Thoughts about the end of the year

I can’t access my tracking spreadsheets right now so I’m doing this from memory.

I think I made fewer quilts this year than in previous years but I like the ones I made. I made five quilts in my “improv and making do” series, which I’ll be continuing in the new year.

I made a few small quilts as gifts or swaps which were well received. I sold two quilts.

As for my quilt budget, I’m thrilled with having spent only ~140$ this year on fabric and supplies.

And for the personal stuff: for Xmas I made three pairs of flannel pjs, a doll sleeping bag and three doll sleep masks. Over the course of the year add in Hallowe’en costumes, birthday cakes, work cakes, gingerbread houses, Guide badges, and mending clothes, jewellery, and shoes, it’s a lot but in a good way. I have crafted a handmade life for myself.

Happy New Year my friends! I wish you all the best for the year ahead. May your fabric never bleed and your thread never tangle. I hope you find inspiration and productivity with all you undertake. 

Thank you for being here with me this year.

Nicole Hannah

 

Sunny days and favourite colour.

Year in Review, 2017 edition

and best of 2017 link up, hosted by Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs.

Quilting:

Quilts finished: 10, including five long standing works in progress

Perimeter of those 10 finished quilts: 2019″ = 51.28m of binding sewn. Used six different binding techniques.

Gave three! bedsize quilts away. I wrote about one of them here. And then MARY FONS wrote about me on her FB page.

Blogging:

96 posts, 10,005 visitors, 452 comments

Most popular three posts:

#MQGmini quilt swap

White House, Black Spot

My Polaroid quilt has been very popular this year. (And is now done, come back soon!)

Other stuff:

• stepped down after three and a half years of being guild president
• tried teaching, didn’t love it
• submitted four quilts to two shows, all four rejected
• moved house, have more sewing space

Budgeting for quilting:

I had also wanted to spend less on quilting supplies this year. I spend a smidge more than in 2016 but less (and much less) than 2015, 2014, and 2013. However I spent only 38$ on 4.1m of fabric that was for no specific purpose, ie stash.

Every other dollar spent was to finish a quilt off (so mostly backing, batting, binding, thread). I declare that a complete success and when looked at by project, I am very, very pleased with myself.

And that is a somewhat random look at the year that was. Here’s to our very best 2018!

2016, a review

I made more than I thought this year. I started more projects than I realized, but I finished them too. I finished some long standing works in progress. I did only half of the mighty lucky club (ML) challenges. I cut way, way back on my fabric spending. I did TWO charm swaps and cut/sent/received more than 2,200 2.5″ charm squares. I bought a long arm. After a decade of being at home with kids I started working 30 hours a week in a brand new field. I joined Instagram. I was part of the New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop. I said no to things. I said yes to others.

Here are my 2016 quilt finishes:

Left to right, top to bottom: ML bias tape, ML minimalist improv, hexi mini, gap improv, ML quilted writing, Crosscut quiltalong, gift for someone that STILL can’t be shown, mod circles rainbow, Too Good to Waste, Baby Birds, guild block lotto, Black Tea, Fancy Fox goes to the quilt show

and two other projects I want to include as well. I started these in 2016 and look forward to finishing them off:  polaroid quilt blocks and ML playing with stripes.

I like the quilts I made this year. Here’s to the year that was, happy new year!

 

Best of 2016

Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs is hosting a best of 2016 link up and I wanted to join in again this year. You can see all the linked posts HERE.

Looking at my stats, all my most popular posts are for finished quilts and fully a third of all my visitors came from Crazy Mom Quilts. If it weren’t for Amanda Jean, no one would read my blog. But they do and I’m glad.

My blog is a modest blog; here are some fun numbers for you (because statistics are nearly as fun as spreadsheets): over 9,000 visitors, and more than 16,000 page views. I wrote 213 posts. I had 433 comments. And now I feel sort of impressed with myself!

Some other highlights of 2016 include:

getting an APQS Millenium longarm

visiting the Vancouver MQG Modern Showcase

the New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop and Cloud9 tutorial blog hop

my notebook cover modification

To paraphrase Lloyd Robertson, “that’s the kind of year it’s been.”

 

You can go HERE to see my best of 2015 post.

Thanks to Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs for hosting the linkup, and for stopping by my blog! Happy new year to you.