A Year's Worth of Sewing

This didn't feel like a productive year.  I slogged through parts of the spring and summer for a variety of reasons.  But as I went through my photos - wow!  I did more than I thought. 

Clockwise from upper left:  Stained Kites, sewing machine case, Lighthearted Love, Mom's pillow,
mini hearts, Key West Memories, Parrot Plumes

I tried a lot of new patterns and techniques.  Some projects were to use fabric on hand, others were to try new patterns.  The Singer 99 case cover came about because I couldn't bear keeping such a cute machine in such an ugly beat-up case.  The pillow and the feathers were paper piecing patterns I found - I was excited to have an opportunity to make them.  I was inspired to make the table cloth and heart quilts from fabric (or thread) I was given.  I swear my best ideas come from stuff handed over to me rather than the fabric I buy.

Stained Kites was the only planned-on-purpose quilt.  I imagined and designed it for nearly a year - purchasing fabric, cutting out kites and bookmarking freemotion quilting designs that looked interesting.

Clockwise from upper left:  clothesline bowl, oven mitt, knitting bag,
fabric baskets, NYB mug rugs, quilting practice pouch, selvedges mug rug

In addition to my "big" quilts, I had several little projects.  Most of these were an effort to clear out old fabric I had collected over the years.  It was fun creating a bunch of clothesline bowls that burned through a heap of rayon, cotton and polyester scraps.  Yards of leftover home decor fabric went into a handful of baskets, a mug rug and a much needed oven mitt (the much-loved old one was so ratty!).

The last little items were were trial runs.  Practice quilting for the feather quilt ended up as a zippered pouch.  My first attempts at New York Beauties ended up as a pair of mug rugs.

In the end, I averaged at least one project a month.  My backlog for 2017 is already piling up!  I have gifts to make, a pile of string triangles nearly ready to go and at least two I-need-to-try-this patterns simmering in the back of my head.  I need to get sewing!