Some memorable finishes

Unlike so many productive quilters in Blogland, I do not have a long list or a big beautiful collage of images of many things created this year.   But here are some favorite projects from this year.

BEAUTIFUL AND USEFUL

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful. - William Morris

I love this quote and confess that I feel great accomplishment when I make something that is beautiful AND useful.

I used a beaded heart class project to make this small sewing kit, based on a Moda freebie given to me by a quilt shop, long, long ago. I gave it away as a prize for the longest "term of endearment" in the February Block Lotto–if you are curious, the winner was "hunka' hunka' burnin' love."

I still plan to make another for myself–if you want to join me, the directions are blogged here: My Portable Handwork Sewing Kit



This spring, I finally finished my Summer Tote--begun in Lansing, Michigan and finished in Dallas, Texas. I blogged the directions–you'll find them here–Summer Tote from Orphan Blocks–and it inspired quilters from the Block Lotto community and the Lib-quilters Yahoo group to make one of their own.

And their beautiful bags make me want to make another or two this year.

Here are two bags Laura made (made using some 16-patch lotto blocks she won).

BECAUSE THEY ARE OUR FRIENDS

It takes a long time to grow an old friend.  - John Leonard

As soon as I moved to Austin, an old friend here told me that she was "going to extract a craft" from me.  I was wary, but when she told me what she needed, I couldn't say no. Here is what I designed and made for my friend, Charisse and why she needed it.

She was participating in Barb's Race, a women's half-iron triathalon in Northern California which is held the same day as the Vineman Ironman Triathalon and raises money for woman facing a cancer diagnosis.

She wanted something light-weight, that she could pull on over her bike helmet and wear for the bike portion of the race on which she could add the names of the family and friends for whom she was swimming and riding for.  Her mom, a cancer survivor, shared the race with her and completed the running part.  She was the oldest participant that day.

For the back, I gave Charisse a package of fabric for her printer on which she could print the names.  She said it was shocking to see the all the names of family members who were touched by cancer. I know that when I was sewing it together, it made me worry for my friend and her family.

Sadly, one of the friends she had included in the "hope for" box lost his battle just before the race.

PROOF THAT I AM AND ALWAYS WILL BE A GEEK

I'm an utterly average, total geek. -Julia Roberts 

When I wanted to update the design of the block lotto blog, I kept coming back to the idea of a quilt image ... and created this table-runner-sized banner quilt.

Then, in the way that one thing leads to another, when some of the bloggers in the block lotto community wanted to add the block of the month to their own blogs, I made this doll-quilt sized blog "badge" for anyone to add to their blog to show their Block Lotto love.

The Block Lotto has just finished it's most successful year ever–we made a total of 2,170 blocks in 2010.  While it hasn't resulted in any finished objects for me, it continues to be, for me, a place to encourage other quilters to try new things and have fun ... and somehow I still haven't run out of ideas for blocks for all of us to try.