Word of the year quilt

 Well, it's almost May and yes, I am just now getting around to sharing my word of the year quilt. That's because I JUST finished it this past week. Yikes! I chose a word before 2023 even started.... my word is Stretch! But I had no idea how to reflect it in a quilt.

When I was at Quiltcon in February, I took a design class, Inspired by Architecture, from David Owen Hastings. Let me tell you, David's design process is soooooo different from mine! I learned so much from him and was determined to apply some of his design strategies to my own quilts. This was a stretch for me! So what better time to apply it than with my word of the year quilt?

First up was to take an architecture photo that spoke to me. I took this photo in downtown Atlanta during Quiltcon and thought it was the perfect inspiration...

After printing my photo, cutting it up and drawing with colored pencils on graph paper, I came up with the improv piece used in my quilt.

I paper pieced my letters and quilted this mini (18"x20") with my walking foot on my Janome. I'm really happy with the results!

I'm excited to continue to stretch myself in the coming months.

Do you have a word of the year?

First Finish of the New Year

 

Last night I put the finishing stitches on the binding of my 2021 Word of the Year quilt.  You can read my thoughts on the word believe here.  I thought a magic wand was the perfect item to represent my word this year.

All of the fabrics are Moda Grunge and the finished quilt measures 18" x 20".  I used a bunch of different techniques in this one tiny quilt.... foundation paper piecing for the letters, my own funky dresden technique for the end of the wand, needle turn appliqué recently learned from my friend Martha for the stick, big stitch quilting on the yellow, and machine quilting for the rest.... and I'm really happy with how it all came together.

intention

I mentioned in an earlier post that my word for 2020 is Intention. One tradition I have is making a quilt with my word on it each year. Here is my quilt for this year...

This is my tenth word and quilt. All of my quilts are the same size (18x20") and I plan to hang them up near the ceiling around the walls of my studio. In fact, that is one thing I INTEND to do this year!

I'm happy with this quilt. I think it reflects who I am, or maybe who I am evolving into? I originally thought I would make it purple BUT I had this blue grunge in my stash and I INTENTIONALLY used what I had on hand rather than spending money on fabric. I'm working on a special project that involves improv log cabin blocks, so this is an extension of that. I have also recently experimented with inserting tiny strips of stripes into my blocks. I love the effect! You can see a tiny strip of black and white peeking out of this block.

I was able to be very intentional in January, with my time (lots of studio time!), my money and what I've been eating. So far so good! Let's hope I can keep it up.

Happy New Year

Hello friends! Sorry I fell off the face of the earth for a bit. I could make all kinds of excuses but I won't! Life just got busy and blogging didn't feel like a huge priority for a while. There was lots of family time, including celebrating the graduation of our youngest daughter, Ally, from Texas State University!

It was fun to have the whole gang together to celebrate Ally!

And now, here we are at the beginning of a new Decade!  Many of you know that I always choose a word of the year. This is actually my tenth year choosing a word. I'm excited about this year's word and want to share it with you now. My word for 2020 is.....

INTENTION

My plan for this year is to be intentional about a lot of things. First of all, I want to be intentional about how I spend my time. It seems like I lose a lot of time surfing the internet, watching mindless tv, even napping! NO MORE. This year I plan to Get Things Done. I also plan to be more intentional about my blogging. I am going to try to blog every Monday, with possible extra posts in between. Feel free to hold me accountable.

Other things that I'd like to be more intentional about are how I spend my money (although I am not a huge shopper, but I do want to pay attention!) and what I put in my mouth. We'll see how that goes. 

Do you have a word for this year? Do share.

Joy! Word of the year 2019

Every year I choose a word of the year. It's always a process for me to choose my word. I begin keeping lists in the fall of possible words for the following year. Sometimes my word is very clear to me. Other times, not so much. This year, the word Joy came to me at the very last possible minute!

I want to be very intentional about choosing to be joyful every single day this year. I finally got around to making my Joy quilt yesterday.

The colors are not quite right in this photo.... I chose fabrics that closely mirror the Kona color of the year (Splash!) and Pantones color of the year (Living Coral). I think they play very nicely together.

This is the year I WILL hang all of my word of the year quilts! I have nine now.... quite a collection! and they have been sitting in a stack for years. Enough of that!

Do you choose a word? What's your word for 2019?

word of the year quilt

Every year I make a quilt for my word of the year. This is my eighth year doing it! Hard to believe. Each word has had a special meaning for me and I love looking back at my past quilts.

