And so ends 2022…

This year was such a good one in the studio.  The Fika Tote by Noodlehead is my current bag crush.  This one is my third, and I have two more planned.  We aren't traveling much these days, so I have to find people to gift these bags to.  So far my sister and Cristina are the lucky one.  This bag to the left?  It doesn't have an owner.  Yet.  What is so special about this bag is the use of some bits of Yoshiko Jinzenji fabric. I'm awaiting the arrival of small additional red fabric with Kanji writing for the next bag.  

My current project is to work my way through my ever-growing pile of scraps.  Here are my purples and teals.  Below are strips made from blues and violets. Although there's a thin line between purples and violets and I cross it all the time.  To keep from getting bored, I think I'll tackle reds next.  Or perhaps oranges.  My goal is to make long strips of scraps and join them together with some leftover neutrals.  We'll see...

Occasionally I have projects that I don't care to do.  This one to the left is one of them.  It's a quilt top made in the late 1930's or early 1940's that was never finished.  The appliquéd butterflied and basket in the middle represent a  lot of handwork.  A LOT.  And somehow this top was folded up and boxed.  It took over 2 hours of pressing just to get the top smooth.  And these fabrics are old and thin.  It's been batted with wood and a Kona cotton backing.  There's machine quilting in the sashing.  And there's hand quilting around each butterfly and the floral basket in the middle.  While the quilt now is absolutely useable, it's still something I would not recommend washing.  You know that musty smell that old fabrics get?  This quilt top did not and does not have that.  I think the owner, the maker's granddaughter, will be pleased. This quilt top is now waiting for its label and then a trip to Atlanta to February for delivery.  While I wasn't particularly happy working on this quilt, I recognized that this quilt deserved to be finished.  Best of all, this restoration/completion was a paying job.  I think I may have to go fabric shopping!  

But now on to the fun stuff!  This quilt belongs to a guild buddy, and I volunteered to hand quit it for her.  Unlike the appliquéd butterfly quilt which weighed 7 pounds and was a beast to keep repositioning, This is a much smaller quilt and - imho - so much more beautiful. 

These dark days of winter are so perfect for hand quilting.  The process takes me back 8 years when my mom died and how soothing I found the hand quilting process after her death.   The same is true for me today.  And I'm eager to finish this quilt because I have one of my own in queue for hand quilting.  More on that in January.

Almost daily John or I will remark how the move to our condo has been such a good one.  We are thrilled with our space and where we live.  There's a long hallway leading to our front door, and currently no one lives across from us.  So I have started to look at this hallway as quilt-hanging opportunities.   And coincidentally both of these quilts involve my niece Leslie.  The small one at the end is made from leftovers of her high school graduation quilt.  And the big one will be going to her shortly.  She and her boyfriend are engaged, and they have selected this quilt at their wedding present.  

There is going to be great sadness in 2023 but there will also be great joy.  I'm so thankful for my studio and what happens here.