Sayonara 2019 🐗, Yōkoso 2020 🐭

Farewell 2019! Welcome 2020!!! Here's a Grace and Peace Quilting review of 2019 and a preview of what's to come in 2020, the year of the mouse/rat in Japan. First, 2019:

🇯🇵Japanese 🌆Jamestown🚢Landing

My last quilt finish of the year🎉:

Growing on the design wall, one row at a time:

Paula's 🔀Weave🔀 It Be Ombre Quilt

Paula made this awesome quilt as a Christmas 🎁 gift for her son and daughter-in-law!

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Best of 2019 🐗

Welcome to my Best Five 2019, year of the wild boar! Cheryl, over at Meadow Mist Designs, is hosting a gathering of quilt bloggers' top 5 blog posts of the year! 

There are no rules for choosing the top five. I am listing mine according to posts with the most views. Here's a collage of my top 5 blog posts for 2019:

🌾Meadowland 🌾Number 3--The Store Sample!

Meadowland is the pattern you can't make just once! Here's my third version!!!

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Quilter Bonnie's ➡️ Turning 20 二十 Again

Here's a beautiful quilt made by my sister, Quilter Bonnie, for her MIL for Christmas!

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Karen's 🌾Meadowland 🌾

My friend, Karen, is a new quilter. When she asked me what quilt pattern to use for a queen size quilt for her daughter in North Dakota, I had one answer: Meadowland!!!

Karen used 1/2 yard cuts. Thirty-six blocks call for 18 half yard cuts, plus background:

👜 The Essential Tote 👜 Number 4 ㆕

Wendy of Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life, and I had a sewing day together and we each made The Essential Tote! I'm making the blue & white handbag for my Mom for Christmas. Wendy is making the sunny yellow version as a tote. She is going to add leather handles. Here's where we were at by mid-afternoon:

I finished later that evening--my finished handbag, surrounded by a few of my Dad's woodcarvings:

🔷 Jewel 🔷 Box 🔷

Missy made this beautiful Jewel Box quilt for her dear friend!!!

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🔀 Twist & Turn 4-Patch ❐

My latest Japanese quilt finish!!!


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🌾Meadowland 🌾Number 2--Rainbow Colors!

"This is the pattern that no one makes just once." ~Meghan of Then Came June, about her Meadowland quilt pattern. I couldn't make just one! Here's my second Meadowland quilt:

Meadowland is the hottest quilt pattern in the quilt world right now. Meghan, attributes it's success to the following points: 

Tula 🎀 Pink ㆔ Triple 🐄 Barnstar🌟Quilt

I heart Tula Pink fabrics! Here's my latest personal finish made from my Tula stash:

Bonnie's 🌺 Wallflower 🌺

If you're thinking deja vu, you're right! My sister, Quilter Bonnie, suggested a sew along using this new pattern and we ended up using the same fabrics, as well! Mine is here. 

  

We considered different quilting than mine. But the scale and design of the figure 8's are so right for this pattern, that I couldn't imagine a different design! So we're calling hers WISHBONES:

Missy's Single 🍀 Irish 🍀 Chain

Missy made this beautiful single Irish chain quilt from Edyta Sitar fabrics!

Such a quilt calls for feather quilting:

🌟 Seeing Stars Sew-Along 🌟

This is a surprise, so don't tell! I made this quilt from reproduction fabrics for my Mom's 91st birthday, coming up on December 2nd. Mom loves everything blue & white and antique, so when Mandi Persell announced a sew-along on Instagram, I thought it was the perfect timing to make a new quilt for my Mom.
  
Mandi set out our schedule and has had weekly prizes:

National Sew a 🍥Jelly Roll🍥 Day 2019

This is the third year in a row that my sister, Quilter Bonnie, and I sewed together on National Sew a Jelly Roll Day. This quilt holiday happens yearly on the third Saturday in September, with it falling on September 21st this year.

The point of the celebration is to take out one of those jelly rolls we've been saving, because they are just too cute to use, untie the ribbon and sew something.

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We Traveled to 🇬🇪 Georgia, the Country 🇬🇪! Part 2

Meet up day finally arrived! We moved to a small hotel where we had our gatherings, and all the parents stayed—there were 16 parents and 15 racers. Our time together was amazing! The racers took charge and taught us parents. We heard so many God stories—God meeting them in all the crazy circumstances and places they've been, and through so many people, often times right across the language barrier. The racers taught us how to do ATL—"Ask The Lord", prayer walks, a 3 minute testimony, park ministry, Bible study and “debrief”.

