Backward and forward

Hello again, everyone! I hope you all had a great holiday.  I did almost nothing for the last week, and it was heavenly. My son did a lot of cooking, we ate in a bunch of restaurants, I did almost no laundry or cleaning, and I stayed away from all things shopping related.  I also got to see my family, including my parents and some of my (many) brothers and sisters, plus I went to my niece's basketball game.  Oh, and I also bought a new car and drove it back here from Wisconsin, but my husband had more to do with that than I did.  It's been great!

So, now here we are at the end of 2015 and it's time to look back and see where we've been, and also look forward to see where we're going.  A bunch of bloggers I follow have been doing "best of" posts, but I can never pick a favorite or a "best."  Instead, here's some highlights from the past year:

Burgoyne Surrounded!  Such a fun quilt to make.

Odd Fellow's Gathering!  I know I just said that I can't ever pick a favorite, but this is a quilt that I truly love.

Summer Picnic!  A  UFO for many years, finally finished up and cuddly.

Mutant Elephants, complete with legless bird.  This was a really, really fun quilt to make, and is going to stay at my house forever.

And, of course:

Sewing Lessons!  Now off being quilted, and soon to be ready for snuggling up on the sofa.  I'm pretty proud of the tutorials and directions that I wrote for this project, since I had never done anything like that before, and I hope it turned out well for everyone who tried a block or two.  I learned a lot and I hope you did too.

Of course, there were a lot more quilts and smaller projects throughout the year, and I truly enjoyed (almost) all of them.  The quilts were all great, but the BEST things from this year are the friends I have made and the things I have learned.  I truly appreciate all of you and I am grateful for all the things I have learned from you.  Thanks so much for reaching out, for teaching, and for sharing your talents with all of us.

(I may be tearing up a bit!)

So, that's looking backward!  Looking forward, there are a lot of fun things coming up in 2016, and even more changes for our family.  First, I started a new BOM for RSC16, which I think will be challenging for me and will turn out to be an awesome quilt.

I also have several projects that I'm still working on, including two unfinished quilts from RSC15.  Sometimes I can hear them calling to me from their storage boxes.  First to be finished (I hope) is the Paper Dolls quilt:

Those ladies want to come out to play!  I also need to finish the Framed quilt:

There are only 3 big blocks left to make for this one, and it's just a matter of sitting down and doing it.  Since I already have the stars, they would go pretty quickly, so I'm hoping to knock this one out pretty soon, too.

And then there's the Roman Floors quilt, also partway finished:

This quilt is turning out so great, but I got really, really bored with making half-square triangles, so I put it away for a while.  I think I could pull it out and work on it a little at a time now, though.

In addition to the unfinished projects, I also have three big new projects to work on in the new year.  First, our daughter is getting married in April, and that means a wedding quilt!  I let them choose (from a list I made--I'm not crazy!) and they picked the Eureka quilt in green and aquamarine.  I think it will be striking--and a LOT of work.

Our older daughter has requested a "Paris" quilt.  Her only color direction was "calm."  The biggest thing, of course, is that she would like it to be finished before her sister's wedding quilt, thank you very much.  Sighhh.  Anyone else out there have two daughters who could not be more different?  I'm planning to use the neutrals from the scrap bags to make Bonnie Hunter's Strip Twist pattern.  That should look good and go together fairly fast.

Finally, I am making Lorna's Forest Friends quilt in a baby size for a very special baby.

Picture from Lorna McMahon at Sew Fresh Quilts.  Go there and buy the pattern!

Our son and daughter in law are expecting a baby in February!  We are so excited!  And if you think we're excited, you should see my Dad.  He's ready to burst over his first great-grandchild.  Everyone is doing well, and we're just looking forward to a lot of happiness this spring.

Of course, my big goal for this year is to keep on enjoying stitching and blogging, and to keep on enjoying YOUR stitching and blogging.  It's been great to have a community, and I'm happy to be a part of it.

Hope you all have a safe New Year celebration, and a happy beginning to 2016!  See you next week!

Sharing at Let's Bee Social, Val's 2016 goals linkup, and also at the Best of 2015 Linky Party at Meadow Mist Designs (great idea!), and the 2016 Planning Linky Party by Yvonne at Quilting Jet Girl.