2022 Quilt Review

So, these don't include any customer quilts. These are all my own stuff that got finished in 2022.

One of these is my sunglass case which was made from a left-over swap block, and three of the quilts were gifted to friends.

These are the QOV quilts I did in 2022:

These, of course, have also been gifted. They were presented to veterans chosen by the QOV process.

Then there are the charity quilts:

I am so happy to see how many I got done.....there are 22 here, and I think there may have been more that I lost the pictures to......not all were pieced by me, but some were. These were donated to Joseph's Warriors and Midcoast Family Services, although a few of these are still on my shelf. I hope to get them out the door and over to Midcoast soon after the first of the year. I also have a few more I pieced that still haven't gotten quilted due to the rush of customer stuff I had to do later in the year. 

And, there is the APQS UFO challenge that I participate in every year. Out of 24 (I had two lists), I got 10 completely finished, plus a few more tops that were pieced and will now go on my 2023 “to be quilted” list. Here are the ones that are completely finished:

This also makes me pretty happy. I have plenty more UFO's though, so there is still more to do in 2023. 

A Little Progress

I got the scrappy trips top quilted and got the binding made from the backing fabric I had trimmed off the finished top. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the binding put on yet. Maybe tomorrow. I may have been able to get more done, but Julia and I went out for lunch and since we were already downtown, we stopped at Mother Cluckers. 

Lots of cute things, but I only bought some wax melts for my scentsy burner. They do have the large bottles of Mexican vanilla, but I still have a little left so I will have an excuse to go back when mine is all gone. 

When I got back to the shop, I loaded a customer quilt and got a row of stitching done.

Isn’t this a cute panel? The animals look like coloring book images. I used a new pattern called Farm.

You can sort of see the motifs stitched out on the border: sheep, tractor, cow. I like the contrast of the light blue thread on the red fabric. I am happy to be back into customer quilts. Of course, I won’t be happy if I get a whole bunch and start getting overwhelmed. It definitely happens.

Tomorrow I will try to get a end-of-year review done. We’ll see if I can get myself organized enough to get it done.

Scrappy Trips

I was reviewing my 2022 UFO list yesterday and noticed I hadn't done anything with the December entry.

Another Scrappy Trips quilt......I have made several because they are great for using up oddball 2-1/2" strips.

The good thing is that I am in between projects for the next few days; the bad thing is that I don't have a back made for it. I pulled out a bolt of dark red....it's 45" width, so I had to piece it to get a back that is big enough. I little while later, I had it loaded and ready to go.

I picked out a pretty dense quilt pattern which I thought would work better for all those seams. I had the hardest time deciding on a thread color and finally went with Glide lead gray. It looks okay, but I sort of wish I had gone with a more tan color. 

I don't love the dark gray on the lighter colors, although it's fine on the darker squares. That is always the challenge with really scrappy quilts though. 

I hope to have this off the frame and bound in time to cross it off my 2022 list. I think it is doable.

Memory Quilts

I forgot to make a blog post for yesterday.....my daughter and I went to do some returns for things that didn't fit, then we had lunch, then we got our nails done. 😄 I had started the day with a slight headache, and by the time I got home, I had a splitting headache. Anyway, this is what I was planning to post about:

I was so happy to get the two memory quilts done in time for Christmas. In fact, they were picked up late afternoon of the 22nd. 

One has a lavender border and back; the other has gray. The girls were very touched when they saw them, and it was all a little emotional (for all of us). I am so pleased I could get comforting quilts to them for Christmas. 

Their mom (the one who commissioned the quilts), contacted me yesterday to ask about making some more for other nieces and nephews from the left over clothing pieces. It seems they were all quite moved by the quilts. That is really the best response I could hope for.

Keyhole Quilt

 I finally got this top done. 

I took more time with this than I should have…..I was trying to get a border that I was satisfied with, and of course, I wanted it big enough to increase the size. This was a deviation from the original pattern, but you know the saying, “Finished is better than perfect.” And, at this point, I knew I just wanted to get the borders on and move one. It has been moved to the “ready to be quilted” stack, and will most likely go on my 2023 UFO list.

I have a purple metallic print in my stash that I think will work for binding

and I have some lavender fabric I can use for the backing. I should probably go ahead and get all of that cut and ready to go, but no promises on that. 

I like this quilt pattern, and I wouldn’t mind trying it in a different fabric line. Here is a link to the tutorial if you are interested.

Merry Christmas

I hope you are having a wonderful holiday wherever you are. Mine is, of course, bittersweet, but I won’t lose sight of the fact that God sent us a savior, and that is the greatest gift of all.

I am spending the day with family, and I am well aware that is another blessing. A day with the grandkids is just what I need.

What A Week

I have been offline for a few days—literally. I finally got my internet connected today! I thought Bill had everything set up on autopay, but apparently not the internet. It was cut off on Sunday. Of course, they wouldn’t transfer it to me without a death certificate, so that took a couple of trips to the Optimum office. I was planning to get cable tv, so I went ahead and got that added to the account. I think I have all that done, and I’m currently working on getting the Verizon (phone) account transferred. They are not very cooperative—them: the account manager will have to add you before you can make changes. Me: the account manager is deceased. Them: let me transfer you. ….Then we start all over again. I went to the local Verizon store in person and asked if they needed to see a death certificate. They informed me they only do sales not account transfers. I will wait until after Christmas and try again. I have run out of energy for now. 

