Exciting Finishes

I am excited that these 4 projects that I started in January did not make it to the UFO list.  I am predicting that they may even get finished in the same year they were started in.  At my house, that doesn't happen very often!

Thank you Mr. Snowman!  I am enjoying my vacation days where I am stuck at home.  Now if I could just get a chef and a house cleaner to be snowed in with me too.






I have blogged about this pixelated heart a couple of times.  It was so much fun to make.  When I went to quilt this, I browsed all my pins on quilting ideas.  I was really inspired by this
quilting design.  I adapted hearts pull it all together.  I am really pleased with how it turned out.  I went with a light pink thread on this project.  It will be made into a pillow (hopefully before Valentines day.

This is the first of the 4 projects I quilted.  I didn't have any medium pink, so I used a fuchsia thread.  I don't really like the way it looks, but I am not going to change it.  I don't sew with pink very often, so it was no surprise that I don't have a lot of pink threads in my collection.

Next up for quilting is this quilt that I put together last February.  I hope to have a mountain of things to bind at my group's February retreat!

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.

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.

Friday Finish- (and a new start)

I managed one more finish this week.  I am about 1/3 done with my yearly goal of quilt finishes.  I would love for this to be the year I get my UFOs down to a manageable level.  In the first 3 weeks of this month, I have not made any fabric purchases or started any new projects.

I quilted a simple loopy design in the busy pear fabric, and I echoed the chevron in the accent strips.  I used this pattern to make the tree skirt.  I made a few modifications to the pattern.

I took a detour from the "finish" road when I saw this quilt.  At the end of December I could not close my scrap drawer for my blue fabrics.  When I sorted them, I noticed that almost all of the fabrics in the bin were of the light and medium variety.  I began searching for a pattern to use them with.  I even asked several friends to be on the lookout for something I could use light blues on.  I don't know what it was about this quilt, but it inspired me to start ironing "the pile".

I don't know what size her blocks were, but my scraps were pretty small so I drafted my pattern for a 6" finished block.  I know I have seen this pattern in a book, but I drafted my own pattern.  If you are interested in making this block, it can be made with a 2 1/2" X 7 1/2" strip of the color fabric.  5 - 6" finished crosses can be made with each jelly roll strip.

I was hooked the moment I finished my first 2 blocks.


I have a good variety of blues cut for the weekend retreat, and I used my Accucut to cut my background fabric (Kona Snow) efficiently.  I haven't decided if I should add a little light green to the palette yet.

 Stop back on Monday to see everything I accomplished at the retreat.  Thanks for stopping by.

I'm celebrating my finish by linking up with crazy mom quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and Link a Finish Friday.

Retreating

I was asked if I quit blogging.  Well, I haven't, but I haven't been doing any sewing.  It was great to have some sewing time with friends this weekend. I worked on several things, but none of them were from the UFO parade.

I finished my braided runner flimsy that I used to demonstrate at class.  I think it looks very Irish (ND) if you ask me.

I put together this tree skirt for a wedding gift next month.  I am pleased that I was able to use the blue snowman scraps, and I had the border fabrics in my resource center.

I pieced this pillow top from scraps that my good friend Dottie gifted me.  

I made 2 more swoon blocks in an attempt to make my quilt not so pink,

I worked a little bit on this jelly roll pattern that I plan to do a little demonstration on.

I guess I didn't take a photo of the other quilt top I put together, so I will save that for another blog post.

I have never posted from my phone before.  I hope it goes well

School Begins

All my kids were up nice an early today.  They were eager to go back to school.  I don't know how long this will last, but I am going to enjoy it while I can.

I have already started working hard on my August goals.  I ran into a few problems.  Do you see anything unusual about this design?

 I guess I still haven't learned that symmetrical designs such as a log cabin need an even number of rows and columns.  I triple counted the blocks.  I had 56 blocks - yep, I planned to do a 7 X 8 block setting.  I had my little tantrum, then I got busy and cut out 8 more blocks.  The good news is I had plenty of scraps just waiting to be made into the 8 additional blocks.  They are almost completed then I will be ready to start my first August goal.   I love how the different shades of black play with each other.

 I started working on my second goal for August at the sew day last Sunday.  I have the quilt sew into 16 block sections.  This is my go to pattern for leftover bits of jelly roll strips.  This type of design needs an ODD number of rows and columns.  I like to start and end the rows the same (either horizontal or vertical).

I laid out my sections of blocks to see how they looked.  I like how the quilt looks, but I think perhaps I should make it a little larger to fit a twin bed.  As it it, it will be a large lap quilt.

Scrappy Swoon

I worked on making a scrappy swoon using 2 1/2" squares at the retreat.  It took me most of the weekend to complete this.  My daughter has the sweetest teacher that is retiring this year.  I would like to get it completed for her.  My husband isn't a big fan of the border, but I am quite fond of it.
I should add that our school colors are green/white/and yellow.  It was a fun project, and I would like to make another one with the 3 1/2" squares.  You can find the instructions for the project here if you are interested.

