The 2020 Year Look Back and Looking ahead to 2021

 Hi Everyone.....

What a year we have had and continue to have!!  This pandemic is a wake up call for everyone.  For us, it made us think: are we really ready in the case of emergency?  What if all the services have to close down and we have no way to get food and necessities for everyday life? 

A few years ago, I assembled five backpacks filled with 72-hour kits for all my immediate family and my father and mother-in-law.  We have some food storage in our pantry for emergencies but we didn't really update or pay much attention to them until early this year.  When I did, I realized we were not as prepared as I thought we were.  A lot of food/medicines were expired and had to be tossed out.  It's time to overhaul our food storage system....

Looking back on 2020:

1.  I have posted more blogs this year, 37 blogs to be exact.  It came to 3 times a month.  I can do better, I think.

2.  I didn't set many goals for 2020, but I did say this year would be the year of actions and motivations and it would be a year of hobby with a bang!  You can read about it here.

    For motivations, I decided to join in the #OneMonthlyGoal at Elm Street Quilts and I’m glad I did. This monthly linkup has helped me to stay on task and accomplish every goal I set for this year.  

     I also joined the 30-day Sketchbook challenge on Instagram, hoping that it would motivate me to design more but I didn't finish the whole program.  After two weeks, I went back to doing my own thing.

    For the actions part, I designed and made several tops.  I finished 12 quilts.  The picture below only shows 9 quilts that I didn't forget to snap a picture before I gifted some away.  I highlighted some of them in this Best of 2020 post for the linkup party at the Meadow Mist Designs.  I sewed everyday and I really enjoyed it.  This will definitely continue to next year. 

    One of my quilt designs got published in the Make Modern Magazine.

    My 2 quilts got accepted to QuiltCon.

  

Looking ahead to 2021.  I will.....

- Continue to work on more designs and make something everyday.

- Work harder on pattern making/writing.  Graphic seems to be the most challenging thing for me.  I would like to outsource this part to someone who is good at it because I rather do the designing and sewing parts.  If anyone out there wants to collaborate with me on this, I will welcome this new venture and recommendations.

- Take more pictures and seek inspirations all around me. 

- Improve my quilting skill.  Try new FMQ techniques and do something outside my comfort zone. 

- Work on ideas for a book either on my own or collaborate with other quilters.  Five years ago, I got a book published by the AQS and still remember how much fun I had working on it.   I submitted 16 projects for them to choose, they ended up picking every project.  I was overjoyed.

- Continue to post regularly 1-2 times a week or as content arises.  

- Participate more in social media and interact more with others.  I like to collaborate with other quilters/bloggers on a project.

- Continue to participate in charity quilt making.  I really enjoyed the #Hands2Help2020 project this year.

- Work on quilting the tops I made this year.

 

On a personal note I will:

- Exercise more and take better care of myself; mentally, physically and spiritually.  

- Be kinder to everyone around me, including myself.

- Work more in the garden.  Growing my own food is very intriguing to me.  I'm very happy when I harvest my own vegetables and herbs.

- Take more walks with my husband and our dog.

 

The year 2020 is ending and I gladly say goodbye to it.  Wishing you all a better and brighter new year.   

Happy Creating and Sewing.....

Linking up with the #2021PlanningParty.

Hexies Fun

 I've been playing with some hexie pieces that I have.  My OMG for December is to make something with them.   The first group of hexies go on coasters in pictures below.

 

The second group of hexies go on the Hot Pads below.

Let's see the detail quilting on the top left piece.

I had a lot of fun making these coasters and hot pads.  I won't see my family till next week.  I hope they'll like them.

Again, Happy New Year!!

Best of 2020

 Hi Everyone,

Cheryl Brickey from the Meadow Mist Designs has the best of 2020 link-up for bloggers to share their 5 best blog posts.  The best part is we got to define what the 'best' is.   Let's get right to it.

The quilt that brings me the most joy this year is the Chemo quilt I made for my neighbor's daughter who went through chemotherapy for a very aggressive breast cancer.   When I heard that during the procedure, her fingers and toes were so painful that she had to wear frozen gloves and socks to help numb the pain, I wanted to make a quilt for her.  This is the fastest quilt I've made.  It took me 12 days, from the day I learned of her favorite color, to the finished quilt, and I didn't have any purple fabric. 

 

Chemo quilt 43" x 51"

The next quilt is Coming Together.  This is a house warming gift for a dear friend who just bought an old house.  The house is over 100 years old and is so beautiful both inside and out.  

 

Coming Together 32" x 35"

 

My #3 is a fun quilt that I made without any plan.  I just started to sew some fabric together, cut it up and ended up with this quilt.  I called it Subtraction.   

 

Subtraction 36"x36"

 

I submitted it to The International Quilt Festival.  I was happy that it got into the show even though it didn't win anything.  Two weeks ago, one of my quilty friends sent me this picture.

 

It's one of the ads from the Mancuso Show Management company for their up coming show.  It tickled me to see that they used my quilt for their promotion.

The next one is my sister's quilt.  I saw a picture from Pinterest and used it as an inspiration for this quilt.

 

My sister's quilt 55" x 67.5"

The last but not least, 'Journey'. 

 

Journey 70" x 70"

 

This is the biggest quilt I have made to date.  Quilting this quilt on my Juki was an experience I will never forget.  So many times I wanted to quit but I kept telling self I couldn't.  I persisted and here it is, and it's one of the two quilts that are going to QuiltCon Together in February.

This year is an unique year that none of us will ever forget.  In a strange way, it's good for me.  It makes me to stay put and work on my quilty things instead of going around and do something else.  I love to see a quilt conceived from an idea to a finished piece.  It gives me a sense of accomplishment.  

 

I hope next year will be better than this year.  I hope that we will be more kind, have more patience and love one another.

Happy New Year everyone........

 

Hexies WIP and Good News

Hi Everyone......

Last week was our 32nd anniversary.  32 years is a long time for anything, but it doesn't feel long for being married to my wonderful husband.  I guess time flies when you have fun.  He makes me laugh every day.  I'm so blessed to have someone who supports me in all that I do.  He's always there for me in all ups and downs.

On top of that, I also got great news about my QuiltCon entries.  Two of four quilts got accepted.  Here is a glimpse of them.  You've seen the one on the right before.  It's the quilt called 'Journey'.  The one on the left is called 'Autumn 21', I will have to show it to you at a later time.

I'm so thrilled to be included among super talented quilters.  Check out so many great quilts on Instagram #QuiltCon2021.

In my last post, I said my OMG for December was to do something with all the EPP Hexies that I have.  I've made some progress as seen below.

 

I made the top four coasters first and tried different ideas for quilting.  It turned out I didn't like them as much.  I felt there's too much quilting on them.  So I made the next four coasters and left out the quilting on the white background.  I only quilt around the hexie shape.  I like it much better.  So I made more.....

 

5" Coasters

The fun continues with this 7" square hot pad.  

 

I also tried some other layouts on 8" square as in the picture below.  The more I look at them, I probably make the background a little bigger. 

Have a great quilty day!!

 

 

 

 

New Hexie Projects and OMG for December

 It's time to set a new OMG for December!! 

I've been making Hexagon EPP pieces whenever and wherever I had time to kill, for example, the 15-hour flight to Thailand.  I would get all fabric pieces and supplies ready in a small bag and got busy making these cuties to pass the time.  After I finished a project, I would cut up scraps for these hexies.  They're always ready for me to grab.

 

There are over 600 pieces in the box and it's time to do something with them.  I have the cutest thread snipper that I got from The Road to California quiltshow a few years ago in the picture below.  It works amazingly well to snip off the thread on the airplane. 

 

The goal for December is to use these Hexies to make projects for Holiday gifts and maybe some other interesting projects too.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great quilty time.....