2016: A Quilting and Sewing Year in Review

Amidst a wedding, two moves, a promotion, a graduation, the adoption and lost of a kitten, and family visits, I have been lucky enough to have finished some smaller and larger quilting projects.  This is the most active I have been with sewing since early 2014 when I had some time on my hands after graduating college.

Some of these pieces are Christmas gifts, and some of them just gifts. Some are finished tops, and some are completely finished, quilted pieces. Regardless, I am chocked at how much I have accomplished this year with my trusty sewing machine.



Red, White, and Blue Star Quilt

To find out more about this beauty check out these two previous posts:

Red, White, and Blue - 4 Years in the Making.

Red, White, and Blue - A Closer Look.

Simplified U. S. Flag Pillow

I have a lot of red, white, and blue fabrics in my stash. I also had a faux fur cover rectangle pillow that didn't match our décor. Adding the two together, and a short about of math and sewing gave me this baby.  I made the back cover over lap by about two inches so that I could easily take the cover off for washing without needing buttons or a zip.  The best part is that hubby thought I had bought it.

Pawel's Baby Blanket

This is the only picture I have of it finished as we have already given it to Pawel before he went back to Poland.  He and his wife are expecting their first child, a boy, due this December.  We cannot wait to see his family grow.

I highly enjoyed designing, sewing, and quilting this little gem. Hubby helped picked out the colors, approved the design, and helped with the photo below. He says hi.

Lynne's Chair Cover & Our Ottoman Cover Mini Quilts

In cutting out the pieces for this style of quilt, you end up with enough for two quilts using this pattern.  One, not photographed, went to my former neighbor and adoptive grandmother Lynne earlier this year. The second is here, with an additional dark boarder, covering and protecting our ottoman from kitty toes when they get hyper.  Both of these were hand quilted.

Mom and Aunt Dawn's Mini Rainbow Quilts

These two have the same pattern as the ones above. However for my mother and her sister, I thought a brighter color scheme would be more appropriate. For my mother's I had quilted, and for Aunt Dawn's I machined quilted.

Hubby's Office Chair Cover

On the back of my office chair, I keep a quilt for comfort and to protect the chair from Astrid's climbing capades. I made this one for my hubby's office chair. He picked the shapes and material.  It is using the pattern from the smaller hexagon quilts but made into a rectangle and black elastic to keep it on the chair top as it has no real weight to it.  I'm pleased to say he was involved and very happy about it.

Long, Navy and Black Table Runner

I made this one back in Washington at the beginning of the year. Again hubby and I picked out the colors and fabric from my stash. I drew a few different patterns and eventually came up with what we have here. This is intended and made specifically for our coffee table.

Short, Navy and Black Table Runner

This one I made in Arizona, right before we moved again.  This one is intended for the coffee table as well at the dinning table.

Sewing Machine Cover

This was half complete for over a year, I'm sad to say. When I started it, I had made it far too big, but with the idea of the cover being reversible. It originally was more of a box without the bottom to be slipped over my sewing machine when not in use. That idea was scrapped when I picked it back up this last summer.  I made and put binding on it and hand stitched ribbons on the sides to secure it. I think it was a successful and functional save.

Scissor and Rottery Cutter Keeper

This is what I did with the left overs of my sewing machine cover. For the binding, I used left over scraps from a previous binding. Huzzah, for keeping scraps and using them! The button is one that fell off a jacket a long time ago, and I like to hoard buttons, so you do the math.. Anyways, I think this adorable little holder has actually been helping me from misplacing my cutting tools in the studio.

Needle Rest

I made this needle rest, that is also reversible, out of scraps from the sewing machine cover.  I used a zig zag stitch to form the edges and keep them from fraying.  Before this I'd use random scraps of fabric, but I like this small addition of matchy, matchy for the sewing machine. I have a few scraps left over that I'm considering turning into a pin cushion for the machine as well; I think it might be time for a new one.

Cords Pouch

As I didn't have any fabric from the sewing machine cover left, I used this more simple patterned purple for an unlined case for sewing machine cords.  I used a matching upcycled button and left over binding for the closure. While it doesn't match exactly in pattern, it works color scheme wise, which makes me happy.

White and Blues Winter Mini Quilt

The top for this piece I found in a second hand store in Washington a few years ago. I was thrilled when I found it. Whomever pieced this top together was better at cutting and piecing than I was at the time.  I hand quilted this in between other smaller projects this year.

Civil War Fabrics, Four Patch Queen Size Finished Top

This bad boy has been in progress since the summer of 2014.  The four patches were part of a block exchange with my then quilt group, In Stitches. I ended up making extras as I wanted the finished quilt to be much bigger. I initially drew the design for the top and figured out all the math and how to piece it together.. to then find that someone had done that already. Oh, well, it was a learning process.  After cutting, sewing, ironing, and repeating, the top is finally done! Hopefully in 2017, I will be able to start and complete the hand quilting. I just need to find backing for it.  I do have some left overs of the Civil War four patches and the grays. I'm thinking either pillows or a small table runner / mini quilt, but we shall see.

Initial trial lay out, with Astrid's help, of course.

Batik Hexagonal Quilt Pieces / Top

In the middle of the summer, after finishing the tops of the four smaller hexagon rainbow quilts, I took all of my batik cotton fabrics in my stash and cut, cut, cut. These are a larger size than the mini quilts. I'm planning on either making one, or possibly two twin size quilts. Right now, it's still in progress, and I'm loving it's colorful potential.

Felt Coasters, set of four

Using my rarely used felting machine, I made new coasters for our coffee table / dinning table. They are made of black, grey, cobalt, corn flower blue, lavender, and purple recycled felt. I don't know why I didn't make these earlier, they were easy to make and they look rather fancy for how simple they are.

There are a few other small projects that are still in progress. There's also a few that I had meant to have started by now, but that's what 2017 is for.  I am delighted to say that I am happy with what I've tried this year in sewing, and that's including all my mistakes and redo's. I hope your sewing and quilting has also been fruitful this year and for many to come!


Happy creating, and happy quilting!

For business inquires, contact me at: KristinVictoriaArt@gmail.com

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