The truth of the matter is- it didn't even make a little dent in my pre-cut scraps that I was using.

scrappy swoon QAL

I was searching for a picture of the fabulous Swoon quilt pattern when I came across a great online quilt-a-long.  I thought maybe my excitement was because it was 11:00pm and I was sewing at a retreat.  Nope, I still felt the same way in the morning.  The best part is, I am not too late to the party.  There is still time to join in.

Check out this blog post if you are interested.  I plan to use a bin of 2 1/2" squares, so mine will be considerably smaller.  I would love to have some of my readers join in.

Yes, I know I have 80 some UFOs, but I have had 3 finished from the UFO list in January so far.  As one blogger commented, mine are MFOs (mostly finished objects).

Another Topper

This pinning at night thing seems to be working for me.  I was able to get this top all put together without the borders in just a week.  This included re-work from poor workmanship.

I have pulled another project to work on.  I am saving the border work for a different time.  I will have a weekend of borders.  Is this called batch processing?


In order to please my daughter - who exclaimed I had nothing to hang on the wall for Christmas, I pulled some more leftover charms.  I think these pieces will never end!


I saw this pattern on a blog, so I

followed the link to Moda.  I won't have it ready for Christmas, but always get in the mood to sew for the holidays too close to Christmas.  Perhaps it will be finished for next year.  This pattern would make a great tree skirt also.  The patterns calls for this ruler, but if you have been practicing the take away method, you already know how to do this.  If you are still struggling with the, you may want to get the ruler to help you.

Picture Fix...I hope

Well, I found this great blog to help me with my out of space dilemma (I hope).  It took some time to find this site.  I was happy to hear that I was not alone in my "out of space" problem.  She has some great tutorials on blogging.  She referred me to this free photo editing website along with a great tutorial.

Hopefully this will help me have better pictures on my blog and also more memory.

This is the quilt I am focusing on this week.  If you've been with me for lots of years, you will recognize it.

Since my photo uploaded fabulously, I would have to say the tutorials were amazing.  By resizing and cropping my pictures before I upload them, they upload speedy quick too.

Thanks for stopping by.  I am back to seam ripping, pressing, and pinning.  I have learned so much since I started this quilt.

One Piece

Now I realize that I still need to give it a good press and add borders.....BUT....it is in one piece!!  I love this quilt (even though it no longer matches my bedroom).  I think I will put a 1" or 2" black border on it and then use green as my final border.  Lets see how many years that takes.  Perhaps it will match my bedroom again by then.  These were all reproduction scraps from my stash except the red setting triangles.

Family Time

It was fabulous to have a little break from normal activities.  The kids are already counting the days until Christmas vacation.  I did manage to do a little sewing during the Thanksgiving break.

I put 2 borders on a signature quilt for Betty and made the backing.  I think they complement all the signature blocks well.

I resurrected these blocks from a container with determination of coming up with a layout and completion.  The blocks will finish at 6".  I ran out of the gold check, so I found a scrap of something else...didn't have enough of that, so I found a scrap of brown.  It will be fun to see what scraps I can find for the backing.  The pieces that were too small for the front will definitely make it on back.

This heap of fabric made great progress this weekend too.  It now ready for the 2 halves to be joined.  I discovered that I can get a lot of pinning done while watching football.  I am not sure why this didn't occur to me sooner.  I guess it is time to dig out those long forgotten projects and get pinning.  

I proclaimed this the year of finishing for me.  I have finished several things, but I have a lot more to go.  The push is on!!

Nearly Finished

I have been working on my FW blocks, but it is really hard for me to get photos.  I will keep trying.

I have also been trying to finish the twister runners that I put together at the Shipshe retreat.


Among my scraps were the leftovers from this quilt.  I saw a pattern from a library book that I thought would work with what I had left.  The solid fabric is scraps from my curtains.  I thought it was cotton, but I think it was more of a twill.  It had a lot of stretch.  I found the perfect border fabric so the runner was started.  And the backing was made with the scraps of the runner (the less than 2 1/2" X 6 1/2")


I managed to get it quilted while the kids were napping, and I started searching for the perfect binding.  I found a 10" piece of the same binding as the other quilt.  I need 9", so I can make it work.  Time to be super careful cutting so I don't have any accidents.

 Here they all are- ready to bind.  I am undecided on what color to bind some of the twisters with.  I am hopeful when the sun comes up tomorrow I will be able to pick the bindings.

Anticipation

Perhaps anticipation is the big appeal for me to order fabric online.  Well ordering from Hancock's of Paducah gives you plenty of time to think about it.  My order just arrived today that I placed on 9/23.  I realize that isn't really very long, but the wait was simply killing me.

Remember when I was deciding on a border for this plus quilt.  Eleanor suggested the fabric pictured....except I have less than a fat quarter.  I think what makes this fabric work is the large amount of white.  I looked for something similar in my resource  center, but I didn't find anything.

I spotted these two pieces online.  They are mostly white with some grey and a little yellow.  What do you think of these?

I am undecided.  I really need to hang them on the design wall to get the full view.

 No order would be complete without a few "incidentals".  The Black/Red/White is for my twister quilt border (planning ahead).  I didn't have a single piece of fabric with both black and red in it.

