Best of 2023

Each year, Cheryl invites bloggers to join the best of year link-up and share their 5 best blog posts of  the year.   And the best part?  We get to define what 'best' means so my best of 2022 all correlate to some major things that happened in my quilting life and documented on my blog.  They are listed in no particular order.

Favorite make:

Each year I try to make a quilt that challenges my skills and gives me a chance to puzzle out how to best move image from paper to fabric. My quilt Echo fit the bill this year! Echo will be hanging in QuiltCon 2024 so more opportunity to celebrate my favorite 2023 make coming soon. Read more about Echo.

Favorite quilting event:

QuiltCon Atlanta! What a great time with friends and amazing quilts. My quilts Patent Pending and Decade were on display at the show! Patent Pending was a group quilt and it was such fun to grab a photo with some of the contributors. Read my QuiltCon recaps - Part 1 - My Quilts,  Part 2 - The Quilts, Part 3  - The Best Bits, and Part 4 - Final Reflections. 

Favorite Quilt to Quilt:

Islands in the Sky was inspired by Irene Roderick's quilts displayed at QuiltCon and her book Dancing With The Wall . This quilt sat on my design wall under construction for at least 6 months and you can watch the progress through these posts -getting started (mid-May) to making block (mid July) to combining block (early August) to Which Way is Up? (mid-September). The quilting is a mix of walking foot and hand quilting - such a fun adventure!

Favorite Bag Make:

Anna @noodlehead released a new pattern in February and I jumped on the chance to make the Haralson Belt Bag to bring to QuiltCon Atlanta. It was a fun make and this bag is used any and every time I leave the house to run errands. I love it so much that I want to make another! Read more about my bag.

Favorite QAL:

Summer is by far my favorite season of the year. I love to swim and hit the pool early every morning. I love sitting on the back porch in the afternoon to read or stitch. And I love the long days of daylight. Joining the #summerlovinseaglassal hosted by Kitty @nightquilter and Allie @exhaustedoctupus was an easy decision. Recognizing joy in daily life is a harder task than you might think but what a delight it was to focus on joy and collect seaglass pieces of fabric to help me remember all the moments. My Summer of Joy quilt hangs in my sewing room. Read more about my journey.

I enjoy participating in the link-up each year even though it is always tough to choose just 5 highlights.  You can find my previous yearly top 5 here: 2022, 2021, 2020,  2019,   2018,  2017,  2016

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Reflecting on 2022 and Welcoming 2023

Always Right

The end of one year and the beginning of the next is a wonderful time to reflect on goals accomplished and to set new ones for the upcoming year.   I recently shared my Best of 2022 post and now I'll be liking up to #2023PlanningParty.   I've filled this post with some eye candy of favorite finishes for the year because it is always fun to share them one more time.

Goals were set in the Reflecting on 2021 and Welcoming 2022 post and I'm feeling really good about how the year went.

Sea of Tranquility

Make at least one quilt to submit to QuiltCon 2023.  Yes!  I made 3 quilts specific for QuiltCon submission - two of them were for the yearly challenge.  I'm excited that two quilts were accepted.

Join a QAL to create a charity quilt only using fabric from stash.  Yes sort of!  I did finishing the quilting on a long time WIP and donated it to our guild charity so while not my original intent, I'm still calling this one done!

Submit a quilt design for publication.  Yes!  I've submitted two although neither were accepted.

Play with color to make a improv mini quilt. Yes!!  I've done several things with this goal.  First, my Tilted Tiles quilt and my Orange Peels were both examples of working with a new to me palette accomplished by purchasing a bundle of solids that someone else curated.  Although not yet finished, I also played with  orange scraps and the 30 days of improv QAL.   None of these projects are actually finished yet - the first two are at least quilt tops - but they all involved playing with color which was the goal.

Blog 1-2 times weekly and continue to host OMG (but without sponsors.)  Yes!  This goal was met and I will carry it into next year.  I was a bit on the fence about OMG but there are people who really like it so I will continue.

Make a group quilt for submission to QuiltCon.  Yes!  My group quilt Patent Pending was submitted to QuiltCon and was accepted for the 2023 show.  

Decade

My goals for this next year: 

• Make at least one quilt to submit to QuiltCon 2024 which will be in RALEIGH!
• Donate one quilt to our guild charity using only fabric from stash 
• Adopt the 'container' concept in my sewing room and donate or sell fabric I no longer want
• Run a quilt-along with a quilting friend
• Continue to challenge my fabric color choices to explore new color combinations
• Blog 1-2 times weekly and continue to host OMG (but without sponsors.)

Illusions

I'll be linking up here.

Happy New Year!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Best of 2022

Each year, Cheryl invites bloggers to join the best of year link-up and share their 5 best blog posts of  the year.   And the best part?  We get to define what 'best' means so my best of 2022 all correlate to some major things that happened in my quilting life and documented on my blog.  They are listed in no particular order.

Favorite Make of 2022: With the help of some wonderful friends -  Linda @flourishingpalms, Sarah @saroy, Val @valbetweenquilts, Charles  @feltlikesweets, Kitty @nightquilter, Yvonne @quiltingjetgirl and Pat @peacockcreekdesigns - Patent Pending was created.  Patent Pending, a Rube Goldberg device in quilting form, was accepted into QuiltCon 2023.  I can't wait to see it hanging in the show!  (You can read about my other QuiltCon entries - overall 4 quilts submitted and Decade in addition to Patent Pending was accepted.)

QuiltCon 2022:  I was thrilled to have 3 quilts in the QuiltCon 2022 show in Phoenix - Boomerang, I Believe in Dragons, and Left Turn.  My Covid anxiety prevented me from attending the show but many friends shared photos with me which I appreciated.  Read more about the show.

Publishes:  My focus this year was entering quilts into the Curated Quilts challenges as opposed to seeking a magazine publish for a quilt pattern.  Red Alert appeared in the Red issue, Sanity appeared in the Utility issue and Left Turn was featured in the Negative Space Gallery

A New Passion:  Handwork projects are always important to me and I tried a new technique kawandi and rediscovered knitting.   Knitting has been a great joy for the  year.  I made two afghans - Fibonacci using cotton yarn and a Cozy Knit blanket using washable wool.  

3-D Sewing: I've always been a bag maker and love a good 3D sewing project.  Two of my favorites for the year were my Spring quilt coat and my new Range backpack.

I enjoy participating in the link-up each year even though it is always tough to choose just 5 highlights.  You can find my previous yearly top 5 here:  2021, 2020,  2019,   2018,  2017,  2016

Have a wonderful day! Patty