A box of cut pieces.............

I was looking through the project boxes in the shelf unit under my ironing table.  In one I found piles of cut triangles, squares and rectangles.  There was also yardage that was possible additions to cut.

Every pile of triangles contained lots of different fabrics so I sorted them into like groups.  There are 12-16 triangles in each pile.  I laid 3 of the light fabrics next to them that I will cut triangles from to give me better contrast.  This looks like another mindless stitching project for TV nights.

This is one of the quilt tops I made in 2018 from the same group of fabrics.  In another box I have enough sewn 16 patch blocks to sew a quilt at least twice the size of this one....or 2 quilts this size.  There is something so soothing about all of these neutral colors.

  

9 patches, knitting, snow, and not in that order.............

Our average normal temperature on this date is 32 degrees.  We have been slightly above average most of the time but this is what we got up to yesterday.  We have been lucky to only have a light covering about 3 times so far this winter.

The snow was on the south sides of the tree trunks so it wasn't the cold north wind with this one.  The next 10 days we will be above normal again, by a few degrees anyway.

The 9 patch stratas were cut into sections late in the afternoon and last night I sewed 21 more 9 patches.  I think I'll count today and see how many I have finished.

When the news and weather came on I switched to knitting to finish this dishcloth I have been working on in spare minutes for about 2 weeks.

I'm still working on sorting and organizing the sewing spaces.  If you missed it, in 2013 I had a studio tour on one post.  You can find it by clicking on Studio on my label list (32 entries with that label) but I'll save you some time if you are interested and you can click here.  A lot of things have changed in 9 years but the space is still the same. 

3rd twig border............

While in the basement  doing laundry I'm continuing my large task of putting things where they belong instead of being piles everywhere.  I came upon this project and decided I needed to sew the border blocks together and see if they fit.  Luckily all 4 sides fit without having to make any adjustments.  Then I added the Martha Negley twig fabric border.  Now I need to decide what's next.  It is small, only 31.5" x 36".  It's definitely not a baby quilt.  I think it would be better as a lap quilt or throw quilt, depending on what I decide to add.

These 2 photos were taken in 2016, early in its construction.  At that time I was calling it a table runner.

This photo was taken in 2020 so you can see I had a hard time making any decisions on this piece.  Most of the time I just had to keep asking myself whether it was worth finishing.  There is something about it that I like, as chaotic as it is. 

Yesterday I needed to fill my gas tank and do some grocery shopping.  It's amazing how that wears me out.  

9 patch stratas..............

The new season of TV shows are back on after 2-3 weeks of nothing much to watch.  I have 3 in a row FBI shows that I watch on Tuesday night.  I intended to cut some blocks to sew but didn't get around to it so I sewed more 9 patch stratas with 2" strips.

This is the beginning of the quilt from 9 patches I sewed quite a while ago.  I have a lot more 9 patches already sewn but thought I would wait until I sew a lot more before I play with a layout.  This is my mindless sewing project for times I have nothing else prepared to sew.

There are lots of "color of the year" announcements now.  This is the Kona cotton color of the year - Crush.  It is a has a little more orange than coral but isn't quite orange or red.  I decided I needed a piece of it.  There is the Pantone color and some paint companies announce colors.  I'm happy they are the warm colors this year from some of them.  I know a lot of people create a challenge quilt with the new color of the year but I have never gotten on that bandwagon.

We got 1.1" of rain in the very early morning hours yesterday.  I know we got a little more during the day but mostly had fog.  I'll check my rain gauge this morning.  I brought it in when we had the big freeze in December but decided it needs to be back out there.

Sorting and moving things................

I have never kept track of how many spools I emptied until 2022.  I pinned a bag to my bulletin board and dropped the empty spools into it all year.  That cardboard tube was the center for a large quantity of thread; I think about 1000 yards.

The 5 white skinny spools had 1200 yards on each of them.  I used a lot of longarm thread too but didn't empty any of the spools.  Now another bag will be started this year.

I sorted many items that needed putting away, carried several boxes to the basement where they belong.

I keep a list of all of the quilt tops that need quilting and their measurements.  I update that every year so there were 3 pages to copy over for this new year.  I divide them by length on longest side: up to 66", 67"-80" and 81" or longer, small, medium and large.

I sorted Kaffe Fassett fabric squares into colorwash kits to be offered at my upcoming colorwash online class.

If you are interested in the Colorwash 360 class and want to be on the waitlist for early notification  go to this link to sign up,

All 4 squares from one fabric don't necessarily look alike but they all work in colorwash.  This is why everyone's colorwash is unique, they don't all get the exact same cut when they buy a kit.

Here is another example of the variance of the 4 cuts but they all work.

I thought the very last cactus bud was drying up but it surprised me and is starting to open.

The first flower on the second stalk of my Amaryllis has opened and the next three will follow shortly.  All 5 blooms on the first stalk are still looking good.

January 1st was a fairly gloomy day and I thought there wouldn't be any color at sunset.  I was sitting at my computer in the late afternoon and I noticed a pink glow through the blinds.  I hurried to get my camera because the highest color only lasts a couple minutes.  I posted an even better photo on Instagram that was right at the peak of color. (Instagram account @exuberantcolor).

2022 Yearly recap............

19 quilts were finished in 2022.  I had my yellow series (3), three 16 patch and two colorwash.  The rest was a variety.  Five of the 19 were large ones ranging from 83" - 92" on the longest side and 4 of those were tops from previous years. That makes me happy. 10 were tops made this year and will be in the quilt top collage also.  4 were quilted on my Pfaff and the other 15 were quilted on my longarm. (stats for me to look back at.)

I finished 26 quilt tops in 2022.  That's an average of one every 2 weeks.  That doesn't seem possible but at least 2 of them were older tops that just needed borders.  Some were long term projects and one was made in 2 days. Ten of them were quilted in 2022 so there are 16 more added to the "to be quilted" number.

I started the year with 35 tops that needed quilting, added lots of new ones, and ended the year with 42 waiting in line.  I have several small ones I can quilt quickly in this new year if I get the longarm working again.  All of the thread breaks in the last quilt had me walking away from the machine.

December 2022 monthly recap and Happy New Year!..........

 In December I had 2 finishes.  If I hadn't had so many problems when quilting the larger one I might have gotten another quilted.  Gridlock, the large one is my version of the one of the same name in Kaffe Fassett's book Glorious Patchwork.  It is 65" x 91".  I finished the top in late November 2021 so it took a year to get it in the quilting lineup.  The colorwash is 29.5" square and is made of all batik fabrics.

Two fairly large quilt tops were finally sewn together too.  The one on the left is #4 in a series of quilt tops made with the Kaffe Fassett yarn dyed woven stripes.  It is 59" x 79".  The one on the right started out with inspiration from an antique quilt but I wandered away from the design of the original and just did my own thing.  It is very scrappy, started with a lot of triangles cut from Kaffe collective fabrics and then I added batiks and a few plaids.  It is about 64" x 75.5".  It was a project I worked on only on Sundays.  Now I need to choose a new Sunday only project.

In August I posted this collage of 7 quilts I would like to finish in 2022 and I'm happy to say I quilted 5 of them by the end of the year.  The top left and middle bottom are still waiting their turn for a finish.

Happy New Year!!  Wasn't the Millennium just a couple years ago?  23 years later I think that is still the most memorable of the beginnings of a new year.  No resolutions here other than trying to keep my cutting tables cleared off.  That just means learning another good habit and practicing it often.