The last 2011 finish...on to a new year!

Ahhh...the LAST finish of 2011.  This string star quilt, "Americana String Star," was a 2010 Christmas gift that I managed to finish in time for Christmas 2011.  Better late than never, I always say.  I should have never showed it to them last Christmas...it seemed to suck all the momentum out of the project.

It is hand quilted in the ditch and also echo style.  For the larger "string" strips, I quilted kind of on the diagonal in the piece so that the overall quilting effect is fairly even over the whole surface.  (I look at the quilt while I squint to see if any puffy, unquilted places pop out at me.)

It is now hanging on the wall of one of the bedrooms in my parent's log home that they built in northwest Alabama.  It's kind of fun to hang something homemade on a wall that is homemade.

Happy New Year to you all!  It is nice to close the book on 2011 and look ahead to 2012...a blank slate, full of hope and promise, not to mention oodles of quilty ideas that need to spring from my head to fabric...SOON (before my head explodes).  I'm just not going to think about all the unfinished things I had targeted for completion in 2011.  I'm trying to focus on what I actually got accomplished despite not having enough time to sew.  It's a new year...no looking back, and no regrets!

We drove home yesterday from Christmas in the warm south to a snow/wind storm in Michigan.  That is what we are calling a New Years reality check.  We had a rainy Christmas, but the past 4 days or so were glorious and I walked outside in short sleeves!  That won't happen again for a few months.

Now to unpack and get started on some projects!  I hope you are working on some projects already!

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)