We Traveled To 🇬🇪 Georgia, the Country 🇬🇪! Part 1

It wasn't one of those pre-arranged tours with a tour guide—it was more difficult, but way better! Our goal was to meet up with DD2, Susanna, and T-Squad on The World Race, and spend 6 days with them. We got a glimpse of what the year has been like for them. And what a glimpse!!!

🇯🇵 Japanese Style 🇯🇵

My quiltin' cousin, Sue, made this beautiful quilt using Japanese fabrics!

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⧉ Double the Fun ⧉

Paula, of Knitting Pipeline Podcast and Video, and her sister, Gayle, made this quilt together for their brother!

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🚚 Trucks For Patty's GS 🚒

My neighbor, Patty, made another quilt for one of her grandchildren. This one is for 4-year-old Hank, and features trucks, trucks, trucks!

I recommended "African Storms" for the quilting, as it resembles tire tread marks:

🔗 Linkety 🔗 Split 🔗

Quilter Bonnie finished another quilt top! How cool is this?!!

I love having modern quilts to quilt! I get to use fun, new, modern edge-to-edge designs. Check out the quilting here:

𝌭 Dorothy's Modern Quilt 𝌭

My friend, Dorothy, made this beauty of a modern quilt! It's not her usual style. She loves dots--check out her quilt here, the second one on that blog post. This quilt top was a kit given to her by her niece, who also bought one for herself while they were on clearance at Bear Patch Quilting.

First of all, about that beautiful fabric. It's digitally printed:

🀰 Crocheted Selvage Rug 🀰

The ninth item I entered at the county fair this past week is a crocheted rug, made of 1" selvage strips cut from quilt fabric. It received a red second place ribbon:

Judge's comments: "Nice mix of colors. Watch ends of pieces--they should not show." 

BTW, the judge made the same comment on my selvage rug last year! I don't think those ends can be any more hidden! You can read about my first selvage rug here. 

I started my second selvage rug just after the county fair last year, so it took me one year of quilting to accumulate enough selvages to finish a rug. Here's my first and second rugs, side by side:

County 🎡 Fair Recap 2019

Like many of you, I grew up in 4-H, entering things I sewed, crocheted and baked in our county fair. Years later, when the county fair rolls around, I still have this overwhelming urge to enter my handmade items! 

💐 Blossoms & Jam 🍓

This definitely qualifies as a squirrel project for me! I saw this table center on Instagram, here.
I immediately downloaded the pattern and started sorting through my 2 1/2" squares to make a pair of "Blossoms & Jam" table centers!
  
Here's what I learned while I made these two table centers:

⛪️Church Window 窓 QAL ⼳

Brittany of Lo & Behold Stitchery, released a new pattern, Church Window, in June, which I promptly fell in love with! I just finished a QAL (quilt along) with 400+ other quilters, making this beautiful quilt. Here's a photo journal of my weekly progress. Continue to the end to see my finished Church Window quilt with real church windows!

Week 1--fabric pull. I used a Zen Chic Bella Solids bundle, fabrics on left in photo below. I added the fabrics on the right, to get the count up to the required 18 fat quarters:

Week 2--cut out fabrics. Those 45 degree angles are easy to cut with a regular rotary cutting ruler that has a 45 degree line:

⤐ Tracie's Choose Your Own Adventure ⬷

If you read Tracie blog over at Riceford Streams, you've caught the excitement she shares about finishing this quilt top! I enjoyed it's beauty while quilting it up for her.

We tossed around a few ideas for the quilting, and settled on a modern clamshell design, Random Clams:

❀ Petal Power ❀

My friend, Missy, is a new quilter and she has jumped right into the deep end with quilting! Here's her next beautiful quilt:

For quilting, I used a floral design, Bloomin Stars, to go with the floral fabrics and flower-like quilt block:

✿ Wallflower ✿

Have you noticed the hashtag, #quiltswirl, has become a thing on Instagram?! Here's my latest quilt as a swirl, which btw, is a lot easier to swirl BEFORE it is quilted!

And here's the finished quilt:

A Sparkly ✨ Sherpa Christmas 🎄

I love this large panel I found at My Girlfriend's Quilt Shoppe while we were driving through Utah this summer! 

Just quilt and bind! I quilted it with freehand swirls:

⻘ Blue & White 白

Blue and white quilts are a classic color combo. Combined with a log cabin design, Missy has made a beautiful, classic quilt!

