Best of 2016 Quilty Thoughts

Me...on the path to turning "50"!

  As one year ends and a new one begins, out thoughts often turn to  reflecting on the past and dreaming of the future.  In order help us do that, Meadow Mist Designs has once again posted a link up party for those that want to share.

Meeting Angela Walters:  #1 for me was my final post of the year in which I shared that I had the chance to meet Angela Walters on a recent trip to Kansas City!  As a fellow longarm quilter, she is such an inspiration to me!

What a Difference Color Choice Can Make is #2:  As an employee in my mom's quilt shop, one of the things that I do the most is help people choose fabrics for their quilts.  When I speak and do trunk shows for guilds, they most often choose to hear my thoughts on color choice.  I had purchased fabric to make a stack and whack One Block Wonder.  Rather than make one huge queen-sized quilt, I decided to explore what the blocks might look like set the same way, but with very different fabric choices.  Heads and Tails #1 and #2 were the result.  Which is your favorite and why?

Bonnie Hunter Quilt Retreat was another favorite, and makes it into the #3 spot.  Several good friends and I had a fabulous time meeting Bonnie in Sioux City, IA at a retreat there, and I got a chance to share pics of my friends and of the projects that we worked on for two days with lots of fun ladies.  Quilters seriously are the BEST people!  Just realized that two of my top five involve meeting my quilting "idols"...:)

Crazy, Quilty June hits #4.  I was so busy with quilting fun in June that the month went by in a blur!  I started the month with a quilt retreat in Creston, IA and was barely able to catch my breath before I loaded up all my best quilts and headed to Aurora, NE where I was the featured quilter in their annual guild quilt show.  The post includes tons of pics of some of my favorite people, and lots of my favorite quilts!

Which Type of Quilter Are You?  is my pick for #5.  As I thought about all the quilters that I know and the ones that I read about in magazines, watch on tv, and follow on Facebook, Twitter, etc., I started to really ponder why each of us makes quilts, and what we choose to do with them.  What I ended up with was one of my favorite posts of the year because in the end, it doesn't matter why we quilt or what we do with the quilts we make.  What matters is the community we have while we do it!  Each to his or her own!