Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Lovely Finishes and Failures in 2014

As part of A Lovely Year of Finishes, I set 10 monthly goals and mostly met them.  But whether the goal was accomplished or not, I made progress.  Here are my 2014 Lovely Finishes (and failures).

January's Lovely FinishIn January, I completed the last of the hand-pieced blocks from an old UFO.

These blocks were begun as a Quilt-along in 2010. I was living in Dallas then and, after putting them aside, two moves later, I picked them up again, discovered I didn't have one of the patterns, had no luck getting a copy from the designer and so created my own.

Figuring out how to design blocks like this was a great experience and led me to design more "sunflower" block patterns later in the year.

I blogged about my January lovely finish here.

I goofed and didn't declare a Lovely Finish goal in early February, but I had a redwork project in mind and completed this pair of designs for a pair of pillows–I still haven't done anything with these beyond the stitching ... look for them to become an 2015 Lovely goal.

Redwork Completed

Tea Towel Quilt with pieced bordersI didn't blog about my March finish (just linked from the photo on Flickr), probably because I expected to completely finish my Tea Towel challenge (a goal for the challenge), but I did meet my Lovely Finish goal for March by finishing the top. 

This challenge quilt ended up being much larger than planned and, I confess, my idea for how I wanted to quilt it intimidated me a little ... which is probably why it is still unquilted.

(I am such a scaredy cat sometimes).

In April, I had another built-in Lovely goal, because of a Spring Challenge on the 15 Minutes of Play blog.
Spring Challenge - April's Lovely Finish

The 14 inch square pillow I made for the Spring Challenge is Blogged here: April's Lovely Finish - A Spring Challenge Pillow.

I joined the local quilt guild in May, and set a lovely goal of making a kids charity quilt for their May meeting.

I had such a blast playing with novelty charms in my stash when I made the quilt below, that I am planning to do it again this year.

I blogged about my May finish here: A Finish and a Plan for a Friday Night Sew-In.

I-Spy Stars Kids QuiltThis was my second attempt at spiral quilting–which went pretty well–and at trying the faux-piped binding technique–which wasn't very successful.

I would give that faux piped binding thing one more try in the project that was my June lovely goal.

That quilt, which I called Pinwheel HSTeria was made from the bonus triangle squares from the charity quilt as well as some smaller ones from another project and some string fabric borders made from novelty fabric that I found in my fabric bin with the novelty charms–it felt like a little quilt made from nothing but leftovers.


Pinwheel HSTeria - June's Lovely Finish
I had thought to add small buttons in the center of the small lavender pinwheel blocks (to hide the mis-matched seams) and Hilda kindly even sent me some itty bitty dark buttons for that purpose, but the wonkly little blocks grew on me and I ended up leaving them as is.

I blogged about this finish here: Pinwheel HSTeria–June's Lovely Finish.

(My third effort at making that faux piped binding went much better, but it still isn't my favorite way to make piped binding.)

In July, I put together a bunch of Silly String blocks made by friends at the Chicken River Modern Quilt Guild in Las Vegas (NM) at a workshop I led there.

Silly String Blocks + RED
My original plan was to make a tote ... but the blocks insisted they wanted to become a small quilt which I call String Theory.

This is another project that is still not quilted ... maybe next year? I considered it a lovely failure because I didn't get to "done done."

I blogged about it here: July's Lovely ... Failure. 

In August, work became a priority and I decided to take a lovely break.

I was having a hard time getting back to the habit of quilting and balancing my time between work and studio.

In September, I set a lovely goal to quilt the quilt below ... but only got it layered and basted and just barely started on the quilting.

I had to withdraw it from the guild show ... so humiliating.

A Whole Lotta Love
To find my way back to FINISHING things, I worked with a local long-armer to quilt the quilts I finished for my October and November Lovely Finishes (shown below).

Sophie's Featherbed, my lovely finish for October  was finished in time for the local show ... and even won a ribbon.

I blogged about it here: A Shocking Finish.

I worked hard in November to finish my goal and, in spite of being hit by a car (while walking across the street) and having to move out of my house for a week when the boiler cracked, I managed to make the remaining blocks and assemble my Mod-Mod-sampler in time to enter it for QuiltCon.  (It is among the hundreds of rejected quilts.)

