Category Archives: Ufos

The Final Countdown – Task Three

January 3, 2017 11:47 pm ⋅ Pam

Shelly over at Prairie Moon Quilts is again hosting the Final Countdown — a set of tasks to clear the deck so to speak to get us ready to quilt in the new year.

Task Three – Get Committed

It’s a good thing she’s given us until the 6th to do this. As weird as last year was I really haven’t given it much thought and it doesn’t look like I was committed to anything. Blogging was minimal, no ‘quilt’ finishes, although I did make a bunch of zipper pouches and a Bionic Gear Bag — that was back in the summer and the fabric is STILL sitting out on my flat surfaces — you know the ones that were part of Task Two?

My UFO count – both tops needing to be quilted and tops I’m still piecing has gone up – by a total of 5 — if my notes are correct. Bottomline there are 25 quilt tops in the queue and another 32 quilts I’m still piecing, including En Provence which I started Thanksgiving weekend.

Scraps and fabric is all over the place — I have piles of fabric from both Allietare and En Provence sitting about as neither quilt top is completed. The fabric from the BGB is still sitting out as I planned to make some accessories to go with it. Shoot, my bag from the quilt retreat is still half packed.

Last year I started off in numerous challenges, but in the end I dropped out. So this year I’m going to commit to the following:

Complete the En Provence Mystery Quilt top – I’m working on the last two clues now.
Quilt the Blue Disappearing 9-patch. The top was finished in January and the pieced backing sometime the first half of the year. I’ve dug out the backing and removed the cat hair. Now both the top and backing need to be pressed and sandwiched together so I can quilt it.
The Green and Cream quilt. This was a Christmas 2015 UFO! I unearthed it while working on the space between the cutting board and the designwall.
The blue and green Strip Twist.
Process the boxes of fabric scraps into the Scrap Users System. This will need to be a long-term project as I have the equivalent of 4 or 5 book boxes (if not more) worth of scraps and my pre-cut scraps are getting thin. This task also includes putting away the fabric that is laying out and about.
Determine what I’m going to do with the upholstery samples I picked up off of CraigsList. There are 3 boxes in the garage and in the stack by the design wall. At first glance these are not as usable as the one I made the zipper bags from last summer.

If I can stay focused and get these six tasks done I will be thrilled. Stay tuned.

Posted in: Challenges, Cream & Green Swap Sampler, DP9, En Provence, Final Countdown, scraps, Strip Twist, UFOs

Finish-A-Long Results

July 5, 2016 3:55 pm ⋅ Pam

Ha! I feel like I’ve got nothing done the first 6 months of the year. I know I haven’t finished anything on the Finish-A-Long list. But as I started thinking of what I HAVE accomplished, it’s not as bleak as I thought.

In February I finished the Blue Disappearing 9-Patch top.

Early March found me making this monochromatic tablerunner as a class sampler — which still needs to be quilted.

Late March was a mad dash for a shop sample. – No picture.

April and May I worked on the blocks for Alletore – the 2015 Bonnie Hunter Mystery. retreatmystery

While doing these quilts, I made progress on the Tumbler Leader/Ender project – finishing it unless I decide to add a couple of more rows. It roughly measures 70 x 80.

I also finished the backing to for the Disappearing 9-Patch.

Progress was made on both Strip Twist & Pineapple Blossom.

Now here’s a finish. These are 10 of the 17 bags I made for gifts. I didn’t get a picture of the rest of them. 10bags

Another finish is this travel iron tote.

And since I got into my Maypole fabrics, I decided to make a Bionic Gear Bag to go with it. It is still in progress.

There may not be any finishes which count toward the Finish-A-Long, but I did more than I thought.

Posted in: goals, UFOs

What’s On My Design Wall

April 25, 2016 7:49 am ⋅ Pam

shirts0405

Off and on all week I’ve been working on the shirt backing. I’m cutting 10-1/2″ and 5-1/2″ squares, then from what’s left, I’m cutting 2″ and 1-1/2″ strips. The rest of the shirt goes into my shirt scrap box. Ideally, I need 90 large squares and 20 small squares as I need the backing to be 95″ x 100″. I think I’ve got 24 large squares cut so far.

But I felt the need to piece. So instead of pulling out any of my numerous UFOs that could be worked on, I pulled out Tuscan Sun, the JoAnn BOM from 2006 that my mom collected.

joannbom

I didn’t get far. The pieces are pre-cut, so no thought required there and just what I needed. Unfortunately, either the cutting was off or my piece was off. I suspect it’s a little bit of both. Each quarter section is supposed to measure 8″ unfinished. They do not. So this is going to require a bit of thinking. For now, I think the whole thing is going to get put back in its packaging and put back on the shelf.

But I did make progress on the Tumblers.

tumblers

A group of 8’s sewn into a group of 16 (there is a dark tumbler just outside of the picture on the left.)

Now back to cutting shirts.

See what others are working on over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: BOM, designwall, scraps, Tumblers, UFOs

The Last Finish of 2015

December 31, 2015 8:10 pm ⋅ Pam

This is the last finish of 2015. It’s my pink and black 4-Patch Stacked Posies. The top has been hanging in my stash of tops since 2007 waiting for the right time to be quilted. The time has come and I found both the batting and backing in my stash.

The length of green matches perfectly the green in the focus fabric – although it’s tough to tell in this lighting. It shows up better in the pillowcase.

I used the pantograph A Little Bit Of Fluff. The top thread is a Cotton/Poly T40 Variegated thread in Primary Explosion. I used Omni in a Green Turquoise in the bobbin. The batting is Soft & Black — a discontinued batting by Warm and Natural. Even though the batting is polyester, the quilt still shrunk a bit — it was 52″ x 68 prior to washing and now it measures 50″ x 64″.

This quilt was on my 4th quarter list for the Finