Best of 2016

Time to review 2016! Let's start with the top blog posts of the year and link up with my friend Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs and the Best of 2016 Linky Party.

I chose my top blog posts of 2016 by the number of page views. Here we go:

#5 Reverse Sawtooth Star
This was a fun quilt that I made from my Anna Maria Horner stash using almost all leftover pieces from other quilts.

#4 Bourbon Street
This was also a stash busting quilt, but turned out so pretty with many of my favorite little scraps of fabric.

#3 Scrappy Trip
I shared how I created my variation of the web phenomenon, Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt.

#2 Squash Blossom
After searching and searching for a pattern for this block, I drafted my own and shared the pattern.

#1 Tumbling Spools
This wallhanging was a variation of the quilt featured on Moda bake Shop several years ago and turned out so pretty in Handmade by Bonnie and Camille.

I got the most comments (107) on 2 posts, where I shared my thoughts on blogging and how it's changed over the last couple of years. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on that as well!

Right up there with the number of views was a Photography series that my daughter posted here on my blog. There you can find some really good tips for photographing your quilts: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

And the final stats? This year I completed 19 quilts and 4 wall quilts. You can go back through the blog to see most of them. My most recent finish has yet to be photographed, so watch for that soon.

I made 2 quilts that never made it to the blog. Not sure why, they definitely weren't my favorites, but certainly deserve to be noticed.

The first is a Swiss quilt, pattern from Thimbleblossoms. Since I always have lots of aqua fabric, I thought it would be a good pattern to use up some smaller leftover pieces.

This quilt doesn't have a name because it was a design as you go quilt. I used a stack of Cotton and Steel, made some big half square triangles and then just arranged them and sewed them together. I followed with some simple straight line quilting.

I've really made an effort this year to reduce my stash. Believe me I still have plenty of fabric, but it was feeling overwhelming at the beginning of the year. I find with too much, I lose track of what I have. Besides sewing it up, I sold some really nice bundles on Instagram and donated several bags of fabric for charity quilts. I'm definitely feeling better about what I have and this next year I'd like to be better at using my favorites rather than "saving" them.

Just this week, I pulled out some Maze and Vale fabric {hand printed in Australia and super expensive, but loved by me} that I've been so afraid to cut into and made a simple patchwork pillow. Now I get to look at it every day!

I've also been hoarding this piece of Liberty of London fabric that I bought at Pearl Soho in New York City in 2014. I ended up make a Petal Pouch and I just love how it turned out!

So that's a wrap for 2016. Thanks for hanging in there with me for this long post.

And thank you, thank you, thank you for being here throughout the year. I'm so grateful for this Internet thing that allows us to share, converse and simply hang out together. I'll be thinking this weekend about what I'd like to make in 2017...

Handmade journal from Plum Umbrella on Etsy

How about you? Any quilting goals for the new year?

Wishing you a wonderful, happy and quilty 2017!!!

Scrappy Trip finish!

Unless this is the first quilty blog post you've ever read, I'm sure you're familiar with the Scrappy Trip quilt! I explained my modifications and how I pieced it here.

In my "quilt it up" quest, I took this one to my local Bernina store to longarm quilt it.

I thought I'd share a few pics of the finished quilt today!

I quilted figure 8 loops on the quilt which I'm really happy with. They are all done free hand, but I was able to use the grid created by the squares to keep them fairly close in size and evenly spaced.

I'm also pretty happy with how my "unscrappiness" turned out!

For the back, I used this awesome print that I've been hoarding for just the right quilt. It's from an Art Gallery line called Cleta. Don't you love those trees made from bikes??

The quilt has been put to good use by my husband. I hear it's great for napping!

Scout Quilt

I've have a couple of quilt tops that I really want to finish before the end of the year. The last few years, I've made it a goal to start the year with a clean slate - no tops in a pile waiting to be quilted. Since it's December, I better get going!

I made this one about 6 months ago. A fun pattern that I've had for a while and perfect for my stash busting goal this year.  The pattern is Scout by Allison at Cluck Cluck Sew.

