ufo done and part one of vacation sewing

Last week, the hubby and I made our annual pilgrimage north to Drummond Island.  As in the 6 previous years, I packed a lot of sewing projects and a lot of books.  (You never know when things go faster than expected and nothing is worse than a day spent THINKING about the sewing you could be doing!  I learned from my mistake the first year!)

The trip up seems to take forever, but the scenery is beautiful.  We cross the Mackinac Bridge (sorry, no photos - hard to get a good one because you can't stop!) and then head east across the upper peninsula of Michigan, skirting the south shoreline and getting glimpses of the lake through the pine trees.

When you reach the edge of the peninsula, there's a ferry to take you just a little bit more east in the state - not quite to Canada!  Cars, boats and all board and let the amazing ferry crew maneuver that boat like nobody's business!

It's not a big ferry, but it can carry a lot of us with boats or campers attached to trucks!

Once off the ferry, another short trip to the interior, then north to the shore where the cabin we've rented stands.  This year we had a larger cabin and a later week than years before...not sure we liked either more, but sometimes you gotta mix things up!

The hubby put the boat in the water for the week and then came the chore of unpacking the truck.  But the first unpacking (unlike the getting back home (second) unpacking) doesn't seem too awful.  It's the start of vacation and you might as well dig in, get dirty and get it done.

With the chores completed, the hubby set out to find the fish and I unpacked my (large) suitcase of projects and supplies.  (I take two suitcases - the smaller one filled with clothes and such, the larger with my sewing stuff - even the machine fits in there!)  I took over the "dining room" table, as expected, and selected my first project: UFO #3 - "Boxes and Crosses."

This was a kit I purchased at the AQS show last year and though I love it, it languished in my stash for lack of assignment or deadline.  Putting it on the UFO list was definitely a good idea, even if I wondered at myself for choosing a WHOLE quilt to put there.  (It's not the only whole quilt on the list, but so far, so good!)

The pattern comes from the book "By the Bundle" by Emma Jean Jansen.

(a little wrinkly here, as the sewing stuff didn't get unpacked as quickly as the food and clothing - hey, someone had to work the next day after returning!)

This book has very modern quilts, but I think I love all but one in there!  It was in the package with the kit, so I didn't even know what else I was getting with the purchase.  This is definitely a good book and more projects may just happen from it...someday...

I failed to take a photo of the whole kit together, but at least remembered the stacks of fabrics!

It struck me as pretty amazing that the color for this months Rainbow Scrap Challenge is also orange, but I promise, this was not anything I engineered.  (And I still have to make the last 9 dreaded Patchwork City blocks...soon...)

Let's lay those all out because those low-volume backgrounds...O...M...G...!

Words!  And maps.  And newspaper ads.  And don't forget dots!!!!!

The oranges (and grey) are no slouches either.  Paperclips!  Clothespins!  (And I think that one under the grey is a Tula Pink print, but the selvedge I got was the wrong end to confirm my suspicions.)

It was almost to hard to cut into these, but I managed.

First, though, was the task of pressing out about a years worth of folded-neatly wrinkles.  Good thing I have a wonderful (though not very expensive) steamy iron.  AND I remembered to bring proper water this year!

The quilt is quite simple, just squares made into 9-patches and arranged just so.  But there are a LOT of squares to cut!  (529 if my math is right...)  That took the better part of the day (that and the de-wrinkling), but it's okay.  Any progress is progress.

Unfortunately, I was so excited to be sewing, I failed to take ANY progress photos until I had all the blocks made!

Perhaps not the best lighting for that photo, but you get what you get when you rent!  The space I had for laying this out was almost not big enough, but I got it in.  I also stubbed my toe on the legs of the table about 45 times during the week.  They stick out just a little, but apparently I'm also unaware of where my feet are?  (And who wants to wear shoes when living on the shores of Lake Huron!)

The blocks got sewn together and then the borders were added.  And then I took the quilt outside for a photo shoot.

It was windy all week, but I did my best...

Under the deck of the cabin is no fun sight, but at least the deck was high enough to accommodate the quilt, which the book claims finishes 69"x69".  (Mine might be a little smaller because, in transit, the dial that turns to move your needle got moved over a click.  For this quilt of all the same size squares, it didn't matter.  I did a little ripping at the start of project #2 before I thought to check it.  Because it's a manual dial and doesn't generally move itself, why would I check?  Ah well, fixed in time and project #2 went smoothly...well...we'll call it that...after!)

