Thursday, December 31, 2009

2009 New Years Goals - Final Review

WOW the end of the year is finally here. So it's time to take a look at what I had set out as my goals for this year, what was I able to accomplish, what didn't happen and what else came along. First is a list of my original goals and what happened with each one.

Jan: finish my first quilt that I started 6 years ago – completed
Jan: workshop Luminous Diamonds quilt – decision not to go forward due to extensive fabric requirements to properly complete quilt
Jan: workshop Falling Splendor quilt – I have all my leaf blocks ready for button hole applique stitching, then need to assemble the quilt
March: Dragon quilt wall hanging for a birthday if possible otherwise it becomes a Christmas present – completed for the birthday
March: 2 maple leaves for International Fiber Collaborative project "Interdependence" – completed
April: Quilt Guild challenge – did not start this project so I know have a bunch of fat quarters to use for something else
May: Baby quilt – completed
June: Leaf lap quilt for Anna at work – completed
Christmas present: Turquoise and brown lap quilt – cancelled this project
Christmas present: Flower garden lap quilt in purples – moved to 2010
Christmas present: Flower garden lap quilt in blues – moved to 2010
Christmas presents: Origami Stars and quilted birds (assorted) – never happened
Any time: Bird of Paradise Harmonic Convergence wall hanging (for me to hang in my office) – never happened
Any time: One block wonder quilt ( I already have the fabric and am curious as to how this will turn out) – never happened

So from this list I completed 5 projects, 1 is partially finished, 3 I decided not to go forward with, 2 I have moved to next year to be done and 3 just never got off the ground, but hopefully sometime in the future may get done.

In addition the following new projects happened in 2009:

Feb: Bush Fire wonky star quilt project – completed
Aug: Stacked coin quilt dinosaur motif – completed
Sep: Cat and Dog paper pieced blocks for small quilt group swap – completed
Oct: workshop Painting with Threads by Maggie Vanderweit – completed (this was just learning new techniques, no actual project)
Oct: workshop Colour in Design with Kaffe Fassett – I have a preliminary quilt layout ready to look at once I’m in the mood to tackle this one, since this will be a big project in terms of sewing and quilting
Dec: Christmas quilt with cardinal border – completed
Dec: Christmas quilt with holly border – almost completed, will be finished 1st weekend of January so I'm counting this as completed for 2009 since the bulk of the work was done in 2009
Throughout the year: participated in Friday Block Party block challenge – made 35 of the 52 blocks

So in addition to the 5 completed projects from the original list I did another 5 projects in 2009. So over all a pretty successful year. Over the next few days I'm going to review what my goals are going to be for 2010 and then will post them as my start to the New Year.

I wish everyone a a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year,

Vicki

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

A Lovely Christmas Present

I'm still busy working on the second Christmas quilt. I just have the border area left to quilt and then sew on the binding. My hope is to get it completed this weekend and then I can get the quilt shipped off early next week.

In the mean time I wanted to share with you the lovely Christmas present that I got from Elizabeth of http://sandandsunshine.blogspot.com/ . She made me this lovely advent calendar for me. Some of the details in it are just great. There is the fireplace to the left of the tree that has 4 little stockings hanging from the mantel. The little presents that were inside each of the numbered pouches are made from a Laurel Burch Christmas fabric that has kitties on it. The tree has strings of tiny glass beads for garland. I have the calendar hanging in my sewing room. This certainly is a lovely keepsake that I will get to use for years to come. Thanks Elizabeth!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Christmas Quilts - Part 8

The Christmas quilt wedding present got completed for yesterday and my friends came over for brunch and just loved it. I was sewing on the label first thing in the morning so pretty much done in the nick of time. Here is a picture of the finished quilt and I'm very pleased with it.

What was even more amazing was the back. This was not planned in terms of how the quilting would look like on the back but when I was finished quilting the doves and looked at the back I was so pleased to see that the doves were lined up so nicely between the two rows of pine cones.

Here is a closer view of the doves on the back.

I got a couple of better shots of the snow flake quilting.



In the four patch blocks I quilted bells in the red blocks and doves in the cream coloured blocks and here are some close ups.


I also got a better shot of the trapunto cardinals. Still the dimensional effect is hard to capture with my camera.


Well now to go and work on the second Christmas quilt which unfortunately won't be finished in time for Christmas so it will be shipped between Christmas and New Years but I'm sure my friends will love it despite it being late.

If I don't get a chance to write another entry before Christmas may everyone have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Christmas Quilts - Part 7

Yes it's been awhile since I have posted something. I'm still busy with the Christmas quilts but things are taking longer than I expected. In part it is as a result of having a bad reaction to the H1N1 flu shot. I had a rare reaction to the shot and ended up with what is called extreme exhaustion that lasts on average 4 - 6 weeks. I'm on week 5 and still am feeling pretty tired. I have made an appointment to go back and see my family doctor next week to discuss if there is anything that can be done because this is getting most annoying.

Any way, I have finished the trapunto bird border and I tried to take a picture but unfortunately the days have been rather dreary here, and today was quite stormy and my camera couldn't capture the extra dimension of the birds. I will try on the weekend since we are suppose to have a sunny day, so perhaps I will have better luck.

I am now working through the snowflakes on the main squares of the quilt and I do have to say they are turning out very nice. I an using a speciality thread by Sulky called Holoshimmer. It has a very nice iridescent quality to it. It is part of their metallic threads so it's a bit finicky to work with. I'm finding that after each block I have to re-thread the machine because the thread has a funny twist to it and it develops these wonderful kinks as it unravels. Still it is worth it. Below are three samples of my snowflakes. The colour of thread that I selected has a light green cast to it and then it changes to various colours depending on how the light hits it. It sort of reminds me of some of the colours you see inside of seashells. Unfortunately my camera can't capture those colours.




I also spent about a week on and off decorating my Chirstmas tree. Normally it only takes me the weekend to do it, but with this exhuasion I could only do so much so it dragged out for a week.
Here is a close up of some of the ornaments that are on the tree. I have been collecting ornaments for many years including trying to find some from places when I go on vacations. The tree has everything on it from animals, birds, flowers, fruit, vegetables, objects and people.