Good Morning, Quilters!
January means cleaning, organizing, new calendars and planning.
First, a moment to look back…
2015 in Review
2015 was a very exciting year for me.
Henry, our first grandchild, was born! The photo says it all!
I became a BERNINA Ambassador and started writing posts for We All Sew: We All Sew-Snowman Quilt and Scissors pin cushion tutorial
I had a great time writing and filming a Craftsy video. Divide and Conquer: Creative Quilting
In April, I represented Sulky at Quilt Market in Minneapolis…would love to do that again–(Hint, Hint…)
In addition, I overcame my fear of public speaking with several speaking engagements and guild lectures; I was interviewed by Pat Sloan in a podcast and created an F/W Media Webinar: Meander no More.
I did a lot of writing too–here at The Inbox Jaunt where we reached 2 million views and in every issue of American Quilter Magazine.
All of this was the direct result of YOU– getting the word out about our FMQ community and YOUR notes to companies like Craftsy and BERNINA. Thank YOU! None of this would have happened without your support, encouragement and active engagement here at The Inbox Jaunt.!
(of course there’s an even longer list of things that didn’t get done–THE Book was put on hold, most of the quilts I planned to complete, 10,000 steps/day….That’s what 2016 is for, right?….We’ll look forward on next Open Line Friday…)
WHAT WERE YOUR BEST/MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF 2015?
What were YOUR big moments in 2015?
Any babies? Grand babies? Weddings? Career accomplishments? Goals achieved? Fears overcome? Boundaries hurdled? Events endured? Mountains scaled?
Please SHARE!
We’d LOVE to hear!
When you leave your comment, please consider telling us where you live.
Lori
PS…All tutorials, images and information are the property of Lori Kennedy at The Inbox Jaunt and are intended for personal use only. Feel free to re-blog, pin or share with attribution to The Inbox Jaunt. For all other purposes, please contact me at lckennedy@hotmail.com. Thanks!
37 comments
Sue Keida
HI Lori, 2015 was a very productive quilt year for me. I finished at least a dozen tops, quilted a couple and sent a couple out. I’m practicing my FMQ as I would love to do my own. I’ve always been a hand quilter and still love having one to work on but FMQ opens up a whole new world for me.
I made a lot of Christmas gifts and everyone love them! Made me so happy.
I love in Columbus Ohio but am from upstate New York.
Love your blog! It’s fantastic and gets me so excited!!!!
Sheila
Your tutorials are so detailed which really helps getting up the courage to start. I have just purchased your classes from Craftsy so now I just need to find some time after a busy work day to jump in and start.
Johannesburg, South Africa
Denise
We had three great grandchildren born in October. Twins, Zoey and Devon, and another boy, Liam. Much more quilting to do.
Pamela North
I finished several of my smaller UFOs in my group’s UFO Challenge. For each article completed, depending on the amount of work required we received 1-3 tickets in the prize draw. I was lucky enough to win one of the three $50 prizes. It was so successful we’re going to do it again this year. I think all those who took part were more than happy to complete things even if they didn’t win anything.
Sydney, Australia
Claudine
I enjoyed reading this and all of the comments. I have been quilting for one year now. I have fallen for it hard! I invested in a used Bernina 750 QE and it has helped me so much. New Year’s Day I started my own blog. Today’s post is a shout out to you Lori! Thanks for the inspiration and instruction. I am having the time of my life!
Suz
What a great roundup for the year! Congrats on your successes. 2015 was a great year for us. We had a grandchild born for the third year in a row…Jack Eli was born on 6/16/15 and joins sister, Alice (2 1/2) and cousin, Soren (2). We also learned we will have a fourth grandchild in 2016! Husband and I celebrated our 30th anniversary in August. Youngest daughter became a contributing member of society by graduating from college and becoming a wholesale assistant in an art gallery.She will be continuing on with a masters in future years to work in horse therapy with children and wounded warriors etc, but we are just so proud that all three of our girls are up and running. Personally, I am just so happy to work part time from home as a tax advisor for a major software company; it allows me to be mom, wife, and grandma as much as possible. Also allows me to pursue my too-many hobbies 🙂
Wishing everyone much joy, peace, and success in 2016.