But we're on the beach, so let's take a little walk while the neighbors are away and can't wonder what that crazy lady who never leaves the cabin except for dinner is doing...

A little trouble with the colors here - my phone washed out the oranges and when trying to edit them back to a good color, it made the skies look stormy.  Though we did have some rain, it was not the case this day.

To the left you can see the marina where large boats (well, not TOO large) come in.  And to the right is the dock for the cabins where we stay.  (The hubby has his boat on the other side of the cabin, at another dock where there is electricity - permission given by the rental folks, of course.)  Straight ahead is Harbor Island, a national wildlife refuge that has no people living on it!  If I didn't get seasick so easily, I'd have been out there hiking this year, as the weather wasn't too hot.  (Some years...ugh!)  It doesn't look far, but even calm waters on this big lake are a questionable for me in our little boat.

So here is where I tidied up (I even brought a small vacuum to suck up the inevitable strings!) and started gearing up for project #2.  I'll blog about that soon - I hope.  The boss-lady at work has scheduled me 41 hours this week because a few folks are out, so I agreed to step in and help since I know they covered for me while I was away.  But that leaves little playtime.  And I do have today off, but found out the nieces (and now a nephew!) we've taken shoe shopping every fall are due to start school in a week.  There goes my day off!  But we'll have fun and the kids have a blast, too.  (Plus, I know they have quality shoes for the school year, not the kind that come from Wal-Mart and fall apart by winter, when they really need the shoes to be shoes...I've never been one for cheap shoes...I mean, I have my share of flip-flops and fun shoes that you wear for a few hours here and there, but real shoes?  Treat your feet!  You'll not be sorry!)

I'll also try, in the next post, to share the short side-trip to a quilt shop I managed on the trip up!

Happy quilting,

Katie

July UFO done!

I'm still not sewing much.  It's still hot and I'm procrastinating my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks, as usual...

But there HAS been some sewing...

I cut pieces for my July UFO (block 12 of Arcadia Avenue).

And forced myself to sit down and sew some here and there.  I thought it would take longer for each set of pieces (16 sets total), but they're smaller pieces, so at least shorter seams for many of them made sewing time less!

Or this way...

The day I was working most on this was an actual day off work, but between the hubby having a half day to go to the dentist and the septic sucker guy making requests to water the ground where he had to dig and the hubby texting, it was slow going.  I was happy to at least get them this far!

But then, a few days later, I took a few deep breaths...and...

Not perfect, as paper piecing aficionados try to promise, but good enough.  Two more to go and then I get to put them together.  And pick out all the paper bits.  Ugh.  (But I bought a super pointy tweezers a while back, so that will be at least easier for that!)

In other news, there were two quilt shows near me this weekend.  One was Friday and Saturday and the other was Saturday and Sunday.  Between work shifts, I managed to do both!  Friday I went with a friend who recently moved away, but was back for a few days, to one of the shows.  The quilts were wonderful, but we had way more fun at the "garage sale"...great stuff, great prices!

I got these lovelies, ranging from fat quarters up to three yard cuts:

The grey and lime green I'm hoping to use for quilt backgrounds.  The remaining pieces were just fun, though that one Civil War pink went directly to my mom, who uses such fabrics.

Then I found these...

I think these are Cherrywood fabrics.  And most are at least a fat quarter.  I haven't opened them all up yet (it's been a busy weekend!), but I got this big stack for $7.  Yep, $7.  I kinda have an idea for these, but we'll see where the squirrels take me.  Worst case, they end up in my stash or shared with a friend somewhere along the way.

The second show didn't have as great of a garage sale (of course, getting there on day two didn't help!), but there were a few quilts that caught my eye and I remembered to take photos.  My mom went with me and being a more traditional quilter who likes Civil War fabrics, these mostly got the thumbs down, but that's okay.  We both enjoy quilting and realize we don't like the same things, but can appreciate the techniques involved and understand what is good workmanship, so it's all good.

I should have taken photos of the tags, but, well, I didn't...

This one is just fun.  But the closer you get, the less you see the secondary pattern of a circle of circles.

This one has amazing quilting that continues out from the green diamonds.  Very much an inspiration for me when I have too much negative space!

I've seen this pattern before, but it's even more striking in person.  And just fun.

