2023: A Year in Review

Hello Friends and Welcome Back!

I hope the first week of 2024 has treated you well! Or, if you were sick like I was, that you're beginning to feel better and that life brings you many enjoyable opportunities and experiences in the months to come!

A new year is an exciting opportunity in itself! It is a starting point, a point of change, and a point of reflection. Think about where you've been and decide where you'd like to go or if you're happy where you are, because a new year is whatever you choose to make of it!

I like to start my year by looking back at my accomplishments from the year before. It can be really inspiring to see how much progress you've made, but can also offer perspective to keep your goals realistic moving forward!

And it's just fun to reminisce over past projects! Let's take a look!

2023 in Review

2023 started out not so great. My partner and I got COVID, I broke my foot, my Grandma had a fall, I think Opa also got COVID ... a pretty rough first few months. Then things got quiet as Spring progressed, which was a pleasant change!

When Summer arrived, my parents adopted Poppy and Bruno, and I did my best to help them settle in and get introduced to my parents' elderly dog, Rosie, and to Meara!

Everything calmed down again as Summer ended and Autumn began, but then my partner got sick and had to have his gallbladder removed, and Poppy and Bruno had surgery to be spayed and neutered. Everyone has since recovered and the year ended quietly with no additional accidents or injuries!

It was a bit of an up and down type of year, with many different chaotic incidents which, one after another, gave way to moments of rest. And in those times when life allowed it, I spent my time sewing! And those projects are what I'm most excited to look back on with all you!

Simply Woven

Simply Woven was the first and only quilt I finished in 2023. It was originally started sometime around 2012 by my Grandma, then was given to me in 2016 to finish for my partner!

At the beginning of 2023, I was in the midst of quilting this project! The quilted motif used a mix of straight outline quilting using a machine, and organic, wavy lines to fill the space between, which was done both by hand and by machine. Throughout January, I worked hard to complete the quilting, and was able to square off and bind the quilt, completing it on last day of the month!

Though it ended up being a few days late, I gifted it to my partner in celebration of our anniversary and it spent the rest of the year on our bed!

So much has happened in 2023 that I honestly thought this quilt was finished more than just one year ago! It's interesting how warped our perception of time can become, I was a little down thinking I hadn't managed to finish any quilts in the past year, so looking back and realizing there was one after all has been a really exciting discovery!

Simply Woven was designed by Jessica Kelly of Sew Crafty Jess as a free pattern for the Moda blog.

Meadow Mystery

With Simply Woven being the only finished quilt, that means all my remaining projects will be continuing into the new year!

The first of those is Meadow Mystery, which I started in Autumn 2021 as a mystery quilt along hosted through my quilt guild! I pieced all of the blocks for this project between then and Spring 2022, when I ran out of background fabric.

This quilt used excess backing fabric from Simply Woven for the background, so after it was completed in January, I was able to continue piecing my Meadow Mystery blocks using cutoff fabric from squaring up my Simply Woven quilt!

I finished piecing these blocks in February and was inspired to quilt them using the quilt as you go method, and a mix of machine and hand stitching!

I continued quilting blocks throughout 2023, assembling the quilt from the centre and working outwards in a spiral!

I mostly worked on it during the Summer months, when I could easily quilt one block at a time on my machine, then take the hand work outside when Meara wanted to play. My most recent row was completed in November, which brought Meadow Mystery to a total of 5x4 blocks in size, which means just under half the blocks have been joined!

Towards the end of the year, I started to feel conflicted about completing this quilt. I was definitely capable of finishing it in 2023, but intentionally slowed it down because I want to be able to label it when it's finished and I don't have the label stencil situation figured out just yet. But once I do, I'm sure I'll have this quilt finished soon after!

Based on the Meadow Mystery pattern designed by Cheryl Brickey of Meadow Mist Designs.

Generations Quilt Project

The next project that I worked on 2023 isn't quite as far along as Meadow Mystery, but has slowly been making progress!

The Generations Quilt is a collaborative project started in October 2021 featuring blocks made by several generations of my family, including myself, my Mom, my Grandma, and my Great Grandmother. The project was inspired by a collection of completed Dresden Plate and Six Pointed Star blocks left behind by my Great Grandmother after she passed away. Each remaining generation was tasked to make blocks of the same patterns using fabric combinations that reflected their own unique style of quilt making, with the goal of completing several quilts to be shared with the family.

