2020 - My quilting year in review

Wow! What a year that was!

My 2020 finishes

At the end of each year I like to look back on the goals I set myself at the start of the year.  This year my goals were:

1.  to move away from English Paper Piecing to hand piecing with a running stitch
2.  to find a method of applique that suits me.

I've done well on my first goal of improving my hand piecing.  I even made some videos about hand piecing and put them on YouTube.  You can find them here. 

And as for my second goal, I've found a method of applique that suits me, but I just don't enjoy applique as much as I enjoy piecing at the moment.  Maybe I'll enjoy applique more as I spend more time on it in 2021.

Now it's time to check progress on each of the quilts I said I'd work on in 2020.  

1.  Ballet with Kaffe Fassett by Willyne Hammerstein from Millefiori Quilts 2.
See the tab at the top of my blog for all the details on this quilt (or click here).  

It's still not finished, but it's basted and ready to be hand quilted.  It's high on the priority list.  

2.  Glitter by Jen Kingwell
It's finished! And I won Best Hand Piecing for it at Capital Quilters Exhibition.  You can read more here. 

3.  Cartwheel by Liza Prior Lucy for Kaffe Fassett Collective Quilt Grandeur book.  
Also finished, and now called "You Spin Me Round".  

4.  Green Diamonds
This is my own way to use up some of the diamonds I cut at the Kaffe Fassett class in January 2018.  I'm experiment with lots of different hand quilting designs, so this little quilt is still a work in progress. It's nice to have something easy to take with me when I go to stitching days. 

5.  Neptune and the Mermaid - pattern is Pieces of the Past by Wendy Whellum
This was so much fun to make (click here to read more).  I've hand quilted about half of it. 

6.   Cross Country by Anna Maria Horner
I started this quilt in a class with Anna Maria Horner  in November 2019 (click here to read more).  I now have the fabrics to finish it, but I need to decide if I want to add applique in the big triangles. (That's carpet you're seeing in this photo.)




7.  Don't Leaf Me by Wendy Williams
I've made a little start, but there's still a long way to go with this one. I haven't had much experience with needle turn applique, so I'm going to use this quilt to improve my skills. You can read more here.  

8.  Endless Summer by Anna Maria Horner
Started and finished during the COVID-19 lockdown.  I've now called my quilt Endless Lockdown, because it felt like it at the time.  

9.  Stars Upon Stars by Edyta Sitar
I'm still admiring this pattern, and I will start it one day.  

10.  Something new from Millefiori Quilts 4
There are so many beautiful quilts in this book, and can you believe Willyne is currently working on quilts for book 5!  

11. We Built This City (was Marshal by Jen Kingwell - the Quiltmania mystery quilt). 
I took a wild departure and made something new with half of the blocks from the Marshal Mystery quilt.  You can read more about it here.  I entered this quilt into Capital Quilters exhibition in October 2020 and I won two prizes for it.  

12.  Wedding Quilt

And, I've finished the wedding quilt for some friends who got married in October. You can read more about this quilt here. 

So that's 5 out of 12 quilts finished in 2020.  I'm happy with that.  Most of my quilts take more than a year to make, so I think finishing 5 of my WIPS is quite good.

Did I start anything new? Of course I did.  How could I resist the #sayyestokaffecollective challenge.  I started, and finished, Turkish Coffee from Quilts in Burano. 

13. Turkish Coffee

You can read more about this quilt here.

So, I finished 6 quilts in 2020 and I'm very happy with that. 

Be sure to check back in early January when I'll list my quilting priorities for 2021.  

Checking in at 30 June

Each year I like to set myself some quilting goals.  That way I don't forget about the quilts that I've started, but never got round to finishing.  

Setting goals also forces me to hesitate for a moment before I jump into exciting new things that I see online.  I pause, and think of all the things that I said I really wanted to do, and then I usually jump in anyway! How tragic is that!!

Here's what I said I'd work on in 2020 when I set my goals back in January.  

1.  Ballet with Kaffe Fassett by Willyne Hammerstein from Millefiori Quilts 2.
See the tab at the top of my blog for all the details on this quilt (or click here).  I started this quilt in June 2017.  It's all ready for hand quilting now and I hope to finish it in 2020.

2.  Glitter by Jen Kingwell
It's finished! And just waiting to be hung in an exhibition.  I started this quilt in a class with Jen Kingwell at the Christchurch Quilt Symposium in October 2017 so it contains lots of happy memories.  I hand pieced my blocks, and hand quilted it.  I'll share it once it's hanging in the exhibition later this year. 

3.  Cartwheel by Liza Prior Lucy for Kaffe Fassett Collective Quilt Grandeur book.  
Also finished, and now called "You Spin Me Round".  This quilt will be in Capital Quilters Exhibition on 22-23 August 2020. 

4.  Green Diamonds
This is my own way to use up some of the diamonds we cut at the Kaffe Fassett class in January 2018.  I'm in the middle of hand quilting this little quilt now. 

5.  Neptune and the Mermaid - pattern is Pieces of the Past by Wendy Whellum
This was so much fun to make (click here to read more).  It's basted and waiting for me to start hand quilting it.  

