2022 Overview

 This year was a good year for my sewing and quilting. I was feeling back to myself. I continue a daily chemo routine, but it doesn't have the side effects of the previous chemo treatments. 

I made a lot of bags, both as teacher gifts and for myself. I did a whole slew of byAnnie bags. 

Large Quilts: 22

Small Quilts: 31

Bags: 60

Others (pillowcases, pants, journal covers, etc.) 63

Customer projects: 18

Gifted: 80

I gifted a lot of bags to teachers, friends, and others. I gave away a lot of baby quilts and quilts to family and friends. I made a lot of customer quilts and just when I thought I was done, I got three more t-shirt quilts. These have taken a lot of my time. I am hoping to get more of my own done this year. I did not get to a quilt retreat this year, so I have not finished as many tops as I sometimes normally do when I get several days of sewing.  

Last week of May Sewing

I quickly finished up the binding on this Yellow and Blue Blue Ridge Beauty. I loosely use the one Bonnie Hunter has a pattern for, only I use the scraps from my y/b Scrappy Trip Around the world and make the HSTs match the size of the four patches. I have a lot more of these blocks made, so I forsee another quilt like it in the future. 

I put a blue minky on the back and I think it turned out so pretty. 

I finished the four corners of the Rhododendron Trail mystery, so now I am ready to put it together. I'm hoping during my vacation that I can get this one pieced together. 

I quickly made these 4 key chains for the 4 teachers for end-of-the-year gifts. They literally took me 20 minutes of sewing time. I cut them out at lunch, pressed them, and then sewed them the night before school was over for the year.  

This table runner is Dapper and I used left over scraps from my Nova fabrics to make this runner. It was really quick and easy. It was one of our monthly challenge projects for the Sewing Center.

I'm making a rainbow Happy Blocks quilt and I cut it out in stacks. Doesn't it look pretty? I'm making it for a college graduation. 

I finally finished this table topper. It was quick and easy as I had made it as a sample years ago when I was teaching. 

I embroidered hats and designed this the other day for my brother's business. I have to move it a bit and then I want to make a few shirts as well. 

A high school graduation gift is done. I made them in gray and blue for his college choice. 

 

End of May Quilts

 We've reached the end of May and I've met most of my self-imposed deadlines. I was supposed to go to a meeting and meet up with a co-worker, so I worked hard to make this fast and easy baby quilt for another co-worker. I got it done and it turned out super cute, but the meeting was cancelled, so I'll find another way to get it to her. This is a fast and easy Villa Rosa pattern that uses charm squares. 

I quilted this for another. It's really big at 99x109, so it took a lot of work. 

I decided to get this made for another co-worker and was planning to drop it off at the Monday meeting. I decided the Tuesday before to finish it, so I pieced the top and made a flying trip to my dad's house to quilt it on Sunday. I finished it this week. 

The big quilt. I did 2 of these. 

I'm making a graduation quilt for a mom to gift to her daughter for college graduation. She requested rainbow colors and music. I'm doing Happy Blocks. I think it will turn out great. 

I finished all the side pieces for Rhododendron Trail. I have the 4 corners left and then to piece it. I think I'll be putting it together in the camper while we are on vacation this summer. 

I'm also working on Grassy Creek. I'm using these as leader enders. 

My cousin's son gave me shirts and jeans and I made him a denim quilt for his high school graduation. 

I love how the back turned out with the different colors of jeans. 

I quilted and bound this antique quilt for a lady from my hometown. It's a simple meander and then an off-white binding as the front has a bit of both. 

I finished 4 quilts this month, which seems pretty good to me. I need to keep moving forward to get a few more done. 

May quilting

 May is already flying by and since I have self-imposed deadlines, I knew it was going to go quickly. 

Yesterday we celebrated with my brother's family as his daughter was confirmed. It was a beautiful day. It's the first time we've all been together for a picture since a few years ago.

Saturday we were at my brother Jim's ranch for their branding. My brother Ed's girlfriend Rebecca was with us while he was at a shooting tournament. It was hot in the afternoon and by the time we branded it was cold and rainy. I was sopping wet. 

Paul helped with branding too. 

I picked out fabrics for my heart bargello and started cutting it out last week. 

I finished up this butterfly and dragonfly quilt for a special cousin. I hope to gift it this week. 

My hairstylist wanted to gift this fabric as a bag to a co-worker, so I made it for her. It's a panel like fabric and I quilted it and then made the bag. 

 

This week I'm working on binding a baby quilt and making a rag quilt for my cousin's son for graduation. I only have 2 weeks and I need to get working on it at a faster pace!

April Quilts

  

It's been a busy month for me. I've accomplished a lot on my goals list and still have things "to do". The list never ends. I spent several days at my dad's house quilting this month. I had 4 teacher quilts to do before this week. I have a graduation quilt coming up and I have 3 quilts that I've done for others. 

This quilt is for Karen and her family. It's an antique quilt and I quilted and am working on the binding. I should be able to finish it this month. 

Last night as I was in between projects, I sewed up 4 more of the side blocks for Rhododendron Trail mystery. I'm getting closer to being ready to put this top together. 

I finished sewing this mini Trip Around the World top together. This one is about 13" square, so it's pretty tiny, but I love how it turned out. 

I pieced Dapper as a leader/ender this month and quilted it on Saturday at Dad's house. The fabric is Nova and it's a challenge pattern for our online sewing group with The Sewing Center. 

My co-worker had a baby last week, so I quickly pieced this baby quilt from Amelia fabric I've had in my stash. I put a purple minkee on the back. It turned out to be super cute and I think I can have it done before I meet up with another co-worker to exchange and have her take back. 

Teacher appreciation is this week, so last weekend (when we had a blizzard cancel our plans) I was able to make labels. This is for Mikaela's writing teacher. 

I made her Bookends, another quick pattern from our monthly pattern challenge at The Sewing Center. I used Glamping Gypsies fabric. I am getting close to the end of my fabric from this line. This is quilt number 15 or 16 from that line!

Another teacher is an SDSU graduate, so I'm gifting her the Yellow/Blue Trip Around the World. I used a navy minkee on the back. 

My Glamping Gypsies Hey June was finished in March. This is for Mikaela's main homeroom teacher.  

I added a label to the back of it. It was too big to get a piece of minkee without piecing it, so I used a wide back in red. 

Mathew's teacher loves owls, so hers has pieced minkee on the back with 2 colors of teal (her favorite color) and a piece of owl minkee (that is also on the quilt she received when she was Mikaela's teacher). 

Mathew picked this owl pattern for her quilt. It's a pixiated quilt. I bought a pattern, but ened up changing it a lot because it was really poorly written (as in here's a picture and the shapes, figure out how to make it). It was really long and narrow, so I took out a bit to make it more proportional. 

Religion teachers each got a wall hanging or mug rug. I quilted these on Soft and Stable, so they are a bit puffy. 

My 3rd cousin's wife is gifting me a sewing machine, so I am giving her a quilt. I finishe piecing the top last week and then quilted it this weekend. This is before it was quilted. I didn't know what size it was, but bought 2.25 yards of minkee, only Michelle was talking and cut 2.5". It ended up being 80"x90" and wouldn't fit across it, but because of the mistake, I was able to make it work, just barely! I laid it out to make sure it would fit before I put it on the frame. I used a black flannel so it wouldn't be so heavy. 

A friend referred me to her cousin to quilt a couple quilts, so I have 2 of these to quilt. I ended up quilting the first one. It's really big and it took a lot of effort, but it's done. The 2nd one is loaded, but I ran out of time Saturday to quilt it.  

My friend Jennifer had a benefit and she asked me to quilt and bind these for her. I was able to get both of them done before the benefit. 

It was a busy month, but I feel like it was really productive. 

April Piecing

I've been doing a bunch of random piecing as leader/enders while I was making other tops this month. I finished all the Rhododendron Trail B blocks and started getting the side blocks done. 

I finished a few more Rhod Trail side blocks. These go together pretty quickly. 

I am getting caught up on Christmas In Europe blocks. This is block 5.

I also finished block 6. 

I made new curtains for my MIL for her birthday. She loves red and butterflies. 

Another block for the CIE BOM is done. 

More side blocks of Rhod Trail Mystery

I also pieced two quilt tops, but they are already quilted, so I will share those soon.