august ufo finished

Only 9 days late, I have finally finished my UFO for August.

It started with something like this:

Some fabric bought on a whim.  Then a puzzle to figure out what to make with it.  Then the discovery that I hadn't bought enough of the white and all efforts to find more failed.  The replacement didn't match and there wasn't enough of that either.

So it became a UFO.

It was supposed to be the quilt that went on the bed in our guest room.  I was going to decorate around it.

That was 2005.

So last December, Judy L had us make a UFO list and this made the cut.  The whole quilt.  Queen size.  42 blocks.  Plus sashing.  And borders.

Somewhere between 2005 and December 2011, I cut some strips.  I wish I hadn't.  I might have had enough of the white if I could have used the no-waste method for flying geese.  Hindsight...

So in early August, I dragged it out and forced myself to work on it.

Then I got the flu.  The respiratory kind.  And it kicked my butt for about a week.

By then I'd gotten good at procrastinating and the project and was here:

(Have I mentioned that I get lots of help with my quilting projects?)

Eventually I realized I needed to get going on it and needed to just force myself into my sewing room.  The hubby's new work schedule (which isn't that new any more, so I really shouldn't be using it as an excuse any more) has him up when I get home, then leaving about the time I wind down at night.  I love seeing him and eating dinner with him, but I don't like that what used to be my productive evening time (while he slept) is gone.

So I sucked it up and started sewing...

 

I pushed through the holiday weekend, trying to get the top done to show off at my quilt group on Thursday evening.  The first Thursday of the month is UFO night and we can show off a finished UFO - a whole separate thing than the show-and-tell that happens every week.

I had the rows together and sashing for between rows cut, but not sewn.

A marathon sewing session Saturday night got me here:

And I ran out of black to do outer borders/sashing.  So I switched to solid black.  That I had in the stash (so yay for stash reduction too!).

Maybe I was motivated by the quilt show I went to on Saturday?  (Sorry, no photos.  I just plain forgot, but I went with 5 friends from my quilt group and ran into about 7 more while we were there, so I was not only busy seeing the quilts and shopping, but chatting with friends.  I will try to remember to show off my purchases soon.)

Maybe it was the invitation to the baby shower in about a month that I haven't even started the baby quilt for?  (Yeah, that's more likely.)

So today, after a few errands and visiting the local fair-type celebration to eat junkfood off a truck, I tackled the borders.

...and wrangled cats...

(what mom? this isn't for me?)

And finally have a rather large queen-size quilt top!  It's not perfect.  I hate flying geese and their many pointy points.  But it's done and I'm okay if a few geese have clipped wings.

The hubby grumbled as I pulled him away from football to hold up a quilt that's too large for him to actually hold up, but it's done!  And I even cut and pressed the binding!

So the official info:

Pattern: Toad in a Puddle

From the book "Quilts from the Quilt Maker's Gift"

Finished size 94x106 (I think)

Now I have no excuse not to be working on the baby quilt.  So I'm baking peanut butter cookies.  (Hey, the hubby asked...)  And blogging...

The September UFO has been erased from my memory so I could finish this and the two baby quilts.  My quilt group has a quilty Saturday once a month and for the first time since I've joined, I'll be able to attend this coming weekend.  I'm so excited, but not sure how much work gets done there, but I'm hopeful.  I hear it's more about eating and gabbing...either way, I'm sure to have fun.

Happy quilting!

Katie

PS The guest room still looks kinda like Laura Ashley had a bad day (thank you previous owners)...no redecorating preceded the quilt and I doubt the quilt will end up in that room as the hubby has taken it over - he doesn't like the cats in his bed...

UFO updates

I haven't felt like blogging much lately, but if it's like quilting when you hit a slump, you just have to start somewhere and it starts flowing again, right?

So I'll start with the UFOs.

July's UFO I gave away to GrannyAnne.

She was the only one of you readers crazy enough to want to take this on, so a few weeks ago I smooshed it into a box (guessing what would work from the pile of boxes at work was not easy!) and sent it along.

(That other envelope may look familiar to one of you blog readers?)

She let me know it arrived, so I'll be watching her blog to see how long it stays HER UFO now!  But once it left my hands, I no longer have control, so whatever happens, happens.

And then Judy drew #7 for the August UFO.

That would be my Toad in a Puddle project.

