2021 Year in Review

2021 by the numbers...

1 quilt, 1 pillow, and 1 table runner.

 175 hours on Duolingo.

108 books read.  Best of the bunch: The Secret Life of Addie Larue, Too Good to Be True, and For Your Own Good.

Like almost everyone, my year can best be described as languishing.  I didn't accomplish much in any area of my life but there's always hope for the new year.  May you be safe and live happily.

Super Star

It took me all year but I finally have a finished quilt.  This is my oldest UFO, a BOM I started back in the late 90s. I finished all the blocks more or less on time but they had been sitting in a box ever since waiting for me to put it all together.  This summer I finally pulled out the blocks and stitched them together and encouraged by Feel Good Fibers Declutter to Destash challenge I added this to the stack to drop off to be quilted.

The real star of this show is my amazing friend RebeccaLorenQuilts, her quilting took this one into the stratosphere!  

She turned this around in less than a week and I was able to slap the binding on (thank you to past me for being considerate enough to make a binding so I was ready to go:-)  Even better I had enough room in my suitcase to bring this one with me on vacation.

We had a Christmas movie marathon and I was able to tack the binding down and finally call this one done.

But seriously, that quilting!!!

It's interesting to finish a 20 year old quilt.  My sewing skills have definitely improved over the last two decades.  This is something I'd never make today but I'm thrilled with it now that it's done and happily it's going to a good home where it will be appreciated.  What's the oldest UFO you've ever finished?

Quilt Stats:

Finished quilt is 70" x 70"
Pattern:  Galaxy of Stars BOM by Jinny Beyer
Fabrics: Jinny Beyer Collection 
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient

Quilted by: the utterly amazing Rebecca Loren

Bringing the Holiday Cheer

One of my favorite things to make and gift are cocktail napkins.  Who isn't thrilled by a cute set of napkins and a bottle of booze?  

For my first set I went with my tried and true self binding napkin tutorial with this adorable pineapple fabric I had in my stash.

I've used a ton of different techniques for making napkins but this time I wanted to experiment with decorative edges.  I started with using ric-rac with this Cotton + Steel cocktail fabric.  

I found it worked best to baste my ric-rac in place before making the fabric sandwich and stitching around the 4 sides leaving a hole for turning.  Once I flipped them right sides out I just top stitched around the edge.

With that success I used the same technique with this pom-pom trim.  I made these specifically to gift but now I want to keep them for myself! 

The best part is crafting all the cocktail themed photo shoots to get the perfect shot;-)  Cheers to a festive holiday season!

Cozied Up

 

I love a good cozy so when a good friend of me asked if I would make her some bowl cozies as a holiday gift of course I said yes.  

I used this microwaveable bowl cozy tutorial from American Patchwork & Quilting and in no time I had my first set.  

I liked them so much I decided another friend, who hadn't actually asked for any, needed some too.  Obviously I really like her because I dipped into my stash of precious Amy Butler for these ones.

These are a great way to bust stash and also a fabulous way to use up all those leftover batting ends so I kept going and made another set for myself.

And then Audrey saw them and decided she needed to get in on the game for her new apartment.  One of her favorite things to make is molten chocolate lava cakes so I decided to try making a smaller ramekin sized version.  I fiddled with the sizing and finally had a successful prototype.

So Audrey ended up with a double stack for her and her roomies.  22 cozies later I think I'm done...  at least for now.  We'll see who else gets handmade gifts this year.  How are your holiday makes going?