things 2020 taught me

 oh boy, where do we begin with this year end round up?

it truly is a weird year to be saying farewell too...
and who would have thought that this photo that was from exactly a year ago today would have truly set the tone for the year's emotions.

and now here we are, bidding farewell to the year that was terrible for many, confusing for most and just straight up different for all.

what did 2020 teach me?

travel when you can.  and often.
i was able to go to quiltcon right before everything shut down, which also meant spending time in texas with my best friend.  i was supposed to go back over the summer, but hopefully next year...
hopefully.
i was also able (by way of work) to take a quick trip to SLC in september, which was nice to get some cousin time and shop hop a little bit.

curves aren't scary
i sewed TWO quilts with curves this year
parallel path and take heart were totally not scary at all, and have opened my eyes to new possibilities for quilting.
it was great to be able to challenge myself in a new way, in the midst of all the chaos.
plus, doing them as baby quilts really helped the new challenge seem a whole lot less daunting

take the plunge

with the shut down, playing the waiting game to go back to preschool was HARD.

happening in to the position at cali quilt co, which has clearly spiraled in to so much more than i could have imagined.  it was easily one of the HARDEST decisions i've ever had to make, and so many options were vented and tears were shed...but i don't regret it one bit.  preschool, from what i've heard from coworkers, is still in limbo anyways, so i would still be playing the waiting game.

taking the plunge in to something new and scary has pushed me in to wanting to come up with other new and challenging experiences, both in real life and virtual life.  block party has been it's own adventure with the shop, but i'm also looking to push and challenge myself in my own way via youtube.
nothing is "official" on that front yet... but given that i wanted to kick things off TOMORROW... i will probably be up late getting situated and what not.

as far as real life plunges... you'll have to wait on that until something official happens :)

breathe
one particular line from "everybody's free (to wear sunscreen)" by baz luhrmann always sticks out to me.  

"don't worry about the future. 

 or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum"

boy did 2020 bring some worries to a whole lot of people, and rightfully so.  but sometimes, you just gotta step away, take a breath and let things settle before jumping back in to it all.

sometimes it helped.  sometimes it needed an even longer breath.

and a whole lot of dr pepper.

other things from 2020
i binged a whole lot of tv...
schitt's creek
emily in paris

community

dash and lily

unorthodox

love on the spectrum

new girl

i stayed in touch with all my friends, both near and far.
i became proficient in wal mart grocery ordering. at least so i think...

i do miss sitting inside restaurants and eating... and hanging out with my friends.  and movie theaters. OH how i miss movie theaters...

but most of all

i made a lot of quilts, many of them for very important people.

can you tell it was hard for me to pick just a few favorites?
this is nearly all of them that i made from start to finish throughout the year!

but my FINAL quilt of 2020 will be revealed tomorrow!

goodbye 2020.
you were really something.  

but now i'm off to an adventurous 2021!

bright and merry juniper berry quilt

 this quilt has been a few years in the making, and now i'm super excited to say it is finally done!
and in true fashion, despite being the first christmas quilt started this year, it is the fourth and final one completed.  whoops!  but i have to say that even after all this time, it was well worth the wait.

i first saw the pattern in probably 2017 as part of a kit at fabric garden, a local quilt shop in the area.  they didn't have any patterns available solo, but they were able to eventually special order it for me.  after getting a pattern in my hands, it sat for awhile since i knew i wanted it, but didn't know what it would look like.  then, i found the backing fabric in 2018, which then set the tone for the whole quilt.

the bright colors reminded me so much of the tree lot scene in a charlie brown christmas.  i was happy to have an idea for a christmas quilt that had a traditional idea to it, but wasn't completely traditional in christmas colors.  i shop hopped around town to find a variety of colors and prints to make the trees unique, and then this project clearly sat for awhile since 2019 came and went, but still no christmas quilt.  i think this became one of my first projects for the 2020 UFO challenge, which was quite motivating early on in the year.  as you can probably guess, i fell off that wagon at some point.  i picked up the background fabric from thistle dew in january, which was after a great debate of what color to do.  i'm super glad i went with this icy blue that really helps the trees pop out.

when it came to selecting the borders, i knew i wanted them to be grunge, but also different than what was already in the trees.  i paid a visit to swifty stitches, since i knew susan had the stars which ended up being the perfect outer border.  the great debate for the inner border began, because i had just heard that glitter grunge was being released.  the green was the one color she didn't have on hand, and neither did any of the other local shops.  silver is more my vibe, but since she did have the metallic, i picked up the amount i needed just incase.  worst case scenario, i have more grunge in my stash.

while at quiltcon, i found and purchased some of the glitter grunge to audition for the inner border.
whelp.  i think you can tell the gold metallic won that battle, and now i have some glitter grunge in my stash!

i finally stayed with my plan, and quilted a wood grain free motion pattern on this quilt.

though, i couldn't bring myself to use red thread on the middle portion, or light blue thread on the borders, so i had to deal with a lot of color changes.  but it was so worth it.  

