Part VIII-UFO's that are pretty darn close to finishing

The story of my UFO's continues. Hmmm, now should I count them, I don't know. My theory is, they never go bad on the shelf and I'll get around to completing them. Some are closer to being finished than others. I've got 3 quilt tops ready to be quilted, so I don't count those, except for the fan quilt from my father, which, in the time I've been writing these posts, I have completed! Yeah me!

So, here is a kingsize pink and brown quilt. I've made postings about it on the blog, you can click on the label for it to see the process. Whenever I need to use up a color of fabric, I'll add a white on white to make a scrap quilt out of the colors I've chosen.

This is the Flight of Swallows quilt that I've posted as well on the blog. I just need to applique the birds and baskets on the borders, then quilt it.

Home again...smile

Welp, we made it through round 4 of the 14 chemo treatments my daughter must have. We find out about surgery this Friday. The decision needs to be made, radiation or surgery. A 23 year old should not have to make these choices, but, Jennifer is charging on and learning Spanish in her "down time" at the hospital.

Now, so far so good with the Clover Heart Needle Threader, if you are looking for a gift for a quilter, this is my suggestion. I'm not a shop owner, or get anything from Clover for my recommendations, but, that's it, so far, my favorite needle threader. The only thing it's lacking is a cap to protect the wire. During my "down time" at the hospital, I'm working on a floral boarder for this pink and brown hourglass quilt that's been in my UFO pile for quite a long time, and, other than embroidery, applique can be a very satisfying project to work on in your lap. This is a king size pieced nine patch and hour glass block quilt. I really like visual texture in a quilt and combing applique and piecing is a great mix, in my opinion.

If you'd like to see pictures of my pink and brown scrap hourglass quilt, click on the labels below for that and the UFO and you'll see lots of pictures I've taken of it.

A quilt grows and a cowbird mystery...hmmm

First the quilt. It's a really big quilt. We have a king size bed and it needs to be large on the face of it and then comes the borders to hang over the sides. I like combining appliqué and piecing so the quilt will have an appliquéd outer border, with vines and tulips. If you click on the label of this post, pink and brown scrap quilt, you should be able to see all the work I've been doing on this quilt, as well as the book the pattern is from.


Now on to the next example/lesson for adding the borders. I usually like an inner border to set off the quilt, but not always. In this case I have added an inner border, which is light brown with polka dot to frame the inside of the pink and brown hour glass/nine patch quilt. I don't know what I'll name it, maybe something will hit me as I write.

Anyway, I like to tear my fabric. As long as it's good quality fabric you should be fine doing that. Especially for borders, where you are cutting many yards of fabric, tearing is easier than wearing out your hands. This is a great quality Northcott brand fabric. To me, their fabric is close but not exactly like, Liberty of London fabric, which is like butter. If your fabric is not so great, you might get a lot of thread pulls when you rip, so check a small piece before you tear. You will get some little ripples, but, should not have any deep thread pulls.

I also like a mitered border. When you are tearing your border fabric, be sure to add extra fabric in order to make the miter. You will want an extra amount of at least the width of the border and I add a couple of inches more for good measure. You can always cut fabric-it's harder to add to something. Sew your inner border on first, miter it, then attach the outer border. To miter it, fold the borders on top of each other and draw a line from the seam of the inner border out to the end of the mitered outer border. Pin and sew on the line. Trim the seam and iron. Repeat on all the sides. The next time I work on this, I'll be adding my applique vine and flowers, using the Quilt in a Day method of applique and using the Fast Turn tool for the vine. But, this post is getting pretty long, so it's off to bird land, my other favorite hobby.

Has everyone turned on their air conditioner? We are still trying to save some money and have 4 fans running-2 pointed in the house-2 pointed out of the house to really circulate the air. So far, it's 85 degrees outside and I'm working with a sewing machine and iron and am staying comfortable.



The cowbird, I've only recently learned, is a parasite of sorts. It likes to lay it's eggs in another birds nest and lets them sit on it and raise it.

Anyway, the other day I opened my front door and noticed the floral wreath had fallen off the door. Underneath the wreath lay a broken egg. I thought, OMG, someone in our neighborhood doesn't like us! What did I do? Was I driving a little too fast? Should I have gone to that party, but, had other plans...hmmmm....

Upon further inspection, I realized the egg was splattered away from the front door. Not towards it like someone throwing it at us. Then I noticed is was really small with light brown speckles.

