quilt.  29 months later...it's in one piece!

The next one has been a work in progress even longer. I started this one in 2005. I wanted to do a Baltimore Album type quilt, but not like anyone else. So, I designed Blooming Hearts. The inspiration came from a photo of something similar that was awarded a ribbon post houmous. I hand appliqued the entire quilt. In the blank squares & the setting triangles I'm going to quilt feathered hearts. Still unsure about the outer border though!

I've also done a few other things, but will post later. Til then, Happy quilting!