2019 - My quilting year in review (and the Peacock Party)

At the end of each year I like to check back against the quilting priorities I set at the start of that year.

The 5 quilts I finished in 2019

I've just had a quick glance down that list, and I've only finished one of the 10 quilts I said I'd work on in 2019!  I haven't been idle, so that can only mean one thing - there were lots of new starts and temptations during 2019.

Let's start the recap with all the new starts that drew me in during 2019:

1.  Shuttles quilt by Kaffe Fassett.
This quilt is a unique thing in my house - I started and finished this quilt within the same calendar year. And it's hand quilted too!

2. Marshal by Jen Kingwell

This is Jen Kingwell's mystery quilt published in QuiltMania.  I've been thinking about this quilt since I last wrote about it in November.  I have more of a plan now so I will continue with it, and you'll hopefully see a finished quilt top in 2020.

3. Dear Jen by Jen Kingwell
I started out with a hiss and a roar, but this hand pieced mystery quilt has fallen by the wayside.  There are multiple layout options for this quilt, but if I choose to place the blocks on point, I want the applique to be on point too.  So I don't want to go any further until I decide on my layout.  I hate to say it, but this may be one of those quilts that never gets finished.

4. Portraits by Anna Maria Horner
Well, this one certainly did get finished, and Anna Maria even held it up and talked about it in her lecture in Wellington. I love this quilt and it's extra special because Anna Maria Horner asked me to make it to promote her tour to New Zealand.

5. Neptune and the Mermaid
I never imagined that I would start a hand pieced quilt at Symposium in October and have the top finished in November of the same year! That's unheard of!
But I really enjoyed piecing this top, so I just kept going.  I don't often use prints with large images on them, so it was fun to fussy cut these ladies and gentlemen.

As for all the things I put on my list in January 2019 - here's a quick recap:

 1.  Chic Country by Sew Kind of Wonderful
Not even started yet, but I do know what fabrics I want to use for this.

2.  Stars Upon Stars by Laundry Basket Quilts
Again, not even started, but I do have a fabric bundle set aside.  I've got the fabric stamps now and I'm going to hand piece this.

3.  Good Fortune by Bonnie Hunter
This is the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt that I started in November 2018. I've started hand quilting it, and would like to finish it soon. 

4. Cartwheels by Kaffe Fassett
Again, I've started hand quilting it.

5. Glitter
A third quilt that I've started hand quilting.  I think I need to stay at home for three weeks and hand quilt. 

6. Cobwebs by Chris Kenna
Finished!!! And now called Carnival. This quilt won Best Traditional Quilt by an Amateur at the QuiltNSW Sydney Quilt Show 2019.  I was thrilled. 

7. Ballet with Kaffe by Willyne Hammerstein
I've made significant progress over the last 10 days that I've been working on this.  I hope to finish the top in January 2020.

8. Green Diamonds by Kaffe Fasset
I got brave with this one and totally changed my plan.  It's no longer Green Diamonds - it's something totally different that I'll share at a later date, but here's a progress shot.

9. School Prize Giving Quilt
I was thinking about abandoning this quilt, but I'm glad that I didn't because I had some bright ideas about how to progress it to the next stage.  I'm going to incorporate the dodecagons I made at Symposium.  The lesson here is that I am very slow at original design quilts, but I know that the only way to improve is to persevere. 

10.  Wendy Williams Tea Party BOM
Still no action on this one. But I still love it.

So that's it.  Ten quilts that I wanted to work on in 2019.  I've finished one and got three others to the hand quilting stage.  But I've started four new quilts, so I'm not going to beat myself up over this.  I'm still having fun and that's what counts. 


I did manage to finish two quilts that have been lurking around for a long time:

Tongariro Crossing
I made this quilt during a quilt a long with Sue Spargo in 2016.

Spotty
I made this quilt during a mystery quilt a long in 2015.  I finally decided to get it machine quilted and then I donated it to charity. It's pretty, but I don't have anyone who would love it, so hopefully someone else will.

So, in summary, I finished 5 quilts in 2019.

Two were started and finished within 2019 - Shuttles and Portraits.
Two of them were made years ago and just needed machine quilting and binding - Tongariro Crossing and Spotty.
One was started in 2017 and finished in 2019 and it won a prize - Best Traditional Quilt (Amateur) at the QuiltNSW Sydney Quilt Show.

So five finishes is fine by me, but maybe I'll aim for one or two more in 2020.

What about everyone else? Do you write lists like this?  How are you getting on with your goals? Feel free to leave a comment below, or even link up to the Peacock Party - the one that's open now, or next week's.

Thanks for reading.

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Click here to enter

30 June 2019 check in

(If you're looking for the Peacock Party it's here.)

Well, the first half of the year has been and gone, and it's time to check progress against the priorities I set at the start of the year.

I've decided to mix it up this time and first talk about the four new quilts that weren't even on my list at the start of this year.  Then I'll whip through the 10 quilts I said I would work on this year, and perhaps offer some excuses as to why many of them haven't seen any action to date.

Here's what I've been working on in 2019:

1.  Shuttles by Kaffe Fassett
I dived right into my Kaffe box and made this pattern from Quilts in Morocco.  I love it so much that I'm hand quilting it already.

2.  Marshal by Jen Kingwell
This is the mystery quilt being run through QuiltMania.  I always buy QuiltMania magazines because they really are the best quilting magazines available, so it was easy to join the trend and start the Marshal quilt with fabrics from my stash.

