hi everyone... the new year has arrived (i know i'm a little late in that posting...) and i'm back in my studio. there's a slight struggle with finding the energy and motivation to do work other than knitting, but no doubt it will return soon. at least, there's hope for that...
yesterday, i put together a mosaic of my quilty items done last year despite the shoulder surgery and months of physical therapy. even though the pictures show 3 quilt tops in the mix, there's actually only one of these that did not become a fully quilted quilt: the red cross quilt. everything else has gone to it's rightful owner or put into use in the house.
but... i'm back to sewing and finishing things! i vow to have a more productive year, yet still take time for myself. my illustrations, printmaking and jewelry have all taken quite a backseat to quilting the last few years and it's more than past time to start working on those again. my shoulder was deemed "beautiful" last week by my surgeon at my 1 year check-up and it doesn't give me as much trouble as it was. time to get my pencils out and finish up some long awaited drawings.
i joined the "Bee FF 2012" quilting bee on flickr this month. there are some truly talented women in this group and i'm honored to have been asked to join this round. secretly, i've been wishing for a spot with them and i got it without trying! for january, we're all making liberated baskets in the style of gwen marston from her book "collaborative quilting." this is going to be a fun quilt!!
earlier in the week, i finished binding a replacement QOV for the one with the red dye bleed. the regional coordinator was gracious enough to send me one that was nearly finished and just beautiful, but they didn't have any requests for navy-themed quilts. when she found out i had a direct contact and a need for a new one... it came right to me. the above HST QOV is the last one for the previous request of 12 quilts that the navy gave me in 2010. i had so hoped to have finished out that request much earlier and feel bad that some of these guys have waited so long. but this one will go to a longarm quilter soon enough and then shipped to D.C. hopefully next month.
during the holidays, i started knitting quite a bit. i made 2 scarves for gifts, a baby blanket for a dear friend's baby born just after christmas, worked a little on a WIP shawl from a few years ago and am 3/4 done on my first knit-in-the-round cowl scarf. on our christmas visit to kansas, my MIL, her friend and i went to a local yarn shop and i picked up some beautiful alpaca, cotton/linen blend and lace weight yarns. i'm looking forward to working with them later.
got to run! my 8-5 job beckons me to concentrate solely on it for a little while...