Year in Review: Quilts

Hello! I hope you had a wonderful weekend! The last week of the year is when I typically post my “year in review” posts of projects. This year I made a good assortment of small items (mostly gifted) like bags, pillows, pincushions, place mats, table runners and table toppers; since a lot of these small projects live in other homes now, I had fun remembering them all when I went over my posts from the year.

Since I’ve already re-shared most of the smaller projects in my gift-giving ideas posts, I thought that for the year end wrap up I would just share the bigger quilts I finished this year. From my count I finished 20 quilts in 2015. Of course there are a few I can’t share because they are waiting to be published in magazines and such, but here are the quilts of 2015.

First up is my Go Four It Quilt which was designed by Lissa Alexander and was one of the American Patchwork & Quilting Quilt Along quilts last year. I used all Fig Tree scraps from my stash for this one.

I actually started getting my scraps ready for this quilt at the end of 2014, but

the majority of the work on this project was done in 2015. It is really one of my favorite quilts ever and is king-size, so we use it on our bed for a few months every year!

Next up is my Moda Building Blocks quilt in scrappy reds and whites and creams. I also started this one at the end of 2014 but didn’t finish it until half way through 2015. This is another favorite and one of those “bucket list” quilts.

This is my Starlight quilt (pattern by Camille Roskelley) using Kate Spain fabrics along with some favorite Moda dots. I actually pieced the original sample of this quilt for Camille when she first released her pattern and always wanted to make my own. Since I was teaching this at a class last January I finished it up just in time!

My Honey Braids quilt was another finish from 2015. I started this several years ago, and it was sure a fun finish…those works in progress finishes are often the sweetest…and they give me confidence that someday I’ll finish up the other works in progress quilts I have going.

My scrappy Fig Tree Jumping Jacks quilt was another 2015 finish. I actually pieced this quilt top in 2014, but it sat waiting to be quilted until March…when I found out that American Patchwork & Quilting was coming to my home for photos, I knew I wanted it on the bed in the guest room, and my friend Marion quilted it in a hurry!

My Mahalo quilt pieced in the Fig Tree collection Aloha Girl was another favorite from this year. This quilt is another one that I originally pieced for Joanna and had to re-make for myself.  This quilt just says “summer” to me!

The next few quilts were sure made in a hurry…when our Bright Sun fabric arrived we didn’t have much time to get the quilts ready for market. Luckily I had help with three of the quilts, but here are the three I pieced in just a little over a week. First is Shangri-La which really is a favorite…I love the large and small flying geese in this quilt.

 Next up is Anasazi which is a fast and fun jelly roll quilt! I’m teaching this quilt at a retreat in early February and can’t wait to see all of the different versions!

And then there is Star Bright…another favorite because of all the secondary patterns created by this design! This quilt actually got to go to Japan for a trade show but is back in the US now residing at a quilt shop!

Dream Catcher (pieced by Kaitlin Pallas) and Bliss (pieced by Gail Begay) were my two other Bright Sun Patterns. 

This is my FanFare quilt which is a modern version of a quilt my great great grandmother made. It was actually made pretty quickly as I had a lot of deadlines around this time! It’s home now and is going up on the wall as soon as I take the Christmas quilts down. You can find this pattern in the February 2016 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting.

Next up is my scrappy Log Cabin Swap quilt. I made this quilt from June to August I believe, and had a lot of fun not only using my own scraps but also seeing the fabric bits from the other swappers that participated. Some of my favorite people made blocks for this quilt, and it is a real treasure!

Next up is my Farmhouse version of the 9th Grade Quilt I made for Barb & Mary of Me & My Sister Designs for their Pre-Cut Primer book with Fat Quarter Shop.

When our Valley fabric collection arrived we had a little extra time for sewing the quilts, so this time I was able to make four quilts and had two others pieced by friends! This is the Desert Sky quilt in the multi-color version.

 Desert Sky also has a two color version in navy and cream which is elegant and classic–I sure love this quilt!

 Hope Valley was another one of our Valley quilts…

 And finally, Hope Chest was probably my favorite Valley quilt. I made it last, kind of on the spur of the moment when I realized I actually did have time to make one more quilt. There is just something about this quilt that I really love!

Stepping Stones (pieced by Gail Begay) and Oasis (pieced by Kaitlin Pallas) were my other two Valley quilts.

 

My Fat Quarter Shop Snapshots quilt was a project I worked on throughout the year. It’s always fun to finish up a Fat Quarter Shop block of the month quilt.

And the last 2015 finish I can share is my Hello Darling No Bake Jolly Bar quilt which I recently shared on the blog. This was a fun one, too!

It was fun to look back and review, and the process of doing this has helped me come up with ideas for my quilting goals for 2016. I have some great ideas that I will be sharing right after the first of the year. My focus will be on using my stash and the scraps I’ve collected, and I hope you’ll be able to find a lot of useful ideas for your own 2016 quilting projects.

Finally…according to this website, the collage of photos below were my most liked posts on Instagram for 2015 (if you have Instagram, I’m @aquiltinglife there). While some favorites are definitely there…some of the quilts I shared in this blog post didn’t make the cut…funny…

Thanks so very much for reading my blog, for offering words of encouragement and support, and for teaching and inspiring me with your ideas and suggestions. I hope that 2016 will be a wonderful year for us all!

In the meantime, please enjoy 30% off of everything in my Etsy shop using the code “THANKYOU2015” as my way of saying thank you!