And last, this one caught my eye for the pattern, but the colors weren't just doing it for me.  I stepped back to take a photo (because I really do like the pattern) and the quilt really took on a new life through the lens of my camera.  It's still a little darker and less-contrasty than I might have done, but I do like it a lot more this way.

After the show, we headed to the quilt shop that's not only near this show, but open on Sundays!  I picked up a set of TriRecs rulers for a project squirrel I might be starting soon and my mom picked up a few pieces of fabrics.

Then we headed to a little larger town a few miles over and got lunch at a good Mexican place and then headed into JoAnn's, as they have a good sale on calicos and I had an extra 25% off coupon that came special, separate from the usual mailer, in the mail last week.

I got this fabric for the back of my Rows of Cats quilt:

And this one for my Tula Pink Tabby Road plus quilt:

I'm pretty excited about both and they're in the process of being washed right now.  It's hot out, but I'm doing it anyways.

And then there's that squirrel...  There's this blog hop/quilt along going on over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict's blog.  I'm really tempted to make this quilt with the leftovers from the quilt I made for the hubby's aunt and donate it for one of the charity groups my guild helps...  We'll see how today goes...I hurt my back Friday night, so the weekend was kind of a wash.  Today it feels better, but I've got to play catch up on all the chores that were neglected over the weekend.  I'm nearly there, but the day is passing quickly, I have a mess in my sewing room from my new purchases, I have to work later and it's hot upstairs!  (We'll see how loudly the squirrel is hollering when I'm done blogging and finish the remaining chores...like putting the sheets back on my bed that are currently in the dryer...)

So that's it for my fun lately.  It seems like a lot here, but doesn't seem like much in real life...

Oh, and let's leave you with a photo of now 1-year-old kitten, Gabby, practicing that teenager selfie look I see so often on social media...

(totally candid...she and the other grey kitty were both on the cat tree, so I thought it would be a cute photo...then I realized what she had done...little brat!)

Happy quilting,

Katie

June UFO complete!

When I say complete, it doesn't get any more complete than this...it's hanging in my house.  Complete with a label and a hanging sleeve!

Normally I save the finished quilt for the end of a post, but this has me so excited and happy.  I took down the chicken quilt that has been hanging in my stairwell landing for at least 10 years and replaced it with this just this morning!  (I'm going to have to take another photo when it's done washing because Blogger ate my photos from the post and the search function is turning up nothing, even with "quilt" as the keyword...perhaps that's the new e-mail comments glitch?)

Edit: The chicken quilt post, when I went into edit and add new photos I took today, had the photos in the editor function.  When I chose "Update" to re-post, with absolutely NO changes made by me, the photos are back in the post.  So, here's the link to the chicken quilt that used to hang in my stairwell!

But enough of that, let's tell this quilt's story!

Last year, my quilt guild decided to do a pass-the-box exchange.  I was on the fence with participating for a variety of reasons.  A big part of my trouble was that I couldn't decide what to choose.  About a week before the deadline to turn in boxes, it hit me...HOUSES!!!  Anything goes - size, color, style...make it yours!  My first post about these was here.  I didn't share much along the way because they were to be kept secret.

So roll along to October 2017 when I got my blocks back.  I had a great variety (seen here - scroll waaaaay down! also below, because...easy...)  But I was excited.  And decided I'd add these blocks to my UFO challenge list for the year.  This would help make sure they became something, not just another box of stuff I don't know what to do with!

This month the number was drawn.  It was time to figure it out.  I took it to my guild's monthly sew-in with the intention of heading to one of my local quilt shops (within walking distance of our sewing location!) and picking out something for background.  I came home with that AND backing.  But during the day, I managed to get the top together and came home excited, but a little wary of how to quilt it!

But I was determined and taking advange of a cooler day just a few days back, I loaded it onto my longarm!  It took lots of thread changes...

...and not so many passes...

...but LOTS of quilting...

...and I had a finished quilt!  (Well, quilted-finished quilt.)

The shady, overcast day allows you to see a LOT of the quilting here!

I knew I needed a label and a hanging sleeve still, as I planned to hang it in a specific spot and have learned to label things I want to remember later.  But I set that aside to complete my rainbow scrap challenge blocks (post coming soon!) and clear off my cutting area and such first.  Maybe you'd call that procrastination, but at least it was forward-moving procrastination!