This project started in 2005.  I know because I have a receipt for some of the fabric purchased.  I was going to decorate my guest bedroom with an Asian-ish look and this would go on the bed.  Yeah.

The kitty print will be the focus in the center and the red and black will be flying geese to frame the center.

But I hit a snag.  I bought the white-on-off-white with Asian characters, but there wasn't enough.  A relatively thorough search of nearby JoAnn stores and I couldn't find more.  So I bought the other print.  Not enough of that either.  Of course.

What to do?  Put it in a box.

Last Saturday, my sis-in-law came down and we both worked on quilts.  She's got two baby quilts to make, too, and wasn't feeling it, so we decided getting together would push both of us to quilt.  And we did.  It was a great day!

But there are 8 flying geese in each block.  And 42 blocks.  That's a LOT of pieces to cut.  (Please don't anyone do the math...I don't really want to remember how many pieces I cut that day.)

I decided to use both whites.  Use up the one I wanted first and supplement with the second.  I know they don't exactly match, but a quilter 100 years ago would have done just that and I wasn't going to chase around a fabric I already couldn't find in 2005.

(I have the receipt because I thought the number on there would help.  It didn't.  Apparently that is a bolt with BLACK characters on it.  Hmmm...  But it reminds me of the day I bought the fabric because it's hand-written.  You see, a big thunderstorm blew up while my mom and I were shopping.  We figured we'd shop and wait it out (like that's a stretch...killing time in a store that sells fabric...).  And then the power went out.  So they were trying to shoo us all out the door - no more purchases - but had no cash registers.  No credit card machines.  Just emergency lights and a bunch of crazy women!)

And if I hadn't already cut those strips for the geese and used the no-waste method (instead of the lost corner method), I probably would have had enough of the one fabric.  Of course not.  And now, after the squares are cut, I realized I probably could have cut the squares into triangles and only lost the color portion of the corner...ah well, hindsight.

So I've been sewing lots of geese.  Sewing the lost corners so I have half-square triangles instead of single triangles.

But it's a lot of work.  It seems to take forever.

But it's okay.  I've got help.

(The owie on her arm - she had her teeth cleaned and two pulled last week.  They needed to come out, but to do that, she had to be anesthetized.  It looks worse because she pulled out her own IV.  When the vet told me that, I told her "of course she did...we wouldn't expect anything less from Emma!"  She's doing just fine.  Obviously.)

I can't wait until the parts start becoming larger parts and fewer pieces, but for now, I still have the second side of the black geese to go...what's 42 times 8?  Oh wait, that's right, I don't want to know.

Happy quilting,

Katie

PS I also had the flu (the real flu, not the stomach flu) last weekend.  I didn't realize that's what it was until Sunday, when I spent all but about 3 hours in bed.  2 of which were miserable with me trying to convince myself I wasn't as bad as I was.  I missed Monday at work and am finally feeling better, but still coughing and taking it easy. 

PPS The baby quilts (fabrics) I shared in my last post are still in the same state.  I decided to get a jump on the UFO...last Saturday...when I thought the crud was still just a cold and I'd be better on Sunday.  I hope to get to those soon, though!

june ufo: done

With just a few hours to spare, I've finished my UFO for June.

It started out as a panel I wasn't sure I'd keep.  After sleeping on it, once the number was drawn, I decided to use the instructions I picked up (free!) with the panel, raid my mom's stash for fabrics and use it.

I mentioned a few times that the instructions weren't so great.  Sewing the block directions weren't bad, but here are the cutting instructions:

Each line represents a different fabric, listed by the manufacturer code.  Not color.

Each column represents a different piece of a different block.  Not grouped by block.  At least not obviously.

So I made up my own list, using bits and pieces of their block instructions.  Which weren't bad except that everything was the wrong size, with a step to trim them down.

My blocks finished whatever size they wanted to be.  Two of the blocks should have finished 6" and they weren't quite the same sizes.  The third should have finished 12" and it didn't really.  Add in the cutting of panels to be the right size and it was a nightmare.

I've not had this much trouble fitting things together in YEARS.  I'm not sure if it was me or the pattern, but I'm going to say it was the pattern.

And I know how to fudge a little to get seams to match.  This was more of an "I GIVE UP!" and the points aren't perfect and the seams might match.

