A Year of Finishing means I am not going to start any new textile projects during the calendar year. I did this once before, in 2005, and was amazed at how much I accomplished. I made a list of projects I have underway.
1. Karli's Bees: Several years ago, like 8 or 9 years ago, my brother in Florida and I conceived a plan in which he would design a quilt and I would make it for his youngest daughter. It sounds so good, artistic collaboration among family members to create a lasting legacy and so on. The whole plan goes off line when you take into account my brother is a map maker by training and there are 90 some of those sharp little points,complete with shading on either side. I originally planned to piece them until I came to my senses, decided to paint in the shading, and if I carefully quilt along the painted line, no one will notice it's not pieced. There will be also appliqued flowers and leaves, trees, clouds, and little bees flying around. I'm particularly excited about the bees. I have some bright yellow cotton velveteen dyed to make the bees fuzzy. I hand dyed the flower fabrics, too. My contribution to making this already fabulously complex project even more complex was deciding to make the sky out of pieced hexagons so it would look like a honey comb. Karli is 11 years old now, and if I hurry, it'll make a great wedding gift.
2. Tim and Sue's Christmas quilt: If you know Tim and Sue, keep this quiet because it's a surprise. Every year, my Pennsylvania brother and his wife host Christmas and they do it up big. I thought I would make them a Christmas quilt as a present to say "thank you".
3. Kalidescope quilt: A few years back, only 6 or 7 years this time, I bought this Paula Nadelstern fabric and began making kalidescope blocks. I got some more of the fabric, simplified the block construction, and am making this quilt as a surprise for someone else.
4. The Dream Mask: I drew this sketch while I was thinking about a dream I had while I was listening to the Many Bright Friends cover of "East West". I am embroidering it on a piece of emerald green shot silk dupioni. I posted the sketch because the embroidery is all wrong and I ripped it out.
5. Twelve Days of Christmas wallhanging: Last summer, I was in Peace by Piece quilt shop and they had this as a block of the month. Each month, you get all the fabric to make one block and at the end, you have all your blocks made for the wallhanging. I had broken my kneecap and wasn't able to work the dye buckets or sit at the sewing machine, so the fused applique with the button hole stitching seemed like it a good couch project. Even under the influence of pain medication, it didn't seem like I could hurt myself too much. I am pleased to say I have kept up with it and will soon be ready to assemble and quilt it. This one is going to hang in my dining room this Christmas.
6. Dragon wallhanging: A friend asked me to make her a wall hanging. She likes Asian designs and I found the batik dragon at a quilt show. I got as far as appliquing it to the black and metallic gold background and inspiration deserted me. I have an idea now, so work can proceed.
7: Yellow leaf batik fabric: Yet another fabulously complex project. This appeared in an earlier post. I photocopied leaves, made plastic templates, and drew the leaves in a random overlapping pattern on a piece of yellow hand dyed cotton. I have the space between the leaves waxed and now need to carefully wax the lines of the leaves. The plan is to drop autumn leaf colors into the individual leaf shapes. Hopefully this will be good enough to go to the art cloth show next year.
8. Basket weave quilt: I am happy to report that this quilt is all quilted and has the binding machine sewn on. I just need to flip the binding over to the back side and stitch it down. This quilt got started when I felt the need to just sew something easy.
See what I mean? I'm a GOOD starter!
Then there are the projects that I have all the stuff ready for, but just haven't cut into the fabric yet. I asked a few people whether or not this qualified as already started projects, but most politely declined to commit themselves to some sort of opinion. My Child gave me The Look and Steve told me about an artist (I forget who) that would think and plan his painting all out before even putting a brush to canvas. Then he would just sit and paint it. If I follow this example, all the following projects count as already started, so if I cut into them, I won't (technically) be breaking my Resolution.
Here are the planned ones:
1. A fish quilt: I have some hand dyed fabric, with coordinates, with a batiked fish pattern. I'm saving it to make my first Smart Cute Grandchild a quilt.
2. 1820's reproduction pillar print quilt: My brother the mapmaker gave me a desk calendar a few years ago that had antique quilts in it and I fell in love with one that had a pillar print in it. I bought all the fabric and that's as far as it got.
3. Coverlet print flag: I have a couple yards of different prints taken from woven coverlets. The plan is to make an American flag using the coverlet prints. Like I said, got all the fabric and that's as far as it went.
4. 1920's embroidered baskets: I got a pattern produced from a vintage 1920's quilt that alternates blocks of embroidered baskets of flowers with plain blocks. I saw the original quilt at the Quilt Odyessy and it was gorgeous.
5. Jack and Jill baby quilt: This is so cute. It's a selection of prints taken from the old Jack and Jill school readers packaged in an old fashioned metal lunch box. It was a present from Gladys in preparation for a Smart Cute Grandchild.
6. Whole cloth baby quilt: I have a nice piece of pimatex cotton dyed in multiple pastels. I'm going to do a little raised quilting on it for my Smart Cute Grandchild.
7. Peter Rabbit quilt: I was at Peace by Piece picking up my Christmas block of the month when a Peter Rabbit panel jumped out at me. It'll be a nice every day, drag around quilt for my Smart Cute Grandchild.
8. Embroidered Christmas quilt: This is going to be a pretty quilt. Once again, I was down at Peace by Piece and saw this made up. It's a white on white fabric with a light teal embroidery on it with coordinating light teal batik snowflake prints.
So, I need a Year of Finishing. I could probably declare a Decade of Finishing and still have plenty to do. Wish me luck!
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