So I took a bit of a break.  I got sidetracked and took a vacation.  And then pure procrastination took hold!  Then I took another vacation.  And then I left home again a week later to help my son and daughter-in-law upon the arrival of  their new daughter, Ada.  More procrastination.  Yikes!  So here is a recap of the year.

In January, I worked on some week long challenges, which you can see in my previous blog posts.  I also started to participate in The American Patchwork Quiting's Unfinished Quilt Project.  To refresh your memory, you make a list of twelve projects and number them.  Then APQ chooses a number at random, and that is the project you work on.  I made significant progress on the January project, "Ask, Seek, Knock" and you can see that also (I think!) in a previous blog.

The project for February was a lone star quilt that I made progress on, but did not complete.  March's project was some cat coasters that just needed the cats put on, and I did get those done with plenty of month to spare.

    

So I went back to the lone star.  And got it done!



And here is a closeup so you can see my quilting.

The big blue border has very simple quilting in blue thread, so that is hard to see in a photo.  The quilting was a bit of experimenting with some new rulers, and is not super well executed, but it looks okay if you don't look too close!  This STILL needs a few threads sewn in and then it will be donated to Quilts of Valor.

April, was a tote bag for carrying art work mounted on canvas.

The project for May was too big for me to make any real progress on, considering how little time I was home to sew.  So instead of doing that, I started and finished a whole new piece of work.  That makes total sense, right?! :-D

I got momentarily sidetracked by working with solids, and not just any solids, but neutrals.  Not my strong suit.  And while I like the finished product, I was reminded why I don't work in neutrals and/or solids.  I might use solids more often, but probably not neutrals.



It's not a great picture, I know.  It really is pretty in person (honest!) and I do like it.  Just not enough to do more in that vein.  It was the first time I used a facing as an edge finish, and I think I like the look better for things that are mounted on canvas, which this is.


I took a ruler work class with Patsy Thompson in June.  And here is some of what I did in class.

Again, not too horrible if you don't look too close.  And the "oops"es wouldn't really be noticeable if the thread color matched the fabric.  I should be practicing if I want to get better.  But like a great many things I "should" do, I am not.

June's UFQ was my nephew, Chris Holzschuh's high school graduation quilt.  It has gotten a lot of use over the years, and it is definitely showing it's age.  I tried to convince his wife, Kim, that it should just be thrown out, but she wasn't buying that.  "I should just do what I could to make it better".

As you can see, there were problems!

Well, what I could do, was to cut it down a bit, and put new binding on.  I did that, but I still think it should just be thrown out.  I made it in 1991. The batting is polyester, and the quilting was done with monofilament.  The batting is pretty limp and the quilting has come out quite a bit and it is almost hairy from the thread ends.  I trimmed them as I went along, but it is still sad.  But they will get their quilt back when I see them in October.

July took me back to work on a tablecloth that I started at least a year ago.  All IT needed was the binding put on.  So even though I was hardly home in July, I was able to get it done.John's truck bed was the best place for me to photograph it, since I am too short to hang it on the zip line!

I will tell you about August's project next time.