There are a few more things that came in my envelope, but I can't show them. They are prizes for the upcoming Christmas party.

A little bit of progress

I do so much better with a deadline.  Sunday is a "Sewcial" day at the library, so I needed to get my squares sewn together.  It will be easier to cut out the twister blocks at the library where there is lots of room  (and no clutter).  I went from this - rows sewn in pairs

 

To this!!

I used a lot of leftovers on this one.  The first border is a grey marble that I picked up at a garage sale.  I can't wait to see what I can use up on the back.  I will be using the large twister template on this quilt on Sunday.  I sewed 90 squares (9x10) and used 6" for the border.  The border is just wide enough.  Next up is sorting "leftovers" to make some twister runners.

Darting Birds

Are you saying any choice words yet?  You have all month to do these blocks, so don't feel rushed.  Mine went quickly because I had all the 1 1/2" half squares already sewn.

#27 Darting Birds

Cutting:
Dark:
4- 1 1/2" squares
16- 1" finished half squares (1 1/2" strip with the EZ angle)
4- 2" finished half squares (2 1/2" strip with the EZ angle)
Light:
24 - 1' finished half squares (1 1/2" strip with EZ angle)
4- 1 1/2" squares

Sewing:
Sew 16 1" finished half squares; press open and square up if necessary

Join the half squares in pairs and press open
Add a 1 1/2" square to 4 of these.

add the remaining 8 Triangles to the remaining 4 dark 1 1/2" squares.  Square up with the easy angle to a 2" finished half square


 
Join the 2" finished half squares to the pieced triangle unites to make 2 1/2" squares.  Use the diagonal line on the ruler to square up if necessary. 

Add these to the pairs of half squares (Press Open); then add with the remaining pieced units.  Square up to 3 1/2" if necessary. 

Join the 4 units to complete the 6 1/2" block

I am still working on emptying containers.  All these 4 patches were in a box waiting to be used.  I tried several different colors for the background fabric and nothing seemed quite right.  I decided to continue with the scrappiness.  I need to let this simmer for a while.  I have lots of 4 patches and I am not sure where this is headed. 

To border or not to border....that is the question

I  actually have a Wednesday update.  I finished putting the blocks together.  I think I like it better without a border, but the jury is still out.  I love the colors and how they blend together.  Thanks so much Ellen for charging me up with grey and yellow.  Perhaps I will be able to move on to a different color combo soon.

 This was my next dilemma.  My 50 year old state of the art house had an intercom system.  When we replastered the bathroom, my DH asked if I wanted to keep the speaker.  At the time, I still used it occasionally so I said we should leave it.  Fast forward 5 years, we never use it.  I removed it when I was painting the bathroom.  My husband asked me what we should do with the hole, and I said not to worry about it.  I had an idea.  (sorry, I don't know why blogger turned my photo)  I measured the hole and I set to work.


It is all quilted and the binding is ready for hand stitching.  It will look lovely hanging right above the light switch covering the hole that I should have removed when I had the chance.  I made with with the twister template that takes the 3 1/2" squares.  I think this is a nice size for table mats and hole hiders.

This quilt is to hang in my dining room to help control the noise of my children who can't take turns talking.  When they were younger, we had to have a talk stick.  The kids were only allowed to talk if they held the stick.  At this age, they would probably just whack each other with the stick. 

I have been trying to pick the perfect binding color.  I had tried at least 10 colors from my stash, but none of them seemed to fit.  Today when I hung the quilt, it spoke to me.  I have the binding attached to this quilt as well, so I have plenty of hand stitching to do. 

 After a little work, it was time to clean up the scraps.  I had pictures of the "in process", but it was just too embarrassing to post.  Wow is my studio messy.

Design Wall Monday

I spent the weekend doing this, so there wasn't much sewing time.  It was definitely another HOT weekend.  The boys did very well in the first game, but they were a different team for the second game.  This is the end of baseball for the year...unless he does fall league.














I started to put this quilt together and I decided to make it larger.  I am very pleased with how it is turning out.  Don't mind the messiness on the side of the design wall.  It will be 9 X 11 blocks, or 54" X 66" without borders.  It will be nice couch size.  The pattern is from Moda Bake shop.  I love how a picture will show the blocks that need to be moved around or concentrations of colors. 

If you want to see more from my yellow and grey adventure look back through my posts last week.  Thanks for visiting.

Plus Quilt

This was a lap quilt on the Moda Bake Shop.   The designer is April Rosenthal.  I thought it would be a nice pattern to use up some more grey and yellow.  I accidentally cut too many pieces (double), so I will either make one larger quilt with 72 blocks, or 2 baby quilts.  I like this design also.  The solid grey is from Connecting Threads, and the color is Ash. 

Decisions, decisions....2 quilts, or 1.....

Flowers Won

Once I put the big floral up on the design wall, my heart was singing.  I don't normally purchase these kinds of fabrics for my stash, but I was collecting greys and yellows at the time.  I think it really makes the quilt sing.  I plan to use a yellow for the binding.

I am planning one more grey/yellow quilt with these same scraps.  I am sure I can find some baby that would love this quilt.