2019 in Review

I think it's nice to review what's been made throughout a year of sewing. For me, it helps to know I wasn't always spinning my wheels and stalling on projects!

According to Instagram
These are the pictures I posted to Instagram that received the most likes. Looks like most of them are really liked, as they appear twice! Those are:

Top row: Plaidish quilt twice! (No credit to me. It's a great design by @kitchentablequilting.) And Cascade quilt.
Middle row: Temperature quilt, Cascade (again), and my "Quilt" mini that was not accepted for publication in Curated Quilts magazine
Bottom row: Temperature quilt (again), and Selvedge quilt twice!

The Quilts - This past year, I made 17 quilts (To see them all, click "2019 Quilts" tab, above.) There were 6 small-sized; 5 medium-sized; and 6 large sized quilts. Seven of them have been given away.

I also kept up making Drunkard's Path blocks for a 2019 temperatures quilt. Even the label, which will appear as a block on the quilt front, is finished.

A Decade of Quilts
For sure, from 2013 through 2019 (basically, since moving from Iowa to Florida) I made 94 quilts! I know because I've been keeping track. So when I consider how many quilts I've made in the past decade, I can safely estimate it's between 115 to 120 quilts! No wonder I'm running out of closet storage space!

The Leavings
This past year I've begun turning old wall hanging quilts into open-mouth sacks into which I can toss trimmings and bits of thread. This year I filled two large sacks-full that I sewed closed to make pet beds for an animal shelter.

QuiltCon - In February I attended the entire four days of QuiltCon in Nashville, Tennessee, where three of my quilts were on display: Roulette; Wrinkles Fade Away; and O-O-Orange (See pictures in "2018 Quilts" tab, above.) Earlier this month, I learned that my "L Cabin" quilt was accepted into QuiltCon 2020 in Austin, Texas.

The Other Makes - In between making quilts, I like to sew other, faster projects. In the past year they included:

row 1: men's travel kit; two pouches - all gifted
row 2: three wristlets
row 3: 10 travel trays; zippered snack bags
row 4: more zippered snack bags
row 5: tote; reversible hat; 6 washcloth travel rolls
row 6: skirt; tops; leggings

Teaching - I taught free motion quilting; two modern wedge quilt workshops; demoed English paper piecing, and demoed ruler work quilting twice. (For my 2020 teaching schedule, see "Schedule" tab above.)

The Rest - In February we went on our first cruise, to the Eastern Caribbean. In November we bought a new car.

In July, immediately after a rigorous four-mile walk, I experienced a dramatic recurrence of P.A.D. (peripheral artery disease). An August visit to a new-to-me cardio-vascular doc resulted in the removal of a four-inch blood clot in my left femoral artery. (You do not want to see that picture! Gross.) A few weeks later, oncology blood work revealed anemia, and the need for two iron transfusions. Prescribed drugs and over-the-counter supplements, and doctor-ordered regular exercise continue to be mandatory.

The most challenging, and still most difficult days are related to missing our dear boy, Hogan. He was put down in our home on August 31 at the age of 15 years/11 months. Though we prepared ourselves, and still remind each other that Hogan lived a full life after being rescued by our daughter Jill, he left a huge hole in our lives. We're still trying to adjust.

Hogan on July 5, 2019 

Overall, it was a good, but challenging year. We faced difficulties and persevered with the good Lord's help.

The Books - I read, by audiobook, a total of 40 books. In March, at the request of a very good friend, I began posting book reviews and ratings.


My 40th read was "The Girl With All the Gifts" by M.R. Carey. I chose it, innocently enough, because I imagined it was about a gifted young girl. Well, it was that. But it's mostly a haunting thriller about living in a post-apocalyptic world - in the UK - following a biological infestation that turns people into "hungries" - meat-eaters whose strongest desire is to consume anything living. The story centers on ten year-old Melanie who, along with other children, is imprisoned in a military facility, and attends school while under medical observation. The story takes an intense turn when their facility is invaded, they flee, and find themselves in a land where survival is slim. Descriptions of killings and dissections are pretty ghoulish, and the language is occasionally foul, but if you like Stephen King books, I think you'll like this.

Linda's score: 3.8/5.0

And on that note, I'll end 2019 posts. My next blog post looks toward 2020 intentions. Linda