Reflecting on 2017

December 31, 2017

The past month has been so busy, that it's only now in the last hours of 2017 that I am able to reflect upon the past year. I didn't make quite as many quilts as usual, because I've done a lot of other types of art- watercolor, acrylics, stitching, etc. However, when I went through the quilt photos of the year I discovered more than I thought would be there. There are likely a few others I've missed.

Many of these were made for various challenges that I did. The last few were directly related to American politics this year. These first two are quilts that I finished recently and haven't even done a proper introduction of. I plan to do posts about them soon, so look for that. For the others, I've added links to previous blog posts about them where applicable.

Usually by now I've got a general idea of where I plan to go creatively in the new year. This time I feel unsure about where I want to focus in 2018. Every year I look forward to the down time that comes with winter and I hope I'll have time this January and February to consider my options. I think that once again there will be fewer quilts. I still struggle with finding places to store them. I have whittled my stash down a bit this year and will keep doing that, but some of it will probably go to donation quilts or quilts for sale. I have a few challenges that I plan to do, but fewer than this year. We'll see how it all turns out in about 365 days! For comparison here's last year's compilation.

Thank you for supporting me, reading the blog, and purchasing from my shop. I am grateful for each and every one of you. Happy New Year!

Rhythm of the Rails and Every Last Piece have not been really talked about on the blog yet, but there are some in progress shots here and here. Every Last Piece will likely be offered for sale at some point, please contact me if you are interested. Arches and Tunnels got an in progress post here, but the full discussion will come in the new year.

Black and white quilts aren't something I'm known for, but I had a Facebook customer ask for a quilt similar to an older one that she had bought for a friend. She wished she had kept it for herself. I made the second version of Nested Star-Crossed Strings and then made Shards of Glass from the leftovers. You can read more here and here.

I love making red, white, and blue quilts. Cadmium, Titanium, and Cobalt Forever was inspired by my quilt guild's challenge called "Periodic Table". You can read about that one here. I made a couple of community quilts this year, but I liked this one best. You can read a bit about it here.

All Things Being Equal was donated to the SAQA Benefit Auction. Read all about it here. Modern Halloween was made with leftovers from a Halloween quilt I made for myself. I still haven't finished the binding on that one, but this one is in the shop and can be found here.

Dancing in the Streets was made for another quilt guild challenge. This one was simply called "Log Cabins". I did my favorite variation. You can read all about it here. I Like Pie is my quilt for the Undercover Quilters exhibit inspired by Kitchens of the Great Midwest by Ryan Stradal. You can read about that one here.

Oglethorpe Square crosses a boundary between the Modern Quilt Guild and SAQA. It was inspired by this year's trip to QuiltCon in Savannah, Georgia, but was made for the SAQA Central Oregon challenge called "Pathways". You can read about it here. Once Upon a Quilt was made as a fundraiser for the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. You can read about it here, here, and here.

2017 was the year of the political quilt for me. I spent the first few months of the year making these quilts as responses to the 2016 election. It was a tough time. They are all hand stitched while I listened and watched in horror as a new administration was brought in, one that promised to destroy all the good things in our country. Many of my fears came to pass. Some are still to be decided. I never thought I'd be much of a political artist, but the strong feelings brought out the activist in me.

You can read about Only One Earth, #hashtagsofourtime, and She Persisted here. Civic Duty was made as a donation to the Quilter's Alliance Voices Contest. Only One Earth and #hashtagsofourtime have not been shown in public yet. She Persisted was shown in the QuiltWorks gallery this fall and got some good comments. You can read about these quilts here, here, and here.