Last Day of 2018

Thought I would make a list of all my active projects on this the last day of 2018, and just see how many of these get completed in 2019. 


Pemberely -  I had completed the center and one of the flower pots that go in each corner of the center by November 10.  And then on Nov.11, came my fall down a flight of stairs leaving me with a brain concussion and skull fracture.  I feel fortunate that nothing else was broken. Now today, 6 weeks later, I am almost back to normal and so thankful.

Couldn't do applique during this time, but feel certain that I will be able to start working on this right after the first of the year.



Star of Bethlehem - I have been quilting on this since July, but took the break in November and most of December.  I am back to quilting again and have complete all but the borders.  I am doing a large flower block in each corner and cross hatching the rest or the border.  Have two corners completed and nearly all of two sides.  Hopefully will have this quilt completed by the end of January.

Turevon Block of the Month - this is a project sponsored by my guild, York County Quilter's Guild, with one of our members, Sherri Turevon, designing the embroidered blocks and frame around the block for each month.  We each have to come up with our own setting for the embroidered blocks.  I decided to use a feathered star in the  center of the quilt and have the blocks surround the star as a border.  The blocks are 12" square and my feathered star is 30" square.  I am going to put a dark blue 1" border around each embroidered block, and then set them on point using the same blue flower in the feathered star as the corners.    I think I will have to increase the feathered star to 34"square, and will add borders of the dark blue and blue paisley used in the feathered star.  I hope to have enough of the dark blue left for the binding on the quilt.  I am excited about this project and hope to have the top completed by June 2019 as we will have a showing of the tops at our June guild meeting.  It is also next on my quilt hoop for hand quilting.

Rose Star - This is an English Paper Pieced pattern that I saw on someone's facebook page and just knew I had to try to make it.  I mapped out the kite patterns on Illustrator and decided on a 1 1/2" kite that will yield a 12" block.  This is the first block I have completed.  I had not planned to start this one just yet, but needed a hand work project to do in the hospital while staying with my husband .  He had back surgery on December 18 and the doctor told us to be prepared to stay in the hospital for up to 5 days.  So I got my pieces together and took them to the hospital - we were actually there only 3 days and he is doing very good.  Today he is driving and getting around, nearly pain free.  The fabrics I am using are Moda that I purchased in 2015 at Quilt Week in Chattanooga, Tn.  I purchased some near solids to go along with them.  My plans are to make at least 12 of these blocks, to circle a Lone Star quilt made from the same fabrics.  I am excited about this project and plan to EPP the entire quilt.

Now you make be thinking, 4 projects are not that many to have "in process" but I started a log of my quilts that were in process at the beginning of 2018 and by the end of the year I have 24 listed, of which 5 were finished during the year.  So right now I have 19 quilts in process - but only the 4 above are actively being worked on.  I do have two more to add that I have started preparing for my Stitchin Friends retreat in January. One will be a demo at the retreat and the other a lesson in February.  I will add them after the first of the year. 

My oldest quilt on the list is a Friendship Star quilt that my grandmother started the year I was born - 1950.  She only completed one block before she passed nine months after my birth.  The blocks were from kits she ordered from the newspaper and I actually have all the kits but one.  The second oldest is a Dear Jane quilt that I started in 2001, and have all the blocks completed except the kites around the center.  I would love to finish this one in 2019 - time will tell.

And just a wrap up of what I completed this year:

Jack's Chain - which I gave to my brother Jack for his 70's birthday.

This quilt was entirely pieced by hand (English Paper Piecing) and hand quilted using big stitch.

This pattern is called Ring Cycles and I purchased from Lessa in Australia. https://www.etsy.com/listing/217011346/ring-cycles-quilt-by-lessa-siegele-quilt

Determination Quilt - My husband helped me make this quilt cutting all the fabric for me.  We did this in February - March, after I broke by left wrist and was unable to do any handwork, or rotary cut fabric.  I was going nuts unable to quilt, so he helped me .  I called it Determination, because I was determined to get some kind of sewing done, and I discovered I could still machine sew.    This picture is of the quilt top, and my plan was to get a long arm quilter to quilt it for me, as that is more difficult to do with one hand.  He was disappointed, so I had to wait until August when my hand was strong enough to pull and tug this quilt thru my domestic machine. 

Hollis's Quilt  - October, 2018 saw the arrival of my 12 grandchild Holli Joy.  This is the quilt I made for her. 

Whales Ahoy -  a fun quilt to make for a baby boy.  This was a gift for a sweet new mom in my church

Happy - This is a quilt I started as a class for my Stitchin Friends quilt club.  Over the year 2018, I explained how to make each row, introducing new techniques for the row.  I chose to quilt each row as I went which was a major learning experience for me.  The biggest thing I learned was that rows shrink when quilted, and depending on the density of the quilting they can shrink a lot.  I learned to allow a border on each end of the row to allow for shrinkage.  My daughter, Jennie, loved this quilt, so she received it in December as a birthday gift.  I named the quilt, Happy, as the bright colors and whimsical pattern made me happy while making it.  For awhile I called it Sad, when I realized how my rows were shrinking.


Happy New Year ,
Teresa

Happy Quilt

I finished my Happy Quilt back in November before my fall at church, but could not post pictures until after I gave it to my daughter, Jennie, for her birthday on December 6.   She had seen it in the making and told me how much she liked the quilt, so that told me where its home would be.

 

This quilt was a mystery row by row published by American Patchwork and Quilting during 2015, with one row per magazine published throughout the year.   I decided to do this "quilt as you go" project, quilting each row each month as I finished it.  I learned a very valuable lesson in doing this - depending on the density  of the quilting, the rows shrink up significantly. That first row of sunshines, started as 60" long and ended up as 58".  Then next row of squares only shrunk 1/2 " as the quilting was not as dense.  Sooooooooooo...I learned to modify the rows by adding some border to the ends of each row, quilted and then evened up the sides.  This worked pretty good for all but the butterfly row, where you can see I lost a little of the butterfly on the left because the row did not shrink as much as I thought it would.   It was nice when I completed the last row though, as I just had to sew it to the others and the quilt was done!

This is the back of the quilt.  One fun thing about quilting each row separately, I was able to use a different backing fabric for each row.  I dug into my stash of solids for the backings and thought it fun to come up with bright colors.  The fourth row down is actually a lime green.  All the colors were bright colors and  added to the happy theme.

 

An update on my concussion - I am doing well, the doctors are all surprised that I have progressed as quickly as I have.  I had a pretty serious concussion and fractured my skull a little.  I still have a little ways to go - kind of light headed and dizzy at times, as well as dealing with the wound on top of my head.  But so thankful that I did not injure any other part of my body.  I will be having some tests in Jan. for heart SVT which they think may have caused my fall.  Have had to delay that for a bit, as my husband is undergoing back surgery on Dec. 18 and I need to be able to help care for him.  We make quite a pair now - me with a walker and him with a cane, and possibly a walker after surgery.  But so thankful that he has been able to care for me during this recovery, and that I will be able to care for him after his surgery.  We are blessed with good children and friends who are also there to help when we need them.

 

Merry Christmas to you all and a Happy New Year!