Yesterday, with a day off and cooler temps again, it seemed perfect to work on binding and such.  So, after a few chores, I set off to the sewing room and made binding, a hanging sleeve and a label for not only this quilt, but the Christmas quilt!

I had hoped I would have the quilt hanging when the hubby got home from work.  I was close - I had only the hand-sewing side of the hanging sleeve left when he arrived!

(But what color do you use?  I ended up using a medium grey and you can't see it.  Also, it's on the back, so you really can't see it!)

After dinner and a few other things, I finished the hanging sleeve and even went on to sew the Christmas quilt label on!

This morning, I took it out for a final photo shoot before it took a place of honor in the house...

A few close-ups of the quilting that aren't easy to see otherwise...

And finally, proof there IS a label!

I am so excited to have this hanging in my house.  I have a few other group project quilts that I love just as much, but keep forgetting to purchase stuff to hang them, so they're hiding out for now.  Maybe this will motivate me to get them hung?  (I know the hubby is willing to help with the drilling and hammering part, but I just have to get the "stuff" to do that with!)

And now, it's time to work on sewing those Swoon blocks together that got abandoned.  I do have to work today, but I have a little time left...

(Also, get a photo of the chicken quilt...!)

Happy quilting,

Katie

PS I do have a few photos of blocks I made for others during this exchange, but wasn't diligent about photo taking for a while...or blogging...

may UFO complete

(completed to my satisfaction, that is)

This month, the UFO number called was 12.  The dreaded UFO.  A box of blocks in various stages of done-ness for a quilt I'd mostly lost interest in.  It just seemed like a lot of work and, while I liked it to start, this project has taught me to be more selective when I get excited about a new project.  (How much work is actually involved - applique? pieced applique backgrounds? embroidery?  And is it large enough that I'm likely to lose interest before completion?)

But the hubby was away for a week on business early in the month, so I had the house to myself.  Not a whole lot different since my "retirement" started (more on that in a minute), but no need to keep any sort of schedule.  Now don't go thinking I sewed all night and slept all day - I kept my sleeping schedule fairly the same, and my hubby isn't a rigid schedule kind of guy, but there are still certain expectations...you know, dinner...quilting stuff not taking over the couch...

So, I turned on the Netflix and DVR and plopped on the couch.

When I started, I had three blocks to go, with the backgrounds pieced and (surprise!) the freezer paper patterns traced and cut out.  I layed it all in the middle of my sewing room floor, hoping I'd be motivated enough to work on the project, not just walk around it...

(the colors are terrible here, but purple does not like to be photographed)

A few hours later, I went back up and decided I'd prep ONE block for applique.

Once this was done, I decided to just keep going.  Thinking again, like the mess on the floor, if I had my pins tied up in a project, that might be motivation to get them back?

No photos, but the other three were prepped as well.

I managed to applique one whole block each of the first three days the hubby was gone.

The next day was spent "arming" my snowmen.  Also the few other embroidery details.

And while my goal for this UFO was forward progress of any type, I decided I might as well put the blocks together.  The way the background pieces are put together, there are no sashings to deal with, so other than having fairly large blocks (18" or so on some sides!), and a few seams to match, it went together fairly quickly.

Well, I've got the fabrics out and the pattern out, so might as well figure out borders, right?  (I had a box of purple and tan stash fabrics and no official plan...)  And it turned out that, with a little effort, I even had enough of one of the purples for most of the back!

I don't have any in-progress photos of any of this because I was too busy sewing to take them, but I do have a (poorly lit, indoor) photo of the finished top!  (I thought about taking it outside for a photo, but it's been too windy here the last few days...never mind this has been finished for weeks...)

The back is one of the smaller scale purples with a little of the tan with pokey-looking purple flowers on it to make it big enough.

The noses, eyes, buttons and a few jingle bells and such will be added after quilting.  (On the first block, the snowmen got these details embroidered, but I decided that was a lot of work and I wasn't very good at it, so I bought some carrot buttons...)

I thought about quilting it, and am kinda excited to do a variety of motifs, but know that actually deciding on them will be harder than just anticipating it.  So I set it aside, along with the back and prepared binding (yep, that too!) to await further efforts.

This is WAY more than I expected I would do.  I actually thought, before the number was called, that I might just give it up to a loving home that would finish it.  But I'm glad I put in the effort.  I have no idea what I'll do with it when it IS finished, but that's a problem for another day.

