Monday, December 31, 2018

2018 Year in Review

2018 by the numbers...

7 quilts - I haven't really been inspired to create this year so it was good to make some gifts to keep me going and it's so great to finally have Blue Plate Special out of the UFO pile.  Even if I don't find my Sewjo next year I've still got enough of a backlog to keep me busy.

3 pillows

My Instagram #bestNine2018

My 8th Boston MQG retreat which was the only meeting I made it to all year.

1 Kid accepted to college - how did that happen!!!

153 books read - Favorites: Tangerine by Christine Mangan and The Wife by Alafair Burke.

I love this week between Christmas and New Year.  It's such a great time to relax and recharge.  I've spent a lot of time reflecting on this last year and making plans for the next.  2018 is going to bring a lot of changes but I welcome this opportunity to flourish.

Friday, December 28, 2018

Totally Jelly

I started this one last summer but was keeping it under wraps because I wanted to surprise my parents with it for their 50th wedding anniversary.  Well they'll really be surprised because I blew that deadline and now they'll finally be getting it for the Christmas after their 51st...  you can never be too careful;-)

I got a great deal on these Kaffe Fassett jelly rolls at Marden's and paired it with a couple of Bella jelly rolls from my stash.

It was so nice not having to cut all those strips but I've trended away from precuts because of the lack of consistency.  This drives me nuts!!!

Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville has the go to tutorial for making a Scrappy Trip Around the World but I also relied on this variation by Woodberry Way (and also the pressing directions from Hyacinth Quilt Designs).  I think adding the white helped calm down all those crazy Kaffe prints.

This is a great project for when you just want to sew without having to think too hard.  Other than remembering which seam to unpick it goes together pretty easily and it's nice to have big blocks.  Mine finish to 16" but I still needed to make 54 of them to get make a queen size quilt.

There was no way I was going to quilt something so massive at home so I finally booked an appointment at Burlington Electric Quilters.  Louise has kept things very much the same as they were with Laurena so in no time I was able to get this loaded up and quilted.  I used this Wildflower pantograph to soften the straight lines of this quilt.

And after a lot of time tacking down the binding I finally got to deliver this one.


Quilt Stats:
Finished quilt is 80" x 100"
Pattern: Trip Around the World.
Fabrics: Kaffe Fassett Collective Hot Design Roll.  Moda Bella Solids Bleached White jelly roll.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient.  Backing Kaffe Fassett for Free Spirit Lake Blossoms.
Thread: Superior Threads King Tut in Sunstone (982).
Quilting: Wildflower pantograph by ClothWerx.