2024 MY CREATIVE JOURNEY

Here we are wrapping up 2024 

and I hope you have had a creative and fun journey.

I know I did.

Here you can take a peek at some of my '2024 makes"

January

The year always begins with a

 Kwilty Girls Retreat

Tutorial - Mitre seam binding finish

Tutorial - Diagonal Quilt Folding.

Pattern Testing - Peaks Pattern 

February

Infinite Hearts Quilt

March

Quilt Con in Raleigh NC

April

Upcycled Jacket

May

Roadrunner Bag

Summer Picnic

June 

Love Chains

Feelin Sheepish

Card Making

Editorial Pattern Test

July

X and Plus Quilt

August

Love and Peace Pattern Test

Kwilty Girls Summer Retreat

Gemma's Rail Fence

September

Holding Hearts Pattern Test

Bookmarks

October

Charity Quilts

Cardmaking

    

November

Classic Cork Carryall Bag

Aunt Hattie's Quilt V.2

Pillows for Eric

December

Crayon Challenge

Bag Making Explosion

Batik Charity Quilt

Evergreen

I have not posted about these scarves  I made it this year!

Soft and supple cowl

Assigned pooling yarn fir this great scarf 

I'll see you soon with some of the projects

that are catching my eye for 2025

Happy Holidays!

A BEAUTIFUL BROKEN HEART FULL OF LOVE

I have the best quilty friends.

Huge hearts, sometimes broken, that know the meaning of giving.

How to pay it forward…in times that’s aren’t easy! 

I say that because this year one of them donated

SEW MUCH FABRIC to CHARITY!

Her name, Susan Blalock.

This photo was at a party I hosted a few years ago. 

Susan recently downsized from a home 

she shared with her husband for 42 years.  

In 2023 she lost her husband and now resides in a condo. 

She asked me if I could help her find the fabrics new homes.

OF COURSE!  I can't imagine how overwhelming her

life was during this time.  She not only lost her husband to Parkinson’s 

but after years if living him and caregiving she 

sold the home they shared home and 

had no where to keep years and years of fabric hoarding. 

 I was happy to help her.

She made 3 trips to my home, 

with several bags of fabric in each trip.

Each time my porch looked beautiful.

I sorted thru all this and divided the treasures for different charities.

If fabric was t suited to quikting I donated to

A thrift store, who feeds  the community, thru their sales 

Some went to friends who also do charity sewing.

Look at all these batiks.

Over 100 FQs ended up at Stitching Sisters.

And over 100 traditional print FQs 

With Susan' permission I kept a few things back for 

my two nieces who are learning to quilt. Christmas prints

are usually not appropriate for charity donations.

 I loaded a cart in Joanne's Fabric and Craft Store

with mostly children's novelty prints.

Those fabrics went to Project Linus!

She had a lot of unfinished blocks in the fabrics she donated.

I decided to finish them and make a quilt for charity.

This finished top will go to Stitching Sisters. 

Sew its SUSANS BATIKS that will warm

a cancer patient when the quilt reaches their lap.

I had enough fabric for the top, backing and binding.

Susan doesn't know that I actually took some of her

donations and made her a quilt top.  She had started this work

and I found a way to finish it.  

I now have some backing sew I think I’ll quilt it first her before she gets it back. 

It’s the least I could do...I think she'll be very surprised.

PILLOWS FOR CHRISTMAS!

My son loves pillows for his sofa and he loves 

American Indian motifs.

Guess what he's getting for Christmas!

This one is envelope style.

The back with the envelope colsure.

And these two are my first attempt at 

Zippers for the closures.

Lord, why have I not tried this before?

Probably because I didn't have an excellent video tutorial to follow.

Thanks to Kim Hensley for sending me this one from

Sheri from a Quilting Life's tutorial link.

How to Put a Zipper in a Pillow Back (youtube.com)

I didn't do the binding finish.

Just made the pieces about an inch larger

and sewed them RST with 1/2" seams.

Easy Peasy!

Give it a try...I'll never do an envelope style again!.

THE LAST FINISH OF 2024 is SEW EVERGREEN!

The last Sew-Along that Kim Hensley and I sewed for our

11th Sewcial Distance quilting was in September, 2024

but, its my last finish for 2024.

Kim and I love Christmas quilts

and this EVERGREEN Pattern by Cluck, Cluck Sew

 was perfect.

I had lots of scraps to use from SWELL Christmas.

We broke it down into 4 weeks and 

asked folks to join in.  And one of the other

KWILTY GIRLS, Lucinda, did just that

using her scraps.

 Kim used a FLURRY Layer Cake by Kate Spain

WEEK ONE

We picked our fabrics and cut the pattern pieces.

I had lots of scraps to use.

I didn't need the mini charms....

sew that'll be something for next year.

WEEK TWO

We sewed the Tree Blocks

WEEK THREE 

We sewed the Chain Blocks

I used my Vintage Santa for the center pieces

on the chain blocks.

Santa gives the eyes a place to rest.

And these vintage feeling beauties were ready fir the block settings

Even the whites I used fir background

Were all scraps from my stash,

I love to use block design boards

to layer all the blocks one on top the other.

After chain piecing the units

I paid attention to how the pattern suggested pressing.

Soon all the blocks were in the design wall.

This pattern is sew quick and easy!

And then there was decisions for backing.

Inkwell, seem just right 

This was also in my stash. 

I am a firm believer that your mind will pick fabrics 

that go with fabrics you already have.

This right here is proof!

Then a decision for binding. 

I had enough of the red vintage Santa…or

I could use this poinsettia print …Or

But wait…so far everything in the top is scraps.

I want a scrappy binding !

Sew here is my finished top.

And this is Kim's quilt top!

And this is Lucinda's quilt all finished and

Hanging I. Her home for Christmas. 

Kim Hensley aka Happily Every Quilting has quilted my quilt.

Feilz Navidad is an E2 E design. 

I'm taking this one to the beach fir Christmas and will hand-sew down the binding.

Then a great photo shoot with the beachy Christmas vibes!

Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas !