2020 Look Back

What a year 2020 has been. For me it was not my best or worst year ever. I changed my perspective during this year and just took it one day at a time and finding what good things I could in each day. This photo is one of our January sunrises. The beauty of nature provided much joy this year.

In February I went to a quilt retreat in Phoenix and got these t-shirts up on the design wall. I had been carrying them around for 2 years and needed to get this comfort quilt for a friend finished.

I also designed a carpenters wheel to work on during the retreat. I used my own handyed fabrics. The carpenter wheel has been on my quilting bucket list for decades and I just love the top I created. There are more of this design in my future.

In March I had lost my sewing mojo and kick started myself by finishing up this pair of pants. To date I have made this pattern 4 times and plan to make more as each pair is different.

I pulled out this small piece of fabric I had gotten on the shop hop during the retreat and self drafted this top. It used all of the fabric but a few tiny scraps. I wore this a lot during the Summer.

In May I finished the carpenter wheel top I had started at my retreat. I am over the moon about it and plan to do some very fancy quilting on it but I need to get some black batting for that project.

I also quilted this little improv art quilt with some very different designs. I am pretty pleased with how it came together.

My friend Shelley was making 3D hexi blocks and challenged anyone that was up to it to make some so I jumped aboard and made them in the colors of the rainbow. I shleped this project around most of the summer doing hand applique to put the blocks on a background.

I cloned one of my favorited thrifted t-shirts and made a mustard one and a tourquoise one. Both were out of a huge gift of fabrics my daughters friend was getting rid of. I wore those t-shirts all summer.

I made a sample of this pair of pants and was going to make my final pair out of blue linen but changed my mind. The top was thrifted during the quilt retreat in February and cost me a whopping $1. It was my favorite t-shirt this summer.

Instead of the blue linen I made my final pair of pants out of this brown linen I found in my stash. I need to take them in a little before I wear them next spring.

I pulled this jacket out of a bin of UFOs and finished it. I started in around 1999 and it was too boxy and needed to be taken in at the waist. I am surprised that it is still very trendy, animal print and nice clean lines.

I pulled out my tree of life quilt top I made two years ago and started the applique around the border. I worked on this project all spring and summer. I designed two squirrels and two birds and lots of vines and leaves.

 

I finished the top in June. I am planning on doing some very fancy quilting on this top.

Late Summer I went thrifting and got some clothes to upcycle. I took this men XL top and resewed it to fit myself in a much smaller size. I kept the neckline but cut down the body of the shirt. I have been wearing this a lot this fall and winter. I also remade a huge blue oversized mens sweatshirt but did not take photos.

 

In August I finished the t-shirt quilt and presented it to my friend whose wife had passed away. It made us both cry.  

I also spent days, and weeks quilting this top I had started a couple of years ago and had put together in Feburary. I had high hopes of entering this in some quilt shows but it will have to wait till things reopen so I will not show a photo of this amazing quilt till that happens.

I did a mystery quilt that I began in April. I changed the design from what how it was designed but I used every single block and no more. I also make a wider border and spent all of September and October putting the applique on it.

I finished the quilting in late October and still need to bind it and add a label.

After doing some large quilts I dug into to UFO tops and pulled this table runner from the early 2000's out and quilted and bound it. In spite of it being small I still managed to take a full week and many hours to quilt it.

In November I got the 3D hexi quilt on the longarm and spent many, many hours on the quilting. I still need to bind this and add a label.

In December I pulled this strippy top out of the pile of quilt tops and wanted to finish it up as a donation quilt I had been tasked to make out of it at the retreat in February. My friend Shelley had made the stripes but there were to small for an adult size quilt so I dug into a UFO bin and found some blocks from a swap I did around 15 years ago. I added them to the top and bottom, added some muslin borders and it is now ready to quilt.

After finishing up the last project I was trying to decide what to quilt next. I pulled all the tops I had out of the ready to quilt bin and hung them on the longarm frame. There are 11 tops here and it is my goal to quilt all of them in 2021 except the first one on the left that I chose to quilt that day. I also measured each top and made a list so it will be easier to organize the backings and have them ready to go.

This was my least favorite top out of that group but now that it is quilted with some fancy quilting I really love it. Mostly the quilting was for practice and to try some new designs. This quilt took many, many hours and was my last quilt quilted in 2020.

I pulled this tiny 14" top out of a UFO bin and decided to add a border. I am planning on working on that bin and getting many more of those projects in various stages of done to finished tops in 2021.

Here is the border I created for the top and it is now a good size for an wall quilt. I want to quilt this early in 2021 as I really like the design and the border will be a great place to do show off some cool quilting.

Here is the quilt from a few photos ago in progress. I did a different design in each zigzag row. I love this design on the green and will be using it again for sure.

This dress pattern has taken sewers on Instagram by storm. The view the model is wearing in particular. Those sleeves are amazing. I got the pattern at the JoAnn sale for $1.99 and found lots of yardage of the tiger paisley on the clearance rack. I am currently working on a muslin version. Once I finish that I will get this dress sewn up for my spring wordrobe. I really like making muslins first because it ensures I get a perfect fit out of my final fabric. So far I am going to make the sleeves 3" longer and maybe make the dress just a bit bigger in the side seams as I am between sizes.

If you have gotten this far I want to wish you a Happy New Year. Just take each day as it comes and focus on the good things you can. We had many challenges in 2020 and it has been like no other year I can remember in my 65 years.