Duckworth Quilt, Sports Top, and the End of the Year

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Here is a weird picture to start this post.

This photo was taken at the November guild meeting.  Yes, that's me, caught mid-sentence, being the meeting moderator.  My friend Margaret and I are holding up my entry in the guild's Duckworth Quilt Challenge.

Duckworth quilts are named for the originator, Jo-Ann Merrill-Duckworth.  It is essentially a free-form wonky log cabin.  (Click HERE for a good explanation by Lea Ann Brummit of Podunk Pretties Quilting.)  Our guild held a challenge to make a Duckworth quilt.  It was a fun way to try a new technique, and many of us then donated the finished quilts.

Many/most Duckworth quilts use only two colors, but I just couldn't resist adding more.  The center of each of my blocks is a 2 in. square of yellow duckie fabric (of course!).

Why did I post such a weird picture of my quilt?   Because I didn't take any of my own!  Somehow I forgot to photograph it before bringing it to the meeting and putting it in the donation pile.  Doh!  So I'm posting the pictures our guild media person took.

Here's the back, a print with a dog, a bear, and of course a cute little duckling.

Everyone who participated got this adorable patch!

I might make more of these blocks sometime.  They're kind of like a more-organized crumb quilt.

In other news, I finished this Scrappy Bricks top that has been languishing since May.  I was trying to decide if I should add a border or not.  In the end I decided all these seams at the ends of the rows needed to have a border in place to keep them from raveling out.

The quilt is a real mishmash of all kinds of sports fabrics:  football, baseball, basketball, hockey, cycling, soccer, skateboarding, etc.  It's chaotic, not my usual style at all.  I made it to donate to the Children's Advocacy Center using a free pattern from The Linus Connection in Texas.  (Click HERE for the Scrappy Bricks pattern in four sizes, or click HERE for a list of free patterns and ideas.)

I hope a young sports fan will enjoy it after it is quilted.

The year 2025 is rapidly coming to an end.  I'm looking forward to seeing all the year end posts and being reminded of all the wonderful quilts that were finished this year.

I also like to look through my Quilters Journal and see how I did. I started this journal to track how many quilts I started in a given year, and how many of those were actually finished.  I didn't want to have tons of UFOs (who does?) and hoped writing these down would help me push through and finish things.

So, what's the score for 2025?  On the plus side, I finished 20 quilts this year, mostly small ones, pieced, quilted and bound.  I donated all but the flannel cat one I made for my daughter's family (above).  I also donated 16 pieced tops, mostly lap or small twin sized.

On the other hand, I have 6 small quilt tops not yet quilted, like the one above Snicky is sleeping under.  Plus there is one problem top I need to fix.  

And that doesn't count all the Rainbow Scrap Challenge block sets I haven't finished from this year OR last year.  I'm pretty sure there are a couple of sets from even before that!  So there is always more quilting to be done, and I am very thankful for it.

We didn't take very many pictures at our family party this year (too busy!), but I did want to preserve this wonderful cookie "art" done by the grandkids.  Two of my favorites are the green Grinch in the upper right and the Santa in the center with the goofy viral 6 7 on his beard.  

I hope your holidays were/are lovely and safe.  Happy New Year, everyone!  And as always, Happy Quilting.

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday