2013: the Year of the Finished Project

Well, here we are -- the last post of this challenge.

For some of you, this has been a great year in terms of getting UFOs completed. For me, the year wasn't as productive as I would have liked.

However, I have met some new blog friends and completed some UFOs/WiPs. People have been very encouraging and that's always a good thing, right?

My December goals looked like this:

1. Notebook Covers for sewing classmates
2. Scrappy Diagonals quilt
3. Knitted Patchwork #2 blanket
4. Hearts quilt
5. Westall Cardigan

So how did I do?

The Notebook Covers (link to tutorial) didn't happen. Honestly, I couldn't imagine anyone getting excited about them as a gift, I fussed about what fabric to use for each person and, in the end, decided to just buy them something. This is the first time I've done that since I started in the class -- in 2011 I made wheat bags and in 2012 I made apricot slice. To save myself angst, I have already put "start Christmas gifts for classmates" in my calendar for late June! I don't want to be caught out again buying gifts from the store at the last minute!

I have not touched the Westall Cardigan at all. I am still not convinced that the pattern works in the yarn I have chosen. On Tuesday morning it occurred to me to knit a swatch of the lace pattern to see how it blocks out -- doh! You'd think as a knitting tutor, making a swatch and blocking it would be "normal" for me but its not, I still don't think about it until something like this happens! The photo shows the cardigan with no sleeves; I have done one sleeve but am not happy with my short row shaping! This yarn has great stitch definition – just what I don’t need!

Nearly all of my knitting in December was related to finishing Knitted Patchwork II. This was completed on 17 December. Older Grandson seemed to take a liking to it but didn't miss it when I put it away so it has gone into the pile of completed blankets to be stored for when they're needed.

  
I finished the Diagonal Strings quilt on 13 December. It was good to get it done. I'm not sure I like that method of QAYG -- I have a great deal of trouble pin-stitching the sashing in place! I guess only further practice will improve that!

The Hearts quilt finally got its day in the sun on 31 December, not that I did much! I started writing a long description about it but decided to save that for my "thank goodness it's finished" post (hopefully sometime in January).  I was going to say it would be my UFO for January but it can't be -- it's a WiP because I've worked on it in the last three months! Sorry about the angle of the photo – this is the only way I can see all of what's on my design wall; my cutting table, which can’t be moved (seen in bottom right of photo), gets in the way.

It is this project that I am linking up with A Lovely Year of Finishes over at Fiber at All Sorts blog. After debating with myself over the best way to finish it, I have finally decided to QAYG row by row!

Well, folks, that's it. The Year of the Finished Project is over. Thank you for being a part of this and playing along with me. I invite you to join my "Something Old, Something New" (SOSN) challenge which starts today (the Linky party is on the second day of each month). The first post for SOSN will be published later today (Australian Eastern Summer Time).

How about you? How did you go with your goals for getting projects finished in December?

Please link the URL of your blogpost here so we can all visit and see what you've been doing.

Thanks once again for joining in -- see you over at SOSN!