Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Quilting Year in Review and AHIQ Prompt 2020

"The hallmark of those countries and companies that continually thrive is that they continually reinvent themselves."
~ David Rothkopf

So long 2019. It's been a rough year for our family. How fortunate that my siblings and I get along so well. They are the best. With all that, you'd think I wouldn't have done much quilting and yet there are more finishes than ever {although the stash level hasn't dropped much.} How did that happen? Most of them are baby quilts - relatively quick, easy to quilt since there is less weight to manipulate, and a great way to use up extra bits.

Chinese Coins,
Scrap quilt combines leftover Chinese Coins with red, pink, and orange solids to make HSTs. A narrow turquoise inner border and a wider border printed with multicolored triangles finishes the quilt.
Scrap quilt using leftover Chinese Coins to make HSTs

Lone Stars,

Red, yellow, orange, and purple fabrics create a modern Lone Star set on a yellow background printed with large medallions. The navy border is printed with colorful geckos  and the corners are a red and orange batik.
Lone Star baby quilt

and Hourglasses featured heavily.

The colors of a wide variety of solid fabrics sweep across the surface of this quilt. Pink, orange, red, brown, blues, green, and yellow are included.
Hourglass quilt in solids

Parallel lines, spirals, and fans are my go to quilting designs. The first two use a walking foot but the fans are FMQ. Angela Walters' YouTube videos have given me many new designs to quilt and smaller quilts are the perfect playground. Fifteen baby quilts, two small collage quilts, and only two lap quilts.

After several years of declaring I'd start sewing clothing again it finally happened: three dresses and two shirts.

A dolman-sleeved dress in a large scale blue print next to an Aloha shirt printed with surfing Santas.
Examples of the clothing sewed in 2019

What's up for 2020? Several larger quilts that were set aside. Once the quilting is done on the Square Deal, I'd like to finish Tethys Waves and the star quilt but I also have more clothes in mind. Having a friend to sew with helps with clothing; we encourage each other and help with fitting. Hopefully I can leave more time for new projects like wall quilts or art quilts. Several of these ideas have been running around my brain for a few years. It's time to make the time to make them.

Monthly FUR (Fabric Use Rate) 
Two finished baby quilts = 7.75 yds plus two yards donated for a monthly total of 9.75 yds. I only started tracking in October so the grand total for the past three months is 72 yds.


AHIQ Prompt 2020
Kaja and I email frequently - especially when a new prompt is due. Trying to remember all the previous prompts was difficult so we added a page just for them because we all get behind in our intentions or change our minds about a project or simply want to review the past. We've tossed several ideas around and decided some need more gestation. In the meanwhile I finished another hourglass quilt, this time for my niece, and am discovering several more ideas. Kaja commented that she'd like to explore those blocks, too. It seemed like a good prompt for the beginning of 2020.

Would you like to join us exploring Hourglass? While we are thinking of the simple block, it could have many other interpretations. That's part of the joy of improvisation. What does it mean to you?

Use the hashtag #AHIQhourglass so we can find your work and post it on the AdHoc blog. More details there.

Happy New Year!

Enjoy the day, Ann

27 comments:

Julierose said...

Lovely 2019 finishes...I used to sew clothing for my toddlers...long, long ago ;000
Hugs for a Happy New Year Julierose

LA Paylor said...

Well I love the color placement and movement in your hourglass quilts, so you've enticed me to try one or two. I will join you in this.

Quiltdivajulie said...

Oh, I do like the new prompt. We'll see how it goes - I have a RED quilt and a couple of FLOWER quilts waiting to be quilted (previous prompts). All in good time!

Ann said...

That's really the last time I sewed clothing, too. But I'm tired to trying to find things I like in the stores. My style's not changing anymore. I'm going to give this a try.

Ann said...

The block has more uses than I originally thought. Funny how that works out. I'm glad you're joining in. Your color and design sense will come up with something awe inspiring.

Ann said...

Squirrel!
I'm glad you like it, too. Hopefully we can all find time to finish some of our tops. Time to move those babies out.

Janie said...

Congratulations on all your beautiful finishes!
Hourglass blocks are fun. I took Debbie Jeske's class ( she blogs @ aquilterstable.blogspot.com) ) on improv piecing a couple of years ago, at Gossipium Quilt Shop in Issaquah, WA, and it was an excellent class. She covered improv hourglass blocks and her method is 'liberated' in style and just plain good sense.
Good challenge, I'll start making units!

audrey said...

