2019 Planning Party

There is a party going on at Yvonne's Quilting Jet Girl.  Let's join in for some fun.

It's that time of the year again that we look back and reflect on the finishing year and look ahead with hopeful/wishful plans for the coming year.  I'm not one who makes resolutions, but I do hope to change and improve a few things in my personal and professional life.  Here we go.......

2018 has been an eventful year for me.   It started off just like any ordinary and quiet year but is ending with a bang.  I am disappointed that the AQS is out of the book publishing business.  I still have an inventory of my book, Soft & Cozy Keepsakes -  Faux Rag Quilting.  You can read about it here and let me know by email if you want to buy one.  As of today, the book is still being listed on the AQS website.

I made a some baby quilts for gifts and charities.  There was one commissioned baby quilt too and you can read about it here.  I was asked by my mother in law to make a baby boy quilt for her grandson.  She insisted that I accept payment for it because if I didn't, it wouldn't be her gift.  I usually don't charge friends and family for my work, but this is the first quilt that I got paid for making.
 

The baby quilt below was an experiment.  I added some cotton fabric into the design along with cotton flannels before, but I wanted to see if another large piece of fabric besides flannels would work well for the background for Faux Rage quilts.  This quilt was made for the element challenge from the Valley MQG which you can read about it here.   I found some cute linen fabric so I used it on both front and back.  I quilted on the linen negative space lightly.  It turned out great because this linen shrinks at the same rate as flannel and frays so well after washing.  It would be a great gift for a baby boy some days!
 

 

The following two quilts were gifts.  I love to use the Faux Rag technique in a quilt to give it a lift.  The design stands out more and has a 3D effect.

I made this Faux Rag quilt below, for the National Federation for the Blind of California (nfbcal).  If you read about it here,  then you will know why I used the Faux Rag technique for this quilt. 

The following quilt is the quilt that I made for our guild's  philanthropy group.
 

   
     
It has been fun all year round at our Valley MQG.  There were many challenging and fun quilt projects.  Our guild is participating in the QuiltCon Charity Quilt Challenge which you can read about it here.  I don't have a finished quilt picture to show but trust me, it's beautiful.  I hope to take its picture at QuiltCon 2019 in Nashville.  Here is the top that I showed to the guild members on our meeting night.  There are so many reasons to love this quilt.  The main one is that it's made with so much love for our guild.  Those who participated in making blocks, putting together the top, quilting the quilt and putting on the binding and sleeve had given their all.  I'm so proud of everyone and couldn't be happier to see the beautiful finished quilt.

 
One of the happiest moments for me this year was to learn that my Curved Triangles #2 quilt got selected into QuiltCon 2019.  What can be a better way to end the year than with this great news?  

Now it's time to look ahead for the new year.  I do have some goals for 2019:

1. Make more quilts, of course.

2. Set up an Etsy shop.  This is a big step for me, we'll see how it goes.

3. Finish setting up the new sewing studio.  I purchased a new sewing table that I can drop the sewing machine down.  It's being delivered as we speak.

4. Challenge myself to design one new quilt a month.  It's going to be tough but I'd love to try.

5. Post more tutorials and free patterns.  The quilting community has given me so much and I want to give back.  I used to think that I'm a novice and don't really have new information to contribute or that everyone already knew what I know.  I didn't think about people who are new to quilting.  I don't think it's inaccurate to say that there are new quilters born almost everyday.  Someone new may benefit from what I have to share.  With that in mind, I will share more things regarding quilting.  In 2018, I tried to write free patterns but didn't finish them.  I don't have a good graphic program to do the illustration for the patterns.  I'll be more confident and try harder to finish them and post them on my blog.
 
I have so much to be thankful for.  My family of four is the most important aspect of my life.  I couldn't have gone through the year without them.  They are my biggest supporters, my fans, and my everything.  My husband and I just celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary last week.  It's wonderful to have him next to me in every step of the way to cheer me on and to give me encouragement, always.  I love him with all my heart and I'm happy to call him mine.  My two great children are the crown jewels for me.  They are my proudest achievement.  They both do well in their respective fields of work and interests.

I've been working on my own in my little sewing corner for a long time.  A few years ago, I started to reach out to others by joining quilting guilds and I've met many wonderful quilters.  Some have become good friends.  I've learned so much from them.  I want to thank them for filling my world with colors and possibilities.

Last but not least, I'm thankful to all of you who visit my blog and my Instagram.  You've made social media fun and exciting.  I'm still here blogging because of you.  When I first started 4 years ago, I didn't think I would last 6 months but look, I'm still here.  I've learned to come out of my little shell and experience the world.  I hope you will continue to visit and make comments.  You've touched me with warmth of humanity and friendship and for that, I Thank You.

Happy New Year!!

Link to #2019PlanningParty.