2017 was a successful quilting year for me. Here are my finishes, in chronological order.
OMQG Raffle Quilt
On the 2016 Junk Jaunt, I purchased a stack of completed vintage crazy quilt blocks. I set most of the blocks with some mauve silk dupioni and gifted it to my mom for Christmas. With two blocks remaining, I opted to finish one into a small mini for a guild raffle quilt.
Nebraska Gold
In 2017, Nebraska celebrated its sesquicentennial or 150th birthday. One of many celebratory activities was a quilt contest sponsored by the Nebraska State Quilt Guild. Each quilt was required to be 24" square and represent Nebraska and its diversity. I chose to construct an improv quilt depicting corn pouring from a combine auger into a grain truck. Hundreds of thousands of Nebraska acres are planted to corn each year. While it is an integral part of Nebraska's economy today, it is also culturally significant to many diverse Nebraska populations including the Pawnee and Otoe Native American people and Latinos that have called Nebraska home for over a century.
My quilt did not win the competition, but it was fun to be one of a few quilters that chose to participate. It also made the local paper! Longer Post
MQG Miniquilt Swap
After being a little overwhelmed by quilt swaps in 2016, I had decided to take a break. But the Modern Quilt Guild launched their inaugural mini quilt swap, and I couldn't resist. I made a slightly smaller version of some of Alison Glass' Feathers blocks. I'd been playing with this pattern for awhile trying to decide if I could commit to an entire foundation paper pieced quilt. I used a batik layer cake and Kona Charcoal. Longer post
A Quilt for Lucas
A fellow alumnus of the sorority for which I also served as an advisor and her husband lost their baby boy Lucas unexpectedly at five months of age. I made a quilt to support a benefit auction held to raise money to cover his medical and funeral expenses.
Cardinal Mini
A friend in my neighborhood who is also a quilter lost her mom. Shortly after she posted on social media a sighting of a cardinal in her front yard and its representation of her mother. I had a simple foundation paper pieced cardinal pattern for quite some time and whipped one up for her. I'm still waiting on a piece of glass for the frame, but the mini quilt is done.
Baby Bunting
Anne's second grade teacher was due to have a baby the last week of school. I made her this quick bunting quilt. To hop on the word trend, I quilted their last name into the header above the bunting.
Red and Black Alison Glass Feathers
I taught a quilt workshop for 4-H'ers in two counties that made small wall hangings modeled after my MQG swap mini. Since I had sent my swap mini to its new home, I needed a class sample. Believe it or not, all of the not-black fabric comes from the same piece!
OMQG One-Hour Basket Swap
While I knew I didn't have time to complete the whole Anthropologie QAL, I was fascinated by the Quick Curve Ruler and these great little birds. I used the OMQG one-hour basket swap as an excuse to make a couple.
Camp Carol Joy Holling Quilt Auction Donation Quilt
Since I was little, my home church quilt ladies, led by my grandma, made quilts to donate to our synod's youth camp. Grandma retired from quilting last year mid-quilt. I have it and, someday, will finish hand-quilting it, but not this year. Since my daughter now attends this camp, I wanted to donate a quilt. Of course, I decided this as I was dropping her off at camp. So with a little less than a week, I looked for a very simple small quilt to make. I saw a version of this on IG and used fabric from my stash. It came off the longarm about an hour and a half before I picked her up from camp and dropped off the quilt. It didn't sell for much, but it was a great first step.
Sandy's Quilt
A member of my small church family's sister was facing some serious medical issues. Again, a benefit auction was held and I contributed a quilt. Some other members of our congregation contributed towards the batting. The Color Block Quilt is a quick pattern by Villa Rosa Designs.
OMQG Mug Rug Holiday Swap
The Omaha Modern Quilt Guild opted to celebrate the December meeting with a mug rug swap. My mug rug was a two-tone piece with stitch and flip triangles set in strips. Look at that awful binding! It was a great swap, though, and it got stolen a couple of times in the gift exchange game so I'm calling it a success.
I did work on some other projects that weren't quite finished in 2017 and will hopefully be 2018 finishes.
