2023 is almost over folks. I made a lot of quilts this year. I quilted a lot of quilts this year too, but I figured I would show some of the ones I made and quilted in case you missed them in the moment they were up on Instagram. I am busy writing patterns for most of these quilts, so keep tuned in if you want to make one for yourself.

I think this was the first quilt I finished in 2023. I started it last year trying to riff on my regular Berry Jam quilt. I used some hand dyed fabric and got a little bored with the blues and greens, so I added some red triangles. The red triangles were lots of fun, but I had some small black triangles too, so they joined in. I wanted to soften the quilt up a bit so I utilized some subtle curved quilting. I quilted the quilt with an uneven grid. The grid adds a lovely texture and doesn’t distract from the fun piecing. I love how happy and zesty this quilt turned out to be. I am happy to announce that this quilt will be hanging at QuiltCon in Raleigh, NC in February. If you plan to go you can find it in the Maximalist section.

This is probably the best quilt I have ever made. I absolutely love it. This is 2022 at a glance. I finished it in early 2023. A couple of ladies in KCMQG were making temperature quilts last year and I was a little interested. I am not much of a joiner, but it sounded fun so I figured I would give it a try. I didn’t think I would last through the first month, but I FELL IN LOVE with the process. I dedicated a day planner to this project and every day I wrote down the high and low temperatures ( the center of the square is the low temp the outside of the square is the high temperature) I also included the weather (did it rain or snow?). Rain days have a small white half-square triangle, and snow days have a narrow white frame. I am a busy lady so the black dots are days I was away from home teaching or traveling. I planned to embroider the where and what I was doing onto the blocks. Then it dawned on me, that this is such a busy year, I need to keep track of the other important things. I started to embroider birthdays and special days. My oldest son graduated from high school and then joined the Army, both those days are stitched into the quilt (some tears too of course), and my daughter’s travels are recorded as are birthdays, anniversaries, and days I planted various things in my garden.

Above is a detailed shot of the quilt. The narrow black and white stripe is Friday and the wider black and white stripe is the first of each month. I included a key on the side of the quilt in the first picture to show what the temperature colors were. This is one of my very favorite quilts.

I need to just feature each quilt one at a time instead of a big lineup. What was I thinking?

What do you think of these two? Let me know in the comments below.

Two of my quilts…one is my favorite ever.

Berry Jam Quilt Pattern! Take a look at these for some inspiration.