Weekend Projects

I spent some time recently helping my Mom make some pillow fronts using her finished cross stitch pieces.  We had a lot of fun hanging out, chatting, laughing, swimming, taking the dogs for a walk...feeding squirrels...and sewing.

See that cute "leash" that hangs free?  Adorable!

Like me, and probably most crafters and sewists, she enjoys the process, the patterns, the supplies...just generally making something cool by hand...as much if not more...than the finished project.  And we all know how that can lead to a lot of finished, but unfinished UFO's.  (...a closet full of un-quilted tops, perhaps)

She had the idea to turn some of her smaller pieces into pillows, and asked me to come visit and help her out.

So some super simple patchwork, a bit of sashing and quilting and we turned 11 of the small cross stitch pieces into three pillow fronts...that she will make into pillow covers for the holidays.  (Uh-oh...did we make more UFO's?  LOL!)

I don't know much about the cross stitch patterns, other than these below are by Sue Hillis...

...and are my favorites!

Isn't this skate adorable!

The fabrics we used to frame the squares are random scraps from my stash...love using up stash!...so it was a win-win weekend!

And as evidence of my mom's patience (and counted cross-stitch requires it)...she has earned the trust of the neighborhood squirrels and hand feeds them un-shelled peanuts!

Finish No.1 - 3rd Q

Okay...so I feel a bit like this first finish is a cheat...all I had to do was get the binding sewn on and the quilt photographed.

I love piped bindings!

But then I have to remind myself that three months ago it was un-basted and un-quilted and languishing in my trunk...

And now it is done and living on my Mom's bed!  The pattern (modified to be a bit bigger) is Line Dancing by Kathy Mack for the Moda Bakeshop.  The printed fabrics are mostly Mod Century by Jenn Ski...with some Moda Bella solids (in what colors, I know not...sorry, I started this quilt in January of 2013!) a few random scraps thrown in to make my charm packs stretch, and the binding is fabric from Zen Chic...the quilt finishes at 60"X73"

I had fun quilting this!

And fun using up some very old flamenco skirt polka-dots on the back!

So this is finish #17 for the year....leaving 41 on my 3rd Quarter List.  Time to get back to the sewing room!

2016 3rd Quarter Finish A Long

So after the rousing success of the 2nd Quarter Finish A Long...here is the working list for the 3rd Quarter:

...Apple Stars, Shiny Happy Dog & Cat (softies), Bonnie's Blooms,  OHO, Line Dancing, Hand-Dyed Stars, Big Hexies, Zig Zag Diamonds, Snapshots, HST Pinwheels, 2014 Mystery BOM, Brown & Blue UFO, Oh, My Stars, Chevron Cats, Cherry Tweet, Hand Quilted Postage Stamp, Flowering Snowball, Log Cabin, Cricket's TV Dinner, Batik 1600 Quilt, Mystery Quilt (still need to find the name of the pattern), Ribbon Box, December 26th, Bee in My Bonnet Row Along, Aunt Ruth's BOM, Perennial Stars, My TV Dinner, Starry Log Cabin, Hand-pieced Henry, (in the boxes, partial tops) Yoyoville, Clover, Ferndale Flora, Adore, Sew Sweetness Bag, New Year's Stripes and Squares, Dapper Dan, Chunky Blue and Gold, Leslie's Geese, Starburst, Red Trip, Ava's Starry Eyed and Olivia's Christmas Snowballs

Still a list of 42...several adds and quite a few deletions from last quarter.  I like a big meaty list, I can never tell what I'm in the mood for...

So, here's wishing myself and all the other FAL-ers the best of luck in the 3rd Quarter!

2nd Quarter Finish A Long Re-Cap

Here's a quick recap of how I did during the 2nd Quarter of the Finish-A-Long...it's not too shabby, if you ask me...

Starting List (42):

Hand-Dyed Stars, Big Hexies, Ribbon Box, Zig Zag Diamonds, Apple Stars, Snapshots, HST Pinwheels, 2014 Mystery BOM, Strip-Pieced Mini, Penny Candy, Angie's TV Dinner, Baby Star, Brown & Blue UFO, Line Dancing, Oh, My Stars, Oh, Americana!, Chevron Cats, New Year's Stripes and Squares, OHO, Shiny Happy Dog & Cat (softies), Cherry Tweet, Hand Quilted Postage Stamp, Flowering Snowball, Log Cabin, Cricket's TV Dinner, Batik 1600 Quilt, Mystery Quilt, Ribbon Box, December 26th, Abundance, Bee in My Bonnet Row Along, Celtic Solstice, Aunt Ruth's BOM, Perennial Stars, My TV Dinner, Bonnie's Blooms, Yoyoville, Clover, Ferndale Flora, Starry Log Cabin, The Big Easy and Hand-pieced Henry.

Finished (6):
Ribbon Box, Strip-pieced Mini, Penny Candy, Angie's TV Dinner, Oh, Americana! and Abundance

Deleted/Donated (3):
Baby Star, Celtic Solstice, The Big Easy (definitely was the big ugly)

Remaining, but made progress (6):
Apple Stars

The top is pieced...and the paper is mostly removed

Line Dancing

Just need to attach the binding...

New Year's Stripes and Squares

The top and backing are all pieced...

OHO

Changed this to a small quilt, too many blocks weren't square (need to practice my curved piecing)...and I got the FMQ started...

Shiny Happy Cat and Dog

Shiny Happy Daisy & Shiny Happy Bonnie need shirts!

Bonnie's Blooms

I got the flowers cut and pinned on...but I'm not feeling much love for this project anymore...hmm, donation maybe?

