State of the Studio – 2025

On December 31st, I like to review the past year as a way to encourage myself about what has been accomplished.

When I sat down this year, I wasn’t sure that there would be much to share. It has been a challenging year creatively for me. I have struggled to feel creative, to be motivated, and to be innovative. I have been generally discouraged.

But, as I looked through the “highs” of 2025, there were many to be thankful for!

The first big event of 2025 was my guild quilt show, where I was awarded the Best of Show ribbon….

Next, I traveled to the AQS Show in Paducah to sign copies of the AQS Calendar featuring my quilt…

I still can’t believe that it will be almost another year before “MY” week comes up!!

It was also wonderful to attend the Paducah show for the first time!

After these two amazing events, things got a little quiet!!

As I worked on my Cherrywood challenge, my full creative malaise set in, and I finally finished the quilt, calling it “Dots Down The Drain”. An appropriate name for how I was feeling…..

Needless to say, it was NOT accepted into the challenge!

I had planned AND CUT a scrap quilt to work on at my guild retreat. Unfortunately, I cut it out completely wrong and ended up just sewing all of the pieces end to end and turning it into two “jelly race” quilt tops. More to come about that!

At that retreat in May, I realized that I was exhausted, so I took a break from the blog. It was the perfect decision, allowing me to become more energized later in the year.

After our trip to Africa in May and June, it was time to put together my course “Let’s Get Scrappy”.

I had fun creating a banner for the course…..

And then the two samples….

In November, I pieced a scrappy top that I will tell you about soon….

In December, I made two small pieces that I am excited about.

My Mosaic Sunflower…..

….and my appliqued snowman…..

I look forward to working on a larger applique piece in the new year!

I was DETERMINED not to take the two disastrous scrap quilts into the new year, so today (the 30th), I spent time quilting and finishing them…

I am thrilled to have those off my “to-do” list.

I think part of my creative deficit was caused by the high that I experienced at the end of 2024 (2 quilts in Houston show) and into the first few months of 2025 (Best of Show)

I got into my head that I had to make something SPECIAL, when in fact, I simply needed to create something…..anything!!

So, here’s to a CREATIVE 2026, for ALL of us!

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Thank you…….

State of the Studio – 2024

Every year, on December 31st, I look back at my creative year and discuss the “State of my Studio”!!

Here goes….

2024 was definitely the…..

You may remember that it started out as the “Summer of the Scrap”, but quickly was lengthened to an entire year. Honestly, it will probably be a continuing theme into 2025!!

I started the year planning to spend 10 minutes every morning working on scrap quilts, and I finished two tops during the early part of the year…..

These were followed by two more scrap quilts during the summer months……

And then I had a bunch of left over black and white squares, so this quilt materialized…..

I enjoyed working on my Cherrywood Challenge…. “I Remember”….

….and was thrilled to see it hang at Houston….

I was excited that “Catherine Wheel of Color” appeared in two shows, including the coveted International Quilt Festival!!

Although I didn’t get to see it hang, I was also excited that “Sadie the Saddle-Billed Stork” was juried into the Paducah show. Special thanks to Stacey for sending photos….

She also won a Honorable Mention Ribbon at the regional “Georgia Celebrates Quilts” show!!

Toward the end of the year, I finished two quilts. First a baby quilt….

….and a guild challenge…..

I guess that is not too bad of a showing for the year!!

I was also privileged to be part of the “Scrap Summit” and met so many wonderful quilters thru that program.

AND, I provided programs for 8 guilds across the US. Again, these are marvelous ways of connecting with so many amazing people!!

As in most years, I wish that I had done more, but know in my heart that I accomplished all of the things that were necessary!!

AND….there is always next year!!

If you enjoy this blog, please share it with your friends!!!

Thank you…….

State of the Studio – 2023

On December 31st of each year I love to look back at what was accomplished in my studio during the year. It encourages me to see what was done and gives me the impetus to plan for the next year.

So….here we go….

The first order of business for 2023 was to make a quilt for my Modern Quilt Guild Swap Partner. I had so much fun playing with half-rectangles and proudly sent this quilt……

“Crossing Hemispheres”

I was equally excited to receive this one……

Then quilting took a back seat to tax season but I returned to my studio to work on the Cherrywood Fabric Challenge….”Monarch”……

“More Milkweed Please”

And also whipped up a “Winnie The Pooh” baby quilt for my niece…..

Then, quilting took another backseat as we traveled to Africa for 3 weeks. But while there, I figured out how I was going to finish Sadie…….

“Sadie the Saddle-Billed Stork”

About this time, my daughter asked if I would make a quilt for one of her friends who was expecting her first child……

Next on the list was quilting the Color Wheel quilt that I had started in 2019, but first we needed to spend a week in Sweden!! There was a big sigh of relief when this one was finished……

“Catherine Wheel of Color”

Hot on the heels of the color wheel came the MQG Fabric Challenge. I LOVED designing and creating my entry…..

