This year was pretty amazing for quilting. I bought my Juki in late December of last year and made my very first Jo Morton wall hanging on it in early January. (You can view it in the picture of Quilt #1). I learned a lot about the quilting process, too, and love having more room and a "smoother ride" to quilt with, so it's been a very interesting quilting journey!
Quilt #1 (Watson by Jo Morton): I didn't care for this particular quilt when it was finally finished (I thought the colors were too reminiscent of the 1970s), so I gave it to my nieces to use as a doll quilt. Molly tells me she and Ella care for 11 baby dolls - an outrageous number, for sure, but it's true. She even brought the pattern with her when she came to visit in October, so I do know that the quilt is loved and well-used which makes me happy. I do love the pattern though, and will probably eventually make something that is more of my taste for my quilt group. It's amazing how many scraps of Jo fabrics I've started to collect. I think it's a sickness. 
Quilt #2 (Arrowstar by Carolyn Simonton): This was another quilt for my Jo Morton quilt group; in fact, Carolyn is in our quilt group and often makes some of the monthly sample quilts! Like my first one, I didn't use Jo Morton fabrics (at this point in the year, I still hadn't bought a Jo stash), so I decided to make this table runner for the Red and White Quilt Competition at Attic Quilts in February. I chose some red and white fabrics and put them together. The finished product is quite stunning, but I find I am quite fond of red and white quilts anyway because they are so striking. I ended up winning first prize in the competition - a $20 gift certificate to the quilt store. (It wasn't all that exciting; however, because I was the only one who entered!) This table runner was given to a friend of mine for her birthday at the conclusion of the contest. She loved it.
Quilt #3 (On Point Churn Dash): This quilt was supposed to be for one person but it took me so long to finish it that I ended up giving it to someone else. This quilt took a lot of planning - a lot more than I had anticipated. Since the churn dashes had to be the same fabrics and the rows were put together diagonally, I had to plan out the entire row before I could start sewing. The finished quilt is a fun, modern twist on an old design, but I'm not so sure I'll be making this one again anytime soon even though I really like the design. It's much easier for my schedule if I can make simple, but beautiful, quilts.
Quilt #4 (Arthur's Quilt): My boys know I love quilts. Arthur, in particular, had been begging to learn how to sew so I promised him we'd make a quilt together. He designed the quilt using a pattern worksheet he'd gotten from school and picked out all of the fabrics. Then he and I sewed it, squared it, and when it was finished, I quilted it. He insisted on sleeping with it the moment I took it out from under the feed dogs! 
Quilt #5 (Nine Patch Chain by Jo Morton): This was my first "official" Jo Morton quilt in that I made it not only using one of her patterns, but also her fabric. I chose three colors: red, black, and tan for the quilt, making sure that all three fabrics had at least one of those colors in it. The end result was perfect. A friend came up with the perfect name, too: "Cherry Pie"! This was also the very first quilt I made a faux-piped mating binding. One of the ladies that attended the meetings often put them around her quilts and I thought, "I should try that!" It was simpler than I thought it would be and adds a nice pop of color next to the binding. I haven't done one since, but I think they look beautiful with some of these small quilts. 
Quilt #6 (Squared Roman Roads): A friend of mine from Fairbanks was going through chemotherapy for breast cancer. I started this quilt early in the year but didn't finish it until close to the end of the year. It was the usual culprits: starting new projects and running the house (and maybe just a bit of ignoring what needs to get done). The final project ended up being her "Recovery Quilt" but it was still well-received. She even messaged me again to tell me how much she loved it. The design was going to be a Roman Road, but I didn't have enough fabrics in brown, pink, and green, and didn't want to buy a whole bunch of new fabrics, so I added another alternating hourglass block. It's a beautiful quilt.
