Best of 2023!!

Hello, quilting friends!!  If you are new to The Joyful Quilter, welcome.  If you have visited before, welcome back!  Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs is continuing her Best of... link party tradition.  Follow THIS LINK to see all of the wonderful bloggers who have joined in the fun.  Here is her sweet new button:

To take part in the link party, participants were asked to write a blog post highlighting our "best" 5 posts from 2023 and join the linkup.  Cheryl suggested the following examples of posts to be included:

• Posts with the most views
• Posts with the most comments
• Posts that provoked the best discussions
• Posts showing your favorite finishes
• Posts of your best tutorials
• Posts that are simply your favorites

She said that this post is not only a great way to find new readers, it is also wonderful to be able to highlight some of your best posts for those readers who have joined your blog throughout the year."

The link party will open the day after Christmas, Tuesday December 26th and will be open for one week ending on Monday, January 1st.

This will be my 5th (consecutive) year of participation.  Those of you who have been following me for a while know that this year has been one of work, work, and more work.  Not necessarily on my quilting!  I did enjoy two Quilt Retreats during the year.  They made it possible to make some real progress on a number of projects.

Here is an overview of my productivity:

I completed 20 mini quilts/quilted mug rugs, 4 quilted pin cushions, 2  table mat/runners and 2 wall hanging, plus 5 other quilted items.  I also finished 1 large commission quilt, 2 large gift quilts,  2 large UFO quilts for me, 2 donation quilts from tops pieced by others and quilted 1 quilt for my quilting friends on my APQS longarm quilting machine which has, once again, limped its way through the year.  I'm thinking that I need to watch a TON of maintenance videos in 2024 so that I might become more confident when things go awry.

Items made per month...

January - 3

February - 6

March - 8

April - 4

May - 3

June - 1

July - 1

August - 7

September - 3

October - 3

November - 1

December - 1

I made a total of 41 quilted items in 2023.  (17 of those were made as a result of Angela's Rainbow Scrap Challenge and/or in conjunction with my TABLE SCRAPS Challenge)  I'm pleased with the number of finishes I was able to complete.  Especially since my "seasonal" job continued throughout the year (again) and the state of my studio has remained a bit of a disaster area. If not for those factors, I might have finished more!  No worries!!!  Another chance is coming in the new year.

How does one decide on her BEST posts for the year??

I took a long and hard look at the posts written in 2023, but choosing the BEST was quite a challenge...


Mine include the following...

Most modern finish - (2017) Lordy, Lordy! Look Who's 40!:

From Sunday Morning Quilts. Pieced and quilted by me.

Most views (544) - February 2023 - ABC (Table) SCRAPS Challenge - Link Party

Most comments (40) - Sew It, Show It - Little Green Apples Challenge - My Hop STOP

Favorite finish - Design Floor Friday - The Emergency Quilt

Started to delivered in less than 2 weeks!

AND...

Favorite post - Wonderful Wednesday - Check One Off the Bucket List

Thanks for joining me in this review.  I'm glad that Cheryl organized a Link Party dedicated to reminding us to take another look at the blog posts we've written during the year.  Oh! Don't forget to check out my NEW 2024 TABLE SCRAPS Challenge!  You can find the full details HERE.

Until next time...
Quilt the year away!!!