2018 The Finishes ...

It has been a good year for me quilting wise, I have found having one or two focus projects to concentrate on has kept me motivated to some finishes.  I completed 4 large quilts this year.

The quilts I made for my sons have been gifted so I can now show them :)

A king sized Disappearing 9 patch

A king sized Easy Stack Quilts I am naming 'Chinese Coins'

I finished the hand quilting on 'Happy Days'

 'Down the Rabbit Hole

I have also made a few smaller items this year

A sewing pouch from a tea towel hand blocked by a friend for my birthday

A new bag for my knitting

A bag to hold my cutting mat and rulers etc for class

I made a couple of block books to carry pieces and finished blocks when hand piecing.

A sewing much and zip up tray for holding projects and tools by my machine

I finished a small charity quilt for Project Linus

I made a couple of sewing pouches for hand piecing tools and my appliqué threads

Now I just need to look through all the project boxes and decide on my focus for next year!

6 and 6 in 2018 Year End

Way back in January I signed up with  Meredith and Ann  for their 6 & 6 in 2018 Challenge; the idea was to make substantial progress on 6 old WIPs whilst also being allowed to start 6 new.

I am really pleased with the progress I have made this year, after a couple of years of a quilting slump and feeling down by how little hand work I can now do,  I feel excited about what I can achieve.

Here are my 6 old - Clicking on the title should show all the posts

1. Down the Rabbit Hole

This was my first big finish of the year, quilted, bound and on my bed :)

2. Happy Days

This was the 2016 BOM from Sarah Fielke, I have finished the hand quilting, using a large needle and Aurifil 12wt, so much kinder on the hands 😃 I love how this one turned out. Click on the title above to see more photos of the hand quilting.

3. Stonefields

I am still not 100% sure how I want to finish this one, I think I have a plan but I need a few hours to work it out - First finish of 2019 maybe ??

4. Lucy's River Terrace

I finished the blocks I had made into a quilted pouch for my light pad

5. Dear Jane

No progress on this at all this year, I am finding it really difficult to EPP as my hands have been bad, need to rethink this whole quilt, maybe hand piecing?

6. EPP

Abandoned and fabric back in stash, I really wasn't happy with this and again found the EPP hard on my hands.

I did start some new projects this year, I need to pull them out and see where I am with them as I put them all on hold to make two Queen Sized quilts for my boys.

One in Blue & White

The other in Red & Gold

I had them both long arm quilted, and I am really pleased with how they turned out - two very different quilts for two very different brothers! Ready to gift for Christmas. I will share more photos once they have been gifted.

Of Course none of this would have been possible without my trusty helper 😀

I am Enough QAL

I mentioned before that I am participating in the I am Enough QAL hosted by Melanie at Southern Charm Quilts.  You can see my previous post and details here:
http://emilyscupboard.blogspot.com/2018/10/adventures-in-low-volume.html

There are prizes if you submit work in progress photos, but these are for US residents only, I don't mind as the pattern is free and I am really enjoying having this as my machine project.  We had a little bit of hand embroidery this week and then started joining some of the sections.

The quilt will be roughly the size of my design wall - a nice lap size, but as you can see from all the white space, we still have some work to do!

I am really happy with the ombre effect french Braid which will form one side of the quilt, it is really difficult to photograph!

The 'I am enough' embroidered quote and the maker's hand blocks are a nice touch

But my absolute favourite has to be the centre Dresden Plate, which was designed to be the colour wheel for this project - such a clever idea.

Most of the coloured print fabrics are from a layer cake of 'English Garden' by Rifle Paper Co for Cotton & Steel and a FQ bundle of 'Wild Bloom' by Bari J for Art Gallery

Finished and Bound

I have finished the hand quilting on 'Happy Days' the 2016 BOM from Sarah Fielke. It was the first time I used a big needle and thicker thread; I loved how this turned out and will definitely do this type of hand quilting again.  The top is all Liberty Tana Lawns apart from the background which is a small grey pin dot on white from Marsha McCluskey staples collections.  I used Hobbs Quilter's Dream Request Cotton Batting and Aurifl 12wt Threads. You can see this quilt coming together in my previous posts:

http://emilyscupboard.blogspot.com/search/label/Happy%20Days