2020 here I come!

I try to make a "wish list" each year of quilts I would like to make.  Last year I was successful in achieving all but one of the quilts I listed.  Fingers crossed I have similar output in 2020.  I have also added in my UFO projects at the end....I wish I could finish them, but some are destined for disbursement!

 Rainbow Scrap Challenge block  is Julies 6"  block using colour of the month one side and black the other - (pattern HERE) because it is a)  ideal for using up more scraps in 2020 b) can cut with my GO c) still using little scraps of fabric, but avoiding 2.5" HST  which I am sick of! d) might mean I actually make some RSC blocks in 2020!!

 

Thousand Oaks from book Patches of Blue by Edyta Sitar.  Not a quick quilt, but some hand work to saviour and enjoy and to use some of my beautiful blues.

Finish Traffic Jam by Pat Sloan - I started making this after Christmas using just black and grey scraps, but stalled at the border.  This will be a charity quilt for a teenager so needs to be a bit bigger than it is, so border definitely required.

 Bonnie Hunter mystery Frolic - I started late, there was still catch up to do when I got distracted by the Traffic Jam scrap quilt, but I am only making half size, so should be able to get that finished this year.

Novelty Snowball quilt - use up some of the endless novelty stash to make a kids charity quilt, with dark snowball corners.  This has been on my wish list for about three years, so definitely time for it to be made!

  

Dresden applique quilt - my own design.  I started making mini dresden blocks for Rainbow scrap challenge a few years ago and stalled.  Over Christmas I started applique them down and then using scraps to applique some cherries in the centres. Will be wall hanging size so should finish this year!

Stalled UFO or Works in Progress list:

Winding ways quilt - still piecing blocks, lots of work to do on this one.

Posh Petals (using Quick curve ruler) - lots to do on this quilt as well, still piecing blocks.

Carolina Chain blocks by Bonnie Hunter - has been a leader and enders, but a good easy summer piecing project, will see if it gets upgraded.

Rainbow scrap challenge four patches/leaders and enders blocks - started putting the blocks together with a red spot background, but stalled, reason forgotten.  Definitely want to finish this one, such colourful fun and I definitely have made more four patches since I last touched it! Will be a charity quilt, but no set size required, so another easy summer piecing project that could be a easy flimsy finish.

This has been unfinished for too many years, time to, accept it is the right size (large wall hanging) and quilt it!

Seven Sisters - been a UFO for possibly a decade or longer, not sure but its a very long time.  I recently had EP papers made to fit the gap between the star points, so I can create a new edge on the "sisters", which will make them easier to join together.  A good hand project, but wont be a quick finish.

This was started when we lived in Sydney.  We left in 2007...so time to either bin it or pass it on to someone who cares, as I have accepted that I no longer like the fabrics or want to finish it!

I have enough of these blocks made to make a quilt, again, just accepting that I am not going to make anymore and just sew the top together as is.  I would rather have some finished flimsies that I can practise my quilting on, or someone else might finish to make into a charity quilt.
That's enough confession and digging up the past for one day!

I have been busy helping my Dad, as he hurt his back and Mum was away on the other side of the state volunteering in a bushfire evacuation centre.   He is hopefully on the road to recovery and Mum is now home again.  I did make him a waist bag to hold his heat pack against his back - out of legs of old jeans.

The terrible bush fires are not near us, but have been in so many different places (three states, but at times four) I have been contacting friends to check they or their family members are OK.  A girlfriend had a fire go through their small property before Christmas and destroy a shed, the renovated cottage visiting family stayed in (and where she had hidden hubbys Christmas presents) and fences - as well as all their hay.  Luckily they had evacuated early, but it was purely a miracle (or perhaps the green lawn and tin fence) that redirected the fire around the house they live in.  The fire was moving so quickly and was so large that the volunteer brigade resources were not able to attend - they were literally fighting to save the small town close to where she lives.  The neighbour who stayed to defend his property moved their tractor, which will be a big help in the coming months to help rebuild.  The other good luck story for the day, was the truck driver delivering the new shed they had ordered was delayed and rang to tell them so - they asked he not deliver because they had evacuated due to catastrophic fire rating that day.  So the materials for a new hay shed/stables (which would not have be insured) were kept at the depot and can be delivered post fire....but they are still cleaning up, getting power and water restored, and waiting for he insurance company to pay up. It will be a long slow road to rebuilding.  I have started taking cuttings from my garden to help her rebuild her garden.  Because I am sure that a green, growing garden will be therapeutic post summer, but that their financial resources will be funnelled into paying for a shed, repairs, tools and fencing materials.  She said they have already been blessed with great kindness for strangers and neighbours.  It is going to be a long hot summer and I pray that we see the end of these terrible fires soon. 

Happy quilting Sue.