This year's word is journey. My original plan was to take a huge airplane trip with my oldest daughter. We have been planning to go on a mission trip to Swaziland together. It will be a great opportunity to meet the children I sponsor and to serve in the communities there. Unfortunately, my recovery from recent surgeries is going to take some time. I need to be 100% for this trip! So we are putting it off until next year.

So, what to do about my word? I had a quilt planned that featured a giant airplane. hmmm. There will still be airplane trips this year (hello Quiltcon! I'm coming for you soon!). I decided, rather than change my word, I would embrace my journey, whatever it turns out to be. I made my airplane a bit smaller and in a color that would blend into the background. Then I added feet! My journey this year definitely involves walking.

Funny how sometimes my words evolve. Some years I know exactly why I've chosen a word. Other years, I have no idea, and I discover the purpose as I go. Then there are years like this one, where the meaning of my word changes and evolves. I'm open to that!

I really need to get these quilts up on a wall! Do you have a word for 2018? I'd love to hear your story

2018 Word of the Year

Happy New Year friends! Boy am I ready for 2018. Don't get me wrong, I had much to be thankful for in 2017. We kicked the year off with a big party for my awesome dad's 80th birthday, hubby and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary with a California baseball trip, there were family weddings, babies to celebrate, trips to awesome places and wonderful things to create. But the year ended on a difficult note for me, with surgeries, complications and frustration. I'm ready for healing and a new beginning! Who's with me?

My word for 2018 came to me a couple of months ago. At that time, a big international trip was planned for this coming summer and I was beyond excited. More on that at a later date, as the trip has been tabled for now. Maybe 2019? I'm hopeful. But still, the word remains!

Already my journey for 2018 looks different than I had planned but that's ok. God has things planned for me and I will stretch (literally! Ha!) and grow in ways I never knew were possible. I plan to finish 2018 stronger than I've ever been.

Oh, and there are still plenty of trips planned which will be part of my journey! Beginning with Quiltcon next month. I'm really looking forward to that!

I don't really do "resolutions" but I do have a couple of sewing goals for the coming year:

1) Expand my handmade wardrobe and try some new garment patterns. 

2) Experiment more with improv quilting.

Do you have any big plans for the new year? Do you choose a word? Do share!

Present

Maybe you remember what my word of the year is. Maybe not. I don't mention it much here, and maybe I should. Back in January I chose "Be Present" as my word of the year for 2017 (yes, I am well aware that it is two words, not one. My game my rules!). Even though I have not brought it up here on the blog, keeping "Be Present" at the front of my thoughts has influenced many of my choices throughout the year. It has impacted my reading choices. It has also affected my decisions about how I spend my time.

On Monday, there was a total eclipse of the sun. Maybe you heard about it? Or maybe you are living under a rock and missed it altogether. I get that. Northeast Texas, where I live, was not on the
path of totality (who comes up with these phrases?). Several of my friends packed up their families and traveled to faraway spots where they could view the total eclipse, alongside hundreds of strangers. They all reported spectacular experiences. Special eclipse glasses sold out long before the event. I didn't buy a pair.

Honestly I had no plan to view the eclipse. I have fond memories of such an event back in the 1960s. Everyone in my elementary school made viewing boxes out of shoeboxes and we all paraded onto the playground at the designated time to watch the eclipse. It was cool. But this time, I was happily sewing away in my studio. The sunlight began to dim and cast a bit of an eerie glow over my work. Someone on Instagram posted a picture of the shadow coming through pinholes in the leaves on their trees. Suddenly I needed to see it too,

I walked out to the sidewalk in front of our house and, sure enough, there it was! Dozens of tiny eclipse shadows breaking though the trees. I was totally present in that moment, marveling at the wonders of God's creation..... no one to share it with but filled with awe.

I've heard stories of huge groups of strangers cheering together when the eclipse occurred. Even my husband went out into the parking lot at work with his coworkers and watched it through a pair of borrowed glasses and a pinhole in a sheet of paper. I guess it would have been a cool thing to share with others, but honestly? I was content to spend a few minutes alone on the sidewalk, just being present.

be present

As I hinted at earlier on, my 2017 word(s) of the year is Be Present. While some years I struggle to choose a word, this came to me early on (fall of 2016) and I never wavered in the choice. I am working on focusing on each moment, not living in the past or fretting about the future. Let me just say this is a work in progress!

As always, I ordered a beautiful necklace from an etsy artist. This year my necklace was made by Katy Ryan Designs and I love wearing it every day. It is a constant reminder to stay in the moment!

I recently finished my Word of the Year quilt to add to my collection. This is my fifth and final finish for the first quarter Finish Along. With nearly a month to spare!

Do you have a word for 2017?

2017 Finish Along first quarter goals

It's time to link up my first quarter goals for the finish along! 

First up, I WILL finish my Liberty Plus quilt, which I have decided to make into a pillow. As you can see, I'm almost finished with the English Paper Piecing....

Second, I will finish my Modern Block of the Month from McKinney Modern Quilt Guild. The topper is pieced, it needs to be quilted and bound. This has been a fun project!

Third, this beautiful bundle of scraps needs to become a pillow cover for my friend, Chris. The guild had a scrap swap and I was lucky to choose Chris's fabric to work with!

Fourth, I will make my Word of the Year quilt for 2017. I haven't chosen fabric (or even a color scheme!) yet, but I've been doodling a bit and playing with ideas. Oh, I also haven't shared my word here yet! It's Present, as in BE Present (not "buy me a present" haha). I look forward to exploring this more....

Fifth, and finally, I'm going to get back to making myself some garments. I'm thinking this fabric and pattern will be a good place to start...

So that's my list for the first quarter. I'm linking up here.

Explore

Last year I chose EXPLORE as my word of the year.

I had several areas of my life that I was wishing to explore & it turned out to be a really good word for me. 

I began to explore weaving, with the purchase of a schacht rigid heddle loom in January.....

Weaving has been so much fun and so relaxing for me. In addition to experimenting with my new loom, I took a trip to Charlotte, NC, where Kathie taught me to weave on one of her floor looms. I plan to continue exploring new weaving techniques in the years to come.

Hubby and I had also decided to explore new options for worship in our community. It turned out, the first church we visited in the new year was a great fit for us. Trinity Presbyterian Church has become our new church home & I look forward to exploring ways I can become more involved this coming year.

As my knees continued to deteriorate, it became clear that I needed to explore new treatment options. I'd been getting by with meds and shots for years and it just wasn't cutting it anymore. In November, I had a total knee replacement and I'm already way more mobile than I was before the surgery.

As far as quilting goes, I attended 2 classes this year (oddly both involved variations on dresdens!)

I have also been exploring improv more, including participating in Debbie's crosscut quilt along

There are lots more examples of how I used my word, EXPLORE, this past year. All in all, it was a successful word for me! One I plan to continue using well into the future.

SaveSave

rainbows

We've had a fun week at the Z house. In addition to Father's Day today, hubby had a birthday and we will celebrate an anniversary this coming week. Lots to be happy about! For hubby's birthday I decided to make him a mini quilt with his word of the year on it. When I saw Quiet Play's paper pieced squirrel pattern I knew it was perfect!

I had so much fun making this! It's all done in grunge from my stash (I had won a charm pack of grunge at a guild meeting months ago and many of the squares were perfect for this project!)

It was a one day project, start to finish (well, except for hand sewing the binding! I finished that up at Crafty Tuesday the next day). The pattern is fantastic and a good "advanced beginner" paper piecing project.

While I was in rainbow mode, I whipped up several heart blocks for the Modern Quilt Guilds Quilts for Pulse. Our guild hopes to assemble at least one complete quilt to contribute to the effort to provide comforting quilts to survivors of the shooting along with families of the victims. When difficult things like this happen in the world, I always feel so helpless. I'm so glad to have a way to contribute to the healing process.

trust quilt complete

Finally, I finished my trust quilt, completing (so far!) my series of Word of the Year Quilts.

Trust was my very first Word of the year in 2011. For this quilt, I English Paper Pieced pluses, representing crosses for me, then appliqued them onto the background fabric. I crosshatch quilted the pluses, then straight line quilted the background, shadow quilting in a few extra crosses (which is hard to see here! Trust me, it's there.)

If you want to read what I was thinking when I chose this word more than five years ago, you can read the post here. Funny, reading this post back again, I realize that even though I have come along way in five years, this is still a conversation I am having with myself (and with God) frequently.

Here is my complete set of Word quilts, which I intend to add to every year going forward...

