#2016BestNineQuiltFinishes

That hashtag #2016BestNine popped up again on Instagram over the last couple of weeks and I highlighted my favorite best nine quilt finishes for the year, so I thought I'd share them all with you and reminisce about my year in quilting. As always, I surprised myself that I had even completed nine projects with the lack of sewing that I have done in the past few months!

In no particular order.....

1. Spell It With Moda Quilt

I was selected as one of the co-hosts of Moda Bake Shop's ABC Birthday Sew-Along at the beginning of 2016 and I made a few different projects throughout the year using Moda's Spell It With Moda letter patterns. This project ended up being the last project I completed for the year (it's finish was delayed due to my mom's car accident). I changed up the pattern a bit by framing each of the letters and blocks with the background fabric to make 10" x 12" finished blocks, making the quilt finish at 60" x 60". I used a leftover fat quarter bundle of Sunkissed fabric by Sweetwater for Moda and I love the colors combinations.

The remaining fabric was pieced together for the backing along with some Bella Solid white. I quilted it using diagonal lines placed randomly in white, yellow, hot pink and gray.

2. Robots All In A Row Quilt

Absolutely my most favorite quilt of the year because I designed and made this quilt for my grandson! My inspiration came from fabric I found by Makower UK called "Little Monsters Robots" by The Henley Studio. There's just so much to say about this quilt and I kind of already did on my original blog post, so click on the heading "Robots All In A Row" and it will take you to that post for all the details and lots of photos. Actually, this quilt was so epic that I blogged about it more than once, so here's another link. (FYI - you can click on each of the headings to go to the original posts).

3. Modern Gem 4-Patch Quilt

This quilt was a UFO from back in my quilt shop owner days and was a demo on how to make a quick 4-patch block the Me and My Sister way. After the top was finished, I tucked it away thinking it was so blah. I pulled it out at the beginning of the year and finished the quilt up. It was kind of boring and I really needed something to spicy it up. I found it in a quilting pattern called Modern Gem. I just love how the quilting turned out.

4. Have Yourself A Quilty Little Christmas Quilt

If you follow my blog, you know I love Lori Holt of Bee In My Bonnet. So when she had a sew-along a couple of years ago on Instagram for this quilt, I saved each post in a file with hopes of making it someday. Well, that someday came earlier this year. I picked up the Christmas fabrics in this quilt at JoAnn's and then filled in the rest with my stash. I love it and really enjoyed displaying it this year for Christmas.

5. Bonnie & Camille Log Cabin Swap Quilt

This was my first experience with participating in a swap on Instagram and what an epic one it was - with over 200 swappers! Of course this swap was so popular because there are so many Bonnie and Camille fabric fans, and who doesn't love the colors featured in their lines! Lissa Alexander, Director of Marketing at Moda, put together the original log cabin swap with a group of Moda designers and you can get her directions for the block and swap here.

6. Farm Girl Layer Cake Mini Quilt

In June, I was invited to help Lori Holt celebrate the one year anniversary of her Farm Girl Vintage Sew-Along by making this Farm Girl Layer Cake block, which I turned into a mini quilt. It was a fun block to make (you can get the free pattern here) and I framed it with squares from one of Lori Holt's fabric panels. My favorite part of this quilt, though, is the cable quilting pattern!

7. Howdy Y'all Quilt

As I mentioned earlier, I was one of the hosts for Moda Bake Shop's ABC Birthday Sew-Along. As part of that event, each host designed a filler block that could be used with the letter blocks. I designed a cowboy boot and made this quilt to hang on my split rail fence to welcome visitors to the farm. Check out my Moda Bake Shop recipe for my Cowboy Boot block tutorial. I love how the quilting shows up on this quilt too!

8. Quilts For Peace Quilt

My son-in-law is a police officer in Texas so the killing of the five police officers last summer in Dallas hit close to home. I joined in the effort to make blue heart quilts to give to the families of the fallen officers. I made this quilt and donated it to the Dallas Modern Quilt Guild.

And I included a label expressing my gratitude for their ultimate sacrifice.

9. Whirl & Twirl Mini Quilt

I designed this Whirl & Twirl block pattern for the Pat Bravo Mini Quilt Blog Tour last April featuring some of Pat's Art Gallery Fabrics collections. This is probably my most favorite block I've designed thus far. I just love the secondary pattern it creates. The blue pinwheels reminds me of old fashion windmills and the pink blades reminds me of the modern day wind turbine. Click on the link above for the free block tutorial. Again, I just love the quilting on this mini, it really makes the quilt pop.

And there you have it....my Best Nine Quilt Finishes for 2016. I can't wait to see what opportunities 2017 will bring!

Best Wishes For A Happy New Year!

~Sharla

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