A year of quilts, for what it's worth

In the spirit of summing-up that seems inevitable at the turn of the year, here's what I accomplished on the quilting front in 2007. I like the idea of collaging my efforts -- a virtual quilt of quilts -- which I appropriated from Terry.

Quantity-wise, it was a meager year. The strippy quilt in the upper right corner and the one I call Infinite Africa, in the lower left, were UFOs (UnFinished Objects) from years ago that just needed quilting. All I did with the bed-size Double Irish Chain was sew the blocks together; it still hasn't been quilted, and this might not be its year either. That brings my output of totally-new pieces down to a rousing three.

Aesthetically, well, I'd say the year was mixed. The translucent number on the upper left I count as an interesting failure; I've blogged about it here. Crop Circles, on the lower right, was an experiment in using natural-dyed wool. I was horrified when I saw it hanging at the Columbia Stitchery Guild annual show; the overhead lighting was not kind. I've since augmented the hand-stitching in the four main panels with heavy channel-quilting (shown here) and I'm much happier with it now. The only piece I'm truly happy with is Occasional Sunbreaks. I see a few things I wish I'd done differently, but I hung it in the living room, which should tell you something.

So, onward. This year I'm going to try the deadline approach. By the 15th of every month, I intend (ha) to have at least one new quilt, however tiny, finished or near completion. The ides of January beckon.