I keep seeing so many people posting that “January was a long year but it’s finally over” and how January last about 84 days, and I guess I was one of those people last year, but this year it seems to have just flown. We spent a long weekend in Tennessee visiting my sister, and then she spent a long weekend visiting us. My husband, after job searching for over a year, finally had a few interviews and got a job offer, and he already started the new job.
So now after being sick and unable to care for our son and then recovering and worried about caring for our son, I’m back to being the stay at home parent. It’s been an adjustment, to say the least. And I’ve had an awful cold on top of it all.
I had another finish in January
This quilt was started probably 10 years ago as a swap at Quilting Around the World. I made the blocks into a top about 9 years ago…and then it just sat. I might’ve even forgotten about it for awhile. In December, I loaded it on Minerva, and played around with a lot of different free motion quilting motifs. I didn’t get around to binding it before Christmas, and it’s really a fall quilt, so I’m either far behind or ahead of the game.
I managed to get another quilt mostly done in January, and I finished the binding in February for my first finish this month.
This quilt uses my Grammy’s Staircase block from the Moda Bake Shop’s Countdown to Christmas. I made it up in Return to Winter’s Lane fabrics by Kate and Birdie for Moda. I used a cuddle fabric on the back for the first time on my longarm and I’m in love with it. It quilted up beautifully and loading it on the frame was a breeze.
This month, I’m still taking part in the UFO challenge at QATW – I’m ripping out quilting that I did on a domestic machine so that I can load and quilt the top on my longarm. We’re also doing a fun contest called “This or That” – everyone who wants to participate lists 2 projects to work on for 20 minutes each day. Every night, “this” or “that” is called for the next day and that’s the project we work on.
And because I do my best work when I’m slightly over scheduled, I just received the fabrics for my next Moda Bake Shop recipe and I’ve committed to making a t shirt quilt for a friend. Fingers crossed for 3 more finishes in February!