End of the year favorite

   A few quiet and restful days before the end of the year......A little reading, a little cooking, and some family time too, but just a little sewing.  And before anyone asks, I do not do resolutions---because I know I won't keep them.  I hate breaking promises, and  resolutions are like an anchor around my neck.  Every year they weigh more.  

    I  do like to evaluate my past year, reflect a little, and  decide where I  am heading for the next one.  2012 was the year of the "shoulder event"---shudder and cringe---yet I got through it and learned a bit about breaking through that wall of despair / depression/ etc.    It was also the year of the Free Motion Challenge at SewCalGal.  The most important thing is I learned so much doing each lesson.....I hung on and made it to the end....and improved quite a bit.    Looking back at the photos, I  amazed myself at how much I accomplished.   Here's a collage of the major projects from 2012......banners, wall hangings, lap quilts,  scrap quilts, and 2 quilts given in celebration of life events.      

   I think that it is easy to figure out my favorite effort of this past year......front and center is the color study, Wonders of Color.   Inspired by Wanda at Exuberant Color, this is the most viewed post of the year!    I owe her so much.     Rudy does come in a very close second choice for my favorite project.  His story is here.   He will continue to pop up as I share the doll quilts this year as they arrive.  His permanent residence will be on the sewing room door, so he can keep up with all that is going on.
   A very  strong contender for  favorite is the string quilt, Faceted Jewels, which now resides in Michigan with my daughter.  I love the sparkle it has  and turned a photo of this one  into my new banner for this year.  I still have lots of strings, so I am thinking there just may be another  jewel of a quilt that develops this year.
    It was not exactly the year I had planned, yet it was a satisfying year in the end.  I will take that any time.
So till next year....happy stitching.   Happy New Years, too!!! 

Forecast

  Sunny and bright today!  I am so tired of the overcast sky, so when the golden rays of light appeared this morning I came awake immediately.  I am ready to finish boxing up the seasonal decor and get back to a routine.

  First I  need get my toes warm, so I will be donning my new socks from Deana.  Beautiful blue and so soft....love the stitch pattern she used for them.    And the hang tag is so perfectly me!

  Update to photo storage on Picasa web-----Have you checked your web album lately?  There was an upgrade to free storage.  It is now 5 GB instead of 1 GB.  So we all should be in good standing for a while.  Maybe they added storage space since we figured out how to reduce our photo size?

   I am playing around with the bargello idea on EQ7 today to get the upward curve I am wanting.  Once I have the design worked out, I will start pulling fabrics and coloring in my layout.  Happy stitching.  

Catching up

    Step 5 of the Easy Street mystery.....I have some power sewing to do this afternoon on these, and I will be caught up.  Bonnie says no more geese, but I think these still qualify because of the 2" corners.  We must be nearing the end and almost ready to join the units together.

  Good news from the Nifty Stitcher....she will be doing posts after the holidays  to help understand the endless feathers that curls around.  Thank you, I am excited about this.  I want to do a skinny bed runner quilt that is just quilted with these feathers....a NewFO.

  We were given this tin of cookies.  Now mind you, they are not the ordinary tin of cookies like I expected.  After one bite, I knew they were a special toffee cookie treat.  I checked on line to see where I could get more....whoa!  $$$  I was sure surprised.  But they are so good.  And I love the egg shaped tin as well as the color.  A keeper here.

       

 Merry Christmas to all.  And happy stitching.  

Endless feathers and new challenge

    I dropped in to check out what The Nifty Stitcher  had been doing lately.  And once again her stitching blew me away.  She had a sample of a curling /swirling feather that was so fabulous.  Rhianon  has a link to a Russian gal who is doing this technique.  Of course, I was mesmerized by the videos....that I watched them twice and then again!  How did she do that?  She doesn't mark anything?  Just off she goes.  I had to try at least.  Paper practice first...lots of pages filled with feathers of a sort.  Then to the machine.

  I used polyester batting and 2 pieces of white muslin to practice on.  This is the first one.....my feathers look a lot more angular than they should.  I haven't figured out the way to make them curl around each other.  I am hoping to coax/ beg/ plead / entice Rhianon  at the Nifty Stitcher to pass on some guiding advice on achieving that.
    So check out the link.....really beautiful feathers.





 Notice the new button.....2013  The Year of the 
Finished Project.   Lynne at Never to hot to stitch is organizing a monthly linky party to motivate us to finish up those projects hidden away, or stacked in the corner.  Please click over and check it out.   No rules, but do set your own guidelines.   Lynne's idea for herself is to finish 2 projects before she can start another.  That should help her clear out those UFOs.
   My own general guide lines  will still apply to me---or kind of apply---one project  to be quilted, one being sewn, and one in the planning stage.  Eek...right now I have two I am sewing and 2 being planned.   Already I am breaking my own rules and playing around with feathers.   Of course, the small projects that pop up on the horizon  and fill in some space and time, do not have to play by my guidelines.  Just so you know.
This may prove to be a very dangerous new year.    Happy stitching.  

Free label downloads

      I ran across some quilt labels at Connecting threads.  Click here   for a selection of label graphics  to download.



    Down load the labels to your computer and save.  You can then add your text with a word processing program and print onto treated fabric, Printed Treasures, or June Tailor Quick Fuse, for example.  I get requests for labels a lot, so I thought I would share these freebies.  I would grab them soon because I am not sure how long they will be available.   Happy stitching.

Recapping the FMQ year

 
  To finish off the challenge we need to show proof of completing at least 12 of the tutorials.  I actually did 14---2 of them were bonus tutorials---but I'm only showing 12 here.   Obviously, I liked all the lessons with swirls, but really liked the center tutorial with the trapunto.  A great year from vines and hearts to feathers, swirls to organic fillers, gridded designs to stitching in rows.....we covered a very wide range of techniques.  It's been fun, and now it is done. 

FMQ Challenge for December

   This is the final month for the FMQ Challenge at SewCalGal.  The finale....the finish....I did not quit....I persevered!  Thanks to Patsy Thompson for this one.

    Since I did not have a project with lots of borders that she suggested, I improvised an art project that was unfinished and destined for the trash can.   I thought it was an "ugly"  effort, and put it aside.  Today I added a couple of border strips to the 2 sides.  And off I went.

 
   When I found the dark purple with the linear graphic, I thought it was perfect for her border quilting idea.   It actually gave me spacing and lines to follow.  And that gave me the idea to use the technique in the background of the center  from another month's tutorial.....the organic quilting of following the fabric motif .  The background fabric was a wipe up cloth from sun painting fabric last year.  I just defined each color area with stitching.

 For the large outer border, I thought I would do multiple rows to simulate multiple borders---wavy curls with semi-straight lines between them.  I like the effect.  In fact I like this ugly now, and will find a binding for it.  It will be a good reminder to think out side my usual box.



Confession time, I wanted to just let this challenge  go several times, and not complete any part of certain month's tutorial.  Sometimes it was too hard, or appeared to be, other times I just did not think I was interested in the technique.  But every lesson offered a tidbit, that one small hint, a tiny jewel of advice that was worth the effort.   I will never be a super, hyper quilter because that is not my style or preference.  Yet, I learned loads of technique and gained much needed experience for the effort.    Big thank you to SewCalGal and all our outstanding teachers.....it has been a good /great / wonderful year!

Happy stitching.