Happy New Year and Looking Back

Happy  New Year to all – may you all look forward to a peaceful, happy and healthy 2018.

And it’s that time again when quilters in blogland look back to see what we have completed over the year.  As some of you know, I list six UFOs  at a time and use the “roll the dice” method to choose one to work on for each particular week.  It goes without saying that the sewing time available each week varies considerably.  Sometimes my week is very busy with meetings, appointments or social activities, and then other weeks I get to spend more time on sewing.  And then again…….sometimes we are travelling around the country in our caravan,and I don’t do any machine sewing at all!

Checking back through the blog, I can happily show off these finishes.  And my first finish of the year was this tote bag, made with an embroidered panel sent to me some time earlier from my pen-friend Carol who lives in South Dakota.  She had stitched a design of a quilt shop onto thicker needled batting, and I thought it would be perfect for the front of a tote bag.

Quilt Shop tote bag

I have very happy memories of stitching each block of  using the designs  “12 Days of Redwork” by Alex Anderson. while travelling around in our caravan, so it was always going to be a caravan quilt. The flowers and leaves were then coloured using fabric pens.   My finished top was expertly machine quilted by Razzle Dazzle Quilter, Linda, quilted feathers around each embroidered block and beautiful freehand McTavishing and pebbles around the applique border.

“Hearts in Bloom” on the bed in the caravan

Next up was a table runner made with three gifted candle wick blocks, and a little left over fabric in cream patterned with pink and green from my daughter’s 50th birthday quilt.  I sized it to fit on our coffee table.

Candlewick table runner

Another small finish quickly followed my Winter Welcome wall-hanging.    This pattern was another gift from my pen friend Carol, she kindly included some of the fabric and I added the rest. 

Winter Welcome

Another rather long winded UFO finally finished was “Christmas Smorgasbord”.  Ages ago I took part in two internet block swaps using Christmas fabrics, for stars and nine patch blocks and combined them into this quilt.  And what a smorgasbord of colours and fabrics it was.  Stars of all shapes, mostly pieced, with a few appliqued as well.  And many different fabrics were used in the nine patch blocks, all looking so nice and Christmassy together.

Christmas Smorgasbord

What’s next?  In July I finally made my  polka dot apron plus a matching two handed oven cloth which had been on my list for ages, waiting for the right number to be rolled.  Quite some time ago I had done four little stitcheries from “My Vintage Kitchen”, designed by Jenny of Elefantz, especially to tone with my polka dot fabric.

Polka Dot Apron and Oven Cloth

Next came my small wall-hanging featuring New Zealand native birds.  The birds were cut from NZ themed fabric and appliqued on.   Have to admit that I’m really pleased with this finish and love the way it all came together.

New Zealand Native birds

 

It was so exciting getting my candlewick quilt Raspberry Ripple back from Linda of Razzle Dazzle Quilter fame.  This was a very old UFO indeed and dates back to 1999.  I traced out the candlewick blocks and packed them, my cotton thread, needles and small scissors away in my suitcase when we travelled around England for three months, stitching the blocks in the evenings after a hard day’s sightseeing.  These twelve blocks surround “Ribbons and Lace” in the middle, a larger pre-marked mini which I stitched some time after we had returned home from our trip.  Finally, it was finished, and I took the top up to Linda to work her magic on my quilt.

Raspberry Ripple

So that’s my finishes for the year, although I have also completed three extra tops.  But as they are waiting to be quilted they’re not actually compete yet so I am not counting them in this list.  But you can be sure they will be added to my List of Six for next year!.  I also finished hand stitching my Christmas ABC blocks, now waiting to be put together into  quilt top. 

We have  enjoyed innumerable trips away in our caravan, currently away on a long caravan trip exploring the South Island, so no machining for me till we get back home in early March.  Last year we also celebrated Robin’s 70th birthday, and enjoyed a three week trip to Cairns, Australia, so it certainly has been a great year.  Hope your 2017 has been just as great and that you managed some finishes too.