Sunday, January 15, 2017

New Year, new resolutions!

Happy new year everyone. It's been a long time (again) since I said hello and I think that 2016 was probably my slowest sewing year since I started sewing for lots of reasons. But towards the end of the year I was back sewing regularly again, feeling the excitement of watching a project coming together and really valuing the me-time and mental space it provided me with, so I am hopeful that I might manage to bring my blog back to life this year - well, with your help anyway! So lots of sewing, multiple projects and regular blogging - not much then, by the way of new year's resolutions ;-)

The main kickstart to getting back sewing again was this baby - my pride and joy - my Marcelle Medallion. I know I'm a few years late to the party but that didn't matter to me. I made this entirely to my own taste, bright, cheerful and eclectic and every time I look at the picture of it I smile. It really did make me fall back in love with sewing again.


Besides my lovely Marcelle Medallion, I have a few more nice finishes from last year to show you.

One of the things I did manage to do last year was run the Big Stitch Swap - round 2 - with Cindy. I made this Knitting Roll for Paula:

Knitting Roll
And this Circles Mini Quilt for Carmen when an angel quilt was called for:

Hand Quilted Circles Mini Quilt

On the bigger projects, I finally (FINALLY!!) finished this stepping stones quilt which is my own pattern and was stalled for about a year and a half. I really like the graphic nature of it.
Stepping Stones Quilt
 And lastly, my second pride and joy of last year was this Octagon Shimmer quilt which was a fairly gigantic project that took me most of the year to work through. I loved it, then hated it, then ignored it, then fell back in love with it again, and in the end my brother-in-law who had asked me to make a quilt for him to gift a good friend had to practically wrestle it out of my arms when it came to handing it over.

Octagon Shimmer Quilt
 I have a couple of projects I'm working on at the moment, of which my favourite is this circles quilt for a small boy.


Along with getting back sewing, I'm hoping to start to catch up on some of my favourite blogs again. I'm looking forward to catching up with you all :-) 

10 comments:

Ellyn said...

welcome back! your finishes are beautiful. My Marcelle Medallion is my pride and joy as well. Yours is lovely!

Candle said...

It's a remarkable result!

Lori said...

I have the same feelings about the shimmer quilt I am working on. Its an octagon quilt but it is nearly the same as the shimmer, smaller blocks. I think the reason why is that you dont really get the real feel of the quilt until it is all finished. Other quilts you get the idea of them as they repeat. It is a leap of faith. At least that is how i see it. I love round robins and medallion quilts. Yours is amazing.

sara said...

oh i love your medallion quilt so much!!!! someday i would like to try one. you do beautiful work. where did you find your knitting roll up pattern? i taught my 11 year old grandaughter to knit last year and she loves it!!! she is a natural. i would really like to make this one for her. its very unique and fun and she would love it. keep up the beautiful work

thanks
sara

Motherdragon's Musings said...

You are excused from having a break. Your Medallion quiltquilt is epically beautiful, as is the Shimmering Octagons. Actually all your photos, I am drooling over.

Sarah said...

Welcome back! Your medallion would make anyone want to sew - it is fabulous. I wish you lots of fulfilling stitchy hours in 2017!

helenjean@midgetgemquilts said...

welcome back Sarah. You may not have blogged but that was a right number of finishes. I love the needle case I am sure Paula was delighted

NancyRose said...

ALL OF YOUR REALISATIONS ARE SO BEAUTIFUL !!!

Tomomi McElwee said...

Lovely to see you on blog land Sarah. I love your bright colours. You made a quite few big thing!!

josiekitten said...

Your work is beautiful! Thanks for sharing.