Here are some close-ups:

⼆ Two By Two ⼆

My sister, Quilter Bonnie, is a very prolific quilter! I've quilted 44 quilts for her over the past 7 years. And she's made more quilts that she quilted herself!

Here are her latest finishes:

Now, let's get to the close-ups:

👜 Indigo Handbag 👜

While on our road trip, my handbag zipper was getting stuck. Back home, I started on a new one. I already had the fabrics. 

The first step was to quilt the upper fabric to the Annie's Soft and Stable. The quilting doesn't show up on the indigo print, so here's a picture of the backside:

Grab 👊 & Go 🏃🏼 To California

In prep for our road trip to California, I made DH and myself each a case for our laptops:

The Grab and Go Sleeve from Sew Sweetness is adjustable to any size device or book. It is part of the Minikins Season 1 pattern bundle. 

Although the pattern doesn't call for it, I like to quilt my fabric with the Annie's Soft and Stable. Quilting adds so much depth and stability to fabric and quilts. You can clearly see the "Egg Carton" quilting on DH's case, below:

🎈Rise Up🎈

Here's a fun banner quilt I made for my Mom, to welcome her back to her apartment after her recent hip replacement surgery:

The surgery was successful and Mom is on the rise!

🌲Northwoods Vibes 🐻

At first glance you might think this quilt was made in Minnesota, with the Northwoods vibes going on. But it was made in Nashville by my friend, Missy!

On the other hand, it was quilted in Minnesota! I quilted birchwood leaves across the quilt:

⾚ Red Fuji 🗻

Meet my entry for the 2019 Global Inspiration MQ Challenge! If you're going to the Minnesota Quilters Annual Show in Rochester, MN, over the next few days, June 13- 15, look for my quilt in the Fabric Challenge section:

The challenge fabric packet came with 4 Cherrywood fat quarters--red, blue, light green and yellow. We could add 4 international fabrics, plus a white or a black fabric. More than 50% of the quilt had to be the Cherrywood fabrics.
  
Mount Fuji is the most popular art subject in Japan, so that's immediately where my mind went when the challenge was introduced. My inspiration comes from a famous woodblock print by Hokusai, called "Red Fuji", also known as "Fine Wind, Clear Morning", created in 1832:

🌀🍥 Simplify 🍥🌀

I sew enjoyed making this fun quilt recently!!!

It started out as a jelly roll that I won on National Sew a Jelly Roll Day, 2017, via Instagram!

✈️ A Transportation Quilt 🚚

My quilting neighbor, Patty, made this quilt for her 4 year old grandson, Elliot. She saw something like it on Pinterest and drew out the design on her computer!

Patty chose "Modernish 4" for the quilting. It looks like an intense driver's ed course, which seems appropriate for all those vehicles!

✂️ Maker's Quilt ✂️

Paula calls this quilt her "Maker's Quilt" and I love the idea! She made one extra block from each quilt she has made and put them all together here, many of them with added embroidered documentation.

Paula constructed this quilt using "quilt-as-you-go", with batting. Then I added a backing and did stitch-in-the-ditch:

⼥ Women of the Bible Quilt ⛪️

Isn't this quilt a beauty?!! I quilted this Women of the Bible quilt for my Bee Sista, Rose, over at Something Rosemade.

Rose and I agreed that Figure 8s would look fresh and modern across this quilt. Wait, that would be Wishbones according to Rose!

➖Stripey Baby Quilt➖ + Mongolia

Isn't this a simple, yet fun way to make a baby quilt?!! My quilting neighbor, Patty, made this cute stripey baby quilt: 

She chose a fun, modern quilting design:

♒︎ Modern Chevron ♒︎

My co-worker at Quilt Cove, Kyle, made this colorful, modern chevron quilt!

I quilted it with an edge-to-edge called "Calder". Alexander Calder was a modern artist know for his unique mobiles. This quilting resembles his artistic style:

⧓ A Formal Affair ⧓

Looking for a fun layer cake pattern?! Here's one:

Patti of Creek Side Stitches was demoing this quilt pattern, "A Formal Affair", at the Red Wing, MN, quilt show in February. She has a number of books and patterns that mainly use pre-cuts--layer cakes, charm squares, candy squares and jelly rolls.

I started out by making "accordion sewn half-square triangles", the Eva Paige Quilts method. This is an easy way to make HSTs so that each one is different, no pairs. Watch the three videos explaining this technique, starting here: Accordian Sewn Scrappy HSTs, Part 1.

My blue and white HSTs before I sewed them into a loop and cut them apart: