The End (of 2020) is Near - A Celebration of Quilts

Welcome to a Retrospective!!  Frederique @ Quilting, Patchwork, & Applique invited me to join a very special LINK PARTY.  She's celebrating the end of this year with a Share ALL the Quilts of 2020 event.  I thought it might be interesting to have a little look back at what I've made this year.  A thumb through the virtual maker files, if you will, to decide what projects should be included.

Frederique is offering the following...

Two ways to share:

• a link to a post that features all your quilts started and/or finished in 2020
• or - simpler! - one link per project (and therefore, posts already written and posted, easy! 😉)

Thanks for the option, Fred!  One link with lot of quilts sounds about right for me.  As you well know, 2020 was a crazy year!  A global pandemic, a new vocabulary, and more time at home than some folks knew what to do with, created the perfect storm.  We quilters have been saving for just such a time with a little thing called our STASH and  I planned to use mine to the fullest!

Unfortunately, not all quilters reacted the same in this strange situation. Some experienced extreme lows in their production levels.  The stress of the world's situation led to creative block for many.  I was not one of those people.  Determined to make the most of the time available, the stay-at-home order gave me the opportunity to hunker down in my happy place.  Fortunately, my creativity soared in the wake of this 2020 storm and I was able to enjoy what I called "practicing for retirement" by spending as much time in my studio as possible.  I have made more quilts and quilted items this year that during any other year.

For the purposes of this event, and in consideration of the other (linky) parties I plan to attend, I am sharing only a small collection of my quilts made or finished this year.  These are some of my favorites of the 60+ finishes of 2020 and just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.  Since I have been SEW productive this year, I'm going with one per month, just to whet your appetite.  Please, enjoy a wander around my blog, if you'd like to view more of my work after seeing these quilts.

A tour through my favorite makes of 2020...

January - 100% Cotton was made as a result of Project Quilting and was my very first entry in that challenge.  This was made of recycled/upcycled T-shirts, a technique I've used a number of times for gifts and commission quilts (MORE) created over the years:

February - Resistance is Futile/Put a Heart on It put a little spin on a mini made by Jayne @ Twiggy and Opal who is always such an inspiration to me:

March - Be SEW Colorful was made as part of Project Quilting using a technique similar to one used by Jayne @ Twiggy & Opal.  Rainbow, again.  A recurring theme throughout the year.  This was my first foray into matchstick quilting.  I found the technique to be quite tedious and opted to only use it for the "trapunto" section:

April - A Bright Spot in Coronaville was created from a technique used by Sarah @ Confessions o a Fabric Addict.  This finish prompted a new series of posts on the blog.  Puzzle out what the purple bits were before I chopped them up, if you are able:

May - This month started out with a personal challenge.  Seven finishes in seven days!  I very nearly (6/7) succeeded, but also went on to create 15 quilt projects during the month.  My favorite of the bunch was A Verb for Making Friends, a completely original design based on another prompt from Kim @ Persimon Dreams for Project Quilting:

June - While I finished several projects this month, the last one was my favorite.  It was inspired by Nann @ With Strings Attached and was made for a friend who had just retired.  The little quilt is all about what retirement should be.  Wouldn't you agree?  As it turned out, Mickey Say's... Relax! was a well received gift:

July - This was a difficult month to choose just one project to share.  I made a fun little mini, but I've got to go with the long-overdue UFO Club finish.  Thank you to Alycia @ Alycia Quilts for designing (and quilting) my A-6 Mystery quilt:

August - While I did finish one quilt this month, I'm most proud of writing and posting a tutorial for Mini Magic Stars.  I made this Magic Star quilt earlier in the year and immediately determined that I would like to try a smaller version.  Here is the completed quilt...

Approximately 36" square

... And the Mini Magic Star quilt top made from my reimagined size:

Approximately 14" square

September - Petite Pumpkin was my project for the Hello Fall Blog Hop.  The pattern had held my attention for months and months.  Then came the perfect opportunity to make it... In miniature:

October - My favorite project during the month is not yet a completed quilt.  It will be completed as soon as possible.  Fortunately, my nephew is OK with my promise that the quilt will be finished by his child's 1st birthday.  LOL!  I'm calling this one Rainbow Baby! for obvious reasons.  I was excited by the color scheme requested by my nephew's wife.  Thank you to the quilting friends who contributed to the making of this, as only 1 of the 3 charm packs used was purchased by me:

November - You may see this one again (since it's part of my Kitchen Quilt series for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge), but it has to be this way.  Why??  Well, every time I passed by, a smile came over my face.  You see, there is one piece of fabric that sparkles (day or night) and that reminds me of my friend LeeAnna @ Not Afraid of Color.  She is SEW fond of adding a bit of bling to her quilts (and often suggests it for mine!)  This is called {Not So} Boring Beige and (if you super size the photo) you can almost see the glitter in the splotchy dark fabric just below the leaf print in the pieced column:

December - A Very 2020 Christmas is my favorite (and only) finish for the month (thus far.)  I don't normally use DARK Neutrals (December's Color of the Month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge) as a background fabric, but it seemed appropriate for this little quilt:

Thank you, again, Frederique, for inviting me to participate in your special 2020 year end event!  It was SEW nice to revisit all of my projects and choose a favorite make per month.  Additional quilts can be seen when the 30+ projects made as part of Angela @ So Scrappy's 2020 Rainbow Scrap Challenge are shown in my RSC Year in Review post.  It goes live in a couple of weeks, but here's last year's LINK, in case you'd like to get a better feel for the project.  I hope you will come back to see how my creativity bloomed (one color at a time.)  Even more projects will be shared in my Best of 2020!!! post planned for a little closer to the end of the year.  This annual link party is hosted by Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs, but hasn't been released, yet.  Here's last year's entry LINK.

Until next time...

Celebrate QUILTS!!!