The 2006 Tally

I pretty much have a photo of all the quilts and patchwork related projects I've done over the years. They're all in photo albums with hand lettered captions listing the name of the quilt, the size and the date. But in an effort to track my creations a little more, I created a database in Excel. There I list more detailed information, such as the name of the quilt, the colors, size, hand or machine quilted, photo taken, recipient, inspiration source, etc. I eventually added information for "Begun" and "Completed", because a simple "Date" wasn't enough. Maybe some quilters don't *want* to know how long their projects sit before they're completed... =) But it's also fun when an entry reads, "Begun: June 2005. Completed December 2005".

So I checked in on my database recently. I was looking to see if I'd photographed a quilt I'd finished recently. And to my surprise there weren't any entries since 2005. I had some catching up to do! I was racking my brain trying to remember what I'd created in 2006 when I remembered it was all on my Blog! I logged in, worked my way back through my posts, and Voila!

I made three flannel receiving blankets for charity
Two Friendship blocks for the guild
A machine quilted nine-patch baby quilt for charity
A Pin Blossom pincushion
A miniature Sawtooth Star ornament
Four strip pieced tree ornaments
and...

What else??

Looking back over previous years I noticed I usually managed to complete at least a lap quilt or two. What happened in 2006??

Well I worked full-time in a very difficult job. I often came home so mentally exhausted all I did was zone on computer games in the evening. Maybe all I could manage were small, relatively quick projects. -- Then I remembered, I pieced a Log Cabin top and a Majestic Mountains in Batiks with my mini-group, no photo taken... and another scrap-happy top from a pattern Bonnie has on her site called "Almost Bowtie". AND... 48 Snail Trail blocks. Well NO WONDER! I needed all those small, break out projects to keep my sanity!

I'm not so worried that I didn't create a long list of full-sized quilts. The long-term projects that I pick up and put down don't show in the database... so time is being spent on hand applique', embroidery, a penny rug, etc. It's just interesting to me to have it all in one place and see what I've been working on.

If you're interested in seeing a blank Quilt History database, or want to try tracking your quilt projects, feel free to use my template. Once you click on the link it will ask if you want to save or open. You'll need to save it to your local computer in order to use it. And you'll need Excel 2002 sp3.
Cheers!