Monday Meanderings 1 - 4 - 2021

 2020 Quilting Recap 

My overall impression of 2020 is it was a bummer. I missed seeing family, traveling, quilt retreats and doing what I wanted when I wanted. On the other hand my quilting time was off the charts!  Don't look for my goals today as I have way too much to share on what I accomplished in 2020.  First up is stashbusting statistics. 

2020	Fabric In Month	Fabric In Year	Fabric Out Month	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
Dec	6.250	95.750	8.75	95.625	0.125

I'm totally amazed that I almost used as much fabric as I acquired.  Yep, that is all of 1/8th of a yard more this year!  Not bad at all.  In fact, I could have listed some blocks I'm sending to one of the FCQ Equilters later this month but decided to include all in January's outgo as I'm still making them.  But over all, I am really pleased. How about a quick peak at what I've done since I first started keeping in coming and out going fabric.  It's been 11 years so far. 

Year	Fabric In	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
2010	65.000	70.250	13.000
2011	186.500	72.000	114.500
2012	113.545	108.970	4.575
2013	100.710	103.015	2.305
2014	108.250	79.750	28.500
2015	66.205	77.150	10.945
2016	83.375	55.375	28.000
2017	118.625	108.125	10.500
2018	85.375	94.250	8.875
2019	55.830	66.625	10.705
2020	95.750	95.625	0.125

You might notice a huge increase in 2011.  My guild was having an auction of quilty things donated to the guild.  This is a small guild and people weren't bidding so I bid to try to get things going and the next thing I knew I had "purchased" a LOT of fabric.  I don't have records of what it cost but it was dirt cheap. 

It was definitely a good year for finished quilts.  Here are a few of my favorites. (You should be able to click on all the pictures to enlarge them.) 

Table runner was a mystery pattern from my friend Sharon.

I wanted to try this style quilt.  The cute fox fabric was leftover from  grandson Theo's baby quilt. Everything else was from my stash.  

Carousel was probably my favorite quilt from this year.  The bright fabrics were a gift from my daughter at Christmas.  Much of the rest was from stash.  But what really made me love it is the quilting. 

And the wonderful quilting pattern is "Diana" from  My Creative Stitches. 

I really love this quilt but I didn't press the seams correctly so had rather lumpy junctures where too many seams met each other.  It might be time to try another one of these and iron more efficiently. Maybe a clapper would help too. 

Another quilt I just love.  Told the hubby I didn't think I'd give it away.  It might be perfect for a great grandson. (Note, oldest grand is 10 so this isn't happening anytime soon!) Pattern setting from MaryQuilts.com -- Twisted 9 patch.

Diamond Chains pattern from Missouri Star Quilters. 

I make Happy Quilts all the time. Or so it seems.  This is one of maybe 5 I made this year. The original pattern came from MaryQuilts.com. This quilt was one of three I made for triplets.  It was part of the 11 (or was it 12?) quilts I sent to a school district in Washington state to be given to all the students whose families had lost their homes in one of the major fires. 

A quick finish using my Go die cutter and several fabrics in my stash. It's amazing how different a basic sawtooth star looks if you change up the colors a bit.  I used 2 navy blues Then I changed the corner square colors and points.  

Dalmatian fabric started me off.  Pattern available free at ShopMartingale.com.  Go to the bottom of the page and look under Help Center.  You have to sign in before you can access the patterns. Look for Nest. There are a lot of other freebies available. Super easy quilt. I was happy to use a lot of smaller leftover pieces.  (Not that I finished any of them but I do have more interesting scraps!) 

I surprised myself with how many quilts I finished this year: 22.  I made a lot of tops which I didn't include in this count.  Yep, I still have a lot of quilts to finish.  My biggest issue is not having enough backing fabric.  I don't want to buy fabric but I suspect that is what will be happening to finish off more quilts. 

Next up: my thread usage.  I've been keeping up with the number of spools I empty every year since 2012.  Now, you would think I would have used a huge number of spools this year, but, sadly, no, I didn't.  My spool usage number was 16. 

Spools used in 2020. From left: Guttermann, Mettler  Silk Finish,  Presencia.  (The new spools from Mettler are purple -- old ones are white.) 

My highest number of spools used was in 2017 when I used 30. (I have no idea what I was doing unless I finished up a lot of long arm thread and embroidery thread.) My lowest was 7 the year we moved to Northern Virginia.

There is a reason I didn't use as much thread this year as in the past.  The main reason is at the beginning of May I put in a thread order for all three types of thread: regular sewing, long arm, and embroidery.  I purchased 2 2000 yard cones of Mettler Silk Finish thread in white and light grey.  Light grey is my preferred piecing thread color.  I've probably used 2/3rds of the grey.  I'm counting on having it be empty some time this year.  I also have maybe 3 or 4 spools where I can see the plastic spool so if I ever use those colors I'll have a nice start of thread usage. And, on the first quilt on the long arm I used up a cone of thread.  Not a bad start. 

I hope you enjoyed my little trip down memory lane.  I spent quite a bit of time this weekend looking at UFOs, finished quilts, tops waiting to be quilted and projects I've started recently.  I also gave myself a little list of what I want to get done both unfinished projects and new projects. I'll probably enter them on a list on the computer, print it out on colored card stock, and hang it in a prominent spot in the studio. 

Are you ready for some great linky parties?  Check out these that I link to each Monday. Oh Scrap, Monday Making, and Design Wall Monday.  I'll save To Do Tuesday to post my goals list tomorrow.  

Happy Quilting! Bonnie