kaykuilts

Due to bum shoulders, I've had to take a break from rotary cutting, ironing and manipulating large quilts. I've turned to crazy quilting and love it. It brings out the creativity in me. I mentioned my crazy quilt blocks at a local quilt shop. The gal waiting on me said she would be interested in seeing them. You guessed it---I'll be teaching a class in the fall. I'm planning a hexagon table runner in whites, off whites, ecrues, tans and creams. Then I'll teach the embroidery stitches and the really fun part, embellishments. I love it!
Soon though, I'll be back to regular quilting. I have two wedding quilts to make.

patdesign

I use the cotton batting from warm and natural and in the last 6 months the price for a queen size pkg has increased $6.00 which is a percentage of of almost 20%. Sad!

Rose_P

For me the biggest change in recent months was coming to the realization that I was hoarding lots of scraps and never actually using them. I was inspired by Bonnie Hunter to cut them into usable pieces (have barely made a dent, so far!). I have made a wheelchair size quilt entirely from scraps, used the off-cut hsts from it to make a pinwheel doll quilt, and have made a piano keys border on a queen sized quilt top, and I also have a couple of piles of blocks ready to use for other quilts. It's rewarding to see progress, and strangely, it also helps me to see what is useful and what isn't and to let go of some of the excess that has been hanging around for too long.

Neesie

My biggest change was getting some space, TO quilt. We moved/greatly downsized, about three years ago; I lost my sewing room and my sewing machine was shoved into a small space, with no room for a cutting table. This year, dh worked on insulating and finishing the inside of a shed, for me. It isn't perfect (still being used for some storage) but I now have room to actually cut and sew! I also bought myself a new sewing machine, after 35 years.

b.zang

Well, I've started an english paper piecing quilting that will take more than a year at my current pace. It feels like a huge commitment but I'm anticipating getting better along the way. Will hide my initial blocks in the bottom corner of the quilt. I've wanted a "take-along" quilting project for years and look forward to quilting on the go over the next year.

butterflies5518

Learning to paper piece for me and making several on my bucket list for "just because".

RugosaB

My Joann's, which has been on this side of town as long as I've been sewing (I'm 54, and started in grade school)is now closed. There's a bigger, fancier one on the other side of town, so it means I look for 'free shipping' deals, and order online usually.

MacThayer

Let's see, two things have changed really. One is that things have been financially very tight, so I've been quilting out of my stash. That's been a real eye opener, not just because of the size of my stash, which is very decent, but because my stash is finite. I've been forced to consider choices I would never have dreamed of putting together before, and guess what? They not only worked, but some of them worked brilliantly! I would say I've learned more about color choices, value, hue, and putting it all together in the last few months, than I have to date, no exaggeration! No more relying on the "tried and true". I have been propelled into the circle of "edgy color choices". And I'm loving it! What fun! It has kept my "unsewing tool" busy at times, because the colors don't always work when put together, but hey, that's just part of the fun. No risk, no gain.

Also, a dear friend gave me a series of Craftsy courses to take on line, which have kept me very busy, and I'm learning a lot. She was very sneaky and pretended her sister had become interested in quilting, and Oh, by the way, would I go over what I thought were the most important courses to take? Of course I did, unwittingly. Then I forwarded to her the site when all of the courses went on the most incredible sale. The next thing I knew, I had 6 courses to complete, and a complete Happy Birthday song on my answering machine! Sometimes it amazes me how generous people can be.

MargeD

The biggest change in my quilting this year is that I haven't been able to do much quilting/sewing due to a spinal cord injury to my neck in Feb. which drastically changed my life. After surgery I spent 4 months in rehab. - no sewing machines there, but I am happy to report that through a lot of hard work and therapy I have regained the use of my hands and I'm now able to stand and walk using a walker. I have to pace myself, but each day makes me stronger and each day I can make progress on some of my UFO's started before the fall. I've even completed 3 blocks from the Craftsy BOM and I can't wait to see what comes next. So - for the remainder of 2012 I hope to make many more blocks and quilts to make up for lost time, and all the while I'm thankful for what I can do now.

emlee51

Like a few of the quilters on this thread, my finances have been tight so I've made a commitment to shop from my stash to make my scrappie quilts. I've got a pile of UFOs I want to finish, and all the while starting other projects. I've several kits that need to be made, and I'm also making some crafts to sell at a small shop in town. A busy year for me, indeed!