A Year of Quilting

2018 has been a big year, I made it to the end of my first year of blogging!

There have been some ups and downs (mostly ups) and I’ve learned a lot along the way.

I’ve discovered Pinterest.  And Instagram.  I’ve loved writing, and I’ve stretched myself quilting.

I’ve discovered that stopping to photograph each step slows down the speed with which I normally finish quilts.  I’m excited to take on 20191!

My first post was my 2018 goals, and I wanted to end the year by taking a moment to catch up on my progress on each of those goals.

1. Finish projects.

Yes.  Check.  Of course, finishing the works in progress in January doesn’t mean I don’t have a new stack of quilts in a varying state of completion.  Maybe a version of this needs to be a 2019 goal – – don’t start something new until the last is finished.  Ha!  I think I might fail right off the bat.  The finished projects in January was a stack of quilts that needed the binding done.  As I checked that task off the to do list, I wrote a tutorial on binding.  Since then, I’ve updated it, just so that the photos match the rest of the quilt in the Basics section.

 

 

2. Write a pattern.

Done!  The On Point quilt pattern released on November 1^st.  You can find the link to my Etsy shop HERE and the link to the original On Point blog post HERE.  Writing a pattern is harder than writing the tutorials that make up most of my blog posts, but is so worth it!  Seeing my pattern testers put the quilt together in different colors and styles was so awesome to see!

3. Make a New York Beauty Quilt

Nope.  Not yet.  I just ran out of time.  I’ll push this one onto my 2019 goals.

 

4. Improve use of color.

I like tone on tone fabrics.  For a while, I’ve wanted to stretch my use of color, by incorporating more multicolored prints.  This caused more mental stress than I expected it to.  I felt like every quilt in which I didn’t up my color game was a failure.  But they were beautiful quilts!  And they were me.  I’ve spent a lot of time on Instagram, trying to build my brand (you should come follow me) .  And I noticed that other quilters have a personal style.  For many it’s solids.  That’s not me at all.  For some, it’s the same color palette over and over again.  That’s not me either.  Maybe someday I’ll use more multicolored fabrics.  But not today.  And that IS me.

I did change up my color game in another way.  I was inspired by a bouquet of Sweet Peas from the farmer’s market.  Red isn’t my thing.  But there was no way to make a sweet pea quilt without red and maroon.  It’s still all tone on tone fabric, but it’s a wildly different color palette than anything I’ve done before.

Here are some photos of quilts I’ve completed this year, so you can see the sorts of colors and prints I’ve worked with.

 

 

 

 

 

5. Learn to free motion quilt.

Well.  No.  I have not done any free motion quilting this year.  I have done a lot of straight-line quilting (I even wrote a blog post about it), but I do think I’ve grown in my quilting skills.

I’ve done a lot of straight-line quilting that wasn’t stitch in the ditch.  Following ¼-inch outside of the seam lines.  Continuing the quilting line through the border where the seam lines disappear.  Following ¼-inch around a star shape.   Both horizontal and vertical quilting with the lines closer together.

So, no free motion quilting, but still a year of learning and improving.  And I’ll keep free motion quilting on my goals list for 2019.

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Improve photography.

Yes!  Well, at least, I think so.  I’ve taken a lot more photos of each quilt than I did before starting the blog.  I’m trying to be mindful of lighting.  I’m making sure that the angle of the photo shows the quilt without distorting it.  That is hard in my little house.  But I’m making it work.  I’ve enlisted tall friends to be quilt holders.  I’ve taken photos outside.  I’ve got ideas to pack quilts (at least, the smaller ones) in my hiking backpack, so that I can get some photos in impressive locations.  I may still take a photography class, but I’m pretty happy with how much my photography skills improved in a short time.  Although clearly, I need to work on all of these skills at the same time.  Quilt on the gate – super cute.  Not the best lighting.  That should be a morning photo, not late afternoon.

 

 

 

 

I think these photos are a good summation of what I have done this year.  Not every quilt is represented, but this is a good selection to show off what I have accomplished.

2018 is over and done.  It’s been a good year for quilting.  I’ve learned a lot, and I’ve had fun doing it.  I’m excited to see what 2019 brings.