It truly is a great pattern for pulling multiple fabrics from your stash. It's all strip pieced and I pulled pieces that had the full width, but maybe only 5-10" left. In many ways it felt good to use up the end of some fabric pieces, but a little sad too. I love seeing my favorite fabrics used in a quilt, but why does it feel sad that it's no longer sitting on my shelf? 

The quilt did turn out happy and colorful. I did straight line quilting in the vertical strips and hooked feathers in the herringbone strips.

The backing a a fun Cloud 9 fabric with arrows on it. And I had just enough of this Art Gallery navy for binding - about 1/4" leftover - close!

I've also finished up quilting my Scrappy Trip quilt. I'll share that as soon as it stops raining and I can get some photos...

My Scrappy Trip

I'm probably the last quilter in this century to make a Scrappy Trip. I'm not a big fan of really scrappy quilts, so while the idea was great and so many of the quilts I've seen are beautiful, I didn't have an inclination to make one. Until I saw Allison's of Woodberry Way.

She made a gorgeous planned Scrappy Trip and I fell in love with it. I decided to go ahead and try one using a limited color palette of black, teal, mint and pinky red.

The top is done! I followed Allison's directions found here. She made the blocks larger than the original quilt design.

I made one slight variation to the directions because I wanted all my seams to nest, which makes it tons easier to put the blocks together.

When piecing the strips, I pressed all the seams away from the background fabric. This made the rows go together easily within each block.

With this design you make 2 different blocks {one with a print in the upper corner and one with a background}. I wanted the seams to nest as I sewed the blocks together, so instead of turning them, as Allison directs, I created 2 different blocks.  This also allowed me to keep the black squares going diagonally across the quilt.

The rows for each block are pressed in opposite directions making the seams nest as the blocks and rows are joined.

Block 1:

Block 2:

Block 1:

Block 2:

Thank you all for the advice on my bag {that many of you pointed out would make a great bin!}. I'm thinking the heavy quilting just shrunk {shrank?} the bag too much. Several of you suggested, measuring the finished outer portion and cutting the lining once the bag is quilted. Always adding interfacing to the lining fabric sounds like a good idea also! I still need to add the handles or maybe I'll just use it as a storage bin! Fat quarters maybe?

WIP Thursday...

I enjoyed reading all your comments on my last post with my thoughts on blogging. Sounds like I'm not the only one who is a blog reading fan! I'm planning on making an effort to interact with my favorite bloggers more, which boils down to commenting more. Hope you'll join me!

How about a WIP day? I kind of fell away from posting these once Lee from Freshly Pieced stopped hosting the link-up. But today I'm back with a WIP post.

I'm not a one-project girl, and here's what I'm working on...

I mentioned in my last post that I'm making a not-so-scrappy Scrappy Trip. That one's still in progress with 4 blocks left to make.

My second piecing project is using Les Fleurs, a new line by Rifle Paper Company for Cotton + Steel. I've been a big fan of Rifle products for years and this fabric line was a no-brainer. Had to have it.

Do you find it hard to cut into a favorite fabric line? I do - afraid of not liking what I've made. I decided to chop right into this one while I can still get more if necessary!

The block is from this book, Back to Square One, from 1988. I've been gong through some of my archived books and have been finding some awesome patterns.

Here's the style from 1988. The quilt is called Smokehouse and I think it's going to be really pretty in some updated fabrics. At least I hope so!

My current machine quilting project is a sampler quilt. I received 15 blocks from an Instagram Bonnie and Camille Swap group.

I bordered each of the blocks in white or aqua solid and alternated the border colors in setting the blocks together. 

To quilt it, I straight stitched in the sashing created by the borders and now I'm free-motion quilting each block individually.

I'm trying to stretch myself to come up with different custom designs for each block, including some straight lines using the free-motion foot. {i.e.. semi-straight lines}

This book, Free Motion Quilting by Amanda Murphy, has been really handy for ideas.

And finally, I got this far on the market Bag from Handmade Style by Anna Graham in a couple of afternoons this past weekend. It still needs handles and I haven't decided what to use yet. I seem to have a problem with baggy linings in all my bags/pouches. This pattern even had you cut the lining 1/2" smaller, but mine is still pretty baggy. Any words of wisdom on how to alleviate that appreciated!