I am so glad that you were able to find your quilting mojo again with all the wonderful small quilts that you made. It ended up being a sort of series work which can be enormously satisfying and interesting all at the same time. How clever of you to keep the quilts small and work through them so quickly!:) Your hourglass quilt is one of the most interesting I have ever seen. I just love that particular quilt so much. Can't imagine being able to make anything close to as intriguing as that one but of course I will try to make something. So funny as I just finished up a lap sized holiday quilt in a simple hourglass pattern. Very simple. Will try to get it posted as soon as I make some progress on the other Christmas quilt.

Robin said...

I'd like to start sewing for myself too. What a great goal. I used to make all my clothing (except jeans) and the clothes for my daughters. I got discouraged with the body shift after my hysterectomy, nothing seemed the same. There is such beautiful fabric out there, it seems a shame not to wear it. Thanks so much for organizing us through ADHOC quilting prompts.

patty a. said...

Happy New Year! I understand about making a bunch of quilts and not looking like you made a dent! I am that boat with you! LOL!!! Take care.

Nann said...

I was going to make a garment in 2019 and did not. (I sewed a lot, just not clothing.) Maybe in 2020!

Ann said...

Thanks, Janie. I remember your post about that improv class. I look forward to seeing what you will make.

Ann said...

Thanks, Audrey. Sometimes I don't see differences in my quilts but working in series gives small changes more visibility. There are more ideas for stars running through my mind but I want to work on hourglass again... soon. We'll see.
I am laughing about all the small quilts. You'd think I might have a stack of them. {I recall your writing about someone giving your husband a baby quilt from her stack.} But mine seem to fly out of here as fast as I make them.
And your latest hourglass should count, right? It's close. If you'd made it in Australia, it would have been 2020... Well, that's my story.

Ann said...

I hope you do start, Robin. I rarely see things I want in stores. They are either too young or too old or too fussy. Of course, now it's just cold and harder to think about making a dress.
I'm so glad you enjoy the prompts. It's been a wonderful way to meet, hasn't it? Especially watching everyone take an idea and run in their own direction.

Ann said...

We must be two of a kind, Patty. I'm so impressed with your baby quilts. It's such a good way to use fabrics and test ideas, isn't it?

Ann said...

I know how that goes. It was on my to-do list about five times before I actually bit the bullet. Then it took a few iterations to get it to fit properly. I hope you do try clothing in 2020, Nann.

Mary Marcotte said...

I've found that baby quilts and lap quilts are perfect for trying out or practicing new designs on the longarm, too. The commitment of a large quilt is daunting, even when the quilt is fun. I haven't looked back at 2019, yet, so I guess I'd better get started.
I said on AHIQ that I like the hourglass block, so I think I'll play around with it and try some of those possibilities.

Monica said...

Quite a range in your 3 photos! Sorry to hear you had a challenging year. I'm just enjoying a clean slate and a fresh start. Happy new year!

patty a. said...

I am glad you like my 16 patch baby quilts. My friend who stayed overnight for New Years said they looked like a color study. I am glad they are all bound. Since I want/need to reduce my scrap hoard I will have make more baby quilts and join in with the hourglass prompt. Scrappy hourglass quilts will be a fun path to explore and play.

Ann said...

Good point, Mary. Plus those of us who live in warmer climates don't need many bed quilts. I hope to see how you interpret hourglasses. You always have clever results.

Ann said...

Thanks, Monica. A clean slate and fresh start sound wonderful to me. Lucky you.

Mystic Quilter said...

Ann I hope that this New Year will be a happy one for you, with lots of time to create more beautiful quilts.
I'm so pleased you have your glowing Hourglass quilt in this post, such colour! Hourglass prompt sounds good to me - I am in the middle of writing out my goals and projects for the coming year, Hourglass is a definite!!

Ann said...

If I start off strong perhaps I can finish several before something catches up with me. That Hourglass did turn out well. It's gone to the baby and all I have left are these photos. I'm thrilled so many people want to work with hourglasses. They should be easy to fold into other work. That's my hope. Won't it be fun to see what they are combined with!
Wishing you a peaceful and prosperous New Year, Maureen.

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

Lovely finishes Ann. I too am tempted by the latest AHIQ prompt... I was only going to tackle finishing up some unfinished stuff over the next couple of months, but...

Preeti said...

You've had a blast of a year full of creativity. I am envious of the dress-making. Wishing you lots of joy and continued creativity in the new year!!!

Ann said...

There are always too many QALs and challenges to do them all. We could never finish all of them, much less work out our own ideas. I like these open-ended thoughts better and know you will have interesting work whatever you do.

Ann said...

Looking back it doesn't seem that creative. Iterations never do. I am so happy with the dresses and really need to work on a few more and some shirts. Thanks for the good wishes.