And links to all of my word of the year posts:
Trust 2011
Gratitude 2012
Strength 2013
Grace 2014
Imagine 2015
Explore 2016

oh, and just for the record, this is my fifth (and final!) finish in the first quarter of the 2016 Finish along! Yay! Will blog more about that soon...

explore

I've already been having fun with my 2016 word of the year. The first big thing I've been exploring is weaving, which I'm really enjoying! And on retreat this past weekend, I put together the quilt top for my Explore quilt. Today I put the final stitches into the label (I'm getting better about labelling my quilts folks! Old dogs CAN learn new tricks.) I think this is my favorite quilt in the word series so far....

Those arrows..... I used the tutorial over at Grace and Favour. I've made them several times before, always for other people! I'm so glad I finally made some for myself.  This quilt is 18x20 just like the others in the series and I have a plan for hanging them all together.... stay tuned for that!  Oh, also, this is my second finish in the 2016 finish-a-long so yay for that!

I had a lot of fun with the quilting on this. My straight line quilting is more, umm, straight! Ha! It's about time.

So, this is the fifth word quilt I've made, but actually my sixth word of the year. I'm still struggling with how to depict "trust" for the first quilt. Thoughts? That also explains the blank space at the beginning of my word of the year quilt montage....

wow, the color is really off in this photo of explore!

And here's how my loom looks right now....

I'm exploring weaving dish towels, which is going much slower than the scarves did. And that's just fine with me! What have you explored so far this year?

2016 Finish-A-Long first quarter list

This year I decided to join in the 2016 Finish-A-Long to help me keep on track with big projects. You can read all about it over at A Quilter's Table. Debbie is one of several hosts this year and I'll be linking up with her.

So here's my first quarter list, projects I WILL finish up before the end of March:

1. Christmas jelly roll race

This has been sitting on my shelf for years. It was a Christmas strip swap we did several years ago. I pieced it using the jelly roll race method, hated it, folded it up, moved it to a new house..... something needs to be done! I've already started its transformation and this one WILL be done soon!

2. Bee block quilt

This one is coming together nicely. I want it on my bed by the end of the quarter. Along with at least one coordinating pillow from blocks received after these were pieced.

3. baby quilt

currently just a fabric pull, but I have a plan. Baby will arrive next month so I need to get on this!

4. Trust quilt
5. Explore quilt

the two word quilts I am missing in my series need to get done, so I can hang the whole series in my studio. Trust was my 2011 word and Explore is my new 2016 word. These exist only in my head so far!

I have lots more I'm working on, some challenges & gifts...... but I also have a four day quilt retreat in February so I plan to get lots done this quarter! Fingers crossed......

my word of the year

I had a hard time choosing a word of the year for 2016. I had a list of potential words that I actually began months ago, but none of them felt exactly right. I seriously considered the word "enchantment" inspired by the book Big Magic, but then I thought "holy cow, that's a long word! How am I going to get that on a quilt?" LOL. 

Once I found my word, though, I never looked back. I knew it was exactly right for me at this time in this place....

There are so many directions I can go with the word Explore! I plan to explore my relationship with God, where He wants me and what He wants me to be doing to serve Him. I plan to explore new hobbies, because, honestly, who doesn't need another hobby or two??? I want to explore new books, new authors and new ideas. And who knows what else will come along for me to explore? If there's one thing I've learned in the six years that I've been choosing a word of the year, it's that my word rarely leads me where I expect it to! So, I'm trying hard to be open minded.

The first thing I always do once I've settled on a word is to find myself a new necklace to keep my word ever-present throughout the year. I found this beautiful necklace in Sherry's Etsy shop. 

Even with the business of the holidays, Sherry shipped this off to me right away and I had it in my hands (and around my neck!) within a week! The workmanship is exquisite and Sherry was a joy to work with. You really should go check out her awesome shop (and no, no one paid me to say that!)

Next up, a new vision board and then.... who knows where this will lead me? I'll keep you posted. Have you chosen a word for the new year?

Gratitude Quilt

I finished my fourth word-of-the-year quilt! Gratitude was my word in 2012. I chose a pumpkin to represent my word because I always think of the harvest when I think of gratitude. Also, I realized that this is ABSOLUTELY the longest word I can choose or I will have to make my paper pieced letters even smaller (and that, my friends, is NOT happening!)

For the pumpkin, I used this tutorial that I found via Pinterest (don't you just love Pinterest?) posted on the Fort Worth Studio Blog (which I love!) The finished quilt is 18x20, just like the other word quilts I have made. I can't wait to hang them all together eventually! I have one more to make before 2016 and my new word arrive. It's my 2011 word, Trust. I am totally stumped on a picture for this one. Any thoughts?