Sophie's Feather Bed

It's a Mod Mod Sampler Quilt - Finished

December's finish was a sweet one: I finally finished all the blocks I needed to put together this Rainbow Scraps Challenge project ... begun almost 4 years ago.  I blogged about it here, last weekend: December's Lovely Finish

Completed Top

25 comments:

Andi said...

So many lovely quilts! What a great year. You are an inspiration!

Frog Quilter said...

All beautiful.

Kyle said...

What a beautiful year in review. I hope 2015 can be as productive and inspirational. I've thought of you often with your car accident. I hope that you're back to good health.

Needled Mom said...

What a great year it was for you!

Kathryn said...

So many nice projects, Sophie. My favorite is the feather quilt. It is stunning.

Glen QuiltSwissy said...

All incredibly beautiful quilts. Thanks for that great recap. I have finishes and failures too. You are so normal!

LOL......well, if you are like me maybe you are NOT so normal!

Gail in Vegas said...

Your December finish looks like a show entry to me!
What a productive year, even though you feel you had some failures. Best wishes for a very productive and satisfying 2015!

suemac said...

Love the rainbow quilt.

Mystic Quilter said...

What a superb collection of finishes!! I really must follow your example this coming year and work on all the projects tucked away. Congratulations on all your lovely projects.

Linda Big D said...

Wow! what a year, especially with all your personal challenges for the year too. I love the novelty quilt with the stars; it will be a new inspiration for me! (I have 2 more I spy quilts to make for great nephews, and have one pattern in mind already...) Happy New Year, and thanks again for all you do!

Terri said...

You are amazing! So many quilts in one year... okay, some aren't done. So what. You make so many beauties, and some take longer to figure out the quilting, etc. I might have finished 1 quilt this past year - it was a UFO on Jan 1, 2014. I started and finished one quilt this past whole year. I don't consider I'm a failure. If you do, then I am.
Love your string quilt. It reminds me of the fun wired fabric strips I've made for my grands to play with. And your sunflower quilt is beyond amazing. So beautiful and colorful. NY Beauty type blocks are on my quilting bucket list. I hope mine turns out 1/2 as beautiful as yours.
I'd say you've had a lovely year of finishes, and in the mean time been an inspiration to the rest of us.
Hugs

Andra Gayle said...

Very nice year of quilts, Sophie! I love your modern look!

Anonymous said...

So where were the failures?

Wilma Lee said...

Your quilts are all so pretty!!! Here's to more quilts in 2015!!

Browndirtcottage said...

FABULOUS Sophie! Looks like you have some outstanding accomplishments for 2014! You should just keep that momentum rolling on into 2015!!

Wishing you a Happy New Year!!

joe tulips said...

I love seeing all these quilts again. I think I love them all!
Will you be able to fix the computer?

Barb in Mi said...

Wow, congrats on your great finishes! Love your color choices!

Nann said...

What a wonderful collection of quilts, Sophie! You also succeeded splendidly with the Block Lotto. I am lookong forward to what you have in store for us this year.

Helen Wahl said...

Finally had time to catch up on your blog. You have created Fabulous quilts! I am struggling to see the failures. I am really looking forward to seeing what you create in 2015!

Helen

Leah said...

Wow everything is beautiful. I am really drawn to the scrappy pinwheel quilt. I would like to make one for myself. Great work for 2014!

auntie sash said...

Great finishes. I love the silly string blocks. Very cute!

Unknown said...

I know awesome is overused but you are completely, thoroughly awesome! A finished quilt each month and each is gorgeous!!! You're an inspiration!!

Christa said...

The 22 comments before me said it all. Still, I have to add to it. With the beauties you create AND share with us, you will never know how you inspire us. I have big plans for 2015 and will be happy if I accomplish a part of it. I wish for you that this will be the most blessed year for you of all on all levels personal and professional! Thanks!

Kate North said...

Looks like quite a year for finishes. I really ought to declare some goals myself, but my time seems to slip away so much sometimes, I don't want to always go around feeling guilty :) Perhaps I'll just sit back and enjoy yours (again)!

roccagal said...

congrats on a very prolific year and each quilt is just gorgeous to boot! I really luv your work Sophie-am a big fan!!! Hope you are feeling better after the accident!

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