WIP Wednesday.

I am still moving slow and steady.  Limp, Limp... I am able to put a little more weight on my ankle every day.

I was able to get the border on this quilt and I am working on piecing the backing from the leftovers.  There comes a point and time when I don't want to look at certain fabrics anymore!  This is when I get really creative and find a way to use them up on the back.

Hopefully I can get the backing finished this week and be able to stand long enough to quilt this weekend.

Yeah another flimsy!  It looks like I need to look at the UFO parade for something else to work on.

Slow Moving

Since my ankle incident, I am slow moving.  I can only stand for short periods of time and my movements aren't very fluid.  I didn't have a project all cut out and ready to sew besides this charity quilt.  Tina came over on Sunday to be my pressing slave.  She was so patient with my lack of speed.  I was able to get the rows all sewn together and ready for borders.

I have made further progress today by cutting the borders and positioning them so I can get them sewn together.  Perhaps I will have a flimsy by Friday.  This was a charity kit that I made up years ago from scraps that I had on hand.  It goes together really quickly and it is a fun design.  I think I would like to make a larger version and omit the borders.  With the borders, this is a perfect lap size quilt.

Unexpected Event

I had lots of quilting planned for this weekend until I experienced an expected event.  It was certainly an act of gracefulness.  While taking a walk I rolled my ankle on a section of sidewalk that had been partially removed.  I experienced quite a roll as I tumbled to the ground.  I now have a beautiful elephant ankle that is all sorts of pretty colors.  Yesterday was spent icing and elevating.

I managed to put together a quilt top for charity.  These blocks have lived with me for many years.  It was a group project where everyone brought in a fat quarter of his/her ugliest fabric.  We swapped these fabrics and everyone made the same block (or mostly the same).  It was a great way to experiment with color.  Many used the Joen Wolfrum Color Tool  .  I made several blocks because I thought it was a great exercise.  Besides - I didn't want any of the fabric I received to remain in my stash.

I had enough blocks, that I sorted them,  The first 12 blocks were mostly dark and country fabrics,  I had the perfect sashing and border fabric in my stash.  Can you spot which fabrics were deemed the ugly fabric in the blocks.

 This is the second set of blocks.  I don't have them together yet, but I plan to put this set together without sashing and make a baby quilt version.

I plan to get these together this week and work on a few more UFOs.


Does anyone recognize the block they made?

Friday Finishes

It's pretty exciting for me, but I have some finishes to report (due solely to the school cancellation).  I have also been sneaking little bits of time in the evening in the studio.  After some major cleaning and putting things away, I can find my sewing surfaces.

I quilted my curvy log cabin this week (I love the cute photo bomb).  I did a simple all over feather design.  When I got to the bottom, I realized I had some leftover backing.

Since I just updated my UFO parade, I was able to find the perfect projects to use up the backing.  These were intended to be pillows, so it really didn't matter what the backing fabric was.  They are my 24" nested churn dash blocks.  I love this pattern so much.  I can see making it into a bed quilt easily.  I may use one block for a pillow and the other for a wall hanging.  I really haven't decided yet.

This would be my first finish(s) of the year.

I have a busy weekend of painting and helping with household repairs, but I hope to sneak in a little more sewing time.

In the Studio again

I had a fabulous weekend in the studio.  I spent most of the weekend cleaning so there was a path.  I can now walk around all obstacles!  Finishing more UFOs will certainly give me more space.

I had to find my cutting table so I could start working my January plan.  On the list was to finish the 4 red projects I started- 3 table runners and a pillow.  I have them all put together, I just need to get them quilted and bound.  These projects made a big dent in my little bits of fabric.  I plan to make more of them from the Stripology book this year.  These projects did NOT make a dent in my red/pink scraps.  It looks like I have more red/pink projects in my future.

I even found some great backing fabrics finish them off.  The fabric on the heart will be the backing to the pillow.

I plan to get these quilted with something quick this weekend.

I looked through my blue scraps (not nearly as many as I thought) and picked a project.  

I still need to quilt one UFO this month.  I have plenty to pick from here.

I hope to squeeze in some more studio time this week along with helping my hubby work on projects.

