Picture Of The Last UFO For 2013

Finally, a picture of my last UFO for Connie's Game.  :-)

The day is sunny and not too cold, so perfect time to take a picture outside.  This is my husband with his Christmas gift from me, an Iowa quilt.  The pattern is BQ from Maple Island Quilts.  I love this pattern as it's fast and easy to do.  The top is cotton and it has batting with a backing of fleece.  A nice warm quilt for the weather ahead.  Snow tomorrow and colder temps by the weekend.  Good thing I got out today to get this picture.

A New Year Is About To Begin

A new year is about to begin!  With that comes my list of projects I want to do for 2014.  As you know last year I was a part of the UFO challenge called Connie's Game with Country Threads.  ( I did complete 11 of my 12 projects for 2013.)  Plus a couple of others that were not on the list.  SO... Here is this year's list...

Six of the projects are UFOs, the rest are projects I want to finish in 2014.  Plus, who knows what other projects will come along.  I know for sure that I will be helping my friend Patti again with Wings Of Hope, Women Helping Women Dinner.  Not on the list is Celtic Solstice, I just want to complete the top.

So how about you?  Are you going with any UFO challenges this year?  Or have you made a list of projects you want to complete?

How Do I Keep Up?

I just can't seem to figure out how to keep up.  LOL  I'm still on step one of Bonnie's mystery.  I had to get together with Jeanine who heads the Quilts From The Bluffs quilt ministry to collect some blue fabric to use.

This past Saturday was our Christmas Party/Quilt Day.  We had lots of good food and fellowship.  (Isn't that what quilting is all about? )  I worked on string blocks.

We make these blocks for twin size quilts for a local agency, Children's Square.  We had such a nice note from this agency letting us know how much the children love the quilts.

My friend Rachel inspired me to work on these again as she just finished a top of string blocks.  She also gave me a wonderful tip.  She said she went through the bin of strings she had and pulled all the ones that were long, to be used in the center.  Saved her lots of time when starting the blocks. She said this is a great job for doing while you're watching TV.  So I put her tip to good use.

Little bin in front, that is overflowing, are the long strips.  Bin in back are all of the shorter strips.  Today, Friday, is the last day of work.  I have a 2 week break.  Hoping I'll be able to spend some time sewing during the break.

The Mystery Begins!

The first instructions for Celtic Solstice were posted last Friday.  So I have been busy cutting my fabrics!

I'm using the TriRecs ruler for these blocks.  I've never used this ruler before, but so far it's working great.  Haven't gotten to the point of sewing them.  I'm hoping to have all the cutting done before the next set of instructions come out on Friday.  Wish me luck!

Busy Week

It's been a busy week.  Finished the borders on "Easy Street" and pieced a backing.  I've never pieced a backing this big before, a learning experience, let me tell you!  But in a good way, I love learning new things.  Plus, any way to use more fabric in my stash is good.

***I started this Post last weekend and here it is, a week later!***

Quilted "Easy Street" and have it all done, even the binding!  We had snow this week and I haven't been able to get a picture of "Easy Street" taken outside.  I have an indoor picture though....

This picture was taken at Quilt Guild on Tuesday by my friend Jeanine. Thank you, Jeanine!  I love how this quilt looks. Only one more quilt left for Connie's Game.  I have it to the binding, which is good,. With Thanksgiving and Christmas, I won't have much time to sew.  Today I have to get busy and clean my sewing room so guests can use it next week.  Wish me luck, sometimes I get sidetracked by all the fun fabric yelling at me to sit down and sew.

Easy Street

My first border for Easy Street is sewn together.  Tonight I plan on measuring how long the side edges are.  Just curious, do you measure your borders or do you just sew them on and wack off the extra?  I use to use that method until I found out that it gives you wavy borders.  Now I measure the quilt through the middle.

I started this post last weekend and never finished it.  UGH!

Sooooo, I do have the first border sewn on and am now cutting out the second border.  I'm not really sold on the fabric, but it's what I have in my stash that was enough yardage.  And this quilt is all stash fabric.

I'm hoping it will help tie in the colors and not fight with the quilt.  I did audition it and it did look OK.  But I really think the problem is that I didn't have enough fabric of my first choice.

Beautiful Day

It's a beautiful day!  So I took this opportunity to take a picture of the "Four Patch Plaid" quilt.  I used whatever 5 inch fabric squares I had.  The pattern ended with the picket fence border but I wanted it bigger, so I added the border of four patches.  I love how scrap quilts look!

Things are really changing.  The weather is getting cooler and the leaves are changing and falling.  I love this time of year!

Progress

Do you remember my "Four Patch Plaid" quilt from "Nickel Quilts" by Pat Speth?  

I've added a four patch border and another solid border to it.  It now measures 117 x 117.  Perfect for the king size bed.  The picture currently doesn't show those 2 borders.  It's too wet to take any outdoor pictures.  I'm hoping this weekend.  I won't be quilting it any time soon, but that's OK as the top is done. And for a quilt that started out to be a twin size, it sure grew!

