New Year - New Quilt

 Here it is, the New Year and I just posted a list of 24 quilts I want to work on. That's more than I can realistically tackle in a year. So, what do I do? Start a new project. 😁

But, we've been working on building a new chicken yard

DH has been working overtime and doing a lot of welding for it.

So I spend some time in my sewing room until I am called back into action. When I saw Allison of Cluck Cluck Sew release this Hashtag quilt in October, I bought it instantly.

 I cannot resist plaid and right away I envisioned this in flannels, and autumn fabrics, and western prints, and Christmas fabrics...

But hey, a Christmas quilt is on that list so this new project can moonlight as that! Lots of fun stash fabrics to choose from...

And yes, I'm perfectly delighted to be working on a Christmas quilt in January. The scene outside on Wednesday still heralded a holiday feeling. 

These blocks are big, so you don't lose the fun prints along the way. This is a fat quarter quilt, but I just used prints from my Christmas bin so it took longer to figure out how to make the best use out of what I had. I'm using a textured print from my stash for the light squares because that's what I had. One fun block finished

The beginnings of that little winter storm arrived on Tuesday afternoon

so I made Baked Apple Oatmeal that morning for breakfast

And Chicken Gnocchi Stoup for dinner

 They're forecasting about 6" today so I'm going to take advantage of some free time and spend a few hours stitching up more blocks.

As for DH...snow or not; he's not one for being idle...

Quilts on the Horizon for 2025

This looks suspiciously similar to last year's list, but I made 12 quilts last year so  I'm starting off the year with the 12 quilts that get rolled over from that list with more for good measure. I made a pretty good dent in last year's list, but was sidetracked by our move in August and our many outside projects.

This is a list of both UFOs and quilts I hope to work on in the coming year. 

1. Winter Blues - I didn't touch this last year and I've just got 65 of these little scrappy blue blocks made so hopefully I can get back to this one and move it forward. It's been on the list since 2022. I may set this up to be my leader-ender project.

2. Follow Your Heart - Jackie has this one so I'll be binding it soon. This too has been on this list since 2022.

3. Christmas Quilt - No progress on this one in fact, I haven't even chosen a pattern, but I'm using my stash so it will be scrappy.

4. Peppermint Bark Christmas - I need a 2nd Christmas quilt and I actually do have the blocks made, but they haven't made it to top status yet. I made them back in June.

5. Love You S'more - I pieced one camping quilt top for our granddaughter last year that's ready to be dropped off with Jackie. 

6. Love You S'more II - New Project. Another camping quilt for our grandson.

7. Meet Me in Margaritaville - I scrapped my original plan and moved on to plan B, but wasn't liking that much either. So I'm waiting for inspiration to lead me in another direction, but another green-blue quilt is still on my radar

8. Pooh's Corner - Still just a pile of fabric at the moment

9. Meadow Friends - hoping to make a quilt or 2 from these fabrics for the grandchildren

10. S'mores Quilt - I didn't touch this last year and still have blocks to make

11. Farmhouse Chic Quilt - another one that I neglected last year, but I hope to dig into it soon

12. Snuggle Season - still just a fat quarter pack. I need to settle on a pattern yet.

13. Old Dirt Road - I hope to work on this one this year - it's not even cut out yet.

14. Gingham Farmhouse - ready to hand this one off to Jackie for quilting

15. Scrap Baskets - I picked this one up from Jackie last September, but still need to bind it.

16. Red & White Swap Quilt - in line to be bound

17. Peaches & Cream Gingham - Also waiting for me to stitch the binding down.

18. Animal Crackers - This one is at Jackie's - that binding pile is growing!

19. Autumn Gatherings - Flannel quilt requested by our girl. It's pieced and ready to be quilted.

20. I Spy - I made an I Spy quilt for our granddaughter's 2nd birthday. Our grandson is turning 2 this year so an I Spy quilt is definitely a priority.

Then there are a handful of quilt tops that have been hanging in the back of the closet for quite a few years. They were rediscovered when we moved. It's time to get them finished.

21. Dinosaur Baby - needs a backing

22. Jungle Baby - awaiting a backing as well 

23. Farmers Market - needs a good pressing before I hand it off to be quilted. I pieced a backing and made binding for it on Wednesday.                                        

24. Sweet Snuggles flannel quilt - in line for quilting

O.K. stopping there. If I stick to this list, I won't be buying much fabric because I have everything for all the quilts with the exception of some backings, but I'm going to try hard to cobble those together from my stash. I bought very little last year. Heaven knows I can sew for years and not run out of fabric, but it would be nice to see a decrease in my stash.