The panel would qualify as "primitive" so I justify my slightly wonky seams as being okay.  Because they're "primitive" too.  Right?  Right.

Needless to say, this wasn't my favorite project.

But it's done.

It finished at 48x55"

Freebie pattern pamphlet:

"The Vintage Homestead"

by Red Rooster Fabrics

(2009)

(simpler borders on mine)

Fabric:

Panel from Red Rooster Fabrics: Whimsicals

everything else from here, there and everywhere...

So now it's on to July's UFO.

#3

...meh...

I've decided to throw in the towel on this one and it's not even July yet.

I don't want it.

I don't know what I'll do with it when it's finished.

So.

Anyone out there who wants this (all the bits and bobs in the photo will come with it), say so in the comments and if there's more than one crazy crafter, I'll draw a name in about a week.

(If you don't want it, you can still comment...if you DO want it, please make sure that's in the comment you leave!)

(And make sure I have a way to contact you if your name is drawn.)

So that allows me some breathing room.  I feel like I haven't had time to sit down and relax in weeks...too many other things going on.

This past week I won a cookie competition at work with these tasties:

(recycled photo from 2010)

(because all the ones I made this time got eaten by happy coworkers)

Caramel-filled Chocolate Cookies

Worth the effort.

Even better with milk.

The following day, a coworker and I headed out for fabric shopping...

She's never bought fabric, much less made a quilt, so it was an adventure, but I knew it would be and prepared myself accordingly.

We had a blast.

But I think the lady at Hobby Lobby thought we were insane.

It took more than an hour and we changed our minds more than a few times.

But I like what we've ended up with.

It's not the plan we started out with, but it never is.

This will actually become two quilts because the gal who will recieve them (another coworker) is pregnant with twin girls.  She's due in October, but leaving work to be a stay-at-home mom in August, so I'd like them to be done before she's done.  Just to be safe.

The elephants will go on the back - flannel.

And today I'm heading to yet another coworker's house to celebrate her 10th wedding anniversary.

Until then, it's a bit too warm to press all those fabrics (folded fresh out of the dryer, but still a bit wrinkly), so I think I'll work on my Baltimore Album challenge block.

(or take a nap...)

Same fabrics, different pattern from my first decision.

It's from a book I borrowed from my mom, but don't have any more.

I'll be sure to get the name to share by the time it's done.

I think there's only 26 more pieces to sew down...

Due July 12th.

I can do it!

But Thursday night I found out the block was supposed to be 12-24" not 24-36"...this is about 25" (to allow for the inevitable unravelling of edges), so I'll be okay, but how did I get that so wrong?  And it would have been easier to do it smaller, as I had to enlarge the pattern to get it this big...it was meant for a 12" block!

I can't believe next week we'll celebrate July 4th already.  Where did May go?  And June?  Did we have a June this year?  Time is flying and I'm struggling to hang on, but having a good time so no complaints!

Happy quilting,

Katie

april UFO: done

I know I just posted some about this project yesterday, but since it's a UFO, it needs its own post...

So at the beginning of the month, I started here:

A charm pack, some coordinating solid-ish turquoise and a Lil' Twister, purchased rather impulsively at a quilt shop last year.

I love the idea of the Twister and expected I would find lots of cool ideas on how to use it once I set my mind to it.  Unfortunately that was a far as this idea got after purchase.  Onto the UFO list for 2012 it went.

When Judy chose #10 for this month, I started looking around the internet for ideas and inspiration and was surprised at the lack of ideas out there using any size Twister.  But the Moda Bake Shop has one called Pinwheel Twist that caught my eye.  (I realized later it had caught my eye enough to bookmark it a while back, but I didn't remember it!)

So I was excited and started in on it pretty early.  When I should have been working on other projects instead.  Projects with more definite deadlines.

And then I got back to what I should have been doing and this got set aside again.  But this past weekend was the NFL Draft, which means the hubby is glued to the television watching a bunch of guys decide the fate of a bunch of college-graduating-age football players...please leave him alone!  So that meant I could sew!

Friday night I prepped, as I knew the hubby would be sleeping in - sew borders on in preparation for cutting (quietly) on Saturday morning.

Saturday morning I took a deep breath and hoped this would all work out.  I had my doubts that cutting with this wonky square thing would truly produce something worth the effort and expected I'd be ripping and resewing and laying things out 23 times each before I got it all together.

