2020 Year in Review

 2020 by the numbers...

4 quilts - 3 of the out of the UFO stack.

1 Instagram post so no Top 9 this year.  I took a huge step back from social media this year and am still struggling with how to cultivate a healthy creative presence.  

294 days since the world shut down because of Covid-19.  My quilt studio became my home office and making masks became every sewists #1 priority.

136 hours learning Spanish on Duolingo and the reason I haven't seen any of the shows everyone else was binge watching.

106 books read.  Thank goodness for Kindle!

2020 was not the year any of us was expecting.  I hope that the challenges and lessons learned from this year can bring growth and creativity in the year ahead.

Stay safe and happy quilting - XOXO Alice

Long Overdue

This is another one from deep in the UFO stack.  This is Jaybird Quilts' Toes in the Sand that I taught as a block of the month at Quilter's Way.  

Up until now I've always quilted my quilts myself but my amazing friend Rebecca has a new longarm and she was looking for practice quilts.  I'd already lined her up to baste my La Passacaglia and asked if she'd quilt this one for me as well.  

I can't even describe what a fabulous job she did quilting this so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.  She quilted each triangle with a different motif and every one is a masterpiece!!!  

The details are absolutely perfect and the texture is just unreal!

It came out more beautiful than I'd ever even imagined possible!!!

As soon as I got it back I curled up under it and binge watched a couple of episodes of Great British Bake Off Masterclass while tacking my binding.

This one is being gifted and I can't wait to see it in use.  Maybe I'll even get inspired and make a matching pillow case.

Quilt Stats:

Finished quilt is 64" x 93"
Pattern:  Toes in the Sand by Jaybird Quilts
Fabrics: PB & J by basic grey for Moda.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient.

Quilted by: the amazing Rebecca Loren

Winter Trees

This is the first (and probably only) new quilt I made this year.  I'm not a fan of fall so I haven't made a lot of seasonal décor for the interim between a totally Ghastlies Halloween and Rudolph puked up Christmas everywhere.  My foyer was looking a bit forlorn so I turned to my Pinterest porn for ideas.

This is a complete rip off of the quilt made by Cassandra at The (Not So) Dramatic Life.  I was totally smitten by hers and I knew I had the same Cotton + Steel print in my stash (finding it was the biggest challenge of this whole project).  She doesn't give a lot of directions but it's the kind of forgiving project where you can just wing it.  I just sliced and diced until it was the size I wanted.

Bubbling is not my thing but I got plenty of practice filling in all the background space.  I also tried some snowy sections at the bottom.  I came sooo close to running out of thread but for once I didn't have a thread emergency which was a blessing because waiting to have more thread delivered probably would have been the end of this.

Quilt Stats:

Finished quilt is 18" x 20"
Pattern: copied from Cassandra at The (Not So) Dramatic Life
Fabrics: Cotton + Steel by Sarah Watts, Kaffe Fassett Shot Cotton. Binding: Grunge by basic grey for Moda.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Cotton.
Thread: 50 wt. Aurifil in  Smoke Blue (4644).

Picnic Plaid

I don't know when I became a person who can't waste a single scrap but it's happened.  I had a bunch of miscut sashing strips left from my City Sampler.  For some reason I felt compelled to use them.  My first instinct was to once again pair them up with my treasured Liberty stack but once I pulled it out I decided I just didn't have another Liberty + Smoky project in me.  Digging thru my stash I stumbled on this fabulous plaid and decided to branch out. 

 

My sashing strips were 1 1/2" x 9" so I cut my plaid at 7" by wof and then sewed 1 1/2" strips to either side.  These were then subcut into 7" squares.  From there I attached the sashing strips to each plaid side making sure the white corners were on opposite sides.

I love an on-point setting!  It looks complicated but really isn't.  Bonnie Hunter of Quiltsville.com has a comprehensive chart that saves you from actually having to do math (and also gives you the correct equations in case that's how you roll).

I kept the quilting simple and just did a loopy meander.  I haven't done FMQ in a long time so this was an easy and forgiving transition back into it.  I love the way the pink thread pops against the smoky shot cotton!

Gratuitous binding shot.  Football season definitely inspired me to finish some quilts so I had something to occupy my hands.

Quilt Stats:
Finished quilt is 37" x 49"
Fabrics: Plaid from Stash, Kaffe Fassett Shot Cotton in Smoky.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient.
Thread: 50 wt. Aurifil in  Peachy Pink (2435).

Big Swoon

Now that my quilt studio is doubling as my home office I've had to do a major clean out.  I unearthed this giant swoon block basted and just waiting to be quilted.

In the spirit of just get it done I kept the quilting simple and just did some echo quilting and added some extra rows to further define the elements.  After 7 years I was able to finish this off in an afternoon.  I'd even made the binding already so I just needed to slap it on and enjoy some Netflix and chill while tacking it down.

Lessons learned:
Flying Geese would have been better than HSTs for the zigzag border.
Don't use a directional print for zigzags!!!

Quilt Stats:
Finished quilt is 37" x 53"
Pattern:  Adapted Swoon Block by Camille Roskelley
Fabrics: Tufted Tweets by Laurie Wisbrun, FSDS Sky & Kiwi, Bella Solids Bleached White.  Timeless Treasures Dots.  Binding: Crazy for Dots & Stripes by RJR Fabrics.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient.
Thread: 50 wt. Aurifil in  Natural White (2021).