Tomorrow will be candlelight services at church. I am looking forward to it. I have some cooking to do tomorrow, but I got two cakes done today. In the meantime, it is cold here. I live in south Texas—we are not used to temperatures in the 20’s. Here is the sweater crew:

It’s not easy to photograph a moving target, and I had three. Since this was taken, Reba and Ruthie have managed to stretch out the neckline of their sweaters and wiggle out of them. I put smaller ones on them and will see how that works.

Ryder is okay with his.

He has better sense than the other two. 

I have done a little sewing/quilting. More on that later.

No Sewing Here

I didn’t expect to have any sewing time over the weekend, and sure enough, I didn’t. I have my UFO lists printed out for 2023, but I still need to fill in the blanks for what I want to work on. 

I also want to tally up the 2022 UFO list and see what I got accomplished. 

Other than not sewing, I did get some cross stitching done.

I’m close to the end on this one. I should have it done within the next day or two. I need to make a trip to Hobby Lobby today and pick up some silica gel, and I may look for some embroidery thread for the next sampler project. This is the wreath we had for Bill’s urn.

I pulled some of the flowers out and put them in some water. I’m going to try and preserve them in silica gel. I’ve had mixed results with that, so I’m just hoping for the best. If it doesn’t work out, I will try to find some similar-looking silk ones. I want to make a couple of shadow boxes for the girls with a picture of Bill and some of the flowers.

One Done and One to Go

I got finished with the memory quilt I was working on…..well, all except for the binding. I quilted the front with Glide Tabiz orchid, and the back is done with Glide lilac. 

I couldn’t get a very good picture of the back that showed the true color. It truly is lilac. 

I’m so pleased with the hummingbird pattern; I think it adds a lot without being too fussy. After I got this one trimmed, I got busy with the second one. I had most of the fusing done, but I needed to cut out the “bricks” and get them laid out. This is what I have:

I may need to move a few of these around. I would like to get everything sewed together tomorrow. I auditioned a few borders and think I have decided on the gray.

My first thought was navy blue. There is a lot of navy in this one, but they are all pretty much different shades, so I think the gray would be the best bet. 

Tomorrow is Bill’s memorial service. It’s doubtful that I will be doing a blog post tomorrow or Sunday. Sunday is Christmas with Bill’s  kids and grandkids. I just need to get through the weekend as best I can. I’m trying to hold it together enough that I don’t ruin Christmas for everyone. I will say that things are getting a little better, but I can see the weekend being a challenge. 

What I’m Working On

Someone ordered a commission quilt from me…a few months ago….actually she wants two quilts. Specifically, two quilts made for her daughters from the late mother-in-laws clothing. I had told her I couldn’t possibly get them done for Christmas, but now I am rethinking that. I think I am more intuned now with how much comfort they can bring to her teenaged daughters. I have done memory quilts before, and I always make it clear that I won’t rush through them, as you have a limited amount of fabric and no room for mistakes. I got busy and got all the fabric for the first one interfaced and cut out. 

I’m happy to say I got it together, got the borders on, and got it loaded on the frame.

She had let me know her mother-in-law loved hummingbirds, and I found the perfect quilt design for the quilts.

This is going to be so pretty; I will need to get myself into high gear and get the second one started. I really want to have them both done before Christmas. Then I will start on my own.

I was at church on Tuesday. We decorated the tree in the sanctuary and the one in Luther Hall.

I am in the back handing the ornaments up to The man on the ladder. We had a lunch after we finished, and that evening I went out for Mexican food with Alan and Dave. We also drove around and looked at Christmas lights. 

The good news is that I had enough food left for another meal. I ate that Wednesday night. LOL.

I am so grateful for my friends and my church family. I love all of them. 💕 

Decorating and Staying Busy

 First off, I did remember to take a picture of the smaller cowboy quilt. Here it is: 

It is 45" x 50", so a nice size baby quilt. It is two blocks with the chicken print. I think it's pretty funny. 

I was going to put my pink ceramic Christmas tree in my shop, but I can't find the star that goes on the top. Oh well, Walmart to the rescue: I was in there the other day and found this flamingo:

It's not a tree, but it is pink, and it is Christmasy so I bought it. I also hung up the wreath I found.

That's enough decorating for the shop. Not too many people are coming by, although I still have a couple of customer quilts waiting to be picked up. Last time I went to Aldis, I found this lantern:

I put it on the hearth at my house. It was only $8.99, but of course it didn't come with the candle, so I had to buy that too. I like it though. Someone brought me some poinsettias, and I also have those on the hearth. It's not a lot, but it's enough. I don't really want to put up a tree and then have the chore of taking it down and putting everything away, so I am keeping it as low key as possible without looking like a total grinch. 

I went to church on Sunday, and that was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I think I cried through the entire service, and I haven't totally stopped yet. The things Bill and I always did together are the hardest.....but, I can't just seal myself up in the house. I am a person who needs to be around other people--not at all a loner or an introvert. But, I am trying to take it one step at a time. I met with my Pastor today, and she gave me some books on grief. One she particularly recommended is called Good Grief by Granger Westberg. It is a small book, and I am trying to read just a little at a time instead of speeding through it. 

Stitching Update

I got the Aida fabric I ordered for a blue sampler. This one:

I was really hoping to find something that matched the fabric I’m use if for the red one. I laid them out together to compare.

I have to say they are not exactly the same. It’s so hard when ordering online, but I don’t have a shop locally that sells stitching supplies. I will go ahead and use it. It is not exact, but it is pretty close, and since I am using a different floss color, it won’t be too bad. 

I have made quite a bit of progress on the red one.

I have four rows of alphabet and then I need to finish the backstitching on the right border. I feel like the end is in sight. I started it I think in February, so it’s been a while, although there were several months in the summer that I didn’t touch it.