#5 UFO for Finn

Today I worked on the Sixteen-patch UFO, and finally had the binding made, extra wide again, and began applying it to the back of this quilt. And then I turned it to the front and sewed it down by machine there also.

For the label I simply WROTE my name the date and the place on this back square.

Here is a closeup of the quilt motif that Catherine used for the plain squares. At first it looked a little small to me, but I'm getting used to it.

At 4:40 in the afternoon on the last day of the year...out of the dryer came....
my 5th UFO finish since September! Now it is temporarily on our bed so I can enjoy looking at it.

Thank you, thank you Finn for the challenge! I know that I wouldn't have worked so consistently on these without the challenge.

Sara

Gratitudes:
Phone talk with Sue R.
Met the challenge
Good dinner and talk at Kim's

Later: I was reviewing my photo album of "New & UFOs finished in 2008" and I have found that I finished two more UFOs since September! I don't know how I forgot to count them in my total for Finn, but since this is over my goal, it really doesn't matter. I feel good, though!

Orphan medley

This is my fourth day to have a bad sore throat and feel very tired. I stayed home from church and from the GRWC rehearsal because I wanted to rest, and I didn't want to pass the germs around. Rain/snow today, which results in FOG.

But I have been working a little each day on the Orphan Medley in my last post. Today I bound it, including a label.

My last piece of work was to put a "fancy" quilting bit in the one while muslin patch.

Now it is out of sight. Mingling with some family laundry.

And I am preparing for a colonoscopy tomorrow. So only liquids to "eat".

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Sara

Gratitudes:

Books by Mary Balogh for escape

Chicken broth

feather duvet keeping my feet warm

Fourth UFO finish

Yesterday I finished the FOURTH of the five UFOs I told Finn I would complete before the end of 2008.

I put these old blocks together in to a "flimsie" at our Bee retreat in September, so this is a pretty quick finish. I have no purpose in mind for this one, so I wasn't too worried about my quilting ability.

I did get the feathers on each of the black border pieces. But WOW, they are right when they say black on black is hard on one's eyes!

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I kept trying to turn the piece so I could see where is was headed, and then also where I hada BEEN as I tried to run back on the previous line.

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NEXT TIME I'm going to try something more like fern leaves, where each one is separate and more pointed.

I had a nice piece of open floral on black fabric which I used for the backing and binding.

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Tonight we are having another of our small dinner parties for parishioners at which we have a chance to say a more personal "good-by" than will be possible at the last big event in January.

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I'm serving almost the same menu each time, and here are the carbs:

Apple Crisp from my mother's recipe, made with organic Spy apples,

and homemade European Peasant bread from the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

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We use the bread to sop up the gravy from the Chicken and artichoke casserole.

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Sara

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Gratitudes:

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Great cooking smells in the kitchen

Phone call from Kate

A sunny day in usually cloudy western Michigan

Floating Four-Patch

Catherine Martin finished quilting my "Floating Four-Patch" and I picked it up today. All batik blocks, mostly from an internet exchange, and more were made on our Bee retreat in September.

I took Gwen Marston's idea for long narrow triangles and made a few spikes for each side of the border--something to contrast with all the squares.

And then I told Catherine to quilt it with something like Baptist Fans. I see some circles, which I don't think you would ever get with Baptist Fans, but I like the effect. It's a little whacky!

I got the binding on this afternoon, so now I just need a label (which I will WRITE on the white muslin backing) and a trip to the washing machine.

This quilt is going to be an auction for the Grand Rapids Womens' Chorus on December 13.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Catherine's work

Enough matching fabric for the binding

Turkey tomorrow!

Doll quilt factory

I could enjoy these three new doll quilts from my seat in the dining room during dinner tonight.


This is #4, made from an orphan block. I once had about 20 of these blocks made into a twin quilt with a lovely interlocking design. Obviously I had a left over block, and this is what I did to get rid of it.





This is #5. I had a pile of pre-made 4.5" blocks and many of them were blue, so they got put together. Then it seemed to be too rectangular, so I put only two borders on it. This "counts" as a UFO finish to me because the blocks were all made long ago. Must tell Finn, that's #3.


The back is an orange and black African print. You can see a tiny bit of it in the binding.


And here is #6. I had five of these blocks left from another quilt, and some leftover green single bias binding. Still one more block to use up!

This one has a wild pink and white batik for the backing.




I've been working on these for several days, and there is one more in the wash machine.

So as part of my weekly shopping trip today I went to Toys R Us and bought five more dolls. No pic since I stored them in the trunk of the car so I'll be sure to have them WITH me for the Guild meeting next week.



Sara


Gratitudes:

Rutabaga is not as bad as I thought when I was a kid
[mixed with potato]
Ready for "Show and Tell" at the Bee tomorrow
Funny old dog trying to chase deer

Convergence now doll quilt

Not real happy with the way it looks from afar---but I am happy with the effect of the quilting. Finally found that I did need to go around all/most of the circles. And I "dotted" the centers of the big circles. This now will go on the small pile of doll quilts for the Santa Claus Girls. And it is my second finish on Finn's challenge.

