Saturday, December 31, 2022

Sayonara 2022🐯, Yōkoso 2023 🐰

Farewell 2022! Welcome 2023!!! Here's a Grace and Peace Quilting review of 2022, and a preview of what's to come in 2023, the year of the rabbit in Japan!
 First, 2022: I quilted 120 quilts in 2022, 51 of my own, and 69 for others.

Of my own 51 quilts, here's the breakdown:
 
1   Queen size quilt
13 Twin/Throw quilts
12 Baby quilts
17 Wall/Mini quilts
5   Table runners
3   Bag fabrics

Overall, I have quilted a total of 968 quilts on my APQS longarm since it arrive in June, 2012! I'm looking forward to hitting number 1,000 in 2023!!!

I really enjoyed participating in my first virtual quilt retreat in March, along with my sister and our quilting cousin, led by Gudrun @ GE Designs!!! We made two different throw quilts and numerous table runners from the leftover strips!!!
I won 2 Award of Excellence ribbons at our local county fair in August--one for my crocheted selvage rug and one for my wool appliqué wall hanging! ⤵️ More about my county fair entries in 2022 here
In September, I celebrated my 7th year of working at my local quilt shop! Our top benefit of working there is a 50% discount on a one-time purchase during our anniversary month. Here's what I bought this year!!! ⤵️ I mainly stocked up on background fabrics, along with some fun notions, gifts and some extra wide backing fabrics. 
Our granddaughter turned 2 in October on our shared birthday! I made her and her cousin who is 6 weeks older, I-Spy quilts, plus a quilt for our granddaughter's baby doll!!!⤵️
I joined the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this year and it was a blast! You choose a block or two or more, then the hostess, Angela @ SuperScrappy announces a color of scraps to work on each month. What a great scrap buster! I'm making 7 quilt tops out of the 196 blocks I made in 2022! Finishes coming in 2023!!!⤵️
My big goal for 2022 was to complete 8 block swaps from my quilt friends in Japan, following the National Day calendar. I'm so glad to see these 8 quilts finished and hanging in my longarm studio, reminding me of my friends in Japan!!! ⤵️
I participated in 6 quilt alongs in 2022!!! They are: Atlas QAL, Bring the Love QAL, Jackie QAL, Stripalong QAL, Kimberly QAL and Bonnie Hunter's Chilhowie Mystery QAL--in progress!⤵️
I worked on six I-Spy quilts for orphanages in Japan and five quilts for Hope For Ukraine!⤵️
I had fun meeting two out-of-town quilt bloggers!!! I met Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation, when she was the guest speaker at Minnesota Quilters in August!!! And I met Laura @ Slice of Pi Quilts, when she was coming through town after vacationing in central Minnesota!!!
While sewing this year, I listened to 200 books, via Libby and Hoopla apps, which are available for free from our local library! Plus DH reads aloud to me evenings while I'm sewing in my studio. He can read on and on for hours! I keep track of my books on Goodreads, a free website. Otherwise I'd lose track of what I've read!!! 
My favorite series this year has been the Mrs. Pollifax books: Mrs. Pollifax is a widow who accidentally becomes a CIA agent for her country, and intuitively is more quick witted than seasoned CIA agents!!! There are 14 books in the series, written by Dorothy Gilman, between 1966 and 2000. Highly recommended!!!
I found myself enjoying QALs this year, and plan to do so next year, also!!! It's just too much fun to sew along with other quilters and see the variety of quilts made from the same pattern! QALs are also great to keep the momentum going! I've got a few QALs in mind for 2023:

My sister and I have a QAL going between the two of us: we are making tiny bowl pillows!!!  We're going through the book, Bowl Me Over by Debbie Busby. Eight tiny pillows in 2022, more to come in 2023!!! We've been posting them on Instagram: QuilterBonnie   GraceAndPeaceQuilting
For 6 weeks starting January 16th, Cozy Color Quilts is having a QAL & Donate--Napping House Quilt! Sign up for details here!!!  Finished quilts go to Quilts For Kids. We have a chapter here in Minnesota, with Wildflower Quilt Co. being an official drop off point!
In January and February I'm ready to QAL with Gudrun @ GE Designs, and her GEasy Class Pack--Zoey and Katrina quilts!!!
I have my passport for Gudrun's Stripology Virtual Retreat, March 24-26. The fabric collection I selected is "Random Thoughts"!!!
I plan on participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge again this year! Stay tuned for block decision!!!
2023 is the Year of the Rabbit in Japan, where everyone sends out New Years cards!!!
Happy New Year!!!! Grace and peace!!! ~Nancy

33 comments:

  1. Wow, what an impressive number of quilts! And how exciting to imagine what quilt number 1000 might be. Looking forward to seeing your rainbow quilts. I enjoyed following you with your blocks each month. All the best for 2023! xo

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  2. Nancy what a great review! I remember seeing so many of these quilts as you posted them. I'm going to go through your 2023 list for QALs and see if anything will work for me this year! Happy and Healthy 2023 wishes for you and your family!