3. Dear Jen by Jen Kingwell
This is another mystery quilt being run through Amitie Textiles - Jen Kingwell's shop.  I signed up to receive 6 block patterns per month by pdf.  They are all hand pieced which I enjoy.  I've made the first month's blocks, but need to catch up on month 2 and now month 3 has just been released.

They are all the same size - I just played with a photo editor

4.  Portraits Quilt by Anna Maria Horner
Well, how could I say no to this opportunity.  Completely out of the blue Anna Maria Horner asked if I'd like to make her Portraits Quilt to help promote her tour to New Zealand.  I'm not finished it yet, but I intend to do more on it in July and August.

What I'm aiming for

So, now for the more mundane stuff - the things I said I would work on in 2019 when I wrote down my good intentions on 1 January 2019.

 1.  Chic Country by Sew Kind of Wonderful
Not even started yet, but I do know what fabrics I want to use for this.

photo from Sew Kind of Wonderful

2.  Stars Upon Stars by Laundry Basket Quilts
Again, not even started, but I do have a fabric bundle set aside - and it's not these colours that I used for a trial.  I've got the fabric stamps now and I'm going to hand piece this.

3.  Good Fortune by Bonnie Hunter
This is the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt that I started in November 2018. It's basted and ready for hand quilting now.

4. Cartwheels by Kaffe Fassett
Again, it's basted and ready for hand quilting.

5. Glitter
A Jen Kingwell pattern.  I've joined about half of the 152 blocks.  I want to hand quilt this one too.

6. Cobwebs by Chris Kenna
Finished!!! And now called Carnival. The weeks spent hand quilting this justify slow progress on everything else.

7. Ballet with Kaffe by Willyne Hammerstein
I've made progress, but it's still not finished.

8. Green Diamonds by Kaffe Fasset
I got brave with this one and totally changed my plan.  It's no longer Green Diamonds - it's something totally different that I'll share at a later date, but here's a progress shot.

9. School Prize Giving Quilt
I thinking about abandoning this.  I'm not happy with my hand piecing, and I'm not sure where it's going.  It seemed a good idea at the time, but it's gone nowhere in 2 years.  Time to drop it.


10.  Wendy Williams Tea Party BOM
Still no action on this one. But I still love it.

So that's it.  Ten quilts that I wanted to work on in 2019.  I've finished one and got two others to the hand quilting stage.  But I've started four new quilts, so I'm not going to beat myself up over this.  I'm still having fun and that's what counts. 

What about everyone else? Do you write lists like this?  How are you getting on with your goals? Feel free to leave a comment below, or even link up to the Peacock Party - the one that's open now, or next week's.

Thanks for reading.

My quilting priorities for 2019

This is the fourth year I've made a list of my quilting priorities for the year ahead.

I find that a list helps me to stay focused and resist some of the new temptations that arise during the year.  I still give myself permission to start the occasional new thing that crops up, but a list helps me to remember what my goals for the year were too.

Usually I list my WIPs first, but this year I'm going to throw caution to the wind and list my new starts first! That's far more exciting.

1.  Chic Country by Sew Kind of Wonderful
I've admired this quilt for some time.  I even went as far as experimenting with my Quick Curve Ruler last year, but 2019 is the year I want to make this quilt.

photo from Sew Kind of Wonderful

2.  Stars Upon Stars
A couple of years ago I bought Laundry Basket Quilts' pattern for Stars Upon Stars.  Mum and I made a sample block, but it really was very tricky to sew on the machine.  However, a few months ago I discovered a Jeanneke from The Netherlands who has made fabric stamps for the pattern, so I'm going to give this quilt another try with fabric stamps.

We experimented with the fabrics below - they were just scraps from the cupboard.

using mirrors to imagine the whole block

Both of these new starts are quite labour intensive, so I'm not going to list any more new starts. Instead I'm going to focus on finishing some of the quilts I started in 2018.

3.  Good Fortune
This is the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt that I started in November 2018. The top is almost finished, and then I will hand quilt it.

4. Cartwheels
This is a Kaffe Fassett pattern from his Quilt Grandeur book. The blocks are all made, and I'm slowly adding ric rac and joining the rows.

5. Glitter
A Jen Kingwell pattern.  I've made all of the 152 blocks, and now I just need to hand sew them together, and hand quilt it. Here's a sample of some of the blocks.

6. Cobwebs
This is a pattern by Chris Kenna from New Zealand.  I've started hand quilting this quilt and hope to get it finished before June 2019. Details on how to get the pattern are here.

7. Ballet with Kaffe
My poor Ballet with Kaffe quilt.  It was neglected for most of 2018, but I do want to finish it in 2019. The pattern for this quilt is in Millefiori Quilts 2 by Willyne Hammerstein.  I've got a whole page dedicated to it on my blog.

8. Green Diamonds
I started this 12 months ago in the Kaffe Fassett class in Wellington. I want to finish sewing the pieces together and start using the finished quilt. The pattern is Green Diamonds from Quilts in Ireland by Kaffe Fassett.

9. School Prize Giving Quilt
This is an original design that I'm working on.  I don't find it easy to design my own quilts, but I know I won't get any better if I don't try! So I'm giving it a go.


10.  Wendy Williams Tea Party BOM
This quilt has been stalled for a few years.  I really want my central tea pot to shine, and I need to chose the fabric for it before I start making my flowers.  I didn't want a Tula Pink because I want my quilt to be unique.  But I've suddenly thought of using some new Anna Maria Horner Conservatory fabric and I'm excited about this quilt again. 

It may just need to move up the list. 

So that's it.  My comprehensive list for 2019.  Ten quilts that I want to work on in 2019.  I don't promise to finish any of them, but I do want to make progress on each of them. 

I hope you've all got exciting things lined up too.