And that's what's happening here. Hope you're having a great week!

My thoughts on blogs and blogging...

I knew the question at the end of my last post, "Are you reading blogs?", was self-evident. What I didn't expect was the overwhelming response both in the comments and through email. {And the fact that so many of you read to the end of the post!} Thank you! I enjoyed reading your comments and the passion for blogging appears to be alive and well!

First, let me reassure many of you - no, I'm definitely not going to stop blogging. And thank you, thank you for all the compliments :-)

What got me thinking about blogging is some things that I've heard recently. A comment that "blogs are dead", a statement that "blogs are now marketing tools", and Rachel's post pointing out that there are definitely fewer hobbyist bloggers. Couple these comments with the fact that I seem to have lost my blogging mo-jo this Summer. I've been asking myself "do I like my own blog?", "would I read it?". Since joining on Instagram, the blog here has become - look at this finished quilt. Is that all readers want to see?

So I'm feeling the blog needs a little shot of adrenaline {or maybe I do!}

Certainly as many of you pointed out - blogs have changed.

I think that was certainly inevitable and change is good. Shifts and changes improve things - I think of how quilting has improved since my Grandmother's day.

Grandmother's Flower Blocks made by my Grandmother in the 30s

Sometimes the changes don't feel so good. As a passionate blog reader I've noticed:

• Some of my favorite blogs have disappeared. Many bloggers have used the platform as a jumping off point for a quilting career. And good for them! In 2006, when I wrote my first book, it was tough to get noticed. But it doesn't mean I don't miss some of my favorites. I always looked forward to Camille's {Simplify} beautiful photos and Anna Maria Horner's  beautiful writing. {If you love beautiful writing, read Posie Gets Cozy. She's poetic!}
• Blogs have become a marketing tool. Several of you mentioned a dislike for blogs that are constantly trying to sell you something. It's the way of the world, but I definitely avoid blogs with too much of that {especially those pop-up ads}
• Comments are down. I'm guilty of writing fewer comments too {Was it easier to comment when we had Google Reader? I don't remember} I don't blog for comments, but I sure do like them!

In thinking about all this I have been asking myself "What do I want my blog to be?" "Do I want to keep up my 'hobbyist blog'?". The answer is yes - and here's why:

• Like Thelma commented, my blog is a great diary of my quilts for ME!
• I've found myself finishing a quilt, folding it up and moving on to the next one. My blog makes me stop, appreciate it, think about it and feel the joy I find in quilt-making.
• I'm a mediocre photographer and writer. I'd love to improve in both areas and this blog is a way to push myself, practice and hopefully get better.
• Whenever I figure something out - whether it's a new block, method or twist on a purchased pattern - I feel a need and obligation to share it. I get so much good info from other blogs and bloggers, I can't not give back. It may be a tutorial or just a simple tip to make quilting-life easier.
• I was watching the Olympic gymnastics with my 6 and 8 year old granddaughters. A few minutes into the competition they both put their bathing suits on and started practicing cartwheels. It made me realize how much seeing another's success and achievements is so motivating. I strive to do that here - inspiring just one person makes my day!

So, yes, I'm still blogging. Things may stay the same or they may improve. We'll just have to see. But these thoughts and your comments have given me that little touch of adrenaline that I needed. 

I'd love to hear from you. What do you like to see?

Finished quilts? - I'll always have those!

In progress photos? I've seem to have gotten away from those.

Scrappy Trip - not so scrappy

Things I make that I don't finish and don't know what to do with? Sad to say there are many!

EPP Hexagons

Fabric Crushes?

Les Fleurs, Playground, new mini Henna garden

Personal stories related to quilting? Like these dresses I made for Elyse and Madelyn this Summer for my son's wedding. {Pictured with their new cousin Ava}

Decorating, storage and organization ideas? Another passion of mine...

Fun storage basket for quilts from Target

Thank you, thank you, thank you for being here and sharing this journey with me. I really do appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to read this blog. As always I love your comments. Those of you who don't fit into the "Post as" profile can always email me. I have that set up so I don't get all the Spam comments.

And as an avid blog reader I'm always looking for new reads. Do you have any favorite "hobbyist blogs"?