Janette
Children are great ,grandchildren are awesome. My one and only grandson is seven.
Bought myself a Bernina 750 QE in 2015. Was nervous about it, but took a couple of classes and came more comfortable with my Bernina. Then l found your blog. Well you are amazing!
I practice doodling every chance l get , then l sit down at my machine and play for hours.Good thing l have a dog , she reminds me that l need to move. Have only finished one quilt ,lots of UFO for 2016.Thank you for all your inspiration ,tutorials and your blog. Looking forward to 2016.
My home is Guelph Ontario CA.
Laroletta Petty
Interesting discussion with lots of ideas to think about. I am ready for this new year. I appreciated your comments earlier about cleaning and organizing. We had moved recently and some of my sewing room stuff had been in storage for quite a while. When we moved I jumped into a big project (sewing for a craft fair for the crises pregnancy center in our town) and did not really settle in. So, after your discussion< I jumped in. My 'stuff' is put in proper storage, totes, notebooks and notions in a shoe storage bag hung on the door to the basement. And, importantly, I have devised a time schedule (loosely scheduled as family events are most important) for sewing, quilting, learning new things, etc. I think the most important part of this is that having a 'schedule' encourages me to make the best use of my time and utilize the ups and downs of the energy cycle of my body. I feel energized about the upcoming things I need to do. The biggest event of the year will be in July-a three week land and cruise trip to celebrate our 50th anniversary.
Pam Hotle
I had come across several of your tutorials on the internet but I met you in April at quilt market and started following your blog then. My 2nd grandchild (first grandson) was born in June. My son got married in China in October. We were home for 3 days and then flew to France for our daughter’s civil union. She will have a wedding in Las Vegas this summer. I am daycare while my daughter works half time so I don’t get to spend as much time quilting as I would like but this time is precious and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Valerie Geib
In 2015 our daughter married the son of our best friends! They had known each other since they were kids but hadn’t seen each other for at least 10 years. This was our daughters second marriage but his first. He was the only member of their family who had not attended daughters first marriage! I attended Houston quilt festival for the first time, went to Hawaii for the first time and we are expecting our first grandchild to daughter and new hubby. It is a boy and his name will be Wyatt. I live in Yucaipa CA.
obed101
We got the money for a generator at the CAAWS shelter so we don’t have to remove the dogs and cats if a disaster hits like Hurricane Katrina. Took us 8 years to raise that money!
And I got 22 quilts completed this year and used close to 200 yards out of my stash, so that was a good year for fabric!
LaNan
Family highlights in 2015….moving to our new home and having a wonderful sewing room, our youngest daughter graduating from college, spending time with 6 grandchildren and watching them sparkle in their own way, traveling with my husband and spending relaxing time at our cabin on a Minnesota lake! 2016 more of the same and finishing at least one UFO each month and read your blog everyday!!!
Michele
My quilting highlight was designing and creating an art quilt myself -it will be completely finished by the end of this weekend. Personal highlights were celebrating 40 years of marriage, and my daughter receiving her masters degree. And “keeping our act together” in a year of challenges with the support of friends and family (my grandgirls are 2 and 8-couldn’t do it without them and our dog).
Linda Petersen
Forgot to mention, most important, the inspiration that this blog has given me. Thank You Lori !!!!! …and congratulations on your successes and accomplishments. Don’t get too busy with it all.
Linda Petersen
I’ve had the quilting “pull” for years and fter retiring am able to spend more time quilting. So excited and honored when 2015 validated my efforts with a Blue Ribbon at the Washington State Fair and a Judges Choice Award at the LaConner Quilt Museum Festival. I’m done entering shows now, happiest when my quilting touches lives and wraps around people. Grand-daughter arriving in March – quilt in the works 🙂
Quilter 501
Lots of grandkids visits, lots of quilting retreats with wonderful friends, happy fabric purchases, your blog and finding I could actually do some of them,…..and my husband falling off the roof and learning his lesson while being basically sore and un Damaged!……..these are a few of my favorite things!
Katharine J
Lori, what a beautiful child! The only thing better than grandchildren are great grandchildren.
