My finishes in 2015

So here is my little summary of projects from 2015.

I was able to finish 3 quilts, 3 pillows (one whole cloth pillow is not shown below) and a few smaller sewing projects. At first this 'outcome' seemed very disappointing to me. I have so many ideas and projects I want to make but I simply don't have the time. Considering I work full time, I do enjoy spending time with my husband, friends and family and I do a lot of sports this is all I can do. And I have come to terms with that. I admire other quilters who have several full days per week where all they do is sewing... I'm dreaming about that alright, but sewing, quilting and blogging about it is just my hobby. I have to be realistic with my goals otherwise I am disappointed by my own non-progress and that's not good. I have figured out that I'm able to make 3 to 4 quilts a year, and that's ok. I want to make good quilts. Quality is better than quantity, right? 

And looking back to what I have worked on in 2015 made me realise that I don't particularly like working on commissioned quilts.... the one I made felt like a job that needed to be done, because that's what is was. The sewing time for myself is so limited that I've made the decision to not make another commissioned quilt in a long time. I felt exhausted after I finished that quilt and I didn't do much sewing afterwards. Small sewing projects brought me back on track though.
I loved making the pillow covers, they are quick to make and a great way to try out new blocks or a new quilting style and for using up scraps.

Now to the finished quilts from 2015:
Most viewed is my 'Head over heels' quilt, which I linked up with the Bloggers Quilt Festival in May. 
I really like the dark sashing in the quilt as the colours and log cabin blocks do really stand out.This was also my first commissioned quilt.

I'm most proud of my 'Plus One' quilt which I finished in February. This is also the second most viewed blog post on my blog. I so do love the fresh colours and the crumply touch of the straight line quilting.

The free motion quilting really made my October quilt very special and I'm super happy how my quilting has improved.This is the blog post with the most comments.

And I am also very happy about my quilting bee, which I started this year. It will be my turn in January/ February and I'm all excited about it!

I have also joined Pinterest, a happy place but also a time trap which I'm aware of and use it carefully.

I'm linking this to Cheryl from Meadow Mist Designs, she's holding a link up party with all finishes of 2015, go check it out!

Scrappy pillow

Too many scraps make me nervous. Seriously. My space for scraps is very limited in these jars, and I tend to put bigger pieces of fabric back with the actual yardage and sometimes I ask myself when is fabric scrap?
Anyway, I had a few smaller scraps of the beautiful '2wenty Thr3e' fabric by Cosmo Cricket left over from my October quilt and I juts needed to make a pillow out of them.

I added lots of beige as I had tons of little strips left over too. I did straight line quilting in beige and mustard and also added a mustard coloured piping, that just gives the pillow a nice frame.

I'm not that happy with the piping though. I chose a very thick cording and it was very difficult to make nice corners. Also the structure of the cording is kind of visible... hm, will not do that again.

Instead of this pillow I had actually planned to make another Christmas table runner, but that didn't happen. 
And I learned that when creativity strikes you have to give in and just do it.

This is my last project for 2015. I'm working on a quilt right now but I don't think I will be able to finish it this week. This will be on my To-Do-List for 2016!

Linking this to Crazy Mom Quilts on a Monday!