Christmas UFO Complete

I finished another UFO. It is a Christmas quilt - 44" square - perfect as a wall hanging or table topper.

This quilt was started for Christmas three years ago. The nine patches were made from scraps of Christmas fabircs that were in my stash - left overs from previous Christmas quilts that I have made.

I started quilting it in the ditch with my domestic sewing machine and added the circles on my long arm.

I have taken close ups so that you can see the buttons that have been added to the centre of the circles. The quilt perimeter is finished off with a "flap" of white rick rack.

Need More Blocks

My Mother has been watching my blog for prospective quilts for her bed. She spied the Green Crumb Block Quilt on-line and when she was over for coffee Friday night she wanted to have a look at it. She says she will only borrow it. However, when we tried it out on my queen size bed, she declared it too narrow for her needs. As a result, I will be making another row of 9 blocks making the total blocks in this quilt, 63. With the borders I plan to put on the quilt, it should finish 96" x 116". What are the odds that she is only thinking of "borrowing" this quilt?

This is a picture of a log cabin quilt that I made my parents for Christmas a few years ago. It finished 94" wide which makes a nice drop down the side of the mattress.

My Mother wants "her" Crumb Block quilt to finish at least the size of this quilt!

Ready For Borders

All 54 blocks have been set together now with sashing and cornerstones. There were too many blocks to consider a setting on point with plain alternating blocks. All I need to do is add borders and then quilt.

I am thinking about quilting this with some curved or circular lines. All the straight edges are calling out to be softened.

This is definitely a fast, no stress (no matching required) block that reduces your scrap pile in a hurry!

A Completed Flimsy

We were told at our guild meeting one night that a quilt top is called a "flimsy" once the piecing is complete and before it is quilted.

This piece was made entirely from my stash and was started just two weeks ago. This has to be a record for the completion of a quilt top for me. Perhaps it has to do with the size--just 35 1/2" square.

I will quilt it on the long arm as soon as I figure out what to quilt in the large white spaces.

Crumb Blocks

This is another of the crumb blocks that I have been making. I have now made a total of 54 blocks using this technique.

I am trying to decide where to go next. What setting should I choose? Just merely join the crumb blocks together in a crazy quilt formation? Alternate crumb blocks with plain blocks? Surround the crumb blocks with sashing and cornerstones?

Grad 2006

On Monday, my mother and I took my daughter grad dress shopping. I dreaded the experience as I anticipated that it would be something like shopping for bathing suits for my daughter. It seems we shop forever looking for the "perfect" suit that seems to elude us forever. However, we went into Abbotsford and were pleasantly surprised when they had the perfect dress for my daughter with the neckline that suits her best - halter style - in the colour that she wanted - pink - with the features that she wanted most - some poof, no mermaid look, not too poofy, with a lace up back. Imagine it, the perfect dress - right off the start. Her size is now being ordered in. We anticipate the dress to arrive in three months - lots of time before grad on June 30. Now we just need to find the shoes and accessories. That shouldn't be too bad. The worst is over!

Hawaiian Fabric Treasure

Last Sunday, I met with two old friends for brunch. Madeline was in Hawaii in November and brought me back this treasure of Hawaiian fabrics. She said she hopes I can do something with them. Of course! This is fabric--fabric from somewhere I have always wanted to go but have never been to. I am thinking that a wall hanging could emerge from this stash. I even have plans to scan the images on the bag and incorporate them into the design. Should be fun!

Progress

Yesterday I finished another four "crumb blocks"--total complete blocks now number 10. My long-distance quilting friend, Helen says her next project is going to be the crumb blocks she saw here on my site.

While I was looking through some magazines last night, I noticed a pattern in Quiltmaker from March/April 2004 - Issue No. 96 that looks similar to my crumb blocks set into a log cabin pattern. The crumb block becomes the center of the log cabin block and then there are 3 logs around the crumb center. The pattern in Quiltmaker has 4" square blocks that are paper pieced. My blocks finish 8" so my log cabin would over 12". Since my crumb blocks are mostly green I am not sure what colours my logs would be.........hmm.........food for thought.

Originally I thought I would just sash the blocks, add corner stones and finish the quilt. However, the more I think about it, the more possibilities there seem to be. Tthis is proving to be not only a quick block but a versatile one as well. The possibilities seem endless.

Bear Paw

This is my Bear Paw quilt. This quilt was started the weekend of November 18, 2000. There were 5 of us who got together that weekend to work on the same quilt project. The pattern that the rest of the group worked on was "Circle of Friends". I was still too new to quilting and not sure of my skills. I took a look at the number of templates that were required and decided that I would make Bear Paw instead. I finished all the blocks for the quilt that weekend in November 2000 and they sat it that state until July 2005. In July I finished piecing the top and then quilted it on my new long arm machine with the clam shell pattern. The quilt was shown finished at the October 2005 PieceMakers Quilt Guild show and tell. I wonder if Colette, Veryan, Teresa, and Cyndi ever finished the quilts they started that weekend?

Show and Tell

I made it! The Rail Fence Around the World quilt was finished in time for show and tell at our quilt guild meeting last Wednesday. Another UFO off the list.

