Quilts from 2024 and What's in Store for 2025

I actually enjoy the quietness of January.  Because I live in the Northeast, we tend to get a lot of snow every winter.  This makes me want to stay in and find peace in the down times.  It's a much slower pace of life, maybe because it gets dark out so early.  My evenings are filled with handwork such as crocheting, watching tv or reading.  

Winter is a good time to spend the whole day in the sewing room or stamping rooms without any fear of missing out on anything going on outside - Ha ha.  

Last year I worked on finishing up some UFO's - my unfinished quilts and projects.  Sadly, I only got 4 more quilts finished!  And there's still a LOT more in the (naughty) pile!

Here are my 4 finished quilts from 2024:

1.  The Bowtie quilt for my granddaughter

2.  The Irish Chain quilt for my daughter's new home

3.  The Red Quilt for myself so that I can have a quilt in every color

4.  The Flowered Chandelier quilt for one of my friends

My goal this year is to finish up at least 6 more so that I can start on some new quilting projects. I have lots of fabric fat quarters and jelly rolls that are ready to get used!  I have been making each of my friends a quilt, and the list is only half complete.  So there's work to do - LOL.

This weekend I'm going on a sewing retreat and I hope to get some more things finished.  But we'll see.  
 

Two More Quilts Finished in 2024 (#3 and #4)

Before 2024 was out, I finally finished up two more quilts that I had been working on.  Here is the Red Quilt that I made using jelly rolls.  

I added in some pinwheels to give it some interest.  I think it adds to the quilt.  

I free motioned some roses in the quilting.  I found a rose pattern in one of Pat Sloan's books.  I practiced doodling it for about 2 weeks, then quilting it in.  I think the rose quilt pattern matches nicely with the pretty flowered fabrics in this quilt.  

I'm going to keep this quilt for myself.  It's not a Christmas quilt, just red.  I know it's simple, but I love how it turned out.  

This is my second Chandelier quilt.  I made it using some greens and flowered fabrics.  It's for one of my friends who loves to be outside and in her garden.  

For the machine quilting, I free motioned some large flowers onto the quilt.  I love the bit of whimsy that it adds to the piece.  

On the back I added a couple of strips of patchwork.  I like how it breaks up the back and gives it a little visual interest.

I'll be giving it to her in a couple of weeks for her birthday.  I don't think she reads my blog, but I guess we'll find out.  LOL

 

Clearing Off the Longarm

Don't you just love Pinterest?  I pretty much go on there every day.  The "problem" with that is, I find too many craft projects that I want to make!  Can you relate?

This July, when the weather was too hot to go outside, I decided to (somewhat) clean up my sewing room.  I decided that if I wanted to start any new quilting or sewing projects that I had to finish up at least some of the things "in the pile."  You know that pile, the one with the half-finished quilts and other items in it?  

So I pulled out this pink and brown quilt that I had thrown into the pile in 2008.  Yup, for real.  The quilt top been sitting in the sewing room for 16 years!  I had worked on this quilt for 2-3 years and when the top was done, I didn't really even like it anymore.  

But I quilted a simple stipple stitch on it, mostly to just get it done.  And actually, I kind of like it now that it's quilted.  :)

Once I got that done, I was on a roll!  

I finished this red striped quilt, too!  For this quilt, I wanted to quilt roses on it, to go with the pretty red flowers in the fabric.  I found a rose free motion pattern in one of Pat Sloan's books, so I practiced doodling it on paper for a week or so.  Then I free-style quilted the roses in my quilt.  I just love how it turned out.  I am going to keep this quilt.  One of my goals is to have a quilt in every color.  :)

As soon as that quilt came off of the longarm, I picked up another one.  This sage green quilt is an Irish chain that I am making for my daughter, for her birthday.  It was actually supposed to be for Christmas last year, but let's not mention that.  LOL

I quilted some chunky daisies on this quilt.  It looks really cute and adds so much interest to a somewhat plain pattern.  I can't wait to finish it and give it to her.  :)

And look at this - another quilt getting done!  This quilt is a Chandelier quilt made with greens and flowered fabric for one of my friends.  She loves gardening and I'm hoping to have it all complete to give to her on her birthday in a few months.  

For this quilt, I free-styled big flowers, similar to the daisies, only bigger.  It has a slight whimsical look to it, and the flowered quilting really adds to the interest of the quilt.

So... where are these 4 quilts now?  Well, they're in another "pile," ready to be trimmed and bound.  But I promise myself that I will finish them up soon!  I have some new quilt ideas that I'd like to start.  :)

 

Quilts in Progress

While on the Quilt Retreat, I brought a couple of quilts that needed some work on them.  This first quilt is made from a Jelly Roll that had pretty reds and pinks in it.  I made a row of pinwheels to break up the stripes, but I wanted to add more pieces for some visual interest.  So I'm adding in some different sized pinwheels to give it more pizazz.  

I did finish the quilt top at the retreat and now need to quilt it.  I hope to finish it before next Christmas so that I can have it as a red throw.  

The next quilt that I brought to work on is another Chandelier Quilt from Missouri Star.  I finished up a red one to give to one of my friends at Christmas and now I'm onto a more spring-like look.  This quilt has several greens, yellows and sunflowers in it.  I hope to finish it in the next few months to give to someone special.  :)

Part of the fun in going on the retreats is to spend time with other ladies that love quilting.  We have show and tell, and share the ideas for our current and next projects with each other.  Now there's even more projects that I want to make!

We spend some time outdoors going on walks to get some fresh air and enjoy some wonderful meals together.  I can't wait for the next retreat!  When is it, again?

 

The Red Chandelier Quilt is Finished!

I guess I can say that I call myself a "quilter."  In reality, it's more like a "quilt starter."  I like to start new projects, select the fabrics and begin making the quilt.  It's so exciting in the beginning to see how your fabric will come together as a quilt. But then life gets in the way, I get busy with other things, set the project aside and they don't get finished as quickly as I'd like.  

But photos don't lie, and here is a completely finished quilt!  (Cue the band music here.)  I finished this quilt in time to give for Christmas, even though it's actually a birthday gift and her birthday was in October.  But let's not worry about that - it's finished!

The quilt is a pattern from the Missouri Star Quilt Co and you can find the tutorial here.  It's not that hard to put together, but you need a design wall if you are making it with "random" colors.  

My friend Amy, who will be getting the quilt, loves the color red.  So I selected some beautiful reds from a few different collections that I had picked up to make her quilt.  There's some Poppy Mae fabrics from Moda and Little Sweetheart fabrics by Edyta Sitar.  

For the background, I wanted a soft creamy fabric with monochromatic images on it, but I couldn't find what I was looking for when I was ready to start her quilt.  I ended up getting a small yellow dotted fabric from Riley Blake called Le Creme Dots.  

You don't really notice the dots, and the cream color just gives this quilt such a soft look.  I love how it turned out!  I got extra Le Creme fabric to use for the background of a few more quilts.  

I have wanted to make (finish) a Chandelier Quilt for a while now and I'm so happy that it's done!  It's the first quilt that I've finished in 2022, but there are still a couple of days left, so you never know, there may be more.  Perhaps 2023 will be the year of finishing quilts, not just starting them.  There sure are a lot on the UFO pile.  :)