Wrapping Up 2024 and Phrase for 2025

This year I started off with a focus on weaving.

The four pieces from the Bronson lace warp.

Next, I finished hand-quilting on this vintage top.

Snowball Flower quilt, vintage top, hand-quilted by me!

I tied this, the world’s heaviest quilt, that I had string-pieced from pieces of men’s shirts.

Shirt Stripes, a string quilt started in 2016.

Then I completed this twin-size quilt.

Finished puppy quilt.

Then I completed four baby quilts, two of which I had started in 2022.

Two quilts with kitty novelty fabric.

Blue and tan quilts.

Each quarter, I made a small art quilt for the online group, The Endeavourers.  For the first one, Spectrum Secrets, I experimented with black-light and glow-in-the-dark threads and paints.

Spectrum Secrets, the front in daylight.

Spectrum Secrets, reverse, under black light.

“The Secret Chord,” a piece for The Endeavourers’ theme of Harmony.

The second piece, The Secret Chord, was made with applique on a base of silk.  And for the third one, Vintage Bouquet, I ventured into using textile paints on vintage linens and lace, a technique I had been wanting to try for ten years! I loved how these pieces turned out and I will be doing this again.

Vintage textiles painted with Setacolor paints.

Vintage Bouquets.

For the fourth one, Spice Market, I used my handwoven fabrics for the bowls, and wool for the piles of spices.

Spice Market, 24″ x 30″.

This was also a year I picked up great finds in some online auctions, including a huge lot of books and magazines, which gave me a lot of delight as I looked at these blasts from the past.  I got over 1000 books and magazines, and I have sorted through most of them, arranged the ones I want to keep, and given away at least 10 boxes full.

Strike a pose! 1968 leaflet on ponchos from Columbia-Minerva.

I also helped with a Quilt Walk, working a table where we focused on art quilts and handed out some make-and-take kits.

All the Quilty Ladies, at the end of Day Two.

During the year, a few people reached out to me with questions about antique handwoven coverlets, and I enjoyed researching to find answers for them.  I created a new page with coverlet information and resources.

Andrea of ARHtistic License did a post analyzing her blog performance over the last year, and it got me looking at mine too. My top post is The Richness of Greek Embroidery, which I wrote back in 2018 after a visit to the St. Louis Art Museum.  Other than that, my most-visited posts and pages are about sail history, textile books, and the basics of textile production, which makes me happy because those are my main topics.  Another popular category is natural dyes — I really don’t do much of that anymore, but I hope the posts are helpful.

As I look ahead to 2025, I want to focus less on actual quilting, and more on research and writing.  My words for the year are “Compose, Combine, Complete!”  I want to:

  • share information and projects from my collection of textile books, some over 100 years old
  • enter into blog hops and challenges
  • complete and post the many drafts I have started

I look forward to reading blogs and virtually visiting museums and collections this year!

Category : Quilting
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