2024 Quilts
These are the quilts I completed in 2024. This means all the way to bound. There were many other projects that I only pieced.
The first part of 2024 was dedicated to sorting through all the fabric and the projects I inherited from my mother. I’m using her extensive stash to experiment, learn and play. You can learn more about it at The UFO Project.
I also bought a longarm quilting machine in May of 2024. I had previously owned one, and had a quilting business for a few years in 2005-2007. We moved in 2007 and I sold the machine as I was not going to have room or time in the new location. Many of my completed quilts in 2024 are because I am relearning how to use the machine. They are not great works of piecing. Many are tops I bought off of eBay specifically for practice when I had my last longarm.
When I took stock at the end of 2024 of how much quilting I had actually done, I decided I needed to focus on actually quilting. Much of my time is devoted to videos, blog posts and courses and I am starting to feel the effects of not enough creative time.
Peach yellow green step quilt
This was a top I bought off eBay. It suffered from borders put on incorrectly (What causes wavy borders) which made quilting it a little challenging. My previous longarm did not have the computer driven option, but my new one does, so for my first quilt I decided to use it. I did not especially like it. It works well, but there’s a lot of standing around supervising a machine. I felt a little like a mill girl (though obviously much better fed with better working conditions and hours).
I ended up cutting off the last border after quilting because the puckers from the wavy borders were just too much. It makes a great ‘dog sitting on your lap while you watch television’ quilt, like most of these eBay tops I quilted this year.
Violets table runner
This quilt has its own blog post – Violets Table Runner. It was, appliquĂ©d, pieced and quilted this year.
Love birds
This quilt also has its own blog post – Love Birds. I designed it, pieced it and quilted it in time for my niece’s wedding in July. I am contemplating making a pattern for it, or another quilt using the two bird block I designed for my niece.
Flower garden cheater
This is a cheater cloth I had in my own stash. I had fond memories of a quilt that I had quilted for a lovely lady back in 2006. Her flower garden was all hand pieced. I was wondering if I was still capable of the quilting I did on it. Fun project destined for animal shelter donation.
Here’s the original from 2006 – it was a little nerve wracking because it was my first year in business and I had not quilted a hand pieced quilt before. It was for her granddaughter for her bed!
Apple throw
Another eBay top. Just practicing my freehand overall. I really like the green thread on this one.
Purple and navy eBay – large
This quilt and the little one at the end of the year, I pieced from some old blocks off of eBay. Although it took more time to put the blocks together than starting with a completed top, I was able to fix bad piecing issues and create a flat top to quilt. I trimmed up to half an inch off the blocks to make them square and consistent. The points don’t match, but it’s flat!
The quilting is a mix of computerized patterns and freehand fill. This quilt had a lot of quilting learning in it as I had totally forgotten how to use the computerized part and had to relearn it. Then I practiced ruler work. Then I decided to use McTavishing to fill. It was my first time McTavishing. I marked it up so much with blue! It’s small and not something I want hanging on my wall, so it will probably get donated to an animal shelter – it would make a good dog blanket.
Flying geese table runners
I was playing with flying geese and the best way to make them for beginners (I haven’t decided yet). Since I ended up with a boatload of flying geese, I turned them into table runners and played with different quilting on each of them. The flying geese I was creating in all my experimentation were never really very good, so the table runners are very wonky. But it was a good project to practice quilting! Used up a lot of random red scraps from my mother’s stash as well.
Flying Geese Pattern Development
This is a quilt that I was trying out the piecing for a pattern I may create – when I decide on the best way to make flying geese. I used it to practice some HEAVY quilting.
Blue and pink eBay throw
After all that heavy quilting I needed a less dense free motion practice session. This quilt was pieced from blocks I got off eBay. Heavy trimming of the blocks again. I spent a lot of time drawing on my iPad trying to come up with a freehand quilting pattern that I could use to amplify the piecing pattern.
Purple and navy eBay – small
Last finished quilt of the year was this little thing made of the four leftover blocks from the larger project. It was ruler and dense freehand fill practice. Will also likely head to an animal shelter – would make a good kitty blanket 🙂
It’s hard for me to just practice freely. I always want to make everything as perfect as I possibly can – even eBay tops. I worked hard this year on letting things go and enjoying the process. I mean, how awesome is it to use a longarm, right? I have some hangups left over from trying to make quilts perfect for customers, and one of the things I keep playing in my head as I longarm is “no one is paying for this, you can just leave the mistakes”. I VERY rarely unpick anything now. Just if there’s few inches that I change my mind about. It makes for a much better time in the studio.
I’m looking forward to spending MORE TIME in the studio in 2025 and finishing more of my own tops!