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  3. I knew you did a lot but 51 of your own, not to mention 69 others. I am so impressed and your work is so much fun. You had a great year. Looking forward to your continued inspiration next year!

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  4. Oh wow, do you plan to quilt something special for the 1,000th quilt on your longarm or will it just happen to be the quilt that is ready to go and next? I hope that your 2023 is as full of quilting joy and friendship as 2022 was for you. :)

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  5. Hi Nancy, you have had a very productive year! Congrats on all of your finishes :-) I also love reading and listening to audio books, and would be lost without Goodreads. Thanks for the series recommendation. I wish you all the best in 2023!

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  6. What a wonderful review of your year. Best wishes for 2023.

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  7. What an amazing job you do keeping track of things. I haven’t decided on my 2023 Rainbow Scrap Challenge but I love the idea of using strings. For all your stats you don’t keep track of spools and cones of thread? 🤣🤣 I’ve had a banner year for using up thread. Have a wonderful 2023.

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  8. Congratulations on a job well done! That's a lot of quilts, books and challenges! I pray that God would continue to guide you and bless you in the new year.

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  9. Happy New Year, Nancy! Fun to see your quilt parade - all so beautiful. You know I love your RSC blocks and look forward to seeing how you make them into quilts this year. Cheers to lots more creating in 2023!

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  10. What fun to read about all your quilting adventures in 2022. I especially like your employee discount purchase you made. Made me smile. I have been toying with the idea of joining the RSC challenge. I need to get on with that! Happy New Year!

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  11. Loved reviewing all of your quilting adventures over the last year. I especially enjoyed reading about your selvage rug. . . I might be swayed to begin one. . . .Happy New Year!--TerryK@OnGoingProjects

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  12. You have had an amazing quilt year! Happy New Year! I look forward to seeing what projects you whip up in '23:)

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  13. What a fun post to read! I didn't know you met Laura (or that she buzzed through this close to us) - what fun! Happy New Year!

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  14. Happy New Year's, Nancy. Wow, you rocked 2022!!! I can not wait to see what all you accomplish in this new year. Wishing you a very productive and blessed year. Hugs.

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  15. Amazing work you have accomplished in 2022! Such lovely , gorgeous work . Happy New Year !

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  16. You have achieved a lot in 2022. And it looks like you have plans for a lot more this year. Good luck and Happy New Year.

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  17. Wow! What a great year you had. Thanks for all the encouragement and inspiration you provide -- to say nothing of the eye candy. Here's to a great 2023.

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  18. I think I will go take a nap after reading your post! You are a busy lady. I hope to see your 1,000 soon and probably will. Take time to breathe this year! LOL. Hugs and Congratulations

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  19. Of course, I loved seeing everything about the quilts you have made and quilted this year, but I was especially happy to see you give a shout out to the Mrs. Pollifax series! I really enjoy these books and have recently re-read all of them. They hold up quite well considering that they are not at all recently published books. Have you read Dorothy Gilman's memoir A New Kind of Country? I think you might enjoy it since you enjoy her mysteries.

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  20. I loved your review and plans for the year. You had a great quilting year with so many finishes. Impressive! Best of luck for that momentum to carry you through 2023. Blessings! Melva

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  21. Your accomplishments are in a separate class altogether. Prolific and spectacular. Wishing you continued creativity in the new year!!!

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  22. Such an impressive year! I look forward to following you as you meet your challenges for this year. Thanks for sharing on Wednesday Wait Loss.

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  23. Amazing! You had a very productive, creative and fun 2022. I found you on Sarah's Whoop Whoop linky.

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  24. Nancy, I enjoy following your blog and am often inspired by your projects. Thank you for following my blog and for commenting on occasion.

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  25. Oh my! I really enjoyed your comprehensive post, Nancy! You have had a great year! I’m looking forward to your quilts from the RSC. Those blocks are fabulous!

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  26. Thanks for the heads up on the Mrs. Pollifax books. I just finished listening to the first one and loved it!!

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  27. Incredible!! For one person, you accomplish an incredible amount of sewing and quilting. I am overwhelmed by the quantity you have listed in this post. The only thing I can think of is you must sleep very very little!!

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  28. I especially like the block swaps from your Japanese friends. Gorgeous sewing and quilting.

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  29. Wow Nancy, you are amazing!!!! How do you manage to get so much done in a year???
    We need lessons from you :) Everything is just beautiful xx

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  30. This post is full of quilting joy! You had so many fabulous projects in 2022! Getting to meet online quilting friends is such a treat :) All the best for you in 2023, including lots more quilting joy!

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  31. You had a BUSY year!!! I love it all!!! Heres to a wonderful 2023!!!

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  32. Happy New Year Nancy, may 2023 be as productive and creative as 2022 was! This is a great retrospective post, full of eye candies ;)
    Thank you so much for sharing, and linking up!

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  33. You are so prolific! You've made some beautiful quilt and quilted items. Good for you!
    I've thought about participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge before but have trying to figure out a good way to make blocks but not make rainbow-colored quilts. So, of course, I like your idea of the strip quilts in several colorways, made over several years. It may be an idea I'll try!
    Nancy from https://joyforgrace.blogspot.com

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