Finally, the 2015 Finale!

I have been very remiss in posting anything for several many months but I really have been quilting when time allowed.  We have had a very busy travel schedule this year.  We traveled to Florida for our granddaughter's spring break.  This was one way by car and one way by train.  We have also now taken our first cruise ever to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary.  A one week in Bermuda takes six weeks to plan!  Who knew?  We had a grand time, and yes, I did find a fabric store and purchased 2 yards of pretty, seaside themed fabric.  No plans yet but I will make something special with this fabric!

Then, we traveled to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, one week in May and two weeks in October.  Again, these trips took lots of planning beforehand.  We also have a house in the Pocono Mountains and the great weather brought many visitors who loved to fish and just relax!  Our final trip took us and my sister to Georgetown, Kentucky for a 9 day visit with good friends.  Lots of barn quilts to see here!  One of our most exciting activities was to walk a part of the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania! 

I visited lots of quilt shops in NJ and PA that were participating in the Row by Row event.  I managed to collect lots of the license plates from states including Colorado, Delaware, Maine, Missouri, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  They will be used to make a tote bag for my quilting supplies. 

But, I do want to highlight the quilting  related projects that occupied my time since the last time I posted, so very, very long ago.  Many of the quilted items were gifts and so they could not be posted until they were gifted.

These are two flannel, self-binding receiving blankets made for our niece for her new baby boy.  I had never made these before and could not believe how easy they were to make!

This is another of the Easy Striped table runners that I love to make.  The magic comes from using fabric with multiple repeats.  This one is for our mountain home.

This is my first "10 minute" table runner.  I bought this as a kit which came with the outer and inner fabrics.  It took a bit more than 10 minutes but not more than 30.  This was used on my foyer table during the Thanksgiving holiday.  I have other fabrics in my stash for a variety of holidays and seasons that would be perfect for this type of runner. 

This was another project for our mountain home.  It was made with fabric from my stash and is all fishing related fabric.  I had enough to make a pillow sham as well.  This was pieced from large sections of fabric since I did not want to cut the main fishing fabric into smaller pieces.  It was a very large queen size and is extremely warm, a good thing when the temps drop to below zero outside! 

These are two Christmas runners I made for my sister.  Her home was selected for the Christmas house tour and she wanted some runners to add to her décor.  These were placed in an "L" configuration in one of her rooms that was on display. 

This was probably my last project for 2015.  It was a Christmas gift for my husband but still needs to be quilted.  I did not have enough time to get it to the long arm quilter to have it finished before Christmas.  It will be brought to the quilter tomorrow.  It is made of 80 different food blocks.  We have an inside joke in our family that any trip needs to include a "food event" so I thought it was about time to make the Hubs his own "food event" quilt.  He loved it!   Although I realized that it is near impossible to surprise my husband with a quilt when we are both retired and doing things together all the time! 









I am looking forward to starting a new year with a plan to finish some of my UFOs along with starting a few new projects.  Sounds familiar, doesn't it?  My year will start off with a New Year Mystery Quilt where each step will be provided each hour.  I have chosen my fabrics (from my stash) and will have the initial cutting done by the morning of 1/1/2016.  I will post how that went in my first post of the New Year. 

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!!!!