the last UFO of 2011

Though the officially assigned UFO for this month was my Garden Variety quilt, I finished that quite early this month...thanks to working ahead in other months.

With that completion, I'd finished 11 of 12 tasks for the 2011 UFO Challenge.  I was feeling pretty good about what I had finished, but still a bit guilty for not finishing that one last project.  I didn't want to get so close and not finish.

I've been putzing along, working a little here and a little there, but I think dreading the set-in seams kept me working at an even slower rate on this Lone Star-Whig Rose quilt.  But I've had the last few days off and decided it was time to dig in and finish the top.  I knew I could do it - the appliques were nearly done and the star was together before the challenge started - I just needed to DO it!

There are 4 squares and 4 triangles that get sewn into the star to make it square.  The squares have been done a while and the triangles were getting there. 

After about a whole season of Desperate Housewives (yay Netflix!), I got this far this afternoon and tried to call my mom to see what she was doing tomorrow.  (Maybe talk her into sewing these into the star?)  She didn't answer and I couldn't sit still knowing I was so close, so I took a chance on waking up the sleeping hubby and started sewing.

(After a quick google search on just how to sew these silly things in there!)

I got this far and Emma decided she was S-T-A-R-V-I-N-G.  She's fed canned food twice a day and has crunchies all the time, but when it gets near mealtime, you'd think she was dying.  I think each corner got worse and maybe it was because I had "help," but I think it was just beginner's luck.

We have a finish!

And it lays flat!

Guessing it measures about 50" square.  (= lazy)

Now what to do with it?

It was started to be a wedding/anniversary gift for my brother-in-law, but that marriage ended more than 7 years ago (yep, it's been a UFO for a while).  I've thought about giving it to my ex-sister-in-law because maybe she deserves it, but I'm not sure she'd want it.  I've also debated donating it for some sort of raffle fund-raiser, but many of us know how poorly those often do.  Any ideas?  (Yes, yes, I know you'd all be happy if I shipped it to your house...)

So let's review where I started in January:

8 projects needing finishing, divided into 12 months of tasks.  (Don't be fooled by the one in the upper right - it's a photo of the quilt from the pattern and was a kit I ordered in the process of making the 2011 blog post-list!)

And now we have:

8 finished tops! 
(Oops - I got the wrong photo in there of the Lone Star-Whig Rose, but you've seen the one above and know it's finished, right?!)

I'm pretty darn proud of myself for getting them all done, though a little surprised that none of them have been quilted and given away yet!

(One I do have plans for, but don't need it until July, so you know I'll be finishing it IN July!)

Now I'm truly ready for the 2012 challenge.

Bring it on, Judy!

In a day or two, I'm going to put together a few more collages to show what else I got done this year because though the list is shorter than it was for 2011, the projects are bigger!  And it's fun to see them all together.  Makes me feel super productive.

Happy quilting!

Katie

april UFO: still a UFO

Well, I predicted this mid-month, but here it is the end of April and my UFO for the monthly challenge is nowhere near finished.

Yes, I still have today, but I think if I sat and did ONLY that for the next 11 hours (until midnight), I'd have sore fingers and a STILL unfinished UFO.  So I'm throwing in the towel and I'm okay with that.

But let's review how far I have come, because I think I have accomplished a lot considering everything else going on around here.

I started out with this star (started around 2001),

this inspiration,

and these fabrics.

And here's where I am at now:

Two square corners complete, and a third (partially) pinned and ready to go.  Pieces cut and ready for the remaining one square and four triangle corners.

(For scale, those squares are cut 17" and I used a dime as the template for the yellow flower centers.)

I'll keep working on it in spare moments.  Now that it's started again, I really want to finish it.  Even if I have no idea what I'll do with it when it's done.

I hope the UFO chosen for May is simpler so I'll gain some time to work on this.  And I hope Judy doesn't have something fantastic to give away this month for those who finish because, though I never win, I sure don't want to miss out on the chance either!

And now, instead of working my fingers to bleeding on this, I'm going to go work on the "gargoyle" quilt and see if I can get that into a top!

Happy quilting,

Katie

april UFO

This month Judy randomly chose #4 from the UFO list.

Ugh.

I've been dreading this one.  I was hoping maybe it would linger till the end of the year and the UFO challenge would have been forgotten so it could stay in the closet.

Darn.

What is #4 on my list?

It looks like the hard part is done.

But it's not.

Because this advertisement on the back of a Quilter's Newsletter Magazine from 1994 was my inspiration.

Applique.

I'm not sure exactly what pattern I want to use.  I'm going to borrow some books from my mom and I've seen a few quilts on Flickr along these lines, too.  Some head-scratching and sketching will be going on before I start anything.

And some background-fabric-purchasing.  Likely off-white, solid.

For now, I have these fabrics left over from the star construction:

(I can't quite get the colors right - they're all a little too bright.)

So the applique is hard, but those set-in corners are the scary part.  I've done applique.  Set-in corners are on my list of things I know I should learn, so I guess this month I will.

This quilt was started about 10 years ago for my brother-in-law and his wife.  Sadly, I worked slower than their self-destructive behavior and the marrige is no more.  Which is why it's in a box today.

So this month I'll get the top finished and it will end up waiting more until it tells me where it should go.

Happy quilting!

Katie

PS Shandy is my "sister" because my parents are her people.  (Anyone who has a cat knows they are not our cats; we are their people...)