So I went upstairs and don't we all just love the Internet for the answer to anything? Sure enough, that egg matched the egg of the cowbird and don't you know, that bird has been a regular visitor to our bird feeder. So mystery solved!

Graduation and quilting...smile...

My oldest has graduated from Indiana University with an English writing degree. The ultimate irony was her red velvet cake writing was spelled wrong.

Now the hunt begins for a gainfully employable job, or for her to decide if she wants more schooling. Life is so good, but she's not one to make a snap decision so, we are praying for the right thing for her, whatever that is that makes her happy and some money.

Anyway, I'm still working on my pink and brown scrap quilt. It's a king size scrap quilt and I will be adding a border to be appliquéd next. I think my favorite quilts are those that mix appliqué and piecing in one quilt. I haven't done that many with that combination.

Also on my list of items to work on is a blooming rose quilt that was a signature quilt in our group and we will be showing off the finished tops at our June party at Shirley's house. Quilt groups are great. There's so much support and encouragement in them. If you can find one with the right chemistry for you, it's a great thing.

Happy Quilting!

Been having a lot of down time...ugh!

It's been a frustrating couple of days since returning from Chicago on Sunday evening. I've eagerly sat at the computer to upload pictures and information about our trip, but have been greeted often by this:

"Hey-I'm thinking"

message from the computer, soon to be followed by your session has timed out or the server is not responding....aaarrgghh!

You know, we pay the big bucks to get on broadband for a faster response/experience on the computer and for the most part it's worked out fine, until the last week or so. At first I thought it was just blog land, but, my DH sits on his PC in another room and I can hear his words of frustration as well.

Anyway, as a quilter, time is valuable, or even if you are not a quilter, time is valuable, but, when it comes to multitasking, quilters are probably better or at least more inventive than most. That being said, here is my work/PC frustration zone. I've taped messages to myself reminding me of what I need/should be doing if blog land did not exist. On the right side of my screen, I've listed quilts that need to be finished and are in various stages of completion. The last one is a pink and brown scrap quilt that is pieced in the center and has an appliqued border. You can see parts of the appliqued border on the typing tray to the right. I like to use Elenore Burns' method, using fusible interfacing sewed to the right side of the leaves/petals. You then clip and flip the items sewn and you can iron them in place to sew around later. Next to embroidery, applique is a great way to have a hand project at the ready for any "down time" you may have.

Taped to the other side of the computer is the work list, laundry, video tapes I need to put on DVD, mow lawn, take pictures of my quilts. This is a great thing to keep me motivated and grateful that I am alive and I am a quilter, leaving a legacy of quilts for my family.

A Quilt Grows...

It's no wonder quilters like gardening. Quilts are similar to flowers in that they grow. Occasionally, I have made a quilt from a pattern and follow it strictly. The longer I have been making quilts the more the pattern has become a jumping off point for size, as well as design. I love when I find a pattern I like and am challenged to make modifications. Such is the case with the quilt I am currently working on, this being a nine patch/hour glass quilt with and applique border

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I walked into my fun house closet full of all kinds of fabric and thread and buttons and all that is good in the quilt world. And asked myself, "okay, whose turn is it next to be made into a quilt?" Some bright batiks were screaming "take me, take me" in a language I could barely understand. The Civil War prints were very traditionally requesting their turn next but, were weary with age, besides, I have a Dear Jane that is their peace time destination. The Japanese prints were posing their best Sumo for attention and certainly I couldn't make out what they were saying...probably poking fun at me in Japanese.

Anyway, in an effort to reduce my stash, I ignored all the cries for attention and chose one of the larger pieces of material, approximately 7.5 yards. This was my beginning inspiration. I figured it had many different colors in it and that would help make it tie all the other fabrics together.

Matching this fabric with my large amount of white on white fabric, I had my hour glass complete. Next, since I had many color choices to choose from, I went with pink and brown. I'd been hoarding/collecting these fabrics for a long time, knowing I did want to make a pink and brown quilt, but, had no idea what kind to make...HA! Stash busting is such a good thing....smile.

Anyway, this quilt pattern combines my favorite style of quilting, that being combining the techniques of applique and piecing. So once I've grown the top nine patch/hour glass blocks for the top, next I will work on the applique border all this to cover my big beg! What fun and therapy quilting is.

It's the first day of spring...smile...

Quilting is all consuming, but it is only accomplished...well mostly...inside the house.
Here's what I worked on yesterday. I'm sewing my strips to make my 9 patch blocks. I usually try to do things in a fast way and strip piecing is one of the fastest ways to make a quilt block-especially a 9 patch. These strips are all 1.5 inches and so I sew on until I make enough to get a variety for my scrap quilt.

Quilting Tip: you want to hold off sewing your scrap quilt blocks together, so that you don't have large sections of a quilt looking exactly alike and others totally different. In other words, wait and lay out the blocks to spread the scrappy variety look all around.

Anyway, here are my hour glass blocks in progress-again fast method for making these use a 4.5 inch square and sew diagonally. Cut these in half and flip and sew together to make the hour glass.

For more information check out the Scrap Quilt book in an earlier post. This quilt is a great one to use up stash fabric. I went to my closet and pulled a 7 yard piece of fabric and began designing around that.


IT'S THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING!!!! smile....

Even the faeries are impatient. I'm so ready. These gray days in the Ohio Valley get a little old-not to mention the cold. Today, I think I'll begin my spring cleaning and I will begin in the garage-getting ready to work in the yard, it's still a little soggy out there and we need at least a couple of dry days before I can work in the yard.

Last autumn,I thinned out my iris' and it appears they are doing well and I can't wait to see what I've moved. I don't have a garden journal, so it'll be a surprise...whooppeee!!

I've been doing really well on my treadmill and am up to 2.6 miles every other day, but, when I work in the yard I think I can substitute that for my treadmill workout. You can see by my pics that our yard is rather steep and lends itself to some pretty pictures, but, it's also pretty hard to mow and maintain. We have about 1.25 acres and really only work in the 1 acre and that's enough. It'll kill a whole day on the weekend. My DH won't pay anyone to do anything if he can do it himself, so we are both out there mowing and raking. I'm not complaining, in the end that's probably good, because we've saved a lot of money that way. Although, things don't get done right away. Which makes me a little crazy sometimes, but, life is short and there are other things to worry about, such as what fabric goes into what quilt...smile...The crocus' are up and the daffodils are trying.

I am so blessed!

Another UFO...smile...

Oh they stack up and we do our best to knock them down. I'm so happy to be working on this pink and brown nine patch/hour glass block quilt. It's hard to see the hourglass block, without a close up, so here it is.

I was once again inspired to work on this quilt after seeing a quilt from the turn of the century at the Wylie House Museum in Bloomington.

This is a quilt my DD and I started and it looks like I am to complete. This is fine with me, but, I just can't understand their lack of interest in quilting. Oh yes, granted they have their lives to begin, college, boys and most especially, college-don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, they are on track with their lives and their dad and I are most proud. But, isn't there any down time-you know, for therapy and creativity? I worry they are working so hard-or maybe they just want us to think that-and all the time they are sailing along and having lots of fun-Oh I hope so!!! Pink and brown, the color of romance you know-so maybe I really don't want my DD to work on this after all-she may get the wrong idea and begin to day dream about boys--hold off until you graduate honey!!

Of course all my exclamation point screaming does little good and I guess that's what growing up means-making your own choices-not moms or dads. I shall continue to appreciate the art and craftsmanship of quilt making and carry on....yes....yes...carry on...my lovely DDs.

There is only quilting...

Quilter's Day Out and New York aside, there is only quilting. I'm moving on from a scrap quilt project, using the Diamond in the Rough pattern, that I'm kicking myself for not buying enough scraps!!! I hate when it happens with a "planned" quilt. Pattern in hand and exact amounts of fabric bought only to be cut wrong and back to the store I go. I guess, in reality, my scrap quilt is a planned scrap quilt...somehow that seems wrong...hmmm..


This is something I tell everyone that is learning to sew/quilt. Mistakes will be made, but there is almost nothing you cannot fix in a quilt. Cutting short is where you get into trouble, which is what I did on my "scrap" quilt. The problem is my scraps are from one collection of Moda fabric called Folkloric that is soon to be in more stores, but, most are waiting for it... so, I'm on hold until a shop gets the fabric-I've already paid for my order and will hopefully get it soon.




I am working on-again, off-again, on an hourglass nine patch quilt. I'm getting use the yummy pinks and browns I've been dying to make a quilt from. This one also started out as a mom and daughter project, with my daughter Chelsea, but, alas, the gratification did not last...so sad. But, lessons learned and I love love this pattern and material, so off I go...smile.


It's from a book,

Quick and Easy Scrap Quilts and it's the pattern on the back cover. I'm more of a piecing person, but, I do like the combination applique border. The quilt has that light Japanese airy style, in my opinion, and I'm excited to work on it for a while. That's what is best about UFO's, there's always another one to suit your fancy.