Stop over to Patchwork Times to see what others are working on this week.

The January Plan

The UFO parade helped to "organize" my massive amount of projects under way.  For January I have a few goals (yes, I know the month is more than half over)

1. finish the red/pink projects that I started (4 to be exact)
2. Quilt one UFO from the list.
3. Start to organize my blue scraps and pick some projects for February to start.  

That seem pretty reasonable.  I am trying to limit myself to smaller projects so I can complete them easier.  This worked pretty well last year.  I need some new things to keep the old things fun and interesting.

Because post without pictures are just boring, I will show you pictures of my half done red/pink projects (heart pillow, 3 runners).  Both the runner patterns are from the Stripology book.  The back ground is a white with little pink dots from the hello Petal Collection of fabric.  It is a great background.

UFO parade (Part 3)

Partially Pieced

Most of these are the ones that were "left behind" last year.  There are a few new ones, but most of these are old ones that I neglected to work on.  These are the ones that take up the most space because there are still a lot of parts to keep track of.

1.  a few postage stamp blocks.  I am in no hurry to finish this one.












2.  Raggy brick quilt.  I couldn't find the project to take a new photo.  I know it is in my studio somewhere.










3.  These didn't move out of the container either  Since all the blocks are already quilted, this would be a quick finish.











4.  This is Bonnie's tobacco road pattern with the pieces larger.  I hope to get this into at least flimsy stage.

 5.  This is Bonnie's quilt Easy Street.  I cut the pieces in 2014 and I started piecing the blocks.  I love the colors so I hope to finish it in 2015.

6.  This is canned pears from Fig tree.  I love this quilt.  I have the columns done...but...If you go larger, the columns aren't the same size.  I just need to figure this out and piece the checkerboard border.

 




7.  This is another project I intend to work on this year.  I did get it out to make calculations on what I needed to do to finish.   I wanted to use it for leader-enders but my foot has an edge guide.  I can't sew corner to corner with this on.

 8 and 9.  Lots of Christmas sampler blocks.  Lots and lots.









10.  This is an oldie.  I am not sure if I will ever finish it.  I no longer have a relationship with the person I started to make the quilt for.  This certainly put out the fire to finish it.














11.  This is Roll, Roll Cotton Bowl (another Bonnie mystery).  All the units are done, but I haven't started assembly.

12.  This is the Orca Bay mystery from Bonnie.  I only have the triangle string blocks to finish.  My sister assembled hers in 2014 and it is amazing.  I will make some progress on this quilt in 2015, but probably not a finish.






13.  Ellen advised me to pitch this version of swoon, but I think it will be a colorful picnic blanket.  I didn't intend for it to be so pink, but WOW!  I have plenty of pink for the sashing as the pattern is written.  I am wondering if I should use scraps of other colors to tone it down.















14. I have 2 nested churn dash blocks (love that pattern by the way)
15.  I have a LOT of Farmer's Wife blocks.
16.  Grand Illusion Mystery from Bonnie 2014- I have decided to go with the solid sashing. The checkerboard wasn't working for me.  Perhaps it was just the colors I chose.  I may go with 2 1/2" sashing strips with a 4 patch in the middle.  I haven't auditioned it yet.

 17. Love these country scrappy blocks.  I have tons and tons of them finished.  I am not sure why I never put them together.

 18.  These blocks from the ugly fabric challenge have not been finished into a quilt either.  I love how differently they all look.

 19 and 20.  This wall hanging is put together, but I am leaving this on the post with all the blocks because she has a brother that is not put together.

  21.  This is the current project on my design wall.  It is Jaybird Quilts Hugs and Kisses pattern.  I made it with a Christmas jelly roll and a few extra scraps.  I hope to get the block together so I can take it down off the wall.















I hope this is the end of the parade.  I have found some other quilts ("additions") and I edited Part 1 and Part 2.  I have to admit I was a little depressed when the total list climbed over 50.  In an effort to keep my studio organized, I increased my goal of finishes for the year.

The happy part of this story- there are only a few quilts on the partially pieced list that I started last year.  That means fewer stalled projects!!  I may not have gotten them all quilted, but at least they are put together.