Waiting for Friday to find out which of the last two projects is next, Easy Street or Rick's quilt.  I've been working at cleaning up the sewing room as it really needs it.  I've been thinking about projects for next year as I do a little organizing. Love dreaming and planning for the next quilt.

Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt

I'm so excited!  Bonnie has announced her new mystery quilt today, Celtic Solstice.  I've printed off the Intro and will start to gather fabrics for this new one.  And something different this year, she has 2 sizes, 75x75 or
111x111. I really want to make the king size version.

I also need to get going and finish up Easy Street.  Easy Street is part of my list for Connie's Game at Country Threads.   It still needs it's last two borders.

I just love her mysteries.  Are you joining in?

A Cape

My granddaughter is getting into superheros.  And she wanted a cape so she could be batgirl.  So what's a grandmother to do?  Make a cape of course!

I devised my own pattern which is really outside of my comfort zone, but it worked well.  I love when these things go together with ease.  I found the batman fabric in my stash.  (The salvage showed the date as 1995, so I think it has aged long enough.)  I made the neck part of the pattern on newspaper using a dinner plate and a luncheon plate.  At the mini retreat I cut out the cape and realized I forgot to bring my velcro.  So finished it up at home on Sunday.  I know she's going to love it.

Confession

OK, I have a confession.  I told you that I was done with this quilt top here.  But it really wasn't done.   I spread it out on our king-size bed and discovered if I add one more piece border and one more plain border, it would fit my bed!  Yeah!! But I haven't finished the quilt.  SO I didn't make it for Connie's Game with Country Threads. :-(

That's OK, because I have finished this months project which was Number 3, a tote bag I started 6 years ago at the first Quilts From The Bluffs Quilt Retreat.  The Piecemaker's Quilt Guild of Southwest Iowa had a mini retreat yesterday and guess what I worked on?  That's right, my tote bag.

My October UFO is done!!!  Now to get back to the September UFO.

Retreat

I love Retreats!  All that time for sewing and friends, it's the best.  A little warning, this post is picture heavy.

Everyone is sewing furiously. 

On Saturday night we had Show and Tell.  Took lots of pictures of finishes for the weekend, too many to post them all, but I'll show you a few.

Long Time

It's been a long time since my last post.  I can't keep up with my life!  I love this time of year, but there are always so many things going on, such as harvesting, canning and preserving.   I also went to the 6th Annual Quilt Retreat sponsored by Quilts From The Bluffs.

What a great time we all had at the Retreat.  Our theme this year was "Wanda Wonky and the Quilt Factory".  We had fun playing with that.  We had Willie Wonka candies and then Wanda's candy's was a pack of Quilter's candy.  I received a pack of "Shades of Black" by Me & My Sister Designs for Moda along with a spool of Glide thread.

Every year we have done a Quilter's Gift that we exchange via a White Elephant game.   So much fun!  It really helps to break the ice and everyone is laughing so hard by the end.  I ended up with a pack of batiks.  I have more pictures and will do another post soon with those.  

So Much Going On!

There is so much going on right now!  I started a new job 2 weeks ago.  I'm still with the same school district, but at different school.  Learning so much that I come home tired!  I have been doing some hand sewing,

 Made this little guy.

Love the name of the pattern,"Doug the Bug" by Hatched and Patched.  I didn't add the beaded eyes,  maybe I should have used a yellow and made french knots.   I have a couple more cut out to sew, so I may try it and see how it looks.

I also made this one.

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Using this pattern by Applique After Hours.  It's called Pin Keeper.

We visited the grands a couple of weeks ago.  Always fun playing with them.  We went to see the trains as my grandson loves watching them.

Waiting for the trains.  And here it comes!

Aaah, the joy of the simple things in life.

Cathedral Window Pincushion

I saw this Cathedral Window pincushion at the Moda Bake Shop and fell in love!  So this morning I made one.

So easy and so fun.  In the picture you will see a long needle.  That is a doll maker's needle and worked perfect for sewing the button on the pincushion.  Love how it came out.  The only thing that is a little sad is the amount of waste when making.  Good thing I have a string bin and can use the "waste" making string blocks!

Four Patch Plaid

The Four Patch Plaid top is done!

It was a little breezy outside today, so this was the best I could get.  The wind kept blowing it high in the air or would be so strong that it pull it off the clothes pins.  Will take another picture when the quilting is completed.  All the fabrics I used in this quilt were from my stash.  I did buy fabric for a backing, but I'm really thinking a backing from my stash fabric would be in order.  I did sign up for a free class on Craftsy for making Creative Quilt Backs.  Think I'm going to go to "school" now and check it out.

Number 12

On Sunday, Country Threads pulled the next number for Connie's Game.  And that number is 12, which is my four-patch plaid quilt from "Nickel Quilts" by Pat Speth and Charlene Thode.