We had an interesting workshop at guild meeting on the use of photo-transfer paper. The gal that let the presentation is quite the artist. Although I am artistically challenged when it comes to drawing, there are things even I can use this medium for. I immediately thought about using this special paper for making unique labels. I also thought about transferring some of the art work my daughter has done for me to fabric and showcasing it in some wall hangings. I think there are some more UFOs about to be born!

This is one of my daughter's latest drawings. She calls it, "Cluck-a-tude" or "Rooster With an Attitude" This picture alone inspires me to create a quilt!

One of the special things about our monthly guild meeting is the group of us that go for coffee after the meeting is over. We have been going to the same Starbucks on the third Wednesday evening for coffee for so long that last Wednesday they had our chairs and tables arranged for us in anticipation of our arrival.

A Bear Named, Sandy

After reading Colette's blog this morning, http://www.lapagedecolette.blogspot.com/ , I thought I would share the bear that I made.

Meet, Sandy.

Sandy sits in our foyer and welcomes everyone to our home. This is the fist bear that I have made. I took a bear making class a couple of years ago and Sandy was the result. I want to try making a few more bears but quilt making seems to keep getting in the way.

UFO Progress

I worked on my Rail Fence Around the World quilt on Friday night. The binding is half sewn to the back of the quilt. I will try to finish it tonight during Desperate Housewives. My husband and I are hooked on this show and the weekend is not complete until we have watched the latest episode.

I did stray a bit from the completion of my UFOs. I was surfing the net yesterday and came across a new way to use up bits of fabric left from other projects. This technique is called "crumb quilting" and is very mindless. I find this type of block construction relaxing and low stress--absolutely nothing to match. You just keep joining fabric bits together until you have a piece the size you want and then you trim to size. The blocks I made were trimmed to 8 1/2 inches. I managed to make six blocks yesterday. The only rules I respected in the construction of these blocks were that the fabric scraps I used were green or contained a green element and two fabrics that touched could not be the same fabric.

Has Spring Arrived?

Is it possible that Spring has arrived? Today the sun is shining - after 20+ continuous days of rain - and the temperature is +4 (Celsius).

Even my daffodils think spring must be around the corner - they are brave enough to poke their heads above the ground!

What am I working on now?

It seems that I can not stick to just one project from start to finish. I have several on the go at any one point in time and find that I switch between projects often.
The inspiration for one of my latest projects was an article in the 2002 issue of Quilt Almanac. (I say latest project meaning that I have been working on it off and on lately. I started this quilt top many years ago and it is truly a UFO in need of completion!) The quilt in the magazine was made by Sandy Henry and is referred to as the traditional Rail Fence.

This is my version which I have named, Rail Fence Around the World. I have finished this project to the binding stage. The binding is sewn onto the quilt by machine and I just have to hand stitch it to the back of the quilt. My goal is to completely finish this quilt before next Wednesday night so that I can show it off at our guild meeting show and tell that night.
This is a close up of the quilt showing the machine quilting that I did on my long arm. The quilting pattern is Baptist Fan and is a favorite of mine.


I am also working on the blocks for a scrap quilt that I started between Christmas and New Year's. (No new fabrics were purchased for this project. The goal is to finish this one with fabrics from my existing stash. I had many strips of fabric cut already just waiting to be put to use.) The pattern is Fun With Bricks and can be found on Quiltville Custom Quilting's web site at the following address: http://quiltville.com/funwithbricks.shtml . Bonnie suggests making 30 blocks in her pattern. I have 19 made so far--only 11 more to go! The block finishes at 12" square so this will be a nice-sized quilt when it is finished.

A Quilt for Me

This is another UFO that was completed in 2005. This is a quilt for my bed. After many years of making quilts for others, I have something for my own bed. This pattern is Half Log Cabin by Sharyn Squier Craig. This quilt was quilted on my long arm in the Baptist Fan pattern.

I started quilting in 1997 thanks to my good friend, Colette. This quilt was one of the first projects that I started. After spending approximately 7 years on the UFO pile it is now put to use!

UFO from 2005

This was a quilt that had been on the UFO pile for years! This quilt was finished in time to be given away at Christmas to Brenda and Wayne.

This quilt is the Courthouse Steps pattern that was quilted in an overall meander on the long arm.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone!

The main purpose of this blog is to keep my quilting friends in touch with my current projects and to provide a venue to receive their valuable feedback. However, I will also insert the occasional non-quilt related items to keep my family and non-quilting friends interested as well.

The beginning of a new year brings with it a renewed commitment to previous resolutions and starting over with a clean slate. I have been reflecting the last few days on last year's resolution to finish UFOs--as many as possible. I feel I have kept that resolution--however, there are still UFOs in the pile! I listed out my UFOs last year and stopped writing at 46. The list is now down to 35 so some of those projects are now complete.

This year's resolution is to continue on with last year's resolution of finishing as many UFOs as possible. However, I have added to my resolution list for this year to reduce my stash--I will only start a new project if I can utilize my existing stash. The exception will be to purchase backing fabric.

I purchased an APQS long arm quilting machine in May this year and "Lucky" is definitely facilitating the completion of my UFOs at a much faster rate!