Winter is well underway and the longer nights offer a great opportunity to settle in for a good few hours of hand quilting.

Tax time is here. Receipts, financial statements and paperwork needs sorting and filing. It is also an opportunity to reflect on our quilt making and to take stock of our achievements so far. I keep a list of my sewing projects including quilts I plan to make in the future and quilts waiting to be quilted. Checking over my 2015 list I think at this point in time I have made progress. I finished quilting my Seven Sisters Quilt. This is heavily quilted with triple Baptist Fans, so the quilting took some time. The quilting on the antique red and white star quilt is going well. I am quilting the spider web design in the plain blocks. My next quilt in line for quilting is a scrap quilt, which I call Paths to Peace – this is my wish for peace in our time.

A few other odds and ends have been finished and started. My sewing room has had a tidy up and I have taken stock of projects bundled into boxes. I am hoping to finish piecing my Peony Rose quilt before Winter’s end and will be looking forward to starting a new project.

I am looking forward to a busy second half of the year. Wishing you all productive months ahead, Janette – The Plain Needlewoman.