UFO Spotted

I belong to the Ithaca Modern Quilt Guild, and one of the challenges for members this year is to finish as many of our UFOs as we can. I have several of them, so I finally got around to working on one this week. It's going to be a pillow using two-inch-cut squares from my batik scraps. I've fused the squares onto a fusible interfacing with a printed grid, and am now sewing the seams. It shouldn't take long. But then I'll need to find a pillow form to fit.

I Kept My Word

As I said in my previous post, I will not start another quilt top until I quilt two that are waiting to be quilted, so....here's one that I finished quickly. I don't have a photo of the whole thing because lighting just wasn't cooperating, no matter where I tried to take a photo. The floral nine-patches were too washed out in all the photos, so all you get is this. But it's just a simple top. I had nine identical leftover nine-patches that I had made more than five years ago for a block exchange in my guild, so I just quickly added them to some solid fuschia fabric, used the same floral fabric for the backing, and then added a fun green bias stripe for the binding. The quilt is now in the hands of my guild's Outreach chair, who will find it a good home.

This used up 2 yards out of my pre-2013 stash!

Now it's time to quilt another top!

Lucky Me!

Last fall, my guild's president challenged members to work on six UFO's, one each month for six months. For every UFO that we completed and showed at guild meetings during those six months, we got one chance to win a prize at this month's meeting. I was the lucky winner of the prize -- five gorgeous fat quarters from The City Quilter, as well as a zipper pull/key chain glass bead ornament from Joyful Adornments by Bonnie.

I think I'm just going to admire these fabrics for a while before using them in a project.

First April Finish

It feels good to have another UFO completed. I made this top and backing back in August 2011 (I blogged about it here), but put it away until I got around to quilting and binding it this past week. As I mentioned in that blog post, this quilt was made after I made this block you see below...

The red/white/black block was part of a modern block-of-the-month project from the Sew, Mama, Sew blog. When a friend of mine first saw the block on my blog, she thought it was an entire quilt -- so that gave me the idea to make a large quilt based on the same design as the block. 

I changed the measurements a bit to make the quilt a rectangle rather than a square, but it's the same basic idea.

Here's the pieced back, all from my stash...

And a closeup of the quilting...

The colors are not quite right in the photos -- I'm afraid that blue and purple and pink don't play well with my camera and computer, but in real life, the colors look really good.

This quilt used up 3 1/2 yards from my stash and will be going to the local foster child program.

Another UFO Finished!

As I've blogged about before (see here and here), my guild's president has issued a UFO challenge. What you see in these photos is the one that is due for tonight's meeting. It's a top that I pieced a while ago, but never got around to quilting it. But now it's done. And everything is from my stash, which means the backing is pieced.

Here's a closeup of the quilting...

This is a variation of one of my favorite patterns (generously provided for free by Mary Johnson of MaryQuilts.com). I basically took her Quick Strippie pattern and made the strips vertical instead of horizontal. The cake fabric pieces that I had were long and narrow, and the print on them is directional, so they wouldn't have worked in the horizontal layout. So I improvised...and I like how it looks.

Another UFO checked off the list...and more fabric used up without buying new!

I've Been Busy

As I said when the New Year arrived, I plan to make my 2013 quilts using my stash, scraps, selvages, and strings and using up orphan blocks and finishing UFOs. I've been successful so far and what you see in the photo are eight (count them, EIGHT!) quilts that I've pieced and quilted, all done without buying new fabric or batting. The bindings have all been sewn on by machine and the hand sewing is finished on the top three. Now I'll work on the other five, and since I have finished a couple of quilts already this year, I'll give myself permission to start piecing another top...without buying new fabric, of course.

January UFO Challenge Complete -- #1

Back in November, I blogged about a challenge issued by my guild's president -- we were to list six UFO's that we had sitting around and give her the list. Every month for the next six months (except for December), she will pull out a number, from one to six, and we are supposed to finish the UFO that matches that number on our list by the next month's meeting. Every time we complete a UFO, our names will be entered into a future drawing.

This is the UFO that is due at my guild meeting next Monday. It's a child's quilt that I quickly pieced with some leftover Berenstain Bears fabric that I had in my stash. The pieces that I had were long and narrow, but I didn't want to cut them up too much because of the large print. So I just figured out this easy pattern that highlights the fun fabric.

Here's a closeup shot of the quilting....

And a look at the pieced backing...again, from my stash...and so was the binding....

This will probably be a charity quilt...not sure yet.

To see first UFO that I completed in this challenge, click here.

I wonder which challenge will be next?

OK, Here Goes

My first project for the new year involves both orphan blocks and the use of my 4S (see the last two blog posts)...

I made the blocks from Tuesday's post into a small quilt top adding fabric from my stash and then found some pieces that could be sewn together for a backing. The only pieces that I did not use for the backing are those two small scraps on the left side of the photo...they'll go back into my scrap collection for future use.

In the photo below, you can see that I had just enough fabric for the backing...

Then I went into my supply of batting scraps and found these....

...which I sewed together (using the flat joining seam on my Bernina) to make this....again, just enough to fit...

...and last, but not least, I found four strips that will be sewn into a scrappy binding...

(sorry for the awful photos taken in my basement)

The seventh block of this orphan bunch will be used for something else someday...

The Year of the Orphan (Block) and UFOs

First of all, Happy New Year, everyone! I hope that 2013 brings you peace and health (and lots of quilting)!

I've decided that, for me, 2013 will be the Year of the Orphan Block and UFOs. The blocks in the photo are my first project...just seven nine-patch blocks that I picked up at one of my guild's yard sales for $1. I have no idea what possessed me to buy them...I certainly didn't need someone else's UFO when I have plenty of my own. But they just looked so pretty and lonely, so I brought them home with me. I don't have a fancy project in mind for them, just something simple that will probably be donated to charity.

Stay tuned to see what I make...

UFO Forever

 Every November for the last seven years (or maybe more), the local second grade teachers have invited me to speak about quilting to their students during their week-long observation of Colonial Days. It's basically a trunk show of my quilts (the teachers said they don't care if I've used a machine on them instead of making everything by hand like in "the olden days"), with a brief explanation of the process of making a quilt.

The quilt in these photos is the one I use to show a quilt sandwich and to demo a bit of hand quilting. I started it back in either 2000 or 2001 when I was very much a beginner. I soon discovered that I didn't really like the quilt and didn't really like my hand quilting efforts, so I just put it away and didn't think about it until the first time I participated in Colonial Days. The fact that it's not finished makes it perfect for the demo.

My ten-year-old stitches in a ten-year-old UFO are nothing to brag about, but they serve their purpose. It helps give the students an idea of what a quilt is and what makes a quilt different from a "blanket".

So, this quilt will remain a UFO and I won't feel bad about that. Hopefully, the second grade will keep inviting me back and I'll have the perfect excuse not to finish it! Actually, though, seeing the top photo makes me like it better than I thought. I kind of like the design, but the fabrics...not so much.

Christmas Is Coming, The Goose Is Getting Fat

I started this quilt (FOR ME!) last Christmas Day and the finished top has been hanging in my quilting studio since January (yikes!). The reason it's been hanging there so long is because I just haven't taken the time to figure out how to quilt it. I don't want to just do an overall pattern on it...it has way too many areas that are screaming for some custom quilting. But that takes some thinking and planning, which I haven't gotten around to yet. I hope to do it before Christmas gets here this year. No guarantees, however.

In addition to figuring out the quilting pattern, there's still the decision to be made about thread color!

Wish me luck!