Sew Long 2019

I should have posted yesterday about my Final Four Finally Finished Quilts for 2019, but used whatever available hours I have left instead to meet this goal which I seemed to have come up with just days before the year ended. When I left for the Grandparent House on 12/26, I felt pretty good thinking that this was the second year in a row that I'd accomplished the quilty feat of finally finishing every quilt top started in 2019 by finishing the two quilts on the right of the above photo.  While I was compiling my year in review, much to my wondering eyes did see on my blog under 2019 Quilts were two tops that I had forgotten I made this year.  I knew to maintain my mental bragging rights, I was going to have to finish the two quilts on the left as soon as I returned home on 12/29 which I managed to do right before the annual NYE celebration with my peeps and our hubbies.

Here's a brief overview of these four quilts which were all mostly made with my favorite 2.5" strips from charm squares, jelly rolls, fat quarters and stash:

Max & Whisker Quilt was the first quilt cut and sewn at the Grandparent House sewing room which I refer to as my Two-dio.  The fabric line is from Basic Grey which I had purchased yardage several years ago.  This quilt measures 40"x52".

The quilting was done with a Connecting Threads variegated thread with orange being the dominate color.  I decided to use the brown stripe fabric from the backing vault instead of the yardage I had of another focus print which I decided I should use for another quilt since I still had plenty of leftovers of all of these prints.  I'm thinking of asking my 45+ year old niece who married for the first time this past May if I should save this quilt for a future bundle of joy but knowing the probable answer I'm sure she would love it for her menagerie, the dog and cat lover which she is.

The Alphabet Quilt, 37"x52", is made from a Jelly Roll and yardage of the Wee Woodland by Keiki purchased years ago, possibly the same time as Max & Whisker. It was maybe the first quilt top I made using a Jelly Roll and I can't remember the pattern or inspiration for this quilt.  I plan on using this pattern again, but maybe making it 40" wide. I suspect maybe the reason why I made it 37" wide for to make sure I could quilt it using a WOF length of fabric But since I have more experience with machine quilting than I did 5 years ago I don't mind quilting on the edge.  I also used another variegated thread with yellow being the dominant color for this quilt.

You can see that I pieced the backing (thanks goodness I made a note with drawing that the one yard piece of the lovely Alphabet print was to be pieced with the brown fabric) and yes I did grumbled a bit.  I'll be saving this for my sweet Granddaughter who will be starting PreK in March when she turns 3 and may need a sleep mat, so I think.

I originally named this quilt Beach Blanket Bingo when I had planned on backing it with either Minkee or terry cloth but since renamed it Malka Stripes when I decided to quilt it when I found some stripe fabric in the backing vault which looked perfect for this quilt.  The fabrics are from several of Malka Drubrawsky's fabric lines and yes it was purchased years ago.  The 8" blocks are made up of eight 2.5"x4.5" patches an offshoot of the Ernie pattern and set in an alternating block orientation layout. The quilt measures 56"x72". I used a Kiwi green thread which I think blended well with all of the colors.

The Liberty Lawn 8 Patch was made from four charm packs and yardage of the Liberty Lawn fabric lines again purchased years ago.  The 8 patch blocks were sewn last year while recovering from my broken left knee and I noticed that the blocks did not line up or click when sewn together.  I knew whatever I made with these fabrics that I would used the Anna Griffin green stripe fabric for the binding.  I do love the look of ticking stripe with florals. This quilt measures 40"x54".

You can see that I quilted all of the these quilts with wavy and straight line quilting which is my go-too favorite and, yes, the only way I quilt and have no guilt or qualms about not trying any other quilting.  I remember reading another quilter's blog who felt guilty about just doing meandering but the way I see quilting it's like your signature.  Sometimes I like to print  and sometimes I like to  do cursive which it seems may be a vanishing skill with the very younger generation.  I think my skills for straight line quilting was honed back in my grade school years when I had to write "I will not talk during class" one hundred times on lined notebook paper on more than one occasion so I'm used to repetition and monotony.

Also, worth noting, is that the Master Quilt Holder was not needed for these photos since I received a new light for the sewing area which can also be aimed towards the area where I sometime photograph quilts.  I thought the photos turned out great and yes it sure did beat taking them outside in the cold.  I'm sure the Master Quilt Holder appreciates the new light.

And now for my 2019 Year End Review:

28 quilts were a Finally Finish of which only two quilts used new fabrics purchased this year which meant 26 quilts were made from stash. (Here is a link to the 2019 Quilts). Eight quilts were UFOs which blocks or tops made either last year or years past. From these eight quilts, three quilts were tag-along finishes which means a current quilt with similar fabrics or background was made this year and was being quilted and it just wasn't good quilt karma not to also quilt a top made many moons ago.  Eighteen quilts were made from stash I been yearning to use, i.e., Tula Pink, Carrie Bloomston, Malka Dubrawsky, Kaye England, Hand Maker, etc. and three quilts were made from fabric/scraps given to recently or over the years.  I also should mention that I have four WIPs which I hope will be a Finally Finish in 2020.  It's still to early to determine if my quilt production will be impacted by all of the traveling we now do to the Grandparent House and there are times when we are there that I think I really didn't need Two-dio space since I don't have much time for sewing when the Granddaughter is visiting.  I will say I definitely am knitting more now.

I had a goal in 2019 to use 100 yards from my stash and to limit purchasing new fabrics.  I'm happy say I used almost 164 yards BUT according to my records I purchased 48.5 yards making my net total 115.25 yards.  I find the purchased number surprising since I didn't include any fabrics given to me or fabrics from a subscription like FQS Sew Sampler Box or purchased under the By/Buy /Days like Valentine, Anniversary, Mother's Day, Birthday and Christmas.  I will say that I didn't indulge myself too much during the By/Buy Days but must have made up for it on other days with this 48.5 yards of fabric purchased.  And there were weeks that went by without any fabric deliveries and I was certain that some of the online sites were going to do a wellness check on me.

I'm glad I made my goal, some of my bins have room, there are empty spaces on the shelfs and my studio is looking less crowded and more organized.  Although I'm not making it official, I plan on doing the same 100 yard reduction in 2020 because I still have some fabric lines in my stash which I still want to use.  And the same goes for purchasing too. This time I'm going to use a checkbook ledger to keep better track of what I bought and used.

As I'm writing this post, I'm doing so with a cold my sweet Granddaughter gifted me from our latest visit and still recovering from last night's NYE celebration.  We've been celebrating with the peeps and hubbies for maybe the past 15 years now and we're getting older now so last night we were a little bit more cranky and complaining about our ailments and wondering who invited our parents.  At least the food was delicious and we still enjoyed Christmas Bingo, Cards and laughing.  BTW, today is a Pajamazon Day for me.

Wishing all of my Blogland Buddies a very Happy New Year and hope everyone has 2020 vision to see a lot of love, peace and happiness. Being healthy and having a lot of time to sew would also be nice too.