Mrs. Chapman's UFO's

 About a month ago, Julia and I picked up a large donation of fabric from Mrs. Chapman. She heard that our guild makes quilts for Habitat for Humanity and she wanted her unused stash to be used for a good cause. Fast forward to last week when some guild friends came over to help me sort through our recent donations and to reassess our previous stash. 

In the middle of all the fabric, we found quite a few (more than a dozen?) unfinished projects. We each took a few that we thought we could finish. The rest will be offered to other guild members at the next meeting. Here are the projects I've been playing with...

There was a small pile of half-hexies that were pieced from a wide striped fabric. Rather than sewing them together into full hexagons, I had fun rearranging and combining them with solids from the stash. It was a good exercise in color and design. I found the perfect narrow stripe for the border in my own stash. This will be a sweet baby quilt someday.

There were just 10 half square triangles made from the same wide stripe. Now there is another placemat in the donation pile for Meals on Wheels.

This animal print top was almost complete. I pieced together the outer border from leftover fabric that looked like swiss cheese! It looked like she had done some fussy cutting for another project. Backing and binding fabric also came out of her stash, so this is waiting to be quilted, too.

My favorite UFO was a small pile of pieced butterflies. There were some spare parts and additional sandy fabric for the background, so it took no time at all to assemble the top. The fern border print came out of my deep stash.

The butterfly wings were cut from mirror images of the print. Isn't that nifty? If anyone knows the source of the pattern, please let me know. I didn't find it with a quick google image search.

I accidentally pieced in one of the butterflies upside down. Oops! 

I had so much fun quilting this little quilt. It took me a while to find a binding. This one is just OK. The backing was also deep stash. 

This one will go to the Adirondacks with us when we visit Julia at the Wild Center. They can hang it in their offices or sell it to raise funds.

Butterfly Wall Hanging

27" X 37"

Started by Mrs. Chapman at least 15 years ago

Completed by me 6/22/15

A Quilted WIP

I picked up this quilt from Pat on Friday and I love it again! When I brought it to her there was not much enthusiasm on my part. Which quilting design did I want? Which thread? At the time I really didn't care much. But now I'm really happy with our choices!

The quilting design is called Ink Blot, and Pat had it stored in the juvenile file. I'm not sure what that says for my taste, but I really like it on this quilt. The thread is a rainbow variegation from Superior. Variegated thread has become a theme for me in the past week!

My new mattress is ridiculously high, so this quilt does not begin to drape far enough on the sides. Bummer. It will need to live at the foot of the bed.

But it still needs to be bound, probably in green (another recent theme). Hand stitching the binding to the back will be the perfect job for long nights watching the Olympics on TV.

Log Cabin UFO

This is an old UFO. The log cabin blocks were made during a retreat weekend in the mid- to late-1990's. The workshop was actually a Colorado log cabin pattern. I got as far as making the straight log cabin blocks, but never managed to get the Colorado star points pieced. Take a look at this quilt to see what I'm missing.

I played with the blocks for a while before deciding on this setting. I think it looks a little modern. I need to find some fabric for the borders, backing and binding which might require a trip to a local quilt shop's sale later today! Eventually, this quilt will be donated to Quilts of Valor.

Bears in the Suburbs

Phew! This 5-year old UFO is finally a completed top. Sharon from Ninigret Quilters challenged us to finish one UFO each month. For January, we were told to complete #7 from our list.

How about a recap? In February 2009, Judy Laguidara at Patchwork Times lead a quilt-along called Bears in the Forest. I immediately signed up and pulled fabric from my stash.

Step 2 half-square triangles completed...

 

 Stitching during a retreat weekend...

 Step 4 was completed by March 21. I'm not sure what made me stop there, but this is as far as I got. Was I unhappy with the brown border? It is a little dark, but it will have to do.

 When I was ready to take pics, I asked Julia and boyfriend Fred to hold it up. I accidentally called him Pete. Oops! (Pete is settling in at Camp Pendelton. He's fine, but anxious to get started with training.) This was Fred's first time holding a quilt for me and he did a fine job. Remember the quilt Julia made for him?

I'm not comfortable quilting anything this big on my Bernina, so I'm calling this one mostly done. I'll be donating it to Habitat for Humanity, so I'll see if someone in the guild will quilt it.

I don't live in a farmhouse, so I've renamed this one Bears in the Suburbs. It seems like there are bear sightings nearby every summer. I hope they stay away from my backyard! (There was one in Fred's yard once.)

Quilt Stats:

Quilt Along by Judy Laguidara

Started February 2009

Top completed January 13, 2014

72" X 87"

Welcome 2014

Happy New Year! 

The Ninigret Quilters newsletter editor has challenged us to complete one UFO each month in 2014. (Hi, Sharon!) She asked us to make a numbered list of 12 projects. Each month, she will tell us which number to work on. I love a challenge with a deadline, so here's my list...

1. Alphabet Quilt. I think I started hand appliqueing these blocks in 2003. I remember stitching at Little League games. I finished the blocks and the top in 2013, but I think it could use some borders before quilting.

2. RIMQG Crayon Challenge.  I was assigned the magenta crayon and started with a great Martha Negley print from my stash. (April 2013)

3. Swap Soup. Started in 2011, this quilt is a mash-up of blocks collected in various swaps.

4. 4x5 Bee. I really loved participating in this 2011 bee, and I'm ashamed that these blocks are still in a pile.

5. Vintage Modern. A sweet little top made last July, this won't take long to quilt up.

6. 3x3 9-patch swap. This was my first online swap in 2009. It took a while to collect the piano key strips for the border (no duplicates). I'm not happy with one corner, so it sits. It WILL go off for quilting soon.

