2012 A Year of Finishing Projects

As far as finishing projects 2012 was a good year.

Valentine's day Pillow

Kindle case version 1, 2, and 3  

T- shirt quilt.  There is not a lot of progress on this project.

Disney is always an inspiration.  I made a couple ornaments, got some fabric signed for future projects and made a travel wallet for my adventures into the park.

I went to Walt Disney World 3 times within 2012.  I even saw Disneyland Paris' castle at Walt Disney World that I would later see in person.

I left Disneyland but not before getting some photos with the Fab 5!

I traveled 1650 miles back to Kansas City.

I caught onto the embroidery hoop craze and made Disneyland Railroad, Kansas Sunflower and the 1912 Jayhawk.

I went all around KC when I got back.  I went to Union Station, the Overland Park arboretum and Royals games.

I started and actually finished a queen size quilt within the same year!

I bought some books, tore them apart and made many different, wonderful things from them.

I love making all those paper flowers!

And coasters!

After moving home and taking time off I went on the biggest adventure of my life.  I went to Europe for 3 1/2 weeks.  What an amazing time.

I started in London during the break between the Olympics and Paralympics.  When I came back to London after my two week bus tour the Paralympics were in full swing.

Kensington Palace gardens and grounds were beautiful.

I got super lost in York.

Crossed an international border without feeling like it.

Went to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

Found some ruins at the base of Arthur's Seat.

Visited Loch Lomond.

Climbed the steps the Giant's Causeway

Walked around the Aran Islands.

Went to the Cliffs of Moher.

I made more paper roses but this time out of Disneyland Maps.

I finished my grandfather's fall quilt.  It is one of my favorite quilts I've made.

I made some ornaments.  My annual ornament with paper cranes.  And I made some ornaments from wedding bouquets that both couples loved.

And after about 10 years sitting in a tin I found something to make from my paper cranes.  Christmas tree garland made from candy wrappers.  Pretty awesome.

And my brother and wife's quilt.  It only took me about a year and a half to finish but it is done now!

Origami Cranes ornament

Continuing with the Christmas cranes projects.  Last year I made glass bulb ornaments with Disneyland Maps curled inside.

This year my ornaments have origami cranes inside.  I made all the cranes in high school and they have been sitting in a Lord of the Rings tin for many years.  Now that The Hobbit is out in theaters it was time to open my Two Towers tin.  I made tons of them over the years.  There were about 10,000 inside so I had plenty of cranes to choose from.  

I picked out many different papers and put them inside the ornaments.  I decided to put cranes in the ornament from the same paper inside.  Some were green, some were pink, some white, some were made from wrapping paper, some from Andies mint wrappers.  I kept one with a music score.

I'm glad I kept all those cranes over they years.  Now to figure out what to do with the 9,000 cranes left.  

Make 9 wishes?

Christmas Crane Garland

So over the years I have made thousands of paper cranes.  I've made probably 15,000 and I don't think that it much if at all of an exaggeration.  I made most of them in high school and since them they have been sitting in tins in our basement.  And this year I had a couple ideas of what to do with them.

Again please forgive me for the bad photos.  I almost always work on/finish my projects at night and need a flash to take photos.

I started with an idea.  What about using my Starburst cranes to make garland for my Christmas tree.  I started pulling the colors out that I wanted and started to notice it was going to be a very difficult and long process unless I divided up my entire stash.

Like many of my other projects I got in a bit too deep!  I had so many different red ones that were almost impossible to tell apart.

 I took about 2 1/2 hours to divide up all of the cranes.  It was worth it.  So much simpler to find all the different colors!

Once separated I split into small colored piles.  I used 6-10 of each color.  I had 18 different colors.  Who even knew that there were even 18 different flavors of Starburst!  

From there I used a needle and hand quilting thread to string them together.

 I'm very happy with the result.  It adds a lot of extra color to my Christmas tree.  And I hope that those who receive them for Christmas gifts like them too.

So all that time in class during high school that I was making these instead of holding my complete attention was well worth my effort.  It only took me about 10 years to figure out what to do with them!