Next: Finish the borders on the SpoolSpinners' (my bee) second Whacky Basket quilt, so we can have a drawing among our members. All the baskets were from an idea of Gwen Marston, which we doubled by cutting two layers at once. I set this group in the twist-'n-turn manner.

I first tried a white fabric with colored polka dots as a narrow inner border, and after a night's sleep took it off. It was too close to the baskets, making them look cramped. So now I'm working on an addition of more black strips before anything different.

Sara

Gratitudes:

November waited this long before appearing

Saturday TV quilting shows

Spaghetti and meatballs!

Finally a UFO finish!

Here's what I had.

I went to a quilting retreat in 2005, and one of the exchanges involved making several black and white nine-patches with a colored center. When we were together, we were instructed to sign each white patch and then cut the nine-patch into quarters. It was these quarters which we exchanged, ending up with the signature of each other Retreater.

These blocks sat in a stack for a couple of years, and then just to "solidify the stack" I sewed them together. So now I have had this piece for a year or so.

I'm not going to see these people again. It was a one time thing, far from home.

Today I decided to cut it into strips, eliminating the signatures, and then see what I could do with the strips. Maybe I would just throw them away, or maybe not.

The strips laid nicely together, and then I remembered that our Guild will be collectiing doll quilts in November for the Santa Claus Girls. This could be a DOLL quilt, for a very with-it child. One strip wasn't quite the same, but I used it anyway! Just a little whacky.

With the wild and crazy border fabric, I sized it up to 21"x22". Bound and quilted at home this afternoon. So Finn, I finished the first of 5 UFOs I said I'd do before Dec. 31.

Now I just have to buy a with-it doll to match!

Sara

Gratitudes:

Good meeting with photos of our wished for Nature Park
High hopes that the millage will pass on Nov. 4
Sunshine on the fall foliage today

Spoolspinners Retreat

I have joined Finn's UFO challenge, and said I would finish FIVE before the end of the year. My plan was to get two finished this weekend, which was our Bee's retreat at Ketunnen Center (4 H conference center) south of Cadillac, Michigan. Friday afternoon I put together these blocks from my UFO pile.

The fabrics were samples I received from The Cotton Club back in the 80's. Even then I knew that I might have a hard time finding a use for them, so I immediately took each month's selection and sewed them into HSTs. Then, maybe ten years later, I sewed the HSTs into blocks of four, a slightly asymmetrical block. Now I have finally sewn the blocks together and added a border. This turned out a really dumb size, 50"x42". . .I guess it is a wall hanging.

Friday night I counted up the Floating Four Patch blocks I had in another ziplock bag from an internet exchange, oh, five years ago. Found I needed about 25 more to approach a twin-sized top. So I worked with my batiks, which is very enjoyable colorwise, to make the rest.

This is the result, and I'm a little surprized. The fabrics are showing more pattern than I expected. Well, that's the chance you take with exchanges, and just using what is "at hand".

What do you think about with or without a border? I'm a little tired of black borders, and I don't have any other idea. As it is, 48"x78", it's really too narrow for a twin--maybe more of an adult nap quilt. So I may have to find SOME kind of a border. Darn, I wanted to be done! A really dark batik, not quite black? Oh, and I could put a FEW of Gwen's spikey triangles in it for interest.. . . that would be a different shape.

Also that "white" framed block in the botom row is bothering me. So much lighter than everything else in the quilt. Maybe I'll replace it with a different frame and make it definitely skewed. More my kind of oddity than the color.

Then on Saturday night and Sunday I worked on a third top, still another ziplock bag full of blocks, but had to pack it all up before it got sewn together. Since it is On Point I have to make a bunch of setting triangles before I can sew the rows together. Hope I'll get that done this week, tho' unlikely.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Sue is here for a visit

Three days of rain didn't stop us from sewing!

Yea for rotisseried chicken from the grocery store

UFOs before the New Year

Finn has just challenged herself to finish FIVE, count 'em 5, UFOs before the New Year. Sounds like a good plan to me, so I signed on, also for FIVE.

I'm going on retreat with my Bee in September for two full days, so I said I'd finish TWO then.

Guess I'd better review what I have on the "Waiting List".

Looks like I have two different projects that are LEAVES:

And another two projects that are PINEAPPLES.

Maybe I can find a way to combine these pairs, or make smaller than bed-sized quilts.

This next week Charlie is going away on a baseball trip with two friends. My Number One project for this week is re-modelling an altar frontal so that it will fit the new altar at church. I need a deadline for this because I have uncertainty about my ability to get it done!

Sara

Gratitudes:

Cherry pie from the farmer's market

Cooler weather

C's retirement coming, fun fantasizing