2018

Well here we are, 2018! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. I actually had a few decadent days of delightful quilting. In fact, there was so much peace and quiet in our house that I decided there would be no New Year’s resolutions for me. I’m going to head straight on into the new year with reckless abandon!

Here are a few of my accomplishments this past week.:

Noah and Matilda Block 4C - Wow, look at that purple! A bit bold (even for me) but oh so effective with this wonderful neon print. The backing on this one is one of my favorite reproduction neons. It is from an old Pilgrim Roy collection.

I've mentioned before, the fact that with a potholder quilt, the back can be as interesting as the front. This is why my backing fabric choices (42 different antique or reproduction neon prints) do not necessarily coincide with the front of each individual block. In the end, you will never notice!

Block 5C – I really cheated with this one and once again let the fabric work for me. The yellow & pink flower fabric is from a piece of Pierre Deux fabric I bought on St. Barts in 1993! At nearly $60.00 a meter, I did not cut into it for almost 20 years. I have savored every tiny scrid of it since then.

The original pattern has lots of layers in these outer flowers. See Dawn’s reproduction block (here) for the proper way to make this block. Her buttonhole stitch is superb!

I stitched the binding on my Sapphire Stars mystery quilt (with Kevin the Quilter), but I won’t show the picture yet as this is going to a special veteran and I want to get my picture with him before I post it.

I finished my Moda Blockheads block #42 and stitched the next to the last row together. One more row and this fun sew-a-long will be over.

back of row 5

I decided to join PatchworkInspirations’ basket block sew-a-long for January through March. I know, I know, what was I thinking? I need another “challenge” like I need another hole in my head. But, this is with sweet Cecile and, it is only 2 blocks per week and, they can be any size and, I love baskets, and…

You get the picture! So here is my first block. O.k., it is really a Cake Stand, but I have a plan for the overall quilt. Of course we all know how “plans” work. Mine are always subject to change.

We will be posting and linking up with Cecile (Patchwork Inspirations) at the end of each month. Stay tuned to see all the delightful creations.

And speaking of creations, well “creativity” really -  PrimitiveQuilts and Projects had a great article (here) to help boost the creative spirit. I rarely have a creativity problem, in fact I often find it difficult to squelch my creative brain from beginning too many projects! But, this article was interesting and helpful to me in channeling my energies toward what I feel to be most important. Hope it inspires you in your New Year quilting!