And we can't have a post without a cat, right?

Super helpful Lexie.  She's recently deaf, so no amount of hollering at her roused her from her comfy slumber.  I had to physically remove her, but we're still in the learning process with that and scare the bejeezus out of here every so often.  But she's an indoor cat and we know the issue, so there's really not much more you can do.  (The vet says brain surgery could fix it, but seriously?  Brain surgery?  I don't think I'd attempt that on myself even if I knew it could fix something like being deaf, but in a 14-year-old cat? Other than missing a few meals if we don't tell her about them, she's doing just fine.)

Since this was completed, I started working on the Swoon quilt.  This quilt...I know the pattern is not to blame for my trouble piecing, but seriously.  I'm struggling more with each block and will be glad to be done.  I have seven of nine blocks done, so soon...

And about the "retirement"...  After a few months of paying bills and such, we discovered that we didn't have much fun money.  So I've gone back to work.  As a cashier at the local Tractor Supply Company.  Today was my third day and I've got a lot to learn about what the store carries, where to find it and generally everything, but it's WAY less stressful than the lab job and it's only part time.  Also, it's a mile from home.  I could literally walk to work if I chose.  (But not this week - it's crazy hot and I'm not sure if I'd make it before the mosquitoes carried me off!)  I kind of expected something like this would happen - for one reason or another - but with a great recommendation from a friend/former employee, I got in fast.  Now I just have to prove myself...hoping that won't be too hard, but I'm putting in the effort!

The worst part?  It's cutting into my quilting time.  But, it's also providing me with a little cash flow for more quilting stuff.  It's all about the balance.  (And I have tomorrow off - great timing since it's a new month!)

Happy quilting!

Katie

another quilt with cats on it

Not real cats.  Well, okay, the real cats have inspected it, but I mean cats made of fabric.

I teased you with the fabric pull last week...

Last you saw, I had pieces cut for all the cats.  I sewed a bunch...and then ripped a bunch because I'd sewn the tails on backwards...and then sewed more.

I spent Wednesday last week sewing with my mom and sister-in-law and was excited when all the cats were properly together.  I had to trek upstairs to use the design floor at my sister-in-law's house, but no problem.  I'd been out cleaning out my hostas the day before and was sore - the moving around did me good!  (But my brother teased me about being old...he's all of 15 months younger!)

With alternating colors, this wasn't too hard, but there was one fabric I had in both green and blue and a couple were a little wilder than others, so I wanted them spread out well.  This only took a few minutes and their cat, Nala, is very wary of strangers, so she didn't come help.

Back to sewing and by the end of the afternoon, I had all the cats sewn into a top!

But it was too small with just the cats.  And the original pattern does call for a border, but I had just a tiny bit of the grey left.  (And buying more...well, the short version is that's a needle in a haystack!)  So I started thinking what to do.

Piano keys?

Mice?

What about both?

So I searched Pinterest for a simple mouse pattern/idea.  I found a lot of cute, involved, larger paper pieced mice, but this quilt is so blocky and simple, that wasn't going to fit.

And then I came across one that would work!  It's simple and I didn't need a pattern.  (And if I'd had my head screwed on straight, I would have saved the link instead of just taking a screenshot with my phone...but I'd been wading through pages and pages and pages of Mickey Mouse for what seemed like ever, so I'll blame it on that...)

I did some drawing and some math and got all the fabrics back out (twice) to cut pieces for top and bottom pieced borders.

And I sewed a lot yesterday - it took a good part of the day, but at the end of the day, I had a top!  (And another area outside cleared of leaves and seedling trees!)

It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day yesterday (I went out to work in the yard at 7:30am and by 8:00, I was sweating enough to remove my sweatshirt!)  The wind wasn't too strong and I was able to get a good photo!

Currently I think it's 50"x66".  The original pattern can be found here.

I don't think I'm going to add side borders.  It seems wide enough when I hold it up.  It's not going to be a cover-the-whole-bed size, but it's a good cool-summer-day-nap size.

I'm not sure I like the piano keys being different above and below the mice (you'll have to click on the photo to probably see them well), but I'm not changing it now.  The mice do need to have tails and eyes embroidered.  The cats also need noses and whiskers.  So I'll be working on that soon.  Maybe.

