A New Year

I've been busy..just haven't taken time to blog about it. So I'll try to do some catching up.

First, looking back on last year. My goals at the beginning of 2009 were

.............to continue making quilts from my stash of fabric and limit the new fabric purchases

.............to finish as many UFO's as possible and limit the new projects started

.............to ignore both of the above when I felt the need to just enjoy myself

And this is how it turned out:

13 quilts --3 were baby quilts, the rest were sofa sized or larger; 5 were UFO's

9 wall hangings or table runners, etc. ---1 was a UFO

3 new full sized quilt tops made but not quilted

3 small quilts quilted for someone else

111 Dutch Treat blocks reverse appliqued (to complete the 196 in the quilt) and 11 rows hand quilted

17 Dear Jane blocks sewn (to bring the current total to 158 out of 169)

I started both Dear Jane and Dutch Treat in April 2008. I'm definitely happy with the progress on my Dutch Treat (more later in this post).

And I'm disappointed that I dropped the ball on the Dear Jane. I only had 13 more to go at the one year mark and have only made 2 blocks since then.

I gave two trunk shows in 2009, which was a new but enjoyable experience.I have two more and a workshop scheduled for next week.

For 2010 my goals are pretty much the same. I'll keep the monthly list of completed projects in my sidebar.

I still need to use more of my stash. And that's fun for me since I love making scrap quilts and I also like the fun of starting something without being sure if I'll even have enough of the fabrics I start with. I guess it's my way of designing. You know what they say..."necessity is the mother of invention".....well that sort of applies to quilting I think. Some of my favorite quilts are ones where I had to change plans part way through and was surprised by the outcome.

On that note...this is the top I pieced this week.

My borders aren't that crooked. This picture was taken before all three were actually sewn. I was testing to see if I liked the way it would look and had them just laying in place.

In case you don't recognize it, I used the same block that I've come to refer to as "Grandma's Block". I just love it and I think I've only scratched the surface of the ways to use it.

You can see all the versions to date using this block here

The best news of all is that this morning I finished quilting the last block in the Dutch Treat. I started quilting it about 3 1/2 months ago. Considering I was pretty much out of commission for several weeks in November due to H1N1, I'm proud that I finished the part of the job this soon.

Now I need to add borders, applique and quilt them. That won't be real fast either.

I'm so glad that I have such an enjoyable hobby. Because it's good to be able to sit inside where it is warm and toasty and not have to venture out for days on end. We are having the coldest weather we've seen since 2001. And you have to go back to 1979 to find a string of days like we've had. We are supposed to get down to -7º tonight. I was used to this kind of weather in Iowa, but after 23 years living in SE Kansas, my blood has gotten awfully thin I think.

So it's good to sit in front of a sewing machine or cuddle up in the recliner with a good movie and hand work. We have plenty of groceries and no need to go out.

Hope the rest of my Midwestern friends are staying warm as well.