I started 2023 with 17 Dresden Plate blocks and 19 Six Pointed Star blocks, with my total goal being to make 30 of each.

I chose to focus on the Dresden Plate blocks this year, which are slightly more complicated because they involve curved edges and have way more pieces! I made 9 more of these in 2023, bringing my total to 26 Dresden Plates and 19 Six Pointed Stars!

I've been working with the goal of assembling one Generations Quilt block each month for the past few years and was doing really well exceeding that in 2022, but in 2023, I fell pretty short of that goal. I think the reason was that it had previously been the only hand sewing project I was working on, but I took on Hexie Harvest in February 2023, which is exactly when I started slowing down on Generations.

Clearly I need to do a better job prioritizing my projects in the coming year if i want to get the Generations Quilt back on track. Mom and I have plans to visit Grandma on Mom's next break in March, so perhaps we should plan a project meeting for the visit so we can get everyone up to date with each other?

The Generations Quilt is based on two traditional block patterns, the Dresden Plate and the Six Pointed star. Templates for these blocks were drafted from blocks made before 1990 by my Great Grandmother.

Garden of Cards

Moving along to the next project, we have the first quilt of the year made from one of my own original patterns!

Garden of Cards was made based on my Summer Garden pattern which ran as a block of the month project from September 2022 to May 2023. I made this version of the quilt alongside all of you who participated, finishing my blocks just before instructions were released to show how the pattern could be made with different colour variations!

When 2023 started, we had already made three sets of blocks. I made the remaining four sets throughout the Winter and Spring as the quilt along progressed, completing all my blocks by May!

But I didn't actually have all my blocks together in one place until November. I am not able to attend all my guild meetings in person, so had sent several of my blocks to a friend who could show them off to members for me! Then I kept forgetting to ask for them back, whoops!

But they're all home now! And once I've finished a few of my other quilts, I plan to use the quilt as you go method for Garden of Cards, so I'll keep the blocks as they are until then!

The Summer Garden pattern is my own original design, by Valerie Anne of the Fibre Arts blog!

The $3.31 Quilt

And since we all know how much I love quilt alongs, here's another one!

I started The $3.31 Quilt in October 2022 as a mystery quilt hosted by CQA, which ran until March 2023. I completed two blocks when they were released in 2022, then fell a little behind right at the end of the year.

In 2023, I picked up where I had left off, finishing the Caribou and Loon blocks in January, then the Maple Leaf blocks in February.

When finishing instructions were released in March, I started planning how I would like to alter my block placement and fill some of the negative space from the original design. I never got any further than planning, and even looking at the blocks now, I can think of another few ways I would consider altering the pattern.

I don't make many representational quilts, so this will be a fun pattern to get back to one day, but for now, the blocks for The $3.31 Quilt will be kept together in a project bag. I hope we'll visit them again soon!

The $3.31 Quilt was designed by John MacPhail of Art East Quilting Co. for the Canadian Quilters Association's 2023 members mystery project.

Chilhowie

Yet another quilt along project that I started in 2022 and carried with me into 2023 was Chilhowie!

This was a fast paced quilt along with a weekly release schedule that I really enjoyed working on! I managed to complete the first four sets of instructions in 2022, but got sick towards the end of the quilt along and fell behind on clues five, six, and seven.

I worked on clues five and six, which involved assembling the units into blocks, over several months and finally finished piecing them in June!

Along the way, I had also started quilting a few of my Chilhowie blocks!

I switched from piecing to quilting after breaking my foot at the end of February. Standing at the cutting table and the ironing board were exhausting and sometimes painful, quilting was easier since all I had to do was sit at the sewing machine, although I did need to learn to sew left-footed, which was a new experience!

I used the quilt as you go method to assemble about half the quilt top before deciding to set it aside in the Summer. I wanted to prioritize working on Meadow Mystery, which was a much older project, before continuing Chilhowie.

I'm still really happy with that decision and am excitedly awaiting the day I can get back to working on Chilhowie!

Based on the Chilhowie pattern by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville which ran as a mystery quilt along from December 2022 to January 2023.

Hexie Harvest

The next project is the first new project started in 2023, Hexie Harvest!

Hexie Harvest ran as a block of the month style quilt along starting in February and running until October 2023. It was written as an English paper pieced pattern and featured a variety of hexagonal blocks!