And one last photo of the quilt before I move on to the other quilty topics...

Emma does not approve.  (She was pretty determined I was going to feed her N.O.W.)

In other quilty news, the new UFO has been announced.  #12.  The one I've been dreading most.  It's finishing my Merry, Merry Snowmen quilt.  I bought the pattern ages ago at a quilt show.  No, wait, my sister-in-law (the one I sewed with this week) bought it for me at the quilt show for my birthday or Christmas or something.  And I started it, all excited.  I got six of the nine blocks mostly done (a few need embroidered arms and such) and then petered out completely.

So earlier this week, I pulled out the bin it lives in and took stock.  What needed what.

Turns out I'd not only pieced the backgrounds for the remaining three blocks, but I'd also traced and cut out freezer paper applique patterns for the remaining three blocks.  And most of the embroidery on the finished blocks was also done!

Well, that just made things faster!

The colors aren't great here, but I left this in the middle of my sewing room floor to force me to do SOMETHING with this sooner rather than later.  I figured if it was there, I'd feel too guilty to just pick it up and put it back than if I tidied up right away.

A few hours later (chores and cooking and whatnot...), I went back with the plan to choose fabrics for the next block (just one!) and get them cut and pinned.  Well.  I did all three.  Again, figuring if I knew my pins were tied up in something it would be better motivation to sew and reclaim them.  Plus, everything was out and the iron was hot...

Here's the first block, ready to sew!

(the colors are truer here,but I find purple hard to photograph)

And see that snowman peeking out of a corner?  I'd even hand appliqued those guys for all three remaining blocks!

None of the three blocks left have a ton of pieces, but one has a truck with wheels, so those will take a bit more prep, but I even cut cardboard circles to use as gathering templates!  I don't remember doing all of this, but boy was I on a roll!

Now I just have to convince myself to sit down and sew them...

But...the hubby got a call Friday afternoon.  His work is sending him to another plant, out of state, all next week.  So I can spread out my sewing supplies, fire up the Netflix and sew!  Of course, Emma will make sure she gets to eat regularly (if she had it her way, it would be a new can of food about every 30 minutes, but she does get four meals a day, plus free choice crunchies), which means I'll probably eat regularly, too.  So while I don't like being home alone at night, this frees up a good chunk of each afternoon, so maybe I'll get it done...maybe if I leave laying out on the couch I'll guilt myself into sewing more?

It won't be all fun and games, though, because this time of year the yard needs work.  And I've been slacking for a while, so the yard needs LOTS of work.  I've done a chunk, but there's lots more to do.  I'm breaking it up into areas and setting a goal each day, otherwise I think it might get so overwhelming I'd just give up and stay inside and pretend I don't see it.  Again.  It is nice to see the progress, though.  Encouraging.

Also the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color was announced - pink - so now that the cats and their associated fabrics are put away again (for the, um, fourth? time), I can pull the pinks and talk myself into making a few more Patchwork City blocks.  I'm not sure if I need to make six or nine this month, but I have a notebook and just have to remember to look next time I'm in my sewing room.

The sewing room is looking tidier a little, too.  As I'm finishing projects, things get put away.  And in digging out the snowmen quilt, I found a bin for a project I THOUGHT I was going to make.  Like 4 years ago.  I made one block and am not too excited about it.  I think I remember the (free) pattern having issues, too.  So I returned the fabrics to my stash, stowed the patterns safely in case I decide I want them later, and that helped too!  I'm hoping that at the end of the year, my sewing room will not look like the bins-of-fabric fairy threw up...

And with that, it's off to spend a little time with the hubby before he flies out tomorrow morning.  (Ugh, I have to get up early - airport duty!)

Happy quilting,

Katie

april UFO done and other projects

When I made my UFO list this year, I didn't anticipate quitting my job.  I knew it was kinda in the works that it COULD happen, but I didn't think it WOULD.  But it DID!  

This quilt started out quite a while ago.  First, it was a jelly roll that was gifted to me...

...the fabric line is called "Max and Whiskers" and it features cute kitties and puppies and assorted things that go along with them.  It's super cute.

After doing a little stash organizing and tidying, I realized I had a lot of precuts that had been purchased or given to me that I had no idea what to do with them.  I went to retreat in January soon after this discovery and had no official projects to work on.  So I pulled out a few sets of precuts and started looking for patterns to be my retreat projects.