Quilt #7 (Mo's Suspenders by Carol Hopkins): An old college friend was having a baby - her first - so I wanted to make her something special. She was supposed to have a boy (but - surprise! - ended up having a little girl), so I suppose it was a really good thing that the quilt was more or less gender neutral. The quilt was a lot of fun to put together, just on-point four patches leftover from a past baby quilt, but the tricky part ended up being the single squares all lined up in neat rows of green and brown. I was originally going to line up rows of brown, then green, then brown...but I ran out of fabric. (That's the problem with scrappy quilts, I guess!) Instead of going back to the quilt store to try and match fabrics, I did the 1840's thing and made due with what I had: I alternated the brown and greens within single lines to form a pattern in the lines around the four-patches. It's bright and pretty, which was exactly what I was going for! 
Quilt #8 (My First Commission): Believe it or not, I have never sold a quilt. Not even a wall hanging. Everything I've ever made, I have donated or given away as a gift. When Balin's old gymnastics teacher contacted me about making a baby quilt for her, I originally asked her about Mo's Suspenders (above), since I had already started sewing and laying out the pieces. She declined, saying she wanted something along the "Very Hungry Caterpillar" theme. Since she was a friend, I decided to charge her the cost of materials, plus a little something extra for myself. The total ended up being $75 which was way below what this quilt should have cost. In fact, a friend of hers messaged me after my friend posted the quilt on her page and asked how much I would charge to make her a quilt like that. When I explained that quilts are time consuming and expensive to make and that it would cost about $150 (yes, twice as much!) to make her a quilt, she never wrote back. To be honest, I wasn't surprised in the least. 
Quilt #9 (A Tisket, A Tasket by Jo Morton): I don't do much with appliqué. I am not a big fan of hand sewing and I would never do it if I didn't have to. Every once in a while, though, Jo Morton designs quilts with appliqué and then, well...I have to try. By this time, I had amassed enough Jo fabric to create something in oranges and browns. This picture is of the unfinished quilt, but I did manage to finish it this year and even quilted it with a fun pseudo-crosshatch design that I found online. The handles were appliquéd with a zig-zag machine stitch because I didn't want to deal with hand sewing (although, in retrospect, I might have looked nicer with hand stitches). Still, it's one of my favorites. 
Quilts #10 and #11 (Burgoyne): This pattern was also from Jo's club, but it is an old block, developed about 200 years ago. I couldn't tell what the design actually looked like in Jo's picture until I looked up the block online. It's a neat block with a lot of variations. I made both of mine with two colors, as is usual for this block. The first (left) I kept and put on my wall. I did quilt and finish it this year, though it is unfinished in the picture. The second one I donated to the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program. It reminds me of something from "Space Invaders" and I get a chuckle thinking about who ended up bidding on it during the silent auction.
Quilt #12 (Star Wars Crazy Quilt): This is officially the third Star Wars quilt I made for my boys. This one is Balin's quilt and is sized the same as Arthur's, but there are some subtle differences. One difference is in the quilting: Arthur's was taken to a long-arm quilter and I quilted Balin's myself. Another difference is that Balin's Star Wars quilt has some newer fabric that wasn't available when I made Arthur's or Robinson's. It's about time the boys had something to wrap up in when they watch the movies!
Quilt #13 (Antiquity by Jo Morton): This was the final Jo quilt I actually finished this year (I had two that were pieced, but not quilted) and I liked it until I added the green border. The ladies at the quilt club tried to convince me that the border gave the rest of the quilt something fun, but I disagree. I ended up sending this quilt to a friend of mine who had a baby because I didn't have time to make him a full-sized baby quilt. I will probably make this one again because it was so easy to put together. It would look nice in a blue and cream, I think.
Project #1 (Wedding Pillowcases): These aren't quilts, but they deserve some recognition. I made these for my cousin and his partner who were finally getting married after being together for a decade. I had these pillowcases for years - ever since my grandmother died and I found them in her embroidery stash - but I had never done anything with them. They seemed to be the perfect gift for the two of them, so for several months before the wedding, I embroidered them in my spare time. They are gorgeous and a lovely reminder of our grandmother!
What will next year's quilting adventure bring?
Blessed be.
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