This has been a year hasn't it? The year 2020 will be talked about forever unless the powers that be decide to remove it from the history books for one reason or another. It's a little early in the month for a year in reveiw but being as I haven't written a blog in over a year any time will work to hit some of the highlights. Blogger has changed. I had seen from others blogs that some were having troubles with it. Well, this is my first stab at the new format and I'm not impressed. As a matter of fact, if this actually becomes a post I'll be surprised.
I'm finishing the quilting part of my 2020 by making many, many 4" blocks. The blocks are then being sashed to make larger blocks. These all come from the Urban Farmhouse line by Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings. So far these blocks have been great to make. I'm enjoying working with this color palette and love working with small blocks.
There have been a few quilt finishes this year. Not as many as I would like but enough to know I accomplished something.
The girls had their birthdays in February. Grace is now 12 and Allison 7. Wow, just wow! I probably say that every year. Here are their birthday postcards for 2020. Sorry, I don't know who to give credit to for the postcard designs.
This queen size finish was complete in March. It is Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt pattern Orca Bay. I added an extra border (which I wish was wider) and then I quilted it on my Janome with a wavy line pattern.
I went on a neutral kick this year and made this simple lap quilt in April. There is no pattern for this one. It was quilted on my Janome using a straight line pattern.
Another finish for the year is this twin size Triple Irish Chain quilt. This paisley fabric was purchased years ago. The top is several years old itself. My daughter Jennifer offered to cut a stencil for me that would fit just right in those big open squares. After trying several different ways to mark that stencil on the front and I just couldn't see the lines well enough it finally ocurred to me to turn the quilt over and mark it on the back. It worked like a charm. This quilt is finally finished! Looking through my pictures I see that I took many during the quilting process and none after it was done. Finished September 2020.
In August I started working on my second voting quilt. This one made me pause more than once about how political I wanted to get. This has been a charged up year for politics. A difficult year for everyone. I decided to go with something safe. That being said I have a lot of words sewn together that did not get included in this quilt. Maybe someday I'll make a quilt of my unquilted thoughts. And then again, maybe not. There is a reason I self edit. There is no pattern for this quilt. For my word quilts I decide what words I want to say, make them and then make everything else fit around them. Sometimes that works better than other times. This quilt could have used a narrow dark border before the light border. It first went together without that narrow light border and had to be taken apart then the light border added. Quilted on my Janome with a wave pattern stencil made by Jen. This lap size quilt was finished two days before the November 2020 election.
2020 has also included some work on my house and garage. The picture below is of my seven year old granddaughter Allison and her mother Victoria scraping paint from the peak on my garage. Allison loved going up and down that ladder. Her dad and her grandma not so much. That Covid face mask came in handy for keeping the paint and dust out of her face.
What a year...Covid-19, the too many political issues to list. One thing I am greatful for this year is my family. They have made this year more tolerable. On that front things seem to be going in the right direction.
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| School shopping 2020 Covid style. |
Here's to a much improved 2021.
Happy Sewing,
Julie