Row one down...so far so good.  And actually, it was easier than I expected to keep the pieces straight.  My worst trouble was the little rubbery feet on the Lil' Twister that didn't allow me to moosh the fabric right under the ruler.  I think if I used it again I'd turn it over so the feet are up and I can get the fabric flattened under it.  (As it was, some of the seams wanted to not lie quite flat without encouragement - they were sewn just fine, but you can only iron something so much before you realize that it's got too many layers to lie truly flat-flat.)  Or maybe peel off those little feet...that idea, of course, didn't occur to me until much later...and flipping the tool over?  Well, that was a great idea BEFORE I started cutting...it goes one way or the other, not interchangeable!

I had intentions of showing more of the layout, but all of a sudden I'd cut all the pieces and forgotten completely about photos!  But here's the hacked up and layed out pieces.

Then I had to cut a lot of super skinny sashings.  (They finish 1/2"!)  And sew carefully.  You know you've got to sew super straight when they're skinny - even a little variation is much more obvious!  But I managed.  And sewed and sewed and sewed.  With pinning and pinning and pinning.

I went to bed Saturday night with the center sewn together and it just needed borders.  I wasn't sure what I wanted to do and it was getting late, so I decided to sleep on it.  After looking and auditioning the turquoise, I decided this would work nicely and sewed it down.

Finished size is about 30"x34"...I think...something close to that, but rather small.

And then I made binding with the rest of the turquoise.  I don't have any plans to quilt this any time soon, but figured it made sense to have the binding ready (and the fabric find-able) when I decide to quilt it.

And now I see Judy has chosen #2 for this month.  Oh dear...that's a very involved cross-stitch project that got put aside because something went wrong...I don't even want to THINK about that one, much less work on it, but that's what this challenge is about...so I suppose I'll go dig it out and think on it a bit.  In the meantime, I've got a baby quilt and a graduation quilt I can distract myself with!

Happy quilting,

Katie

march UFO: finished

With just about an hour to spare, my UFO for March is completed.  Well, a top at least, and that's good enough for me.

I procrastinated quite well this month.  I started here:

a rescued quilt "kit" with no pattern.

I had found the pattern shortly after purchasing the kit in "At Home with Thimbleberries" and it's called Lily Field.  That made things infintely easier than drafting from a block that was in with the fabrics.

Early this month I sorted through the fabrics in the pile and figured out where everything went.  I had quite a few extra pieces and one green was missing, but I figured out how to make it all work.  My blocks aren't quite the same, but since only one lily and a few alternate blocks were made, I wasn't too worried about the differences.

I plan to put the blocks the previous maker has done on the back.

I think all those changes messed with my quilty mojo because I wasn't feeling this project this month.  But I pushed myself.  Not very hard...

Last week I was excited when block units started coming together:

But that was just this past week.  And I can't say the quilt was nearly done when I sat down to sew this morning.  This is where I was:

4 quarter blocks done

4 half blocks done

18 full blocks mostly done

0 alternate blocks done (0 alternate block parts cut)

borders...what borders?

I sewed and sewed and sewed.

Took an unexpected lunch break to deliver this:

(no, I didn't make it - it's 12 cupcakes iced with about 15 pounds if icing)

because last weekend when we went out to dinner for the hubby's birthday, my 3-year-old nephew was so disappointed we didn't bring any cake for him, we had to remedy that.  And it's so cute I had to share.

And then I sewed and sewed and sewed.

And then dragged the hubby off the couch (he's reading "The Hunger Games" - he read 100 pages, then decided he had to see the movie, so went alone tonight (with my blessing) and now he's back to the book...) to hold up the quilt for me.

In the bedroom where the light, at 11pm, is best.

(But by no means good.)

top: done

18 lily blocks done

17 alternate blocks done

4 borders (using those partial blocks) done

I plan to cut binding before I put everything away, but I think I'm going to get some much-deserved sleep!  And some kitty snuggle time.  All but Emma were very patient and Emma is easily distracted, so she's not too much trouble.  She likes to lick the kitty that comes to visit in the window at night...she can't figure out why that kitty is always there...I've tried to explain it's her reflection...now I just tell her to calm down, that kitty will go away in the morning.

I did do some other crafty stuff this week, but I'll save that for a post in a day or two.

