One Year Ends and A New One Begins

This year was different than previous years in that I branched out from quilt making only into the making of scrappy, eclectic, and sometimes themed journals.  

On the quilt making front, with Little Man’s help, I also made four new stuffie quilts for Pikachu, Meri, Tygee, and Penguin while two previously finished table topper size quilts became stuffie quilts for BearBear and Foxy.

I completed a total of twelve quilt tops (several started in previous years), not counting the stuffie quilts (Smaragdine, Gnomeville, Brumous, Coddiwomple, Awesome Colors, the Ottoman quilt, Razzle Dazzle, Spoondrift, Caim, B.O.B., Macnas, and Pretty in Pink).

I quilted and finished thirteen quilts, again not counting the stuffie quilts (Gone Dotty, Awesome Colors, the Ottoman quilt, Bon Mot, a wall quilt for May/June, Rident, Ohana, Spots and Dots, Pretty in Pink, Concatenation, and three Happy Birthday wall quilts).  

There are two work-in-progress quilt tops right now – Dumpster Diving 12-Confetti, and my Bramble Blooms QAL project.

There are also fifteen project boxes in the closet with a mix of partially cut or fully cut quilt top fabrics and fabric pulls with plans for future cutting.  Time will tell how many of these make it to the finish line (I make no promises on any of them).

On the journal making front, I finished a surprising eighteen projects.

There are four work-in-progress projects right now and two journals that need binding (one involves a Coptic binding and I’m procrastinating since that is a new-to-me more complicated technique).

There are also three pending project boxes for a textile/sewing/quilting journal, a tea-themed journal, and a series of eclectic ROYGBIV glue books.  No rush on any of them since the box contents will sit and wait until I’m ready to tackle them. 

All in all, it has been a creatively satisfying year.

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Looking ahead to 2024, I’ll let the following poem speak:

"Why do we start a new year, with promises to improve?

Who began this tradition of never-ending pressure?

I say, the end of a year, should be filled with congratulation, for all we survived. 

And I say a new year should start with promises to be kinder to ourselves, to understand better just how much we bear, as humans on this exhausting treadmill of life.

And if we are to promise more, let’s pledge to rest, before our bodies force us. 

Let’s pledge to stop, and drink in life as it happens.

Let’s pledge to strip away a layer of perfection to reveal the flawed and wondrous humanity we truly are inside.

Why start another year, gifted to us on this earth, with demands on our already over-strained humanity. 

When we could be learning to accept, that we were always supposed to be imperfect.

And actually, that is where the beauty lives.

And if we can only find that beauty, we would also find peace.

Everything else is all just a part of it.

Let it be so."

Donna Ashworth

Quiltdivajulie

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p.s.  you can read more about any of the listed quilt tops or finishes by clicking on the two "finish" labels at the end of this post and scrolling through the tagged posts.