2024 ~ A Fun Year for Quilting

As 2024 comes to a close (and boy did it go fast!!!), I spent some time thinking about all the wonderful quilting fun I’ve been blessed to enjoy this year. I started with a delightful trip to Florida to visit my friend Linda,

and make houses with her guild (I’m very excited to be going back for another class and lecture this January 😊).

During the year I spent time helping kids sew.

and I went on some great adventures, like Paducah:

and the Birmingham Festival of Quilts, with a tour of England and Wales:

We were blessed to be at the graduation of our oldest grandchild, and watch Hanna unwrap her quilt.

I participated in some very interesting challenges ~ like the cigar box I turned into a clock.

I also enjoyed a Murder Mystery Quilt adventure. Here’s the year’s worth which I tossed on the floor as I anxiously waited for the instructions on how to put them all together. I couldn’t imagine what it would look like.

And here’s the year’s worth of blocks which I tossed on the floor as I anxiously waited for the instructions on how to put them all together. I couldn’t imagine what it would look like.

The final instructions came over a week ago, and my quilt top is now complete, but I’m going to save that photo for a future post because I think you’ll find the story for the layout quite interesting!

I have two more finished projects to share. This is the embroidery piece I worked on while Hanna and I were in Hawaii together last December. I found the frame in a thrift shop and finished it up this month in time to gift it to Hanna for Christmas.

And for my final quilt of the year ~ I of course have a story 😁:

Last Summer a friend from church approached me with a request. Her mom fought a very difficult battle with cancer over a year ago. Chelley and her mom were very close. She explained that her mom had made quilts for all of her grandchildren but the youngest. While she was going through chemo she began making blocks for Isabelle’s quilt, but she wasn’t able to finish the quilt. I think you can guess the rest ~ I agreed to make that quilt.

The next time I saw Chelley at church she had a bag with 6 appliquéd blocks, some purple fabric, and batting. I knew they were Sunbonnet Sue, but I hadn’t seen this variation before. It seemed quite unique. I’ve never actually made a “Sue” quilt, but I do own an antique one (a portion of it is featured at the top of this post).

At my next retreat I put the blocks on the design wall and asked for ideas from friends on what to do with them.

Can you see what I mean when I call the blocks unique? The skirts were very large and wide; many of the fabrics blended in with the background; and everyone agreed each image looked more like a woman’s dress with a full bodice than a Sunbonnet Sue. I remember seeing similar patterns in which a portion of a dresden plate block made the skirt for Sue. So I did an internet search, and didn’t find any blocks that looked like the ones above. These were the closest:

So what to do? I wanted to keep it simple, so I decided to hand embroider some details and outlining. I think it improved things.

After they were all embroidered and sashed in the purple, it was time to do some quilting.

In the meantime Chelley moved to North Carolina. I recently shipped it to her, and I hope to have photos of Isabelle and her quilt to share some time soon.

Sew, that sums up a wonderful year of stitching fun. I am so very blessed, and I’m anxiously looking forward to what 2025 will bring. God’s blessings on each one of you!