Happy and Creative New Year to You all! I intended to post earlier but had to make a little trip quite unexpectedly and that right away crashed all my good intentions. The trip was good and I am at home again. I came home yesterday, and today I have been trying to get back to my home routine; luckily the dogs pulled me to my square quickly since I had to walk them first thing in the morning and a good, long walk clears the head and arranges all the loose ends. Before I can dive into this year's creative pursuits, I need to write about the quilts I made last year. Quilts is really too grand a word for these little pieces but in lack of better term, I call them quilts. They all are about 9" x 10" (few of them might be little bigger/smaller). My ground rules in making these were few but there were a few that I tried my best to stick to: 1. Each quilt was supposed to be done in a week, I would start a new one every Sunday and finish it by the next Saturday. 2. The size as mentioned before. 3. Any technique, any color, any theme that would interest me during the week, could be tried on a small scale - the quilt could tell about the week or then it might not - I did not want to limit myself too much, I was afraid that I would not be able to make any if there were too many rules. Here they are in the order I made them, the first one was done in October. It was raining hard. Some parts of Finland flooded during the week and I had a nightmare where my house was washed away; hence the rain in the quilt. When I made this first one, I had no plans to make a quilt a week but I thought about it while making this first one. I started this by embroidering the green patch onto the background and the rest sort of grew from there. The week was quiet, I remember walking the dogs and kicking the leaves lying on the ground. The idea of making leaves came from the background fabric that I found when cleaning the stash. If you look closely, there is one leaf there that has applique and decorative stitches on it - very much like Sue Spargo. I love her work and one day would love to make a whole quilt following her instructions. First snow and more of Sue Spargo -style applique: buillion stitches all around the owl body. We have a small quilt guild and there was lots of talk about owls and we made a few stuffed ones in our October get-together. I played with the stitches around the eyes. November full moon was brilliant, it reflected from the frozen lake; nights were truly amazing. The moon and its rings are made from lining fabric that resembles silk. Karen Eckmeier visited the Quilt Show and I was very inspired by her work. (Lots of chain stitches.) I heard that all my three girls would be home for Christmas. More Happy Villages. (I am not yet done - I plan to make a few this year too.) These snowmen were old recycled project. I had very little time on my hand (Christmas time) and had to fish the ufo pile to see if there was anything that would suit the theme. The snowfall was heavy and these snowmen were very fitting. (The two small ornaments were given to me as a Christmas present by my daughter when she was very small and I have been saving them forever not knowing where to hang them. They are a part of a set and I might take them out and make a small quilt for them all at some point.) Lumi is snow in Finnish. We are now well into this new year and because of my trip, I have to squeeze two quilts this week as I plan to make one small quilt a week this year too. The size will probably stay the same but I am thinking of setting some rules this time. I have to think about them yet. I loved making the small quilts. I love hand stitching and the small quilt is a perfect place for them. I love the idea of getting to play with any technique that interests me without having to commit onto a large project. Also getting to start a new one every single week has been very rewarding. I am not sure where to hang these or if there is ever any real use for these but I am happy that these small quilts keep me connected to my fabrics and hand stitches and each one taught me something. So this week I have to make two to keep up with my goal. I will probably make two very simple ones so that I will not fall behind too much. What do you think? Would you like to join me and make one small quilt a week, it could be even smaller, pot holder size maybe. It could be any size or shape or any technique... just one small quilt every week. Wool with you, Lene PS. "The cabin fever" quilt-drawings from last year; I thought that I would only bind them into a book or a journal for me to keep... I never really thought that I would make any from fabric, so I did not think how to quilt them... And I need to draw a new header very soon.