“Catching A Dream”

The final quilt of the year was my Guild Challenge…..

“Blushing Blooms”

Along the way I also…..

Tried out multiple grid quilting designs, finally incorporating them in the above quilt

Attended Quilt Con in February and enjoyed seeing my quilt hung there

Chaired my guild quilt show in March

Attended my guild retreat in May

Attended the International Quilt Festival in November

Presented programs to 7 guilds…… 4 in person and 3 on zoom

Appeared on the “Wyse Talk” program with Jan Doyle.

Presented my first online course…..Keeping It Straight – Eight Ways to Use a Straight Edged Ruler”

I love looking at this list because I “felt” like I hadn’t accomplished a lot in 2023, but I can banish that feeling to the trash can!!

Thanks to all who have joined me on the adventures of 2023. I promise that there will be…..

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

One of my favorite things about quilting is motivating others and helping them in their quilting journey. As part of this endeavor, I LOVE to present programs and workshops to groups and guilds around the world. All of my programs work well with Zoom meetings, and I would love to speak to your group.

You can find out more at this link…..

State of the Studio – 2022

On New Years’ Eve I always write a “State of the Studio” post where I can look back at the body of work that I have completed during the year.

There have been years where I only had two or three things to talk about but thankfully that isn’t the case for 2022. It has been a GREAT creative year!!

(If you click on any of the photos below, it will take you to one of the posts about that particular project.)

Where to start…..

At 11:45pm on December 31st, 2021, I put the last stitches in this quilt to be given to my friend Marnie. It was named “Wellspring” and was delivered to her on January 1!!

In February, I presented a new pattern using fabrics from the “Into The Woods” collection from Sarah Watson…..

This pattern is available HERE

Later in February, I posted about finishing the “Macaron” Mystery quilt top. Although I wasn’t happy with my fabric choices, it made a nice donation quilt…..

In March I finished the Angela Walters “Free Motion Feather Challenge…..

I certainly feel a lot better about quilting feathers after finishing and entire quilt with them!!!

Also in March, I began the “Simple Sawtooth Star” quilting challenge……

…initially providing a free pattern for the top and then week-by-week instructions for quilting each block.

All of this instruction, including the free pattern is still available HERE

In June it was time to make a baby quilt for sweet Charlotte…..

And, then I got to thinking about a painting that I had shown as an inspiration, and the “Botero Flower Garden” came from that idea…..

During the summer months I worked thru another of Angela Walters FMQ Challenges….

I finally got around to quilting my “Woodpile” quilt and then had SO much fun photographing it at the Botanic Garden…..

Also, during the summer I began piecing on “Star Explosion”….my entry in the Ruby and Bee Fabric Challenge from the Modern Quilt Guild. It was finished in September and entered in the Challenge…..

I have heard that it was accepted and will hang at QuiltCon in February….I am so excited!!

While I was working on that quilt, I also started playing with scraps to make Charity quilts, working with “Square-In-A-Square” blocks. There were two quilts that came out of this play time but my favorite was “Dancing Squares”. I liked it so much that I turned it into a free pattern…..

You will receive this pattern when you sign up for my newsletter which can be done HERE

I also found a “Whirlpool” pattern and made this fun top for Charity…..

In preparing for my guild “Bargello Challenge”, I made two simple Bargello quilts…..

…leading to my challenge quilt entitled “Flowers Will Bloom Again”…..

Finally, it was time to make a quilt for my future grandson (now known as Archer)….

The last finish of the year has been quilting a Sampler Quilt that my friend Diane had started…..

Another quilt has been finished….Marnie’s Guitar, but I haven’t posted about the finish yet so will save it for 2023!!

It has been interesting to look at my Stats for 2022……

I had 81,163 views of my blog and website.

The most viewed post was a silly one with a Snuffy Smith Cartoon

Next was a tip about storing broken needles and pins.

In third place was a post that I do every year about rolling quilts for storage. It is ALWAYS a popular one!!

I have seen my audience grow in 2022 and I am thankful to each person who reads, responds or subscribes to my blog.

So….if you haven’t subscribed, please do it today so that you don’t miss a single post.

I hope that you enjoy your New Years’ Eve…..Stay Safe…..and I will see you in 2023!!!!

State of the Studio – 2021

My chief lament in life is that I am not accomplishing what I want in my studio but when I looked back at 2021, I can see that was NOT the case!!

Although it was not “creating”, I had the fun opportunity to talk to various groups about quilting, and “talking about quilting” is one of my FAVORITE THINGS…..

2021 was the year of “MOVE IT”!! I had SO much fun putting the course together and have loved hearing the comments from those who have taken the course…..