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Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Reflecting Back and Looking Forward

We are now back home from our Christmas/New Year holiday and it’s that time of year when quilters and crafters like to take stock of what we have achieved during the year.  Whether it’s been a little or a lot, each finish is special and something to celebrate.  I’ll never be in the league of some of the “super quilters” out there in blog-land, but I’m still happy with what I have done.

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Lace cushion for niece’s 50th birthday and table cloth recording our South Island holiday

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For the caravan, hand stitched native birds, and two sets placemats

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Baby quilts

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Winter wall-hanging and mats/blankets for the new kitten

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Two piggy quilts

Then I had some big finishes, Soul Searching and Our Australian Adventures, both commercially quilted.

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And last but certainly not least, I completed Alphabet Noel in time for Christmas.  These stitcheries were done over the previous two years, machine pieced and machine quilted with wonky stars.  I have to say that this was a most enjoyable stitchery project.

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Alphabet Noel

I’m not as clever as it might appear - some of these projects had been already started and hanging around as UFOs for a while, so just needed finishing off, and others  were brand new.

What now?  As some of you know, I have been listing six projects at a time and throwing the dice to see which one I will work on each week.  I will continue doing that, but first I want to clear two long standing projects from my list, Animal ABC and Horse Quilt No 2, both which didn’t seem to have their numbers come up very much during the previous year.  I’ll be pleased to see the back of both of these two, so watch this space.

Then I will write a new list and continue from there.  It seems that there are still plenty of UFOs lurking about in bags and crates waiting to see the light of day, plus a few new projects I want to make.  I’m still working on my current stitchery project, the New Zealand Botanical designs, and once these blocks get completed the project will get swapped over to my List of Six to get made into a quilt.  And I really should make more of an effort to get on with my knitting.  As I often tell Robin, I’ll never run out of things to do.

7 comments:

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

you sure got done with a lot this past year - way to go!!

Katie said...

Ah. UFOs. The struggle is real! :-D

Michelle Ridgway said...

Beautiful finishes Jenny. It's lovely to see them all together. It's also nice to have more stitching to look forward to xx

Janice said...

When you see everything together you realise you achieved a lot last year. You should be very proud of your efforts, particularly the fact that you finished off some UFOs. Good luck with this year’s projects. Isn’t it wonderful that we have plenty of options to choose what to work on. An advantage of WIPs and a stash.

Karen S said...

A great effort with all your finishes. I would be very satisfied with that result.

Home Sewn By Us said...

Hi Jenny! What a nice collection of finishes for the year. I think this is a very impressive list. I'll bet that lace pillow you made for your niece was well received. It is beautiful. And I just adore that baby quilt with the kites on it! How fun and colorful. Your Alphabet Noel looks like it has the place of honor behind the couch, as it should be enjoyed every chance you get. I have a long-standing project similar to that, which is all stitched but not quilted. I can't quite figure out how to quilt it, so it's just waiting patiently. ~smile~ Roseanne

Judith nb Serena said...

You have been a busy bee. Wish I could say I'd done as much but nowhere near it. I did make new boat curtains and porthole bungs, also porthole crochet doilies. I need to make a list like you do but my no 1 project is to make a circular rag rug for one of my granddaughters. I've got the hessian and the materials just need to cut the material up and make a start. I love reading your blog it gives me inspiration.
Judith nb Serena