Good morning, my friends. The day has come to say good-bye to 2023, and ready ourselves for what is to come in 2024. It's only turning a page on a calendar, but somehow New Year's Day seems filled with anticipation. We're looking forward to heading out on a trip in just a few weeks, and new carpeting in just two weeks. So there are some immediate changes happening here that make the new year seem kind of exciting...as exciting as it can be when you're anticipating becoming a septuagenarian in just a few months.
It was a busy day yesterday...busy because I wanted it to be less hectic today and tomorrow. I'm doing some cooking ahead today, and then more cooking tomorrow. I'm making it sound like a big elaborate feast, but it isn't...just ham, baked beans, salad, and cornbread. Oh yes, and an apple skillet cake for dessert. Getting stuff done ahead of time just means I don't have to spend my family time yelling to the living room from the kitchen. I'd put off some of my housekeeping chores, and so I needed to catch up on that too.
There was some time for slow-stitching in the morning, and I filled my hoop. Now I've moved it to some of the trailer awning and some new color, and so it should start getting more interesting from here on.
You took furrever!!!
Recently, I purchased the four balls of Valdani perle cotton I'll need, and an embroidery background fabric.
Today, I'll cut all the block backgrounds and iron-on stablizer, and then this project will be ready for the road. The embroidered blocks are fairly detailed, and so I'm confident this will keep me busy for our entire trip. Nevertheless, I'll probably take along one or two emergency back-up projects. A stitching emergency on the road is never good news.
Okay, that pretty well covers yesterday's comings and goings. Let's just see what was accomplished in a year's worth of quilt-making. There were 32 quilts finished during 2023, which is a win over 2022 by eight quilts. A lot of those quilts were small quilts and art quilts, and so it's not as impressive as it might sound.
January started with 25 projects on my list of WIPs. December will still end with 26 on the list. I have quite a few quilt tops ready for quilting and some that need sandwiching. Also, there are several sets of finished blocks, ready to be sewn into quilt tops. For every quilt that's finished, I start a new one, and so I have only myself to blame if I can never get my list of WIPs lower than two dozen plus. And, honestly, is there a single one of us that won't run out life's clock with a few unfinished projects still on the shelf?
Here comes the parade of finishes for 2023:
Stitches from the Heart
free pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop
started 12/28/22 and finished 1/2/23
12 x 12 inches
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Ones Upon a Time
a challenge quilt for Project Quilting, Season 14
prompt was "One"
started and finished 1/6/23
11.5 x 17 inches
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Pretty in Pink
a challenge quilt for Project Quilting, Season 14
prompt was "Pink Tint"
from the "Stitcher Strong" redwork pattern by Bird Brain Designs
started and finished 1/16/23
7 x 8 inches
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Waste Not Whatnots
a scrappy quilt made from bonus triangles and orphan blocks
started 10/13/20 and finished 1/17/23
58 x 57 inches
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Broken Hearts
A scrappy table topper made from bonus triangles
Started 2/3/22 and finished 1/25/23
30 x 32 inches
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North-South
a challenge quilt for Project Quilting, Season 14
prompt was "54-40 or Fight!"
Started and finished 1/29/23
13 x 13 inches
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Bernie's Mittens
started 12/18/22 and finished 1/30/23
15 x 12 inches
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Sunrise
a challenge quilt for Project Quilting, Season 14
prompt was "A Novel Project"
my book: The Warmth of Other Suns
Started and finished 2/12-13/23
15 x 17 inches
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Bunny Go Round
25 x 25 inches
started 2/14/23 and finished 2/15/23
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Road Apples
14 x 11 inches
Started 2/16/22 and finished 3/6/23
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Mr. MacGregor's Garden
Pattern from Quiltmaker, March, 2012
40 x 51 inches
started 3/21/23 and finished 4/4/23
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Best Friends
21 x 26 inches
started 6/8/22 and finished 4/11/23
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Full Circle
"Maps" prompt for The Endeavourers art quilt group
started 2/8/23 and finished 4/12/23
48 x 48 inches
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Dream Big Leaf
A pre-printed panel for FMQ Practice
Started 2/18/23 and finished 4/13/23
47 x 47 inches
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Technicolor
9th donation quilt for Quilts for Kids
started and finished 4/28-30/23
38 x 44 inches
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Dancing Chickens and Flying Pigs
quilt pattern from Anni Downs at Hatched and Patched
fusible applique, hand embroidery, free motion quilting
started 3/13/19 and finished 5/14/23
56 x 56 inches
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Fantasticat
an art quilt for The Endeavourers art quilt group
prompt was "collage"
started 5/20/23 and finished 6/4/23
19 x 19 inches
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Scrap Happy Baby Ribbons
pattern from Victoriana Quilt Designs
50 x 50
started 6/23/23 and finished 7/1/23
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Pieces of the Past
61 x 64 inches
started 10/26/19 and finished 7/19/23
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Books and Roses
Block of the month pattern by Jennifer Reynolds, Jenny of Elefantz
30 x 37 inches
started 3/10/22 and finished 8/2/23
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Circles and Squares
an art quilt for The Endeavourers art quilt group
Created using my grandmother's hand crocheted doilies
started 8/6/23 and finished 8/8/23
22 x 22 inches
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Counting Sheep
free pattern from American Quilter's Society
42 x 42
started 8/8/23 and finished 8/13/23
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Charmed, I'm Sure
from the book Teeny-Tiny Quilts, by Donna Lynn Thomas
12-1/2 x 12-1/2 inches
started 8/27/23 and finished 9/1/23
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Strips & Stripes
pattern by Cherri House from the City Quilts book
64 x 74 inches
started 3/29/20 and finished 10/19/23
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Time to Stitch
pattern from Meg Hawkey at Crabapple Hill Studios
for February's International Embroidery Month 2023
started 2/1/23 and finished 10/23/23
14 x 15 inches
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Patterns in Nature
An art quilt for The Endeavourers art quilt group
Started 11/10/23 and finished 11/20/23
17 x 22 inches
Just a peek: Reveal is 2/1/24
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Humble Beauty
hand embroidery
12-1/2 x 13-1/2
started 4/3/23 and finished 11/21/23
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Little Green Frog
10th donation quilt for Quilts for Kids
started and finished 12/1-2/23
38 x 44 inches
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Ties & Tails
started 3/30/20 and finished 12/12/23
95 x 75 inches
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Heartland Barns
5 embroidered blocks and borders
Pattern by Erica Plank of Unseen Hands
Started 3/25/21 and finished 12/24/23
64 x 64 inches
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Purrfectly Pieced
pattern from Bonnie Sullivan
started 5/19/22 and finished 12/26/23
32 x 36 inches
Not included in the list was this little bookmark for Project Quilting's prompt "Sew Not Square." This was kind of fun to do.