This was my first time making hexagonal blocks, my first time following EPP instructions, and my first hand pieced quilt along, so I was really excited to be starting this project and trying so many new things!

As the quilt progressed, I found I really enjoyed the slow pace of hand piecing! The methodical, repetitive nature of hand stitching was really relaxing!

There was a really enthusiastic and creative online community working on this pattern and sharing their progress, so it was really easy to stay interested and inspired while working on the Hexie Harvest quilt!

And because the pattern was designed with the knowledge that the quilt would be pieced by hand, the pace of the quilt along was really easy to keep up with!

I did eventually fall behind though. In October, my partner got sick and I wasn't able to piece the top together that month. But I've continued working on Hexie Harvest through November and December and by the end of the year, my quilt top was in four big chunks!

I've got a little work to do before the quilt top will be completed, but I'm excited to continue working on it and can't wait to see the final result!

Hexie Harvest was designed by Jodi Godfrey of Tales of Cloth which ran as a block of the month quilt along February to October 2023.

Stars of the City

Another new quilt I started in 2023 was this year's quilt along project, Stars of the City!

During the Summer, I drafted the pattern instructions and pieced together the blocks for the original version of the quilt. I really love how the sunset colours look together in this quilt, it was such a fun colour scheme to work with!

I decided I wanted to quilt Stars of the City by hand, since I had come to really love hand quilting, but I also wanted to try to get the quilt top finished before the pattern released in September!

That goal was a little too optimistic though, and I have continued to work on the hand quilting throughout the Autumn!

It's still not completely quilted, but Winter is a great time to snuggle up under a quilting project, so I'm sure to make more progress soon!

The Stars of the City pattern is my own original design, by Valerie Anne of the Fibre Arts blog!

Stars of the Lily Pond

And just as I did with Summer Garden and Garden of Cards, I wanted to make a quilt along variation of the Stars of the City pattern. For that version, I decided on a water lily theme that I've called Stars of the Lily Pond!

I started this alternate version in September after the fabric requirements for Stars of the City were released. Even though I'm making it as a quilt along, part of the purpose of this second version of the quilt was to show how changing the colours of a pattern can alter the way the block looks!

Before 2023 ended, I made the Square in a Star and Harbour at Dawn blocks for October, a few Drunkard's Path A units for November, the Birds of the Night and Farmer's Star blocks for December, and a single Drunkard's Path C unit, which we won't be making until March, so I think that was made by mistake or possibly as a test.

Either way, I'm really looking forward to continuing this project into the new year and can't wait to see how many other versions of the Stars of the City pattern are being made!

The Stars of the City pattern is my own original design, by Valerie Anne of the Fibre Arts blog!

Indigo Way

The final quilt I started in 2023 is a sibling, of sorts, to the Chilhowie quilt, called Indigo Way!

It ran as a mystery quilt along starting in December 2023 and ending this year, in January 2024. The weekly release schedule was just as fast paced and fun as last year's Chilhowie quilt and I'm really glad I jumped into it again!

This year, I made the mystery quilt with four colours like the pattern suggested, but changed the colours being used, and placed them in totally different spots within the quilt!

I managed to keep up with the quilt along in 2023, but fell behind on this year's clues after getting sick. Now that the final layout of the quilt has been released, I'm excited to see how it will look in my colours, I can't wait to continue!

Based on the Indigo Way pattern by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville which ran as a mystery quilt along from December 2023 to January 2024.

If I counted right, that's ten different quilts I worked on throughout 2023! I really didn't think it would be so many, so I'm surprised and impressed with all the work I put in throughout the year!

Only one of those quilts has been finished though, so perhaps I should make it a new year's resolution to meet or beat that number this year! I'd like to see if I'm up to the challenge!

Of course, there is one thing I'd hoped to finish in 2023 that I didn't quite accomplish, and that's my label making situation. I do have a plan in mind, but the next step towards completing it is a lot of computer work, which isn't nearly as fun as sewing, but it does need to get done. Hopefully, I'll have some progress to share on that soon!

In the meantime, I would encourage all of you to take a step back and admire your own accomplishments over the last year, or even more! Think of the goals you've completed, the projects worked on, and all the steps taken! I'm sure you'll be surprised to find out how much effort you've actually been putting in!

Until Next Time Friends, Keep Creating!

~VA