A quilty good year

Hi all, and welcome to the last Friday of 2018!  How is that even possible? What a year this has been, with some very high "ups" and some very low "downs." For our family, this has been a wonderful year of being with our children, giving thanks for our siblings and parents, and watching our amazing grandchildren grow and learn.  I am convinced they are smarter and more advanced than their parents were! In the sewing room, there were lots of ups and downs, too, but overall it was a fun year with lots of progress and many pretty things.  Let's take a short look back before 2019 takes over, shall we?

According to my handy-dandy quilt tracker Excel spreadsheet, I had 28 quilty finishes this year.  Wait, what? That can't be right.  Yep, it is! Many of these were previously pieced tops that I quilted up as I learned to use the walking foot to do my own quilting.  By far the most popular posts this year were centered on the Squared Away quilt along:

This is a quilt along that I did this year with Angela of soscrappy, and it was a lot of fun! I've really enjoyed seeing everyone's quilts and I'm looking forward to getting my own quilted up really soon.

All of the block tutorials and instructions are still available HERE.

Usually I can never pick a favorite quilt, but this year I finished one that will likely be one of my favorites forever:

This is a quilt I call Grandma's quilt, because it's a copy of a block that was made by my great grandmother.  I touch this quilt every day and it makes me happy every time.  I think it might make her happy and a little proud, too.

This year I also achieved something of a milestone-- I had two quilts that went to national quilt shows! 

Misfit Toys was shown at the AQS show in Virginia Beach, and It's Complicated is already off and will be hanging at the Road to California show in January.  Funny story-- all of the Road to California emails went to my spam folder, and I found out that my quilt was selected by accident.  Thankfully, there was still time to get the quilt sent!  Shows were never really a goal for me, but so far it's fun and I'm pretty happy about it!

This year I also made some special baby quilts:

Mountain baby went to the daughter of a dear friend for her first child and my friend's first grandchild (an incredibly adorable little boy!)

 Family of Three was a gift to my own younger daughter for her first baby girl, who is coming in January.

I made few doll quilts:

These were for the Share the Love event for A Doll Like Me, sponsored by my friend Bernie.

I made a T-shirt quilt:

And some free-pieced churches:

And I also seemed to have a thing for stars:

Falling Stars

Scattered Stars

And then the year finished with two happy quilts for my twin grandkids:

Two of a Kind

Overall, this has been a wonderful year and I'm so happy with how everything has turned out.  Thanks to all of you for coming along for the ride.  I really value this supportive and happy community, and I hope you'll all come back in 2019.  I always enjoy reading about your adventures and I hope you enjoy mine as well.  It can get a little crazy sometimes, and it's definitely messy, but it's still fun!

Small stuffies

I'm continually surprised by how fast the time passes, but I'm sure that 2019 will be our best year yet! I've got some fun things planned, and I know you do, too.  Wishing you full bobbins, tangle-free thread, happy fabric, and a creative and happy 2019!

Expecto quiltonum!

Sharing at Meadow Mist Designs for the Best of 2018 party, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and Let's Bee Social.