5 of these are waiting for binding, 7 are completed tops and ready to be quilted, 3 are partially pieced, and the other 9 aren't even cut out yet so I ought to to be able to finish a dozen or so and hopefully make progress on others.  It's funny to think that I could go this entire year without sewing a stitch (except for bindings) and still have 12 quilts finished at the end of the year. 

It's hard to sit inside and quilt when we're spending so much time working on our property, turning it into what we've envisioned. (Presently, that's our new chicken coop / yard). Even when the weather chases us inside, I'd rather cozy up by the fire so good thing I've got a lot of quilts to bind!

2024 Quilt Round Up

Early last year, we were thinking that there was a good possibility that we may move. We just had to sit back and let God work. I figured I wouldn't be sewing much when or if that happened so I hit the ground running at the first of the year and sewed any time I got the chance, trying to finish quilt tops so that when the time came and I wasn't sewing, I'd be able to hand tops off to Jackie and just need to bind them in order to have finished quilts. It worked great and I was able to sew through July and I felt good about the progress I was able to make last year. After July, the only sewing I did was to stitch on binding.

1. All in Good Time Spring Splash Baby Quilt - this had been a UFO for 6 years so I was happy to finally add it to the finished list

2. UT Quilt - Made this for our son-in-law. With updated photos once I gave it to him for Christmas.

3. Americana Quilt - I made this one for us

                                

4. Unicorn Quilt - for our 'Corn' loving grand daughter

5. Adventure Lies Ahead - for our son and daughter-in-law

6. Mountain Lake - the first of 3 blue-green quilts I made in an effort to tame those bins

7. Seascape Quilt - the 2nd of the blue-green quilts

8. Bunny Hill Row Quilt - using up the leftovers from previous quilts - this one has been pieced for a couple of years and just needed to be quilted and bound.

9. Buckaroo Quilt - using up more scraps - another one that was pieced 3 or 4 years ago and was just waiting for quilting and binding.

10. Songbook - Fingerprints of God Quilt - The blocks for this one were made in September of '23. This will always be a favorite.

11. Indian Summer Siesta - Squeezed this one in, using 2 favorite prints, in December

I had 25 quilts on my list at the beginning of the year and I'm pleasantly surprised that I finished 11 of those. The majority of them began the year as tops and just needed to be quilted and bound. I'm doubly surprised since this year included a big move and we're spending so much time working outside on the new property.

And then I had one extra finish that wasn't even on the list

12. Pink and Blue Gingham Baby Quilt - Gingham quilts are always a favorite and I love making them.

So, another 12 quilt year. That's a good number for me. I'll shoot for that again next year, but at this rate, I'm not making much of a dent in my stash.

Indian Summer Siesta Quilt

 Yes, that's an odd post title in January, but I finished this quilt before Christmas and just couldn't get it posted. 

I worked on binding this during the NFR and honestly, the warm weather we had in December almost felt like an Indian Summer.

                                            

 The focus fabric in this is one of my all-time favorites 

                                                    

and when I ran across the leftovers, from a previous quilt, last March, I just pushed everything aside, pulled coordinates from my stash, threw open all the windows to let the invigorating Spring air in, and stitched every chance I got. It was such fun pulling coordinating fabrics from my stash to build the blocks

                                     

This quilt finishes at 65" x 73" and I would have made it bigger but I was determined to use this  backing that I've had for years.

                                        

This design is basically a St. Louis 16-patch with a few No-Point Stars tossed in here and there. Jackie and Sandy quilted a design called sunflowers across it. This shot shows the quilting well                   

I bound it with a brown print from my stash

I don't participate in social media, but at times I DO look at Instagram for quilt inspiration. And more often than not, there are incredible shots of bits and pieces of beautiful quilts, but rarely do they show the entire quilt and that's frustrating when I am thinking of making a quilt. But I realize that the full shots are usually not the ones that draw you in and cause you to linger. Such is the case here, but I still think a full shot ought to be included.

                            

I named this Indian Summer Siesta because I picture myself lazing in a hammock on our deck,  immersed in a good book, soaking in fresh mountain air,  curled up with this quilt and that scenario will undoubtedly lead to a siesta. 😉 

Yes, even in December. 

It was 62° when I took these photos - we've been enjoying unseasonably warm weather all fall. I was happy to sneak one more finish into 2024.