i just love the texture it brings to the quilt, and allows it to be a little more free and not exact.

okay, so FINALLY here's a look at the backing that started it all.
can you blame me??

i can't even remember how i came across it, but this alexander henry print was PERFECT in every way.

i did my usual way of breaking up a backing by including a stripe of the blue i had from the background on the front, which with that red bobbin thread really pops out that quilting. 

i also debated going for a bold binding, but with the amount of color going on in the trees, went ahead and got more of the grunge seeing stars in red to frame it up.  worked perfectly for the front of the quilt and the back!

this quilt took a lot of organization and planning when it came to the layout, but many MANY episodes of encore! on disney+ got me through it.  even though i had the top done in early spring, my procrastination (and other quilt distractions) got the best of me, making my own projects be the last ones done.  i'm SO glad that i was able to get it done before christmas and get use of it this year before putting it off for yet another year.

well, even though we're post christmas...it is still on my bed.

and while we may be rolling in to 2021 this week, i have no shame in my procrastination game right now.

honestly, i'm surprised my halloween pillowcases aren't out still...

pattern: juniper berry by antler creek design

quilt count: 146

merry 2020

here we are at another traditional sibling line up.
we wish you a merry christmas...
and an impending new year that was better than this one.

nerdy math themed festive fir quilt

 here we are, the week of christmas, can you believe it?
a whole lot has been going on around here, but this quilt has already been in it's home and used (i hope) all month long.  i won this pattern on an instagram giveaway by the designer, sewbrainy, along with my guild president kathy and waited for awhile to see what fabric i might use for it.  once i found this math print in blue for ben's star wars gradu-mas quilt last year, i knew it would be perfect for my sister (and ben) as a holiday quilt.

this quilt sat in limbo for awhile, because i was waiting for the perfect background fabric to go with it.
while home on unemployment in march (the perfect time to buy fabric, right?) i found this white on white molecule fabric from my now place of employment, and it was the perfect science addition to this quilt.  the top was knocked out in the month of april, and then sat around forever waiting for the perfect quilt back. the shop that i bought all the math fabric was had a retirement/closing sale, which was so sad to have happen, but i was able to swoop up some of the red math fabric for the binding, which was a perfect addition to the quilt as well as it went with the backing. i just love this little star tree topper.

we have always had an angel on the top of our actual christmas tree, which would have been a little tricky to piece, but man did sewbrainy designs NAIL it with this cute little star.
no math fabric in the star, just some cute itty bitty stars on stars on stars.

originally i was going to free motion the woodgrain that i've done before on this quilt, but i kept going back to the poinsettia stitch i did on the norweigan woods quilt.  i had to refrain from doing it again and again and again... but this was PERFECT for it.  i used a white aurifil thread for the quilting, both top and bobbin, and i just love how it gave it the perfect texture from a distance and then close up, you can see the flowers and berries. this backing was EXACTLY what i needed for this quilt, and i couldn't imagine anything else going on it.  little did i know, it was on the way to our shop!  well, it came in just last weekend, so this would have been waiting awhile for it.  anyways, i did a strip of vanilla grunge to break up the prints, since i don't mind piecing backs, but also can't stand when prints don't quite line up.  these grumpy faced "not ameowsed" cats by dear stella are the best... so much so, i have four more yards of this fabric in my stash now.  whoops! this quilt went home with ben and aileen the week they were in down due to the chaotic fires in oregon as well as the ones here in california (hence all the hazey looking photos).

i had a lot of fun putting together this quilt, and since the pattern comes in a few sizes, it could make a great wall hanging or pillow for christmas next year! i can already imagine a lot of fussy cut ornaments that would be super cute.  maybe these grumpy festive cats even!

pattern: festive fir by sew brainy designs
quilt count: 145

christmas week

 WHAT.
how has it gotten to be almost an entire month since my last post?

ooof.
well, to be honest... things have gotten crazy, so that's totally on me.
but i'm just popping in to say that a few things are under way.

my christmas quilt FINALLY got finished last week!  
i quilted it at some point during the month, and then just got binding on it.
i'll be photographing it this evening, and HOPEFULLY getting a post up for it before christmas.
i know that gives me like... three days to do so... so fingers crossed!

i also never posted aileen & ben's christmas quilt either...
so here's to hoping i can get that post up as well.
in addition, i made a lot of gifts for my friends i don't get to have mug exchange parties with this year, and block party with caliquiltco is still going strong.  we're off from new videos these next two weeks, but i'll be making my samples over that time to really get the ball going for january's shows.

plus, i've got a personal project endeavor i plan to kick off january 1st...
and yes, i realize that is just over a week away... THE STRESS IS SETTING IN!

i was able to gift my bold blocks quilt to my dear friend and co-teacher from this summer, and the excitement she had when receiving it was well worth it.  

once my orders come today in the mail... i am DONE with my holiday shopping!  it was looking rough there when i had ZERO tracking information for about a week and a half.  ugh.
happy christmas week to all of those celebrating!