January Wind

 

Today I finished the little quilt for the back of my living room chair.  It measures 24 inches square and is free motion quilted in snowflakes and swirls.  I drew the snowflakes on with a Frixion marker and then free-handed the swirls in-between.  I took it really slow doing the snowflakes, but got a little fast on the swirls.  For me, it seems easier to make smooth swirls when I move a little faster, but I ended up with some kinda big stitches in places.  I'm still learning free-motion, but I'm really happy with how it turned out.  Below is a close-up of one of the larger snowflakes.

This little project gives me the idea that if I can draw a motif, then I can probably quilt it.  That's an exciting idea.  The larger the project, the harder it will be quilt, I know that. But taking it slow and steady really works well.  I'm looking forward to trying some new and slightly larger things.

Snowman Snowflake

 

I've had a mini charm pack (2-1/2 inch squares) of Snowman Gathering fabric ever since sometime in 2013.  My original intention for it was to make a purse out of it, but then I mostly stopped carrying a purse, so I decided against it.  I had made a sofa-sized quilt out of that same fabric line and I use it on the back of my couch in January, so I decided to use the mini charm pack to make a small quilt for the back of the chair.  The idea for the design was to be something like a snowflake.  I'm not sure that it reads very snowflake but then again the fabric doesn't read very snowman either.

The quilt top is 24-1/2 inches square.  I'm thinking that I will free-motion quilt it, possibly with a light blue thread.  Not sure if I'll just meander quilt it or try to do something snowflake-like.  We'll see how brave I feel.

Thoughts for 2024

 For a couple of years now I haven't been doing much sewing.  I've made a few things for my grandchildren, but not much beyond that.  This year I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things when it comes to sewing.

At the beginning of the year I had 14 finished quilt tops that need to be quilted.  I hope to work on reducing that number.  In fact, I've already quilted one of them, but it still needs to be bound.  My goal is to finish at least 6 of them.  Mostly I want to quilt them myself, although I am considering sending one of them off to be long-arm quilted.

I also hope to start some new quilts, and I want to try to see them through to the end and not add to my UFO collection.  

I'm also considering trying to sell some quilts and quilted items.  I've generally shied away from that sort of thing, because I don't want to turn it into "work" instead of something I enjoy and I'm not sure of the best way to go about selling things.  However, I also don't like having things just pile up and collect dust.  There is a limit to the amount of quilts that my family members want, and I don't want to force things on them.  Donating quilts works as an outlet for extra things, too, but it would be nice to at least get my money back out of some quilts, if possible.  I don't know if it will happen or not.  I've considered it before and not followed through.  I'm considering both Etsy and local craft shows, but I don't have a lot of faith in my ability to actually sell anything.

Shadow box Bee quilt

 My first finished quilt of the year!  I'm hoping to be a little more productive this year than I have been in the past couple of years.  Ultimately I decided to quilt this one just on one diagonal.  The  quilting was done with a yellow thread that matched the yellow fabric in the top and I didn't want it to cross the gray fabric, so I quilted in the ditch following the diagonal lines in the piecing.  Also it took less effort - less marking and less quilting.  As I mentioned in the previous post, I'm not super thrilled with how this one turned out, so I just wanted it finished.  I actually enjoy the back of the quilt more than the front.  I like the little bee fabric on the back best of all the fabric in the quilt.

I haven't labeled this one, and I probably won't.  When I donate quilts I often don't label them and I'm feeling like this one will end up donated somewhere.  I'm not sure where yet, but that is where my head is at on this one at the moment.

Update: I did not label this one, and I donated it to the Pike Regional Child Advocacy Center on April 24, 2024.