I hope you enjoyed my colorful quilt parade.  Hopefully I will have a few less to report next year.

UFO Parade (Part 2)

Quilts that need borders...

Yes, it is sad but true.  I often stop working on a quilt when it needs just the borders.  The good news is that some of these were in pieces last year so I did make progress on them.

1.  This is a mystery quilt designed by me for the quilt group a few (or more) years ago

 2.  This was an attempt to use up scraps with a simple 4-patch quilt.  It is ready for a border or two (if I could just make a decision)









3.  This is a scrappy log cabin quilt.  I love it but I have struggled to find the perfect border.

















4.  I lost energy on this project when I got to the borders.  It is made up of mostly Christmas fabrics that I wanted to use up.










5.  This is a BEAUTY!  It needs borders to be big enough for my bed.  My friend Eleanor made this from scraps from my bin along with others.  It is all hand sewn using the English paper piecing method.












6.  This was a great use of bright scraps.  It is the barn raising setting.  Hope to get borders on this one also this year.

 7.  This is a bad choice of colors for a log cabin. I am trying to locate the border fabric so I can finish this quilt and donate it.

 8.  This too has been waiting a few years for borders.  It is a large wall hanging or lap quilt.















9.  This Irish Chain quilt was made with 1 1/2" squares.  Hopefully I can figure out the borders this year.













10.  Not sure what to say about this quilt.  It has been tucked away for a lot of years waiting for the final border.  I think it might just be time to quilt it and move on.

 11. & 12.  2 coin quilts that only need 4 pieces of fabric each.  Why oh why?










13.  this one is still on the list too.  It will either be finished or passed to a knew home.  I may complete it without borders.  I made the borders 2 times only to discover the pattern was wrong.

 My model grew tired of the parade already.  She decided that sun bathing was a better option.  It is a good thing she didn't know it was -10 outside.

I love it when dogs lay upside down and smile

UFO Parade (Part 1)

Ready to Quilt

It's that time of year when I like to recap all the things I did not get completed in my sewing room.  It takes a lot of time to lay them all out, but I think it is worth it for several reasons.  The best reason is that I can reference this list throughout the year to keep moving forward.  This helps me stay organized and be able to pick up a project and remember where I was headed with it.

Part one of the parade is projects ready to be quilted.  Part 2 will be projects that need borders or other finishing touches.  Part 3 will be all other quilts in various stages.  I am not including projects in a box if they haven't been started yet.  Once I start sewing, I put them on the list.

 1.  These were orphan blocks last year, now they are set and ready to quilt.










2.  This is a pillow I made using the Hex N' More ruler.












3.  This is another pillow made with Moda Candy pack.  It was a super fun project.












4, 5, 6.- Summer, Spring and Fall Banners (Winter has been checked off the list)






































7.  Herringbone lap quilt












8.  Country Curvy Log Cabin Quilt

 9.  Green Curvy Log Cabin Quilt












10.  Bonnie Mystery - Orange Crush












11.  Lewis and Clark Sampler


















12.  Woven Ribbons Quilt


















13.  Funky Monkey Quilt


















14.  Blue Crosses Quilt













15.  Baby Quilt with Pinwheels

 16.  Ugly Fabric Challenge quilt

 17.  Mystery quilt from more than 10 years ago!  YIKES!!

 18.  Snowman table Topper or Wall hanging

 19.  Snowman Table Topper

20.  Hexie vintage top


















21.  Mystery quilt from long ago.  Borders are finally on!










22.  Carolina Crossroads.  This was Bonnie's first mystery.  I finally put the blocks together and the borders on.











23.  This Halloween quilt has been ready to quilt for years, but I never quite get to it.  Maybe this will be the year.

24.  This is for my neighbor boy.  It is sewn together, but I was too lazy to take another picture.  I want to piece something cool on the back before I quilt it.

25.  Charm quilt with yellow background.  I love the colors in this one.  It is temporarily in a special location.  As soon as I locate it, I will take a photo.

I am hoping to finish at least half of these this year.  My original parade started at around 100!!!  Even if I didn't get some of these finished, I am happy they are ready to quilt.  Many of these started as a pile of pieces when I did my first parade.