Quilting

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I had three overarching goals for 2020. I know I'm in really good company about how the Covid Pandemic really upended any plans for this year. It's amazing to me that the last time I went anywhere fun was March. I'm thankful to have my family to spend time with and technology for connecting with friends and extended family.

Mostly, I'll be re-evaluating those goals that fell by the wayside and perhaps rolling them forward. (Or maybe not?) This year has mostly taught me to try not to sweat the small stuff. And to focus on the positive, even when it's so easy to dwell on the negative. So here's the biggest positive of those 2020 Goals.

Connecting with the Quilting Community

While this may not have looked exactly like I expected, it played out well. My teaching engagements that had been scheduled for in-person events mostly pivoted to Zoom lectures and workshops. I've stayed involved with my local guilds, Bay Area Modern Quilting and Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association, as well as my Local Connections group of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) and my local small quilt group through regular Zoom meetings. I've blogged semi-regularly (though my newsletter took an unplanned hiatus -- one coming later this week!) and have enjoyed staying engaged with the quilting community on Instagram.

Most months I ran my Show Me Something quilt linkup. I will continue this in 2021. What were your favorite themes from Show Me Something in 2020? You can find links to all of them in the sidebar at the right, or scroll down to the bottom if you're on mobile. There's still a couple days to Show Me Something That's a Gift! for December's linkup. (Apologies to participants that my follow-through on posting a wrap-up post each month was lacking. I'm thinking about how to improv that in 2021.)

And come back here Thursday to see my 2021 Goals. ;-) It's my tradition to post my goals on New Year's Eve and linkup to Yvonne's Planning Party.

Just two more days left in the 31-Day Blog Writing Challenge with Cheryl. Thanks for visiting!

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I've been mostly keeping up with the mystery quilt schedule and I'm all set for the next set of instructions on January 7 for the Morewood Mystery. I opted for a Hanukkah quilt, which I'm looking forward to enjoying next Fall as Hanukkah begins November 28 in 2021. The mystery quilt along wraps up in April which gives me plenty of time for quilting and binding by November. :-)

I chose this luscious blue Alison Glass Sun Print (2018 Compass in Lapis) for my background fabric, partnering it with Kona Blueberry, two Hanukkah prints from my stash and the silver and white dots. This month we made more HSTs that we turned into hourglass (or QST) units. And now all of our fabrics are in play!

I look forward to seeing how these components go together!

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Kim Lapacek hosts Project QUILTING, a series of one-week quilt challenges that run from January through March (with a week off between challenges). January 3rd is the kickoff for Challenge 1 of Season 12 of Project QUILTING. At noon CST on January 3rd Kim will release the theme of the challenge for week 1. We'll have exactly one week to plan, create, finish and linkup a quilt for the challenge, due by noon CST on January 10th. You can see the full schedule for Season 12 on Kim's website.

I hope you will consider participating. Kim and Trish are a ton of fun and it's enjoyable to see how so many people respond to the same prompt. One week is no joke for starting and finishing a quilt. My biggest tip is to work small. I think the smallest quilt I've made for a Project QUILTING challenge was 2 1/4" x 9". (I'm always so impressed when someone makes a lap quilt, though most of us are making mini quilts.) Some makers have opted to layer on a second personal challenge to their projects, like when Kimberly made all her challenge quilts with Star Wars themes in 2017. All the details about how Project QUILTING works and how to enter can be found here.

This will be my 5th year participating in Project QUILTING. I'd admired it the previous year, but didn't have the bandwidth to dive in until 2017. Some years I've participated in all six challenges of the season and some years have been more sporadic. I think I've completed 21 Project QUILTING challenges over the years. I thought I'd share one of my projects from each season I participated. (Click on the photos to read more.)

 

Project QUILTING 8.4: Brighter the Better

 

Project QUILTING 9.1: Hometown Proud

 

Project QUILTING 10.2: Red, White and Blue

 

Project QUILTING 11.6: Vibrant and Vivacious