2014

   2013 was fairly productive in terms of completed quilts.  I think I averaged just barely over one quilt a month.  Every niece or nephew has received a quilt, although the nearly 2 year old has probably outgrown his.

  I finished up the year in a quilting bee, Beejeebers, and I'm happy to say that I finished all my blocks on time and am pretty sure I also managed to mail them before the end of the month.  I decided that I would not participate in a bee this year just to make sure there is plenty of family time.

     I'm proud that nearly every day my daughter is wearing at least one item of clothing that I made for her.  Over the winter break, I managed to finally sew the Hopscotch dress from Oliver and S. I bought the interlock knit in 2012, washed it and stuck it in a bin until I managed to conquer my fear of sewing with knits.  It is far from perfect (especially the hems), but she loves the two I made her.
 

      One more dress is planned for the break.  The neckline needs to be altered so it doesn't do the crossover.  I did acquire some additional knits this past week because I needed a little more variety in her wardrobe.  Same print in a different color is probably not enough variation.  It did feel wonderful to open the bin with the knits, use 2 of them and not be scared to take out the third fabric.

   
     On the agenda for 2014 is:

• sew more clothes for myself and kid 1.  Kid 2 has so many hand-me-downs that it would be foolish to sew much of anything unless I am asked to.
• Sew more quilts to donate using the fabric I already have.  
• Finishing the minky quilt for kid 2.  It has been waiting to be trimmed and pressed for more than a month.  Oops.

    Using the velveteen and voile for the scarves before Christmas (which have all been gifted to various family members) and finally sewing with knits made me want to get rid of the feelings of guilt that I sometimes have.  I look at fabric I have sitting in a bin waiting for me to complete the intended project.  Then I spend time thinking about how I should really use it rather than letting it just sit there.  And it continues to sit there untouched. 

    So the St. Louis 16 patch above is an example of finally using up fabric that has been sitting here for too long.  I bought a Freebird fat quarter bundle shortly after it came out because I loved the colors.   I attempted the Birdie Stitches quilt along using a Freebird jelly roll, and still haven't finished it.  The fat quarters sat waiting for me to make a New Wave (Elizabeth Hartman) quilt with the large scale prints (above) and Firecracker (Jaybird Quilts) with the monochromatic prints.  4 years later, I haven't started either project.

     For Beejeebers, I made some of the St. Louis 16 patch blocks and decided 2 days ago that perhaps it would be fast and easy and finally use up the large scale fat quarters from the bundle.  I have 6 more blocks to make that will be scrappy because I don't quite have enough. With so many large scale prints, it is incredibly busy and lacks the negative space that I like so much.  The daughter did give her stamp of approval even if it is busy.  As more blocks are added, it does calm down a bit.  The layout above is in the order that they were finished and not really balanced yet.

  The intention is to make a 20 block quilt and a 12 block quilt.  Both of the quilts will be donated to Katie's Comforter Guild.  That's my charity of choice for the year.    I would like to reduce my stash by making the quilts to donate, but I don't want to cross the line and have the quilts look like I'm simply trying to get rid of fabric and I threw something together.  It might be close with these two quilts.  I'll check with the 6 year olds tomorrow.  Hopefully my niece and sister will be able to drop them off in person, if they desire to do so and it makes any of the appointment days a little more enjoyable.