A year in review.

Wow, can you believe it?

The year has passed already, it seems the older I get the more time just slips away when I am not looking. It's hard to believe that I have made so much progress in just a short time when it comes to all aspects of quilting and I am not the only one. I've been looking at other people's blogs this morning and I stand amazed at where they were to where they are now, thinking "soon I will be able to do that!". 

After posting on The Free Motion Quilting Project I felt like a dunce since I read the post after linking up, I totally missed the point of the link up!! So I make amends by doing my year in review a bit early.

Project 1:

The project that started it all.

Chelsea's Quilt.

My very first quilt ever made for my precious 8 year old who is growing up far to quickly in my estimation.

There are many mistakes: blocks are cut crooked, seam lines are way off, it wasn't squared properly, I mixed up the rows, some rows are upside down etc, etc, etc.

It is sewn rather well and will not fall apart which at the time was the most important part.

I did a simple ditch stitch which I echo'd using a 1/4 foot (the flat one, not the one with the bar on the side.) Added some embellishments after the quilt was finished so I can continue to add more patches and things without wrecking the back, I call it a memory quilt. Each embellishment will hold a different memory for her and since she has poor vision she'll be able to have a tactile remembrance as well.

Project 2:

Charity comes first.

Box Car Suzie

I chose to create a charity quilt for my next project because I needed practice. Lots and lots of practice in many ways.

It doesn't look like it but each strip is comprised of 4" (finished) blocks, true I could have just done strips but I wanted to be able to practice piecing, seam alignment and pressing. 

This quilt taught me the difference between ironing and pressing.... I had no clue before and had thought they were the same thing.  0.0

This was my first crack at FMQ, I had just found Leah Day's website through a friend from my guild .. wewt! Shout to Sam at the Quilting Curve!... (If quilting were the force, Sam would be Obi Wan Kenobi and I would be Luke Skywalker, Check out her Heron Quilt it's amazing.) ... I used Sea Oats Flower as the centre and did vines and flowers in each box around it. Very tightly quilted and lots of knotting through out, had a hard time with keeping the scale proper and I used a 3 ply heavy duty poly thread which wasn't so smooth to quilt with :D.  I ended up running out of thread 3 times and ended up grading the colours of the thread from dark to light.

Project 3:

A good deed deserves a good reward

Butterfly Garden

This was a very special project, you can read the full story about it in my inspirations post. By this point I had become fairly comfortable with FMQ'ing and started branching out with new designs. Cucumber Vine has become a favorite of mine, it looks great even when you mess it up and it fills the whole quilt quickly.
It also works off of other designs amazingly well, I think with this quilt in particular had I chosen another type of design I would have been completely flustered and irritated because I had to work around the 3 flowers and 5 butterflies.

Project 4:

Once, Twice and Thrice for Charity

Rescued!

Technically this should be 4 & 5 but I didn't make the bear quilt I just finished it, I add it to my year in review because it was my first go at loopy hearts, trapunto style quilting and because it's one of my favorites.

Lessons Learned

"Lessons Learned" was definitely a teaching quilt, much smaller pieces and I had a fight on my hands at every turn. It turned out beautifully though and also ranks as one of my favorites.
The quilting pattern "Daisy Chain" was born on this quilt, I had originally quilted it once with hearts and loops but messed up the backing in my haste to get it done. I was quilting the bear, "lessons learned" and my youngest daughter's quilt in the same span of time. Doing the combination of "Poseiden's Eye" and Loopy hearts inspired Daisy chain.
Both of these quilts went to the guild as charity quilts.

Project 5:

 Red and Blue makes me dizzy :/

"Building Blocks" I designed specifically for my youngest daughter, I had completely forgotten what red and blue together does to my head though so it was quite a challenge completing this quilt correctly as per my original design.
I used this quilt for multiple patterns to try out for FMQ'ing, played with some designs to see what would happen "if I do it this way..."

I added quite a few favorite styles to my repertoire with this quilt: Spiky Fern, Poseidon's Eye, Paisley, Fiery Comet & Flowing Lines just to name a few. After completing the quilting, I noticed all following projects started to flow much more smoothly and quicker.

Project 6:

The UFO that is no longer a UFO

Broken Diamonds

I love this. I really truly am in love with this 40 x 40 square. It's a foundation pieced project inspired by Amy Gibson's broken spider web block, found in the free block of the month class provided by Craftsy.com.  I wanted something that was extremely masculine since it is for my Dad and I feel I hit that nail right on the head.

If you read the title, this is no longer sitting forlorn on a shelf somewhere, I've got the top pieced and it is all sandwiched together waiting for quilting. 

Project 7:

Giant Granny Panties!

This is the quilt I had set the previous one aside for, we had gotten confirmation that my Mom had cancerous tumor's in her hips this winter. Of course I had to put everything aside and make a quilt that would be super warm and travel easily for her so she could have some comfort while she was away from home.
This took me about 3 weeks from start to finish, and I am glad I had it ready to go since there was only 36 hours warning before my Dad had to whisk my Mom off to the Cancer clinic's for her treatment.
The quilting was a bit rushed since I didn't know what kind of time frame we were looking at so I am not 100% happy with it but I still think that I am being overly fussy cause it's for my Mom.

Project 8

The first commission.

Balloons for Baby

My first try with applique that didn't come out of a package, I was bad with the quilting though and fell into modis-operandi. I am very familiar and comfortable with loops, hearts, stars etc and so that is what I quilted this with.

I am hoping I can remember to deliver it now! :D

Project  9, 10, 11, 12

The stocking were hung by the chimney with care.

I finished the stockings at 4:30 am Christmas morning, between all the other quilting jobs I was doing and just getting ready for Christmas I had run out of time. 

However they were a priority for me to complete as most of the presents I bought this year were specifically for the stockings lol!

Each name tag is FMQ'ed on a felt sandwich with different styles of quilting. The green tag on the right even has a snowman on it with snowballs flying around! It's my favorite ;)

As I went through my photo's it was sheer joy to realize just how far I've come in one year, all the different types of projects that have been tackles and completed, I can't wait to see what the new year will bring!

Happy New Years Everyone!!

Love from our family to yours

Chris.