And least you  think I was good and didn't add any new projects to my list...here they are:

Oops...[insert shameful winking eye emoji]...Added UFO's (5):

Chunky Blue and Gold (stash buster)

 Dapper Dan (stash buster)

 Starburst from MSQC tutorial (stash buster)

 Leslie's Geese

Adore (and I do...)

I have already started FMQ this one...and am having a lot of fun!  I'm debating on whether or not to make each "leaf's" quilting the same or unique...

I also did a little re-organizing, stash thinning and quilt-top wrangling...

They all look so nice hanging in a row...I certainly have my work cut out for me!

Check back tomorrow for my 3rd Quarter List of UFO's...

Finish No. 6

For my SIL's birthday I finished up my Abundance quilt from Jeni Baker's pattern.  I instantly fell in love with the pattern when she first blogged about it...and I think I even went straight home and pulled some stash to start one of my own!

With my ever faithful assistant's help!

I started piecing the rows in the middle of July, last year...

 and was finished with the top a few days later....and then it just sat, nicely folded...for almost a year...

Until the 2016FAL/Q2.

I used my "go-to" quilting pattern Orange Peel, with some FMQ swirlies in the border...and finished just in time for my SIL's birthday on June 21st...she loved it!

This is the awesome backing fabric...shows the quilting nicely!

I totally doofed-out on getting a nice picture of the entire quilt before she took it home...but the picture above shows the quilting really well.  I used a fabric from Joann's, that looks a lot like a vintage sheet, for the backing...it works perfectly with the scrappy pinks, greens and yellows in the top!

The quilted ended up being 72" X 88" (including the border I added to the pattern) and will make for a fantastic picnic quilt for her and her daughters to use this summer.

Sixth item checked off my UFO list!

This makes finish #16 for 2016...and 52 remaining UFO's (36 remaining on the 2ndQ List)

Taking Quilt Pictures...with a helper

Joe...

Always willing to help!

Finish No. 5

I started Finish No. 5 in January 2015 for my friend...but only got the top done by her birthday in February (I don't know what made me think I would get the whole quilt made in a month!)

The top sat around for a long time before it got basted...

...and then a long time again before I got started on the quilting...

...and then a long time before I finished the quilting...

But it is done now and I was able to finally give it to my friend...a year and three months late...

The pattern is called TV Dinner by Modern Quilt Relish.  It measures 60" X 80".  The center portion of the quilt calls for a charm pack, I used Bluebird Park by Kate and Birdie and a great taupe-y fabric by French General for the background in the center portion.  The borders are a fabric from Joann's (not linked, 'cause I couldn't find it on their website...but I know I've seen it in the store recently).

I did some straight line quilting and FMQ flowers in the center portion...

...and FMQ loopy swirls and flowers in the borders.

I pin basted this quilt...and did a poor job.  I got a lot of puckers and whiskering in the center portion...and almost didn't finish the quilt at all, I was so disappointed.

But I went back (after a long break) and spray basted the borders and got a much nicer less puckery FMQ.

After a good wash, all's well that ends well...and finished is better than perfect!  I hope this keeps my dear friend nice and toasty!

Fifth item checked off my UFO list!

This makes finish #15 for 2016...and 53 remaining UFO's (37 remaining on the 2ndQ List)

Finish No. 4

I am on such a roll!  I finished up No. 4 from my 2016FAL 2ndQ List.

Oh Americana! by Vicki Bellino from the book Bloom Creek Quilts.  The quilt measures 50" X 50" and is a perfect throw for over the arm of a chair.

I started this quilt on June 14, 2014 (Flag Day, coincidentally!) in a class at my LQS.

I really like it...but it just languished in my UFO pile...I think I was hung up on not wanting to do the appliquéd border, which is much more in the original pattern.  I ended up simplifying the amount of appliqué...and whipped it out PDQ with a simple raw-edge straight stitch...done!

Some flowers...

...and FMQ loopy stars in the borders...

...And the fourth item checked off my UFO list!

This makes finish #14 for 2016...and 54 remaining UFO's (38 remaining on the 2ndQ List)

Finish No. 3

For my third finish of the 2ndQ 2016 Finish-A-Long, I tackled my Penny Candy quilt, a pattern from Kathy Brown's book Strip Smart Quilts.

I made this quilt in a class at my LQS in August of last year...hmm, so really it's not to old of a UFO.  I made a few cutting mistakes, and had to modify the layout a bit.  After a lot of crawling around on the floor and shifting squares and cursing at the dog every time he laid across the blocks...I ended up with a rainbow-y layout.  Happy Happy!

I quilted this on my Pfaff Performance 5.0 with an odd semi-flower, semi orange peel pattern...it turned out,well, meh...I did get a better flower in the corner blocks...of course after I had already filled the center of the quilt...but picking out stitching was not on my radar.  Finished is better than perfect.

I did try out some FMQ loops in the borders...and discovered the Pfaff Performance likes FMQ so much more than the Tiptronic!  Super smooth quilting...easy-peasy!  There is definitely more FMQ in my future.

And then...disaster!

I washed the finished quilt, along with a few other quilts and TWO color catcher sheets...and had some pretty awful bleeding from my navy blue polka dot binding (a Stonehill brand fabric from JoAnns....that I L.O.V.E.!)  I'm still so sad...but I keep reminding myself that the quilt still works...it will still keep my lap warm (and/or cat hair off of the couch!), it is still completely usable...even a bit more vintag-ey looking, right?

Love pieced backings!

Did I learn a lesson to pre-wash all my fabrics...probably not, I'm just a rebel like that...

Will I complain when the really awesome navy blue polka dot bleeds again...probably, I'm not real smart like that...

Oh well...

Third item checked off my UFO list...and I even have two more tops basted and ready to go...

This also makes finish #13 for 2016...with 55 total (and 39 from my 2ndQ list) remaining WIPs!

I'm pluggin' along!