Галина
Почитала отчеты и так стала радостно. Никто не жалуется, все что-то шьют и хотят еще шить и шить. Лори, вы нам помогаете жить. Я так рада, что нашла ваш блог и теперь иногда листаю старые страницы и ужасаюсь, как надо еще многому учиться. Вы меня заряжаете своим творческим напором. Удачи вам и всех благ!
June Neigum
2015 was the year of retirement!!! After following you for awhile, I decided to make one of my goals to FMQ all the quilts I planned on making. I succeeded on making at least 6 quilts and FMQ’ed them. My Quilt group says they are beautiful. Everyone looks better than the last but I still have a long way to go . Looking for a FM foot for my 1+ Viking like yours. They do not make one for my series. Anyone out there solved this problem? Let me know. I know that would make my quilting much better.
Rosemary
You have had a busy year! Enjoy your grandson as much as possible, they grow so fast. My greatest accomplishment last year was making “healing” quilts. The latest one for my niece with a terminal illness was actually finished these first few day of Jan. 2016. Very rewarding. Also had loads of fun making scrappy quilts.
Best sewing wishes to all.
Laura
Enjoy your little guy and get all the hugs and kisses you can. Our littlest is 2 years old now and still likes to snuggle up with Grandma – when he is not playing Choo-Choos with Grandad. Love your blog and the inspirational instruction you provide. Doodling does not come naturally for me, so my goal this year is to practice, practice, practice!
Chris Stephenson
2015 was an eventful year–I finished two quilts that I FMQ’d on my own–totally due to the instruction and encouragement from YOU, Lori!!! I got hooked on quilting in August, 2014 by my friend Debbie. Three simple quilts later, I started two quilts and wanted to FMQ them. In my quest for information, I discovered The Inbox Jaunt and went into the archives and tutorials to learn all I could. I started my Project Notebook, which was pretty easy since I had not been quilting for long, and I have refined and added info as I have progressed. I bought 10 yards of muslin on sale and started making practice quilt sandwiches. Just like you said, I would doodle and then replicate on my practice sandwiches. Finally, I got up enough courage to jump off the cliff and FMQ on a real quilt and I was HOOKED! Then, in May I tripped and broke my right ankle and both bones in my lower right leg–surgery and no weight or pressure on that leg for 10 1/2 weeks!!! So i couldn’t sew. At first I was depressed, and then decided I could still work on my quilting skills by watching tutorial videos on my laptop, and of course, doodling and planning quilts i would make when I could use my sewing machine again. I completed that crocheted baby blanket that had been sitting in a bag for 2 years and, just between us quilters, ordered more fabric online than I care to admit! Seriously, it turned out to be a very rich learning time for me, not only for quilting but, more importantly, for accepting my circumstances and being grateful for the things that I could do, and not focusing on the things that I couldn’t do. I live in Marietta, Georgia with my husband, and we travel in our RV. I always meet a new quilter on every trip we take. One goal this year is to travel to Paducah, KY to see the quilt museum there.
quiddityrox
Hi Lori. I live near Valley Forge, PA. My 2016 goal is to complete the 4 quilt tops I have created for my four grandchildren. I think my biggest problem with this goal is sandwiching the things! I’ve tried for 3 Christmas’s in a row to get this done. Soon they may be too old for the fabric choices I originally picked for them!
Pat Vacek, Houston TX
I took a class from Ricky Tims at Houston Quiltfest a few years ago. He said there are three ways to finish a quilt. You can quilt by hand, quilt by machine, or quilt by cash:) All three are very acceptable and yield finished projects. I had the same problem you do. Multiple quilt tops pieced and just sitting. I paid to have them all quilted, and freed myself to move on to new projects. I felt like a new woman.
Rebecca Grace
Congratulations on your precious Henry, and on all of your wonderful accomplishments! Like many of your readers, I’m ready to put money down to pre-order ANY book that you’re writing. It would be my FMQ Reference Bible, the ultimate inspiration go-to that I would keep next to my machine and pull out every time I was faced with a “blank” quilt top and the “what to quilt” dilemma. I already have a binder full of a mixture of many images and a few tutorials for this purpose, but a book full of your clear tutorials explaining step-by-step how to achieve each design would be worth its weight in gold.