Happy quilting,

Katie

the ladder, march ufo and rainbow cake

A couple of you have asked about the ladder and the toilet and how they are connected.  No, my toilet is not really tall, nor is my dad really short.

This is one area of my basement.  See the crawlspace up there at the top?  Way on the right side of that crawlspace is where the toilet plumbing comes through the floor.  That hole is at least 5 feet off the ground and my dad is a little old to be climbing the rock walls that make up my house foundation!

But thankfully, the toilet fix was an easy one and was fixed in just a few hours.  Including a trip out for a few parts.  He didn't even need the ladder, but the kitties enjoyed it, so it all worked out in the end. 

I've learned not to take my toilet for granted though!

In quilty news, Judy has drawn the UFO for March: #8. 

What is that, you ask?

This is the UFO/quilt I rescued a few months back.  I've been excited to work on it since I found the pattern in a Thimbleberries book, but put it on the UFO list instead of diving right in since I had a few other projects that needed to be finished for Christmas presents first.

"Meadow Lilies"

(I like the colors of mine better!)

I can't wait to start, but I think I'm going to force myself to hold off until this weekend when I can really dig into the pile of fabrics and start figuring things out without worrying about getting to bed early enough to make it up in the morning for work!

And today, I found a recipe to make a rainbow cake in a jar.  I think these might be on the agenda the next time my niece visits, though when my coworkers heard about them, I was told THEY were my guinea pigs for new recipes.  How nice to be appreciated!

Happy quilting!

Katie

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

february UFO: quilt from another century

It seems wierd to think of 1999 as another century, but that's when this project was started.

This is most definitely my oldest UFO!

This project started when I moved into an apartment all by myself a few years after college.  I bought some pretty yellow furniture (still have it, so I'll have to remember to get a photo of that too) and had an empty wall.  I thought I'd try my hand at hand applique and this project was born.

The applique is lumpy (I was using freezer paper - this was before I learned needle turn), but it's done.  Then I sandwiched and basted it and marked it for quilting.  And I quilted some of it and then got tired of it and set it aside.  Life happened (I got engaged, married, moved twice, etc, etc, etc) and it got more or less forgotten.

While all this was going on, the blue lines marked with water-erasable marker disappeared.  At one point I did try to resurrect this and re-draw the lines, but nothing was lining up with the template and I gave up pretty quickly.  Shoved it back in the bottom of a closet and forgot about it again.

And then I was digging around for UFOs for the 2012 challenge and found it again.  And groaned.  It needed to go on the list, but I can honestly say I tried REALLY hard to find something else unfinished to replace it with!

I hear a black light will re-illuminate the blue lines so they can be re-drawn and the hubby is able to borrow a portable light from work, so that's part of what I'll be doing this weekend.  Though I sighed pretty loud and hard when #1 was drawn, I am glad to be getting this one out of the way while the weather is colder because who wants to sit under a quilt when it's 90+ outside?

I've considered ripping out the hand-quilting and putting it on the longarm, but I think I'll see this through the way I originally intended.  I doubt I'll be a hand-quilting convert by the time this is done, but when I started this I never imagined I'd enjoy hand applique and those of you who have followed my blog for a while know I seem to take on one applique project after another without complaint.

In other quilty news, I've finally caught up on the Rolling Along quilt along.  The step for Saturday was a small one followed by two bigger ones on Monday and Wednesday, so it was a bit of a struggle, but I'm proud to show off my 18 blocks!  There will be 17 (I think) alternate blocks, but I have until Saturday to relax on this project.

As you can see, as the blocks get bigger, they get scrappier.  I didn't have very large pieces of any fabric, so I'm making do.  I just hope I have enough to finish the alternate blocks, but if not, my mom still has quite a few fabrics in her stash but it will require a trip to pick them out.

I kinda wish I'd made the whole star one print becuase I feel like the borders are fighting with the star for focus, but it's too late now!

What will I work on until I get the black light and the next step for the quilt along?

My niece and nephew are coming to spend Friday night with us again, so this is the start of a project for me and my niece.  Anyone want to guess what this will be?  I'll show photos when we're done, but until then this is all you get!

And I'll also be looking for my hand-quilting thread.  Where oh where did I put that?  (More likely someone furry stole it and batted it well under something else and I'll never find it...)

Happy quilting!

Katie