This one was difficult, as many jelly roll patterns either take yardage (and I knew this was old enough I wasn't going to easily find some), and/or chop up the fabric into bits and I wanted to keep as many kitties and puppies whole as I could.

A search led me to a pattern in a magazine called "Brick Wall".  There are a variety of similar versions, but I'd seen this one and went chasing after it.  I had to download the August/September 2012 Quilter's Newsletter magazine to get the pattern (if I remember right, it took a LONG time to find the pattern), but I got it.  The pattern is by Joanna Wilczynska and finishes at 58x74.

I finished the top at the retreat...

...and then it came home.

All it needed was a few more borders.  I even pieced the pieced border and purchased the fabric for the solid border.  So simple, really!

So I started the UFO journey by simply adding borders...

...I had the original goal finished.

But a trip to JoAnn's when they were having an amazing sale, I came home with a back...

(I know, I know, there's no green in the top)

...and thought why not try to get the whole thing done this month?

So a few weeks ago, I loaded it on the longarm...

(you can kinda see the quilting on that blue block, but I had no close-ups)

...and in just a few hours (and a few bobbins), I had it quilted.  Simply and not as much as I had originally planned (my plan called for loading it the other direction and once I had the ENTIRE thing loaded and basted, I wasn't going back), but enough.

The same day as longarming, I sewed on the binding!  (It's nice when you make it at the same time as the top - it's ready for you when you're ready for it!)

And then I sorta stalled out.  I got about halfway around and then set it aside.  But last night, the hubby went to take an early evening nap, so I plopped on the couch with the remotes handy and finished the binding!

It was even done early enough to get a photo before dark - boy do I love the longer days of spring and summer!

This photo looks a lot like the last one, just more shadows, but trust me when I say it's done.  I'm so glad it's done!  It never went into The Closet of Shame!

I'm not sure if I'll keep it or not, but quilts have a way of telling you where they belong, so if this one has a new home someday, that's okay.  I do like the fabric and the back, too, but sometimes quilts just have a place they need to be.  So we'll see...

In other news...I'm trying to keep projects moving forward.  I promised a finished photo of the peach and turquoise dolly quilt...

(I still can't get the colors right, even outside)

...and all three I turned in this past week at guild...

I also shared in my last post the churn dash quilt I was working on for Jack's Basket.  Last Friday, I quilted it!

(see the swirls? I debated swirls or wavy lines...I like the swirls!)

When I left you, I wasn't sure about backing.  I dug deep into the stash of oddish stuff and found leftovers from another quilt back.  With a little cutting and piecing, I had a large enough back!

(it's a little crooked here, but the stripes are straight, I promise)

I even made the binding and sewed that on Friday also.  It's in the pile of needing hand-sewing, but it's moving forward!

With all that done, I felt like I could start something new.  I was going to work on one project, something that had caught my eye recently, but then I found this...

I had bought the fabric at a quilt show after seeing a quilt made in a booth.  I asked for the pattern, but it was a free download (I'm not sure this is exactly the same, but I can't find the one I downloaded exactly), so I went and found that before I forgot.  And then it got kinda buried.  So I started thinking about how to make it mine and had a great idea, but wasn't entirely sold.  So after doing math to make it a bit smaller, I slept on it.  I woke up and knew my idea wasn't going to work.  And not having enough fabrics to do it the pattern way, it's on hold.

Back to the pattern that caught my attention in the first place: Rows of Cats by Gingibear.  I thought a while and finally decided the original idea for colors was going to be it.  (These were actually the colors I'd considered for the churn dash originally, but thought the darker would be nice for a boy.)

And then I cut a lot.  Each cat will be a different fabric and there are 28 cats.  I challenged my stash and had to piece a few pieces, but they're all different!  (And it didn't make a dent in my stash, but why would it?  Well, except for the grey - that's gone.)

I sewed some on the blocks yesterday, but when the hubby went up for his nap, I took full advantage of controlling the television (that doesn't happen unless he's not here...and what he watches...ugh!) and took a break.

I'm a little concerned that I have no more grey for borders...it's leftover from Philip's quilt, so I know where I got it, but because I ordered as a guest and don't have the packing list any more...what I ordered is now a mystery.  But I'll figure this out when I get there, I suppose!

And now, my mom and her sister are due here any minute, so I'd better proofread and get ready!

Happy quilting!

Katie