Best of 2016 Linky Party

Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs is hosting a Best of 2016 LInky Party, which seemed like a good opportunity to reflect on 2016 as I make goals for 2017.  It has been a very busy year and it has been fun looking back.

best-of-2016

These are my Top 5 Posts of 2016:

5.  Most comments – Cloud9 Block Design Blog Hop – Abstract Cabin (67 comments)

This post was an offshoot of my New Bloggers Blog Hop Group.  We were given a tremendous opportunity to get a bundle of Cloud9 fabric, design a block, and publish a tutorial on how to make it.  This was very outside my comfort zone.  It was hard to design a block, and especially to try and create one that I was pretty sure had not been previously made.  I also had never done a tutorial before, but had a great time putting the tutorial together using a whiteboard.  I was really happy with how the tutorials came out, and got a lot of really nice comments on the whiteboard technique.  I wound up making 2 blocks that I was really happy with, and had enough fabric to make a small quilt.

quilt flowers

4.  Second most comments – Welcome to my stop on the New Bloggers Blog Hop (50)

I don’t remember how I heard about the New Bloggers group, but I’m so glad I found it.  Yvonne at Quilting JetGirl, Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs, and Stephanie at Late Night Quilter did a great job bringing us together and getting us organized, and I learned so much from the group.

me and bucky

This is me and one of my pups – Bucky.  You can learn more about all my furry kids in my New Bloggers Blog Hop Stop post.

3.  Proudest Finish – “Do the Math”

This quilt was outside my comfort zone with the improv piecing and the very dense quilting done on my domestic machine, but I so love how it turned out.  I also took a risk and entered it in the New Mexico State Fair, and was surprised to win a ribbon!

Do the Math
Do the Math

 

2.  Finish the Longest Time coming – Row Houses – I Can’t Believe it’s Done!

I started this guy nearly 15 years ago and finally finished the piecing late 2015 and got up the courage this year to quilt it.  I love it, and am so happy it is done, but quilting this thing on my domestic machine was the straw that broke and convinced me to go buy the long arm.

Row Houses

 

1.  Best post – New Beginnings…my first post

I didn’t have anything all that interesting to say, but this was my first blog post.  I am proud and happy I took the very big step to get this thing off the ground!

To finish up 2016, I also wanted to take a moment and look back on my goals for 2016.  Looking back, my goals were:

1.  Start this blog (check!).  I now need to figure out how to link up to things and add buttons.

I’ve done really well with this (see #1 above!), though my blogging has really fallen off since starting a new job in July.  However I did write 30 posts in 201 after starting from scratch, learned about links and adding buttons, and made friends with the New Bloggers group.

2.  Improve my Free Motion Quilting (FMQ). I’ve been doing FMQ for some time, but have kind of fallen into a rut of stippling and swirls. 

I think this was a success too.  I did some quilts I was really proud of, and did some really dense quilting on them using my domestic machine.

back quilting detailback detail 2

3.  I joined a few quilt alongs – the Stitchery Dickory Dock’s Sugar Block Club 3.0 BOM that my Albuquerque Modern Quilt Guild is doing, Christa Watson’s Facets QAL, and The Splendid Sampler. These should be fun, educational, and push me outside my normal boundaries.

I’ve done well keeping up with these projects, and I did learn a lot.  I finished my Facets QAL (see #3 above) and I’m a few blocks behind on the Splendid Sampler but the end is in sight.  I have finished all of the Sugar Block Club blocks, and am working on a layout for them.

splendid-sampler-blocks-nov
Splendid Sampler Blocks
Sugar Block Club Blocks
Sugar Block Club Blocks

4.  I have an awesome hand-dyed houses quilt that I need to finish…I’m holding on to it for a little while until I improve my FMQ!  I want to do something with big swirls.

DONE!!  YAY!! (see #2 above).  I didn’t do the big swirls, but I’m still really happy with how it came out.

5.  Use my stash! I bought a few new things for these quilt alongs, but I really want to focus on using up what I have. I’m trying to do the whole Splendid Sampler from my stash.

Uhhh….not so much.  I did do the whole Splendid Sampler from my stash, but found too many deals I just couldn’t pass up!

6.   Work on a few other pet projects – I need to make some little zippered bags for some friends, and I’m really digging the Plus quilts that She Can Quilt makes – so I think I’ll tackle those too.

Sorta 50-50 here – I did the zippered bags (post here), and replaced my Outdoor Cushion covers (post here), but no plus quilt.

All in all I think I did really well, and I’m really pretty surprised at how much I was able to do.  I’m really looking forward to 2017!

 

12 thoughts on “Best of 2016 Linky Party”
  1. I LOVE your Row Houses quilt. You get a 2016 persistence award too – 15 years in the making!! Very inspirational…and I really want to make this quilt. Yours is quite stunning.

    1. Hi Patty, thanks so much for stopping by. It was a trial of persistence, but I love how it came out. My advice if you do one is to make a plan and just keep making blocks. It all comes together in the end!
      Thanks again, Ann

    1. Hi Sharon, thanks for stopping by. I do like the FMQ, but basting and scrunching that big old quilt under my small machine is just a bit much. I bought a long arm and now I’m working on getting comfortable with that. I did have a great year, and I’m looking forward to getting more done next year!

  2. I can’t image trying to quilt that house block one on regular machine. I only did one full sized quilt on a regular machine and said “never again.” It was like wrestling an octopus.

    1. Yep, you are right – wrestling an octopus is pretty accurate. I’ve done a few big ones on my domestic machine, including 3 or 4 king sized quilts, but never as densely quilted as these last two. Now I am done with that! Thanks for stopping by.

  3. You achieved so much this year and I can’t decide if I like your abstract cabin, do the math, or row houses best. I hope you do as well with next years goals.

    1. Thanks Kate! I’m hoping I do well with the new goals too. I think the long arm will help. Once I get more comfortable with it I think it will be easier to get quilts basted and get working on the quilting. I used to spend a lot of time procrastinating the quilting because it was hard to baste, and hard to get the whole thing out and set up everytime I wanted to work on it. I’ll hope for the best!

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