I've been quite busy this year as I'm sure you can tell from my lack of posts! First we had the big "UP and MOVE" from Georgia to Oklahoma and all the settling in that goes with a move! I didn't tackle my new sewing studio until April...which meant...no sewing. My room was rather filled with boxes!
I was thrilled when I finally had my new sewing studio organized.
Early Spring I joined the local quilt guild and HCE organization and soon became busy enough to make up for my time not sewing.
About mid-year I joined a Dear Jane (Support) Group through the guild and started on my Dear Jane Journey. My hair-brained thoughts were that I would only ever attempt one Dear Jane quilt in my life so I decided I would do three at one time and get it over with!
I'm doing a Black and White Dear Jane, a Batik Dear Jane, and an embroidered Dear Jane which I'm digitizing myself. So instead of doing the 225 (4 1/2 inch) blocks (with 20 or more pieces per block) for one quilt, I'm doing 675 blocks for three quilts! I think I've completed 9 blocks of the 675! A long journey ahead for sure! But hey, when I'm (ever) done I'll have three Dear Jane quilts and I can then move on to another hair-brained project! My Support Group is awesome and I enjoy spending one evening a month talking the Dear Jane talk.
After joining HCE I became heavily involved with making items to be entered into the local County Fair held mid September. Now...I'm telling you straight...being the city girl that I am, I've never even been to a county fair let alone enter an item to try to win one of those elusive colored ribbons! I entered 19 handmade items and won ribbons on 17! I was feeling really Wowed and accomplished! Here are some of my winning items:
And I've started on my items for the 2016 County Fair:
In late September I hosted our annual Family Sewing Retreat which included my sisters and Mom. My sewing studio and new home were put to the test and I'm pleased to announce that both passed and we all had a grand time sewing, visiting, and shopping together.
I then decided I needed to make quilts to give as Christmas gifts to my in-laws....seven quilts! You can read that post and see the quilts here. I stayed on schedule and finished all seven before Christmas.
With my busy quilting and sewing schedule this year I really have no time to go back to the rigors of the Nursing world so I think I'll try to stay retired one more year and see what all I can sew and quilt in the coming year. Not to mention the egg-laying chickens I now want to raise, the bigger garden I want to plant come Spring, and the Bees I would like to raise for honey. I'm quickly transforming from city life to country life....and so are our dogs!
What adventures and accomplishments have you had in 2015?
Thanks for visiting and remember to
Live On!
Quilt On!
You have been busy!!! So glad you are settling in nicely. Is that dog really half one color and half another? He looks amazingly interesting!
ReplyDeleteGreat summary!
ReplyDeleteYou have had a fantastically busy year!! Such sewing prowess!! I think another year of retirement is definitely in the cards for you, otherwise you'll never finish your THREE Dear Janes. I have thought about starting one, but have resisted so far.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to be settled. You have had a full 2015 for sure. The three Dear Jane blocks look wonderful. Can't wait to see more of them throughout 2016 plus your County Fair entries. Looks like it's shaping up to be a full 2016 as well now that your sewing studio has been tried and tested to the fullest. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteWow. You've had quite the year! Loving that sewing room, DeAnn - truly an amazing space and I too, think another year of retirement is in order. ;o) Those 3 Dear Jane quilts are going to keep you busy, but will be so amazing!
ReplyDeleteHappy 2016!
Three Dear Jane quilts!! You, my dear, are very brave! Have a great new year!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my blog and for the encouragement to finish something!!! I'm amazed at all your Christmas quilts that you finished - WOW! Now, for doing three Dear Jane's, well, all I can say is, that's a hair-brained thing to do!! LOL Just kidding.
ReplyDeleteGloria
I am in awe of that huge space you have! Oh, just a Dream room...Ok, now I don't know if I read this right....3 Dear Janes?!!?..You deserve a Queen's crown!
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting for DH to finish my sewing room in the basement so I can start quilting all my tops..He bought me a Midarm w/12'frame for Christmas.
I would LOVE to come over & play in your sewing studio!!
Happy New Year!
It was wonderful to read your comments on my blog. Thanks for visiting. I'm going to follow you with Bloglovin. Maybe we can encourage each other to sew our dear janes. Don't think I could do three at one time. It is great the local guild has a support group. Are there many people sewing the quilt in Tulsa?
ReplyDeleteHopefully we can meet one day. Although I live in Australia, I'm from Norman and travel home ever few years.
Happy sewing hugs. Kathleen Mary (blog kathysnest32.wordpress.com)
nice digs! I retired for a "year" when we married and moved to MD. Then I tried to work, but ended up changing from social work to teaching and lecturing about quilting. Nice change! The dogs look very content. Looking forward to getting to know you this year. LeeAnna at not afraid of oclor
ReplyDeleteM y you are one busy lady with all that has happened. Think we could be sisters from different mothers, lol and I didn't even move!
ReplyDeleteLovely getting so many ribbons isn't it? Congratulations! Nice to be validated with our passions since we seem to be harder on ourselves than anyone else would be.
nice article great post comment information thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteหนังการ์ตูน