Last year in 2022, I worked to complete 60 creative projects. One of these projects is the Norwood Table Runner from the Tabletastic 2 book by Doug Leko of Antler Quilt Design. I had a lot of fun creating this project and was so inspired that I made 10 more Christmas themed ones for my sisters-in-law. The fabric of this one was vintage looking yet set in a more modern background which added to the overall charm of the project.
In my last post I said I was going to post bunch of projects that I finished in 2022. Well I ended up getting the flu right after and well, with Christmas and all the things that go with that, I really didn't have the energy to post anything. So I will be posting them now. I would have liked to have it done before the end of the year but what can you do.
How many projects did I get done altogether? I counted them up and in total it was thirteen. Not bad considering I did do some other new projects in between. With the thirteen unfinished projects I also painted 21 paintings and did some last minute Christmas gifts for my sisters-in-law which was 10 table runners. Of course since they were last minute I forgot to take pictures of them, but they were other versions of one of my 60 projects that I will share later. I started the My Favorite Color Quilt (which will now go in my unfinished project list for this year) I don't have too much to finish on that one but I ran into some problems that made me put it away until I could look at it in a good light again, lol.
As I went through my list to make this year I don't have 60 projects but 55 (I added some that hadn't been on it last year because I stopped at 60). 55 is the final total of unfinished projects and if I can make sure to finish any new projects I start this year, because I know I will. This year I should see a huge dent put in it. Of course my goal is to finish all of them this year.
Now because I can't remember the order I finished them because I drew numbers out of a hat, I'm just going to post them in the order they are listed.
Remember the table topper I did at the very beginning of 2022? You can find it here. I decided to do another one in a bit brighter colors. It's the Moda Love Charm Table Topper. I'm pretty sure I will be making this one again. I've made three already but it's fun to make and there are so many color options you could do.
Finishing my unfinished projects is turning out pretty good so far. I've procrastinated for so long on these projects I can't explain the euphoria I feel every time I get one finished. There is a moment of dread each time I pick a random unfinished project number because I know why I've left some projects undone for so long. They are either very monotonous or they have a level of difficulty that I know I must go into full concentration mode to get it done. Thankfully this project wasn't too bad, although I did let it sit for a couple of weeks before I could come up with how I wanted to quilt it. But alas I got motivated and got it done. Although my free motion quilting still needs a lot of practice to get smooth flowing stitches, I'm okay with how this turned out. After all that is why I made these into wall hangings instead of a full quilt so I could practice free motion quilting.
I started these blocks in 2015 when they were first released by the Fat Quarter Shop on their blog "The Jolly Jabber". They host a lot of fun quilt-a-longs over there. We had just gotten in the fabric "Daysail" by Bonnie & Camille in at the quilt shop I worked at, and I loved the pattern for this! You can sill find the pattern here. It's a free pattern and so fun to do.
I had finished sewing the block together and that is where I stopped. So, the last bit was to quilt it and put binding on. I've only quilted one other of the blocks, but it doesn't have binding on it yet so it is also on my unfinished project list.
Here is the process of finishing this project.
Sandwiching my layers of backing, batting (scraps are great for these small projects) and the pieced top. I used 505 basting spray for this.
I quilted the wall hanging and then trimmed off the extra batting and backing.
Thankfully I bought all the supplies for these wall hangings back when I purchased the fabric so finding matching binding was easy although I'm sure I could have found something similar. I still like the results of hand sewing my binding. It is machine sewn on the top and hand sewn in the back.
Last of all I gave the kitty some eyes by sewing on some black buttons.
I hope you are enjoying the projects and if you are like me with so many unfinished projects, I hope you will follow along with me in getting them finished.
This year I decided to challenge
myself and get projects out of their bins and completed! Looking at the list it
seems a bit daunting but when I went through the projects to see what I was up
against it really wasn't so bad. Most of the projects had very little left to
do on them. Others were a little more involved but the amount of time I spend
scrolling could be used to work on these projects. It really does seem doable.
I decided I would blog about my progress for a bit of accountability and maybe
it might inspire someone to get those projects done as well.
At first when I was challenged,
I wondered "Do I really have that many unfinished projects?" Yes, I
do and more, but I didn't look past 60. Those can be for next year.
The first thing I did was write down all the projects, both quilting and paper crafting, onto a numbered piece of paper. I then put those numbers in a cup that I will draw from when I complete a project. I look at the number on my sheet and that's my next project to complete. I wanted it to be random because I first listed all the quilting projects on the sheet, then the paper crafting ones so going in order I may not get to the paper crafting ones. My rule is to have all quilts quilted and bound and paper craft projects completely embellished, a few of the scrapbook albums will have to have pictures in them as they are my personal ones that are not for sale in my Etsy shop. The only project that does not require me to have quilted and bound is the New Hexagon Millefiori quilt I'm hand sewing, but I do want to have all the blocks done. Block two is the next project so stay tuned in for that. I will tell you more about that in my next post in this series.
So, my first project was still fresh in my mind as I only started this one in November of last year. It's the free Moda Love Charm pattern you can find here. I love this pattern it comes in three versions using layer cakes, charm packs or mini charm packs and it's so fast to put together. I've made three tops of the charm pack version and finished two already. If you google it you will find so many different color combinations and they all look great!