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That's all I have for you today. I'll be taking the day off from blogging tomorrow, and so I'll take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy New Year. Stay safe and stay healthy. I want to see everyone back here again next year.
18 comments:
Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wow - what a year you've had, quilt-wise. Fun to see all of the finishes. Happy New Year to you all!
So many beautiful finishes! Congratulations! Happy New Year and Happy Travels!
That is a lot of great finishes. It is always lovely to see them all together. Having become a septuagenarian in early December I have to tell you it is exciting and I'm really looking forward to new challenges in 2024. It is frustrating when you still see yourself as much younger while the body says, no I can't keep this pace up, but a nap helps resolve that problem. Happy New Year to you all.
That is so much fun to see all your projects. I am trying to pick a favorite but it is too hard! I really love Bernie's Mittens! And I think it was Fantaticat (sp). Wow, I must have been asleep or something when you made that one. I really love it. I love all the cat ones. And I love that photo of Smitty. He is so incredibly handsome and he reminds me of my Lady D who passed several years ago. She was a calico but her white patterns were like his. I have picked two that I think I can pull off - Technicolor and Counting Sheep. They have inspired me to try to get out of my funk! Happy New Year and thanks for your blog which I always love reading!
Beautiful quilts this year. It was your embroidered barns that led me to your blog. I have several patterns by Primrose Lane and I look forward to seeing your covered bridge blocks. Happy New Year
What an accomplishment, such a wonderful array of compleyed quilts. Happy New Year to you both, and happy travels for your next trip.
Barbara, congrats on finishing so many quilts in 2023! I always enjoy seeing your year in review post. The only projects I managed to finish this year were Jennifer of Elefantz’s BOM and the February embroidery Stitch in Time. Life kind of got in the way this year. Speaking of Jennifer, she posted her new BOM today! I am looking forward to stitching along. Are you going to stitch this one? I wish you and Mike and your family a Happy New Year and a year filled with fun, good health, and adventures!
Such lovely quilts and such an inspiration. Happy New Year to you and your husband and, of course, to Smitty and Sadie!
What fun to revisit all your finishes for the year. I've gone backwards and forwards trying to pick a favourite and I susprised myself by liking the cat ones the best (all of them!). Not that I don't like cats because I do, but it was still a surprise.
I think all your readers heaved a sigh of relief that you got that block put together.
Happy New Year to you, Mike and your family (furry and otherwise).
What a productive year you have had. I've been in a slump for 2 years now and finished only 1 quilt this year. I'm more than halfway through my septuagenarian decade and can assure you that you have nothing to worry about. There are more aches and pains and you move at a slower pace, but you appreciate everything more as you go.
Happy New Year to you, Mike and the kitties.
Pat
So many excellent designs and finishes! Congratulations! Happy New Year 2024
You've picked a very fun project for your trip. Congratulations on a very successful 2023. It's hard to pick a favorite from your long list. Fantasticat is up there, but so is Bernie's Mittens. Enjoy your New Year's day. Wishing you a very productive 2024.
Lovely to look back and see so many accomplishments, it is hard to pick a favourite.
Barbara,
I truly enjoy and look forward to seeing your beautiful work. Congratulations on your impressive quilts for 2023!
Absolutely amazing! You can be so very proud of all of your stitchy accomplishments! Hope you have a wonderful trip!
Well, don't I feel like a slacker? I will definitely link to Slow Sunday Stitching again when I need a "push"! (I am linking for the first time - I am number 22 if you want to pop by for a visit ...) We used to have cats, and I miss them so much. So your furbaby photos, plus all your cat-themed quilts - adorable! My other favorites are "Best Friends" and "Dream Big Leaf". Congrats on a fab 2023, and here's to 2024!
Nice list of finishes for 2023.
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