 I've been working on this quilt all year long as a "Leader and Ender".  I was ready to put the picket fence border on.  I started these in April and you can check it out here.   I love how much I have gotten done on this quilt without even "working" on it.  

So the picket fence border is on the quilt and I have one last border to add and the top will be done.  I'll show you the top when that step is done.

I hope you enjoyed your weekend, I know I did.  Had more produce from the garden.  Froze 2 quarts of beans and we did up 5 quarts of tomatoes.  It has been a wonderful garden this year.  I guess it makes up for last year when we were going through the drought.  That was the worst year ever!

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day to those in the United States!  It's nice to have a 3 day weekend.  I know, I just started back to work this week, so why am I so glad?  Namely that I have some extra time to sew!  I've been working on my "Four Patch Plaid" quilt and I have the first border on.  Now I'm sewing the picket fence blocks that will make up the next border.  All different fabrics, not just plaids.

It's coming along nicely!  Tomorrow is the big day to reveal the next UFO number in Connie's Game.  Not sure if Country Threads will announce it tomorrow or wait until Tuesday because of the Holiday.  We'll see.

Tree Skirt

I finished my tree skirt for Connie's Game.  My August UFO was my Christmas tree skirt.  The base pattern was an old Simplicity holiday pattern.  I added the scallops by using a luncheon plate from my everyday dishes.

The holly leaves and berries came from a pattern designed by Julie Larsen when she had her quilt shop, Prairie Star Quilts.  I'm thinking I will need to take another picture of this when the light is better outside.  Right now the sun is setting and is causing all kinds of shadows.  But it's done!

Sidetracked

I got a little sidetracked in my cutting mission today.  I had to stop and see how the strings of Halloween fabric were going to look.  I was just going to make one......

Back To Work

Friday I went back to work.  So sad to leave my quilting room and all the sewing I still want to do.  But I did have a great day on Thursday.  I canned or freeze all the produce I had shown you and I cleaned some in my sewing room.  Still have a ways to go, but at least I made progress.  (I figure it works for making quilts, it should be good for cleaning my sewing room.)

The only projects I want to have stay in the room are the PhDs (projects half done) and the last of the UFOs (UnFinished Objects) that are on my lists for the Guild Challenge and for Connie's Game through Country Threads.

I do have a pile of scrap that I want to cut up and clear off the cutting table.  I cleaned up all of my 5 inch squares and put them in a plastic bin.  Put the 5 inch strips in the drawer where the squares had been.  Now to figure out how to store the overflow of 2.5 inch and 2 inch strips.....

Bounty

Just a pictue of the bounty from our garden to let you know what I'll be doing today, canning and freezing produce.

Loving all the fresh veggies!

Totally Finished

The Lewis and Clark commemorative quilt is totally finished!

I used a rusty brown star fabric from my stash to make the binding.  I liked the stars since Lewis and Clark would have slept under the stars and the rusty brown went well with the colors in the border and in the quilt. I love a finish!

I taught the blocks when I worked at Hancock Fabrics.  I did my own quilt in colors different from the kits the company put out.  I really like how this turned out.  Not sure what I'm going to do with it.  But I know something will come up and I will know.

Another PhD

Another PhD is well on it's way to being completed!  WooHooo!

This was a Block of The Month by Hancock fabrics in 2006, to honor Lewis and Clark.  However, I didn't like the colors that were used, so I changed out the fabrics.  The quilting of this was much harder then in looks, even if I only did a meander.  We had problems with the stitching.  And it took us forever to finally figure out what the problem was. We changed the thread, added a mesh holder for the thread, changed the needle, took an over night break, changed the bobbin case, and then changed the bobbin. And that was the problem.  The prewound bobbin, even with using 2 different ones, ended up being the problem. A bad batch of prewound bobbins.  A different prewound bobbin worked.

Practice section.

See the big mess it kept leaving on the back.  We had to rip out so much quilting.  But we got it done!

Started quilting this on Saturday and finished it on Sunday.  Thank you Jeanine for all your help in getting this quilt quilted!

Iowa State Fair

This past Tuesday my husband and I went to the Iowa State Fair.  I love going to the fair.  All the wonderful things to see and do.  My favorite being the quilts.  Here is a YouTube link to last years quilts, just so you can see how beautiful they all are.  And here are my pictures taken this year.  Get your cup of coffee or tea and sit back and enjoy!

I like the way this Marine Panel was the center of the quilt.  I used that same panel for my nephew's quilt.

My friend Rachel has made a couple of Crown Royal quilts.  This one is a very simple pattern.

I loved this nine patch.  I thought of Bonnie's nine patch leader and ender challenge when I saw it.  I love the setting.

This hexie is miniature, made with 1/2 inch hexies.  Amazing!

The Grand Champion!

A close up, the piecing was perfect, every corner matched.  

Love the scrap quilt on the right.

This was a very simple quilt, but the quilting was beautiful.  I couldn't get close enough to get a very good picture of the quilting.

Love the wonky t-shirt quilt.