2020 started as a year to prep for my trip to Italy to visit #2 son. I had late March plane tickets through Paris to arrive in Venice, Italy then stay in Vicenza. So excited!!! Then COVID 19 happened. Venice airport closed two days before my scheduled flight. Bummer! Delta gave me a full refund, yeah for them. Hopefully, after the vaccination, I'll be able to visit in the fall 2021 - maybe???
The first quilt of the year was this gorgeous Tula Pink wholecloth with a soft Minky fabric for the backing.
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| Tula Pink Owl 53" x 70" -gift |
When I saw this fabric panel at QuiltCon 2020 in Austin, it just said "perfect" for my 5-year-old granddaughter. Unicorns, pink, purple, rainbows, it's all magic. I added borders with couched chenille yarn. Also crocheted a circle pink/purple pillow (not shown).
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| Unicorn Magic 40" x 53" -gift |
This T-shirt style quilt is made of jersey uniforms from my nephew's many teams. My sister and husband helped with the layout while visiting. There are many details and the label is photos of various ages and teams. In recent photo's I'm thrilled to see the quilt being used and he's pointing out a number or telling a soccer story to their daughter.
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| back label photo's |
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| Corey's Team Jersy Quilt |
So the plan changed to "Stay Home and Sew my Stash" and I sorted through fabrics for quick quilts for SMQG Community Outreach donation quilts. The quilts go to children who have been removed from their home hoping to be returned home when parents are healthier responsible or foster care. I love making whimsical, fun kids' quilts!
To make the quilts fun for kids, I was greatly inspired by the Shiny Happy World Patterns. So cute!!! I realized I could just free cut fused fabric into anything and went with monsters.
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| Monster Sweet Baby Quilt 43" x 46" -Donation |
Odds and ends of scraps sewn into "make fabric" for cat cutouts. To blocks from a friend, I added corners and squared to size. With the odd number, I designed this layout in "Graphic" on my iPad. Used more scraps for a piano key border. I made the cat cutouts from photos of my cat and one free clip art. Once the top was pieced, I resized them in Graphic and tile printed them to size. They are fused on and yarn couched outlined.
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| Circus Cat Scrap 55" x 62" -donation |
I saw the below-piecing pattern on Kelly Cline Quilting. I believe it's a pattern often used by a Charity she quilts for. (If you're interested in rescuing antique handkerchiefs, feed sacks, doilies, tablecloths, etc you'll love her website.) Again not enough coordinating fabric for the size of quilt I wanted so bring on the scrap cats. lol
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| Scrappy Cats Climbing 56" x 62" -donation |
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| Scrap Cats Blue-Orange 45" x 53" -donation |
Here it is in the fish version. These are cute fish, easy to fuse applique.
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| Fish Bubbles 45" x 61" -not sure |
What a fun quilt - did I say you can cut anything from the fused fabric? Goofy monsters, critters, wildflowers, butterflies etc. They are all free cut with scissors! No tracing or resizing just plain fun. I loved making this quilt!
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| Pink Purple Monsters 36" x 42" -donation |
And more Fun Free Cuts crazy monsters and flowers.
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| Flowery Critters 46" x 53" -donation |
Coordinating fabrics were pieced and are too close in value to work design-wise. So I added some koi fish that were stitched out on my longarm.
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| Koi 36" x 36" -donation |
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| Sweet Critter Panel 40" x 50" -donation |
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| Paisley Rail Fence 48" x 56" -donation |
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| Paisley Log Cabins 49" x 52" -donation |
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| Sports Fabric 34" x 41" -donation |
Interesting story on this Hexagon Quilt. Hexagon is handpieced 36" in the English Paper method.
Rail Fence set on Diagonal
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| Zigzag Red Blue 42" x 52" -donation |
Beautiful fabric from when I had an interest in dyeing fabric. I love dyed fabric but the techniques are just not for me. It's a bit of a messy process when you don't have a designated space.
This is one of my favorite quilts this year. I love the soft neutrals and my cats outlined in chenille couched yarn. I used the Hobbs Cotton/Wool batting blend.
Here's another favorite of the year! I'd made the Jelly Weave - neutrals shown below first and decided I'd like the blocks to be smaller. Again with the help of the Graphic app on my iPad they are now 9" blocks. I rarely buy patterns but this one I had to have! Jelly Weave Pattern by Cluck Cluck Sew
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| Leaves 45" x 45" |
More luscious dyed fabric in improve style.
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| Red Green Improv 46" x 54" |
This is one of my favorite quilts this year. I love the soft neutrals and my cats outlined in chenille couched yarn. I used the Hobbs Cotton/Wool batting blend.
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| Scrap Cat Checkered 69' x 69" |
Here's another favorite of the year! I'd made the Jelly Weave - neutrals shown below first and decided I'd like the blocks to be smaller. Again with the help of the Graphic app on my iPad they are now 9" blocks. I rarely buy patterns but this one I had to have! Jelly Weave Pattern by Cluck Cluck Sew
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| Jelly Weave Pattern - turquoise 63" x 65" |
Here is the original size of the Jelly Weave pattern in nuetrals...yeah, I should have matched background.
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| Jelly Weave - Brown 64" x 74" |
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| Texas BOM 47" x 59" |
Raw edged appliqued inspired by Peter Byrne who won Best of Show at QuiltCon 2020. He method of "hover quilting" inspired me to this quilt. The background is pieced then the curves are raw edged appliqued on before it's quilted. The resulting texture is wonderful.
I saw a similar quilt on Pinterest and just loved it. Perfect for using scraps! Again I used the Graphic app on my iPad to adjust size, width, layout etc. So cute one day I'll make another one - maybe plaid...
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| Sheep Grazing 55" x 67" |
From my Arty Animal Quilt class I was only to happy to help student with her dog portrait. This is a whole cloth quilt printed on Organic Cotton Sateen at Spoonflower. Rudy's photo was digitally stylized in various photo apps and the background designs created in the Graphic app on my iPad. Ordered extra Rudy prints on Minky fabric that have been made into pillows and tote bags.
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| Rudy 54" x 72" |
Last quilt I made in 2020 - another Stash Buster with strings from leftover dyed fabric. I like the stripe fabric sashings and binding.
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56" x 73" |
Quilting fun for Grandies...I sent a finished quilt with prefused fabric they could cut out to make their own monsters. It was a fun family activity - parents ironed the final monster on. And they asked for more fabric to make more monsters!!!
For being a pandemic year my quilting was a perfect pasttime. I ended my longarm quilting business so I could concentrate on my own backlog of quilt tops. (And here it is 2021 and I still have 16 to quilt.) Though I ran out of "quilting mojo" by October, I continued being creative by sewing clothing and doll clothes. Yes, 2020 was a good year....in spite of.....