My 2015 highlights? Well, this year will be most remembered for me for the bike accident I had in March. I was riding my bike on the road and cars were zooming past too close for comfort after the bike lane disappeared, so I started to panic and ride faster and faster, and then I tried to “escape” by jumping up onto the sidewalk but my pedal hit the curb and my bike flipped over and I crashed down on the sidewalk. Got a concussion (even though I was wearing a helmet, I hit the sidewalk so hard that the helmet cracked), broke my left thumb, and badly broke and shattered my right collar bone. I couldn’t use my left hand or my right arm at first, couldn’t bathe myself or brush my own teeth… But I’m all screwed together now with fancy screws that cost more than my Bernina (?!!) and very thankful to be healed and independent again.
Happy New Year, Everyone!
Rebecca Grace in Charlotte, North Carolina
Jane Danielsons
I learned how to machine quilt with a walking foot. I acquired a new to me sewing machine for FMQ, AND I finished my first machine quilted quilt! Working on a piano bench cover with piano keys around the edge…..almost done. The most important thing is I found your blog.
Paulette Doyle
OMG!! Your wee Henry is ADORABLE! Last year my eldest daughter got married to a wonderful young man! My middle daughter got married the year before…so now I am waiting for a wee Henry of my own…and trying to be patient! haha all the best for 2016!!
Paulette
Judy
We moved from FL to Hattiesburg, MS last January to be nearer to my husband’s family. We’ve been married for 53 years and we have 2 sons in western NY and one in NJ. Our middle son and his family came for Christmas, and our grandson (19) stayed on; we’ll be sorry to put him on the plane Monday. Next year our NJ son and his family are making the trip.
I had one quilt finish in 2015, but it was the only quilt I had! I’ve started some new projects which are a bit delayed due to a back injury. I’m so looking forward to starting my doodle book and trying your FMQ designs. They are all so beautiful and far more interesting and expressive than stippling.
Henry is adorable!
Sue H
My biggest 2015 moment was my son marrying his beautiful (inside & out) girlfriend. I want to take a moment to thank YOU for helping me with free motion quilting. I had the basics pretty much down pat, but the creativity part I was lacking. Again,THANK YOU!!!!
scrappychris
Our son came home after 8 months in Iraq. He is stationed at Ft. Bragg and we now live in New Bern, NC so we were able to be there to see him and several hundred other soldiers land back at Ft. Bragg. Have become more comfortable with my Bernina 820 and learning more about how to use it. Still remain curious about why you do not use the stitch regulator. For 2016 – more steps each day. Now I march in place while ironing. My resolution this year is to learn how to don ruler quilting and become more prominent in FMQ. Lastly to read each of your blogs while also going back and saving some of your wonderful tutorials. Thank you – love your blog!!!
Suzy Webster
I started a quilting blog, have a book contract with AQS, working on completing my 15th year as a teacher, won my first ribbon at International Quilt Festival, and most importantly enjoyed my family and friends. Looking at this list it was definitely quite a year!
Rebecca Grace
Wow, how exciting, Suzy! Congratulations!
Janet
Big things for me in 2015 were; our daughter got married, my entire family was together for Mother’s Day, Christmas and the wedding. Our son lives out of state and only makes it home maybe a couple of times a year and not always with his spouse.
Christine
I’m a relatively new follower. But you are my favorite blog! One of my few goals for the year is to become more proficient at machine quilting. And I know one big hurdle in that process is to sketch…something I avoid like the plague. You are so encouraging that I know I will do so,,,soon! I was delighted to hear you have a book in the works. I think I would reference that more than sifting back thru blogs & tutorials….old fashioned? Now of course, if I were to sketch &’make all those appropriate samples I’d have everything at my fingertips already. (ok..I’ll get going on those goals in the meantime)
As for me: three married kids, three grandkids; retired & happy. Life is good!
Vikki
Henry knows he’s in a good place, he’s so sweet.
Valerie
My 2015: Our second grandchild, also a Henry (Henry Mixon), was born; first grandson turned two.
Hubby bought me a sit-down midarm quilter (Viking Platinum 16) and I’m having a blast with it! I made at least 35 quilts in 2015! (Retirement is a wonderful thing!)
Americus, GA is my home.
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