7. Bears in the Farmhouse was the first quilt along I quilted along with in 2009. It could use a border before quilting. It will probably be donated to Habitat for Humanity.

8 & 9. Quilts of Valor. The lattice top (8) and the pile of log cabin blocks (9) were both started at quilting retreats. The lattice was a class sample for a workshop I taught in 2008. The log cabins (late 90's?) were supposed to be Colorado Log Cabins with the cute star points. It's time to finish these and get them donated.

10. Ninigret Friendship Block Swap. Three months of block swapping begins in January. Yay!

11. Tangerine and Teal Triangles. A workshop with Marianne Hatton last September produced this fascinating top.

12. Xcentric Stripes. My overflowing stripe collection needs to be cut up and used!

The biggest project of the year will be another wedding quilt for another nephew. It probably won't be another award winning quilt, but it will be stitched with love!

I'm looking forward to another productive year at the sewing machine.

Scrappy Fun is now Swap Soup

 I'm back to my sewing machine after three days without power. It's nice to be creating again!

I joined Threadbias recently and immediately joined a UFO group. One of the projects I hope to finish was originally titled Scrappy Fun. I was hoping to use up stacks of random swap blocks from several different swaps.

The project was on hold temporarily while I waited for round 2 of the siggy swap blocks to come home. They arrived this week and I started playing!

Last night, I had this arrangement. 

 

After adding borders to each paper pieced block, I now have this! And a new name:

Swap Soup!

 

Blocks included (center out):

Teeny Weeny Paper Piecing Bee (3 months)

Basket Weave string blocks (Bonnie Hunter workshop- not swaps)

Crafty Blackbird's Siggy Swap (2 rounds)

Mini Scrap Basket swap (2 rounds)

This will get four (count 'em, 4!) items off my WIP list. Woohoo!!

I love how this is coming together! I'm compiling a list of all the quilters who made blocks for the label. Unfortunately, the TWPP group has been taken down from Flickr, and not everyone labeled their string blocks.

I just remembered that I have a box full of hourglass blocks that I made from polka dot charms that I swapped for. I wonder if there are enough to go all the way around the outside border.  Hmmm...

First Finish of 2010

I'm really excited about this one. These are the only blocks I managed to get done from the A Tisket A Tasket Block of the Month last year. (This year's Bunny Hill BOM looks super cute, too.)

I chose to work on it as my 1st UFO of the year. All it needs now is a label and a couple of buttons. Buttons?, you ask. In my grand plan, there will be 3 more of these quarterly panels to complete the year. They will each have a tab at the top which can be buttoned down to the back to make a sleeve so the panel can be hung on its own.

In my dream world, when all 4 panels are done, there will also be a quilted base piece that the panels can be buttoned onto to display the entire year. Sounds like a plan, doesn't it?

January

February

March

I am really pleased with the quilting, all free-form, free motion.
Don't ask me why these pictures stink. I think I might have killed yet another point and shoot digital camera.

I suppose I can't stall any longer. It's time to clean the house. Blth.
Then I can start my 1999 Scrapbook!

UFO Challenge

Yup. I've completely lost my mind. I joined another challenge:
Nancy's UFO Challenge at Patchwork Penguin.
The rules are simple enough. Make a numbered list of 10 UFO's to be completed in 2010. Each month, Nancy will tell us which number to work on. Here's my list:

#1. Three by Three Swap

#2 Disappearing 9-Patch (repro)

#3 Disappearing 9-Patch (red/white/blue)


#4 A Tisket, A Tasket Basket BOM


#5 Bears in the Farmhouse

#6 Easy Overlay

#7 Easy Weave

#8 Candy Cane Photo Quilt
(my design! vinyl pockets for photos)

#9 Vroom 4-patch Spin

#10 Small Stuff
(stenciled piece from 1994!)

Since I'm joining late, I cheated. This month, Nancy selected number 4, so I picked the one I wanted to do first and put it at number 4! I only have 2 days to work on it, and I hope to assemble these three blocks as a long vertical hanging, quilt and bind it.

UFO's & 9-patches

I did some straightening and cleaning in my sewing room this weekend. Can I even call it that anymore? I never sew down there. It has really become a storage area. Anyway... I found no fewer than 27 (TWENTY-SEVEN!) unfinished projects! I'm a little overwhelmed.

This cleaning all started because my niece is looking to unload my mother's sewing machine cabinet. With a new baby, a toddler, and new dining room furniture, she doesn't have the space for something she doesn't use. So where will I put it? I can't let it go home with a stranger from a consignment shop.


I tidied up the fabric shelves first. (Yes, I know they should be painted. That might be a summer project for a kid who needs cash.) I restacked, removed old fabrics I'll never use, and moved fat quarters and smaller pieces. Next I'll need to figure out how to store them. I'll read through Bonnie's scrap system again and start cutting. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

I'm so happy that I signed up soon enough to be part of the twiddletails three by three swap. I might have been one of the last ones to get in. There is so much 9-patchy goodness going on! Have you see this tutorial? It's brilliant!! I made these 2 in about 5 minutes. I think when I start chopping up scraps, I'll make a pile of 4.5" squares.


Pete at bat. His team is not off to a good start, but it's early. He's not thrilled with me crocheting during sporting events. He'll get over it.


Julia went to Hershey, PA with the high school band for a music festival on Friday night. They spent Saturday at Hershey Park and on the way home today, they stopped in NYC to see a show. She sent a couple of texts, so I know she's safe and having fun. I can't wait to have her back home, especially because she's bringing chocolate!

Pete's band is done rehearsing, so it's safe for me to return to the basement. Have a great week!
Tina