february UFO: not done

While I didn't finish my February UFO, I did make progress.  And my goal for the UFO challenge this year was progress - finishing is a bonus.

I started with this:

Not the best photo, I'll admit, but I had quilted cables in the sashings between the blocks and part of the cables in the border that goes around the outside.

I dug out supplies to re-mark the cable lines and finished one side of the outside border cables.  (Sorry, no photos of that...it's hard to get good photos because it's too cold outside to use the clothesline and that's my only good spot!)

But I did get a better photo so you can see part of the quilt - hanging over the longarm (which isn't in a very good position for photos either):

3x3 Rose of Sharon blocks.  In yellow.

Then I started quilting the blocks because my blue marker wouldn't come out of the border where I'd marked things wrong.  Start with the center, right?  Because that's the hardest one to get to all the way around.

For some reason, every photo I take of these blocks comes out blurry.  I've not had this trouble with any other photos, so who knows what's going on. 

Eyeballing 1/4" inside each applique piece and echoing 1/4" around the outside of the whole thing. 

Then on to one of the outer but center blocks:

(oh look, blurry again...)

Another one finished!

On to #3 - another outer but center block - again because those seem harder to get to overall and I might as well get them done while I've got the motivation:

Not done, but started. 

So I'm getting there.  And I plan to keep the quilt out where I can more easily get to it (and see it!) and work on it here and there for the rest of the year.  Maybe by the end of the year it will be finished.

I've learned to use a real thimble, which I never thought I would or could, but you'll not catch me volunteering for any other hand quilting any time soon!  This is definitely not something I enjoy, but I said that of applique when I started this quilt - my first applique project.

There are a lot of problems with my applique - beginner problems - and it makes me cringe when I see them and debate taking it out and redoing it, but I've decided not to.  This is my first applique project and I'm going to let it stay as a reminder of how far I've come since I started this in 1999.

In completely unrelated news, my only toilet is wobbly (old house built before plumbing = one bathroom).  My dad is coming down tomorrow to fix it (and my fingers are crossed it's an easy, inexpensive, quick fix) so I dragged our ladder out of the garage and into the house in case he needs it for whatever.  It was a big draw...

First Luka scrambled up.

(We have kinda low ceilings...)

Not to be outdone by his little brother, Tucker scrambled most of the way up.  He got kinda stuck making that last step, so I helped.

A short while later, Emma decided to have a go at it.

(Yeah those photos are of me and the hubby - from around the time the quilt featured in this post was started...I've learned to cook since then...)

Sisters Lexie and Skitter declined the challenge, but this was entertainment enough.

I can only imagine the "help" my dad is going to get tomorrow when he works on the toilet...I'll be at work, but he's been warned that Emma is an engineer at heart and wants to see how it all works and help, too.  Should be interesting since he's an engineer by training...

Happy quilting,

Katie