2017 - A year in review

So pretty good year in the creative department considering I have been in thumb jail for the last four months.  It feels good also to track my progress.  I had no stated quilty goals for 2017 so everything on my list here puts me over and above all expectation!  Lol.

I'm breaking things into sections for this review...

New Skills:
I like to set myself a goal to learn something new every year.  As examples, past yearly learning goals have included getting a motorcycle license, learning to knit, and taking Spanish lessons.  This year, I learned two new sewing skills.

The first was English Paper Piecing.

Not too shabby for my first attempt - with thanks to a workshop at the Workroom

The second was to draft a Foundation Paper Pieced block:

Not a great picture but I drafted this for quilty friend A's "Shine Brightly"travelling quilt

Cushions:
These are awesome little projects to make you feel like you accomplished something in a relatively short amount of time.  In other words, great projects for a newly minted high school principal with not a lot of time on her hands.  The first was a gift.

Made this for my niece's 10th birthday - she might be more rainbow obsessed than me!

The second was my sneaky attempt to convert my brother's girlfriend into a quilter.  Note: it didn't work.

It's pretty nonetheless and gets used on the daily

The third was to use up scraps for the first quilt I was paid to make.

I couldn't waste any fabric since my friend had paid me.

Finished Quilts:

This was a pretty good eight months worth of effort.  Got a little sidelined in the fall with an injury but I will be right as rain again soon!  This was a last minute gift for a new baby boy -- got the call on Friday that I was going to get to meet him on Sunday and went to work.  36 hours later...BAM! Fast finish!

Used up some long hoarded Reunion by Sweetwater fabric and a construction print on the back that I'm not quite sure why I owned.

The second was the recently blogged birthday quilt for my friend and VP partner K-Dubs.

Oh Tula and purple - how I love you.

And the third was my long awaited aviatrix which was always destined for me and which has lived happily on my bed since it was finished.

This is still one of my favourite things I have ever made.

Other progress:

I also made a dress this year in an attempt to keep making progress on my garment sewing skills.

The Tea House Dress by Sew House Seven - obviously I used a Tula Pink fabric.

And I finished a few quilt tops which will quickly be making it into the 2018 quilty finishes column.  The first was the snail quilt I made as part of an instagram sew-a-long with my friend L.

Yet another project which heavily features Tula Pink fabrics.  Yes, I have a problem.  No, I won't do anything about it.

The second is destined for my brother's girlfriend and which WILL be a finished quilt by the time school starts again on January 8th.

I really like the gradient happening here.

And the final top - also which WILL be a finished quilt by January 8th is for the new grandson of someone who works in my school.  This little guy had a rough go in the first few weeks of life but is getting stronger every day.

Sleep Tight fabric and a quilt hack from Kitchen Table Quilts

And that's it!  

I've never set intentions for the year ahead but looking at this list of accomplishments from 2017 makes me kind of want to.  Who knows, I just may.  

Stay tuned!