Move It Forward

I spent Good Friday on line with Linda - Moving it Forward.

We have decided that once a month we will take at least one day and move some projects that have stalled or aged as UFOs far too long forward to the next stage. That may mean getting a top to the flimsy stage, moving a top from a flimsy to a quilt, or completing some binding. What Move it Forward is not is a day to start something new. It is all about making progress on something we have already started previously.

Before I could work on anything, I needed to clear my work surface from the project that I was working on the night before. In between passes of the long arm on customer quilts, I piece string blocks onto used Color Catchers (that is the white rectangle you see in the upper left hand corner of the picture). I had 11 blocks partially finished - they needed a strip or two and they would be finished. So before working on anything else, I finished off those 11 blocks. On the previous weekend, I took some of the blocks I have made previously and pieced them together into this colourful scrap top. This top needs the sashing finished off on the right hand side and bottom, then it will be ready for borders.

The next project I had to finish was a customer quilt that had already been loaded onto the long arm the night before. There was only about 1/2 hour of quilting left.

This is the finished customer quilt. It is a Nine Patch Pizzazz quilted with the Wave.

The next project was my Bento Box. It had stalled at the borders. I typically stall at this point so this was a great project for Move It Forward day! Also, I had the expertise of my good friend Linda to assist in deciding on which colour to use in the inner border..........green....

....or red?

After discussing options back and forth, the red was chosen. And this is the finished flimsy. This one is for me so I am really excited about getting this top to this stage. I now need to go on the hunt for just the right backing.

The next project up needed binding. This is the fabric that was picked for binding.

I made 1/2" wide binding for this quilt. An extra wide binding serves dual purpose as an additional border and binding. Strips of binding for a 1/2" wide binding are cut 3 1/4" wide.

Binding was machine sewn to the quilt after supper. This top is now waiting for a quiet evening or two of hand sewing in front of the TV.

The day was busy and my quilt inspector/supervisor played out.

After the flash picture, he did open an eye to let me know that he did not want to be bugged further!

I know that both Linda and I made great progress today so we will be looking forward to the next Move It Forward Day to move yet more projects to the next stage.

Confession is Good for the Soul....

Confession is good for the soul.....and great incentive to finish projects! Or, I should say, the thought of having to go on line and confess that once again I was stalled on the borders for a quilt pushed me to the finish line (or at least the flimsy stage) last Friday night.

I expected to hear from LindaJ at some point on the weekend and I was sure she would want to know how I was making out on my Bargello Bowl quilt since she had finished hers on retreat the previous weekend. I had the fabrics picked out for the border, I just had not gone that extra step and attached them. Once I got going, it didn't take that long, what was the hurdle? I am not sure what was keeping me from attaching those borders, but I do know that I was not going to face confessing that I had not yet finished this project, so I soldiered on and this is the final result--my completed Bargello Bowl flimsy!

This finish was just in time as the FABs are scheduled to tackle a project together--Ricky Tim's Convergence. We are scheduled to start at 7:00 am Saturday morning. We have agreed that we can go as far as cutting out our 4 - 16" squares of fabric and that is all! No starting ahead of time--even if it means hiding the pattern so we aren't tempted!

Who knew that confession and temptation had anything to do with quilting?

Bargellobowl '08

Today was Superbowl Sunday. We aren't NFL fans in this house so the game was not on here. However, after LindaJ suggested that we take this Sunday to play along with the many bloggers that were quilting on Superbowl Sunday and making Bonnie's Scrappy Bargello quilt, I was in.

LindaJ and I spent a couple of evenings during the week chatting on line about the pattern, what fabrics to use, what size to make the quilt, etc. We both fell in love with a couple of versions of Bonnie's pattern that were completed in Christmas fabrics by KarenO and by Marcy Brower. LindaJ and I definitely like the idea of using the same fabric right across the quilt so that the "wave effect" is prominant.



When I looked in my Christmas fabric bin, I found a stack of strips already cut to 2 1/2" wide. I am not sure why I originally cut these fabrics but since they were already cut and waiting, I decided to put them to use. I needed to add a few more greens and reds to ensure that my quilt looked like a Christmas quilt and I was ready to go this morning.



LindaJ decided to make her version in scrappy fabrics. Since LindaJ intends to keep this quilt for herself (rare since she donates most of what she makes to charity), she has included fabrics received from on-line friends.



We had a family dinner to attend tonight at my SIL's so I had to stop working on this quilt about 3:00 in the afternoon. At that time I had completed the first strata and I had three seams to sew to complete the second strata. A good start to this project.

This is a picture of the first strata.

It is always great to sew along side a quilting friend -- even if that friend is in cyberspace -- so you have someone to check with when directions are unclear. Thanks for the assistance with the pressing directions, LindaJ! I know from previous projects that if the seams aren't pressed the correct direction in the first place you can create a lot of extra work and frustration later on in the project. Hopefully, we can complete our tops together next weekend if we can get all the other obligations in our life organized and out of the way!