2011 New Years Goals - Final Review

Another year is coming to an end. 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.

Feb: Tammy's Secret Garden – this is a 50th birthday present for a dear friend of mine that I have known for many years – completed
Feb: Signed up for the "In Full Bloom" workshop with Elaine Quehl which is a flower wall hanging and I will be doing a poppy – poppy completed, still need to finish background and then the quilting
Feb: Also signed up for a second workshop called "Surface Design Techniques" with Elaine Quehl – completed (note: this was just a workshop exploring techniques with no actual project to complete)
Mar: Finish Falling Splendor quilt – never started
Spring: Create a Kaleidoscope quilt based on Ricky Tims techniques from his quilt seminar that I attended last fall  – cancelled this project
Spring - Summer: Create a landscape quilt based on the Picture Piecing techniques of Cynthia England – never started
Jul: Another birthday quilt present for a friend – completed
Aug: Create a small quilt for the silent auction for the York Heritage Quilt Guild 2011 Show in Nov – started but never completed
Sep - Oct: Create a quilt to enter into the York Heritage Quilt Guild 2011 Show in Nov: this became the Wild Mustang quilt – completed
Christmas charity quilt: Using blocks from the Friday Block Party 2009 – never started

Any time:
One block wonder quilt ( I already have the fabric and am curious as to how this will turn out) – never started
Start my own unique design of a Rhapsody quilt based on Ricky Tims techniques – the plan here is to have a completed design ready to start a quilt the following year, this in my books is a major project – never started

UFOs that are outstanding:  – all are still outstanding but I have the 2 wall hangings from Gloria's workshop sandwiched and ready for quilting
Hawaiian orchid pillow – hand quilting
2 wall hangings from Gloria Loughman’s workshop – colour is magic and layer by layer
Kaffe Fassett – colour in design diamond quilt
BOM: Drunkard’s Path Variations
Tranquil Moments quilt – quilting left to do
So from this list I completed 3 projects, 4 are partially finished, 1 I decided not to go forward with, and the rest will be moved to next year to be done or become UFOs but hopefully sometime in the future will get done.

In addition the following new projects happened in 2011:
Nov: Quilted 2 oriental wall hangings for a friend – completed
Dec: Quilted an additional 2 oriental wall hangings for a friend – completed

So in addition to the 3 completed projects from the original list I did another 4 partial projects (quilting only) in 2011. I have to admit that this hasn't been as successful a year for my quilting as previous years but I have had some medical issues that I have been dealing with. One of which has been severe iron deficiency anemia which left me very fatigued and at times I barely had enough energy to get through the basics of a given day. I have had this condition for almost 3 years, have been through the gamut of tests and basically no one was able to find a definitive cause for it.  I was finally switched from iron supplements which actually stopped working this spring and spent 3 months going for weekly iron infusion treatments at the local hospital.  I have to say that my system has responded well to the treatments and it looks like at this time I just need to go about every 3 months for a top up treatment to keep my levels in the normal range.

So next I'm going to review what my goals are going to be for 2012 and then will post them hopefully on New Year's Day.

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

UFOs

Well there's not much time till the end of the year and I knew that if I started a new project that there was no chance of it getting done before 2012. So I looked through my list of UFOs from my post at the beginning of the year titled "2011 New Years Goals". There I also listed what UFOs I had at the beginning of the year.  I noticed that I had 2 wall hangings from a class that I took from Gloria Loughman back in Dec 2008.  I think it is about time I got these finished.

I got the one sewn together since it was still in pieces, and then the borders attached to both of the wall hangings.

I now have to cut fabric for the backings, cut batting and make the quilt sandwiches.  That should get done in the next day or so.  I likely won't get the quilting done until sometime between Christmas and New Years eve, but the plan is to get these two finished before New Year's Day.

Helping Out A Friend - Kimono Wall Hangings part 2

Well it's been awhile since I have posted. It's been that time of year getting things ready for the holidays along with the usual colds that happen and slow things down at times.  The only quilting that I have done was to finish the remaining 2 kimono wall hangings for my friend.  Here are pictures of the last 2.

We had our Christmas dinner and get together with friends yesterday and had a lovely time.  The friend who I was helping out on these kimono wall hangings was finally able to give her gifts to our friends and they loved them.  I did get credit for the quilting and they loved the details that I included like the koi fish and the Japanese maples.

So what else have I been doing, Christmas baking.  So what did I make I make this year? A cherry streusel bar.

Ginger spice cookies and chocolate orange macaroons.

Maple pecan squares.

Nanaimo bars.

So what is your favorite Christmas treat?