6.   Cross Country by Anna Maria Horner
I started this quilt in a class with Anna Maria Horner  in November 2019 (click here to read more).  I now have the fabrics to finish it, but I need to decide if I want to add applique in the big triangles. (That's carpet you're seeing in this photo.)




7.  Don't Leaf Me by Wendy Williams
I've made a little start, but there's still a long way to go with this one. I haven't had much experience with needle turn applique, so I'm going to use this quilt to improve my skills. 

8.  Endless Summer by Anna Maria Horner
Started and finished during the COVID-19 lockdown.  I've now called my quilt Endless Lockdown, because it felt like it at the time.  

9.  Stars Upon Stars by Edyta Sitar
I know, I say it every year. but 2020 is the year I will start this quilt.  Now I've got rubber stamps and I'm going to hand piece my quilt just like the Dutch ladies do.

10.  Something new from Millefiori Quilts 4
I've been browsing through my book but I'm still deciding which pattern I would like to make. 

11. Marshal by Jen Kingwell - the Quiltmania mystery quilt. 
I took a wild departure and made something new with half of the blocks from the Marshal Mystery quilt.  You can read more about it here.  I'm going to enter this quilt into Capital Quilters exhibition in August 2020.  

12.  And, I've finished the wedding quilt for some friends getting married in October.


So that's 4, almost 5, quilts finished in six months!!!  Of course some of them have been WIPs for a few years, but that's still pretty impressive for me.  It's amazing what I can achieve when I'm forced to stay at home.  

Now it's time for the Peacock Party. What have you been up to lately? Feel free to link up a recent blog post below.  

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

My quilting priorities for 2020 (and the Peacock Party)

It's the start of a new year, so it's time to think about what I'd like to make in 2020.

I have two main quilting goals for 2020:
1.  to move away from English Paper Piecing to hand piecing with a running stitch
2.  to find a method of applique that suits me.

I'll be keeping those goals in mind as I work on these quilts below in 2020.

Here are the quilts I've already started and really want to finish in the first half of 2020:

1.  Ballet with Kaffe Fassett by Willyne Hammerstein from Millefiori Quilts 2.
See the tab at the top of my blog for all the details on this quilt (or click here).  I started this quilt in June 2017.  I'm going to finish it by hand quilting it in 2020.

2.  Glitter by Jen Kingwell
Another long term project, but again, it will be finished in 2020.  I started this quilt in a class with Jen Kingwell at the Christchurch Quilt Symposium in October 2017 so it contains lots of happy memories.  I hand pieced my blocks, and I'm now hand quilting it.  I'll share a full photo when it's finished.

3.  Cartwheel by Liza Prior Lucy for Kaffe Fassett Collective Quilt Grandeur book.  
I've started hand quilting this quilt (click here to see), but stitching along all those black lines it taking forever!! I know it's worth it though, so I'll keep going.

I've also started these quilts, but they aren't quite so high on the finishing list:

4.  Green Diamonds
This is my own way to use up some of the diamonds we cut at the Kaffe Fassett class in January 2018.  I need to baste this lap quilt and then I can quilt it.

5.  Neptune and the Mermaid - pattern is Pieces of the Past by Wendy Whellum
This was so much fun to make (click here to read more).  Now I just need to get it basted and then I will hand quilt it.

6.   Cross Country by Anna Maria Horner
I started this quilt in a class with Anna Maria Horner  just a few weeks ago in November 2019 (click here to read more).  However, I'm now on the look out for a perfect fabric for the big triangles on the sides.  I've seen some online, but they don't get released until mid 2020, so this quilt will be on hold for a while.

I've made a few changes to my plan since I left the class - I couldn't get a balance of colours that I was happy with, so I started again.

What I left the class with

What it looks like now

These are new quilts that I'd like to start in 2020:

7.  Don't Leaf Me by Wendy Williams
I have the kit, and have made a tiny start, but I would like to do more on this quilt in 2020. 

8.  Endless Summer by Anna Maria Horner
I got this kit for Christmas because I love the framed drawings by Monika Forsberg.  I'll love making this quilt.

9.  Stars Upon Stars by Edyta Sitar
I know, I say it every year. but 2020 is the year I will start this quilt.  Now I've got rubber stamps and I'm going to hand piece my quilt just like the Dutch ladies do.

10.  Something new from Millefiori Quilts 4
I can't wait to get my own copy of Willyne Hammerstein's new book.  This time I'm going to hand piece rather than English Paper Piece so that will be fun.

I tried to restrict my list to 10 things, but I really must include

11. Marshal by Jen Kingwell - the Quiltmania mystery quilt. 
I'm not going to let these pieces languish in the cupboard.  I have a plan in mind, and I want to finish this quilt in 2020.

12.  And the wedding quilt I have promised to make for some friends getting married in October.


So that's my list for 2020.  I don't expect to get them all finished in 2020, but these are the quilts that I will be working on.

What have you been up to lately?  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below and join in the Peacock Party.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter