Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Happy New Year

I hope your Holidays were glorious and happy with family and friends.  Ours were great, quiet and relaxing ones.

It's good to look back in the past year before embarking on the new one, even if it's already here.  I realized that I didn't finish many new quilts last year, only 3 quilts to be exact.  You can see my year summed up in this picture below. 

 



My top 8 projects of 2023. 

Top row:  These tops are for charity organizations; top 1 and 2 went to Quilting for Community and the third top went to Valley MQG’s Philanthropy. 


Middle row:  These quilts are my favorite. The first quilt is a gift for a dear friend’s grandson. It’s the second quilt in the 'Marble' series. The second quilt is 'Modern Time' which got to go to the IQF in Houston last fall.  I have more horrifying story to tell about this quilt in a later post.

 

The third row:  These quilts are the essence of me. 

  • The first quilt is my first free motion quilting done on a longarm machine.  I've been wanting to do a free motion quilting, but was too intimidated to do it on a domestic machine because of the size of the quilt.  I rented time on the longarm from the Quilting for Community organization to do the quilting after taking a longarm quilting class from them. What a rush!! 

  • The second quilt is a gift to another friend’s grandson. It’s the first quilt in the 'Marble' series. From this design, more inspirations emerged. 

  • The third quilt is called 'The Blue House'.  It’s a work in progress, but it’s already become the base of more minimalist quilts.

All my work is a representation of me. My ideas as a person/quilter is to always seek new knowledge, new ideas, and learn new things. The curiosity is constantly on my mind.  I think I was born with  "what if" permanently etched in my brain.  LOL.

 

I like to welcome the new year with a new, fresh attitude.  2024 will be filled with new projects, renewed old projects and whatever comes my way!!  Now what is in store for me this year?

  1. I want to learn FMQ on my domestic machine. I decided that this year is perfect for it. Don't ask why. :-)
  2. I will get back to writing patterns for the quilts that I've made up to now.   Last count, I have 12 quilts that I don't have written instructions for.   My goal is to write at least 6 patterns this year.  Good thing I have notes to some of them. Whew! 
  3. Start transforming some ideas into a reality.


Everyday, I'm grateful and thank God for another beautiful day.  In my vegetable garden, I found wonders that never cease to amaze me.  It's my happy place right next to my sewing room.  This January marks 8 years of my surviving a brain surgery.  How quickly time has gone by and how much I have come to realize that life is fragile and precious.  Love people around you, embrace them and let them know that you love and appreciate them.


Thank you for visiting and being good to me.  May your days be filled with blessings and happiness.

 

Margo

 

In addition to the linky parties on the sidebar, I also link up to:
 

To Do Tuesday  hosted by Carol at Quilt Schmilt 

Put Your Foot Down at For the Love of Geese  (Thursday)

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty (Friday)

Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More  (Friday)

 

 






4 comments:

  1. What beautiful finishes Margo. I have to say, the left middle one with the greens is my favorite. I'm looking forward to your "horrifying story" - lol! Surviving brain surgery is indeed a monumental achievement, and I know you are so grateful not only to be alive but to be enjoying your life so much!

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  2. Such a lovely review! You made some pretty tops and quilts last year. Can't wait to hear that story. I hope everything is alright with the quilt. Thanks for sharing on my weekly show and tell, Wednesday Wait Loss.
    https://www.inquiringquilter.com/questions/2024/01/10/wednesday-wait-loss-362

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  3. Hi Margo, your quilts are really lovely. Your minimalist approach is very cool! Congrats on your 8 years surviving. That is one wake up call, isn't it? I'm having to restart my survival count to 0 again, but I know that everything will be fine. Take care. Thanks for linking up to Free Motion Mavericks.

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  4. Happy new year Margo! What a beautiful retrospective of 2023, you did a lot, and I love all your quilts!
    Thank you for sharing your art, your inspiration, your strength. Hugs

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Thanks for visiting my blog and taking the time to comment. I enjoy reading each and every one and will respond with an email. If you don't get an email response, it's probably because you're a "no reply blogger" and I have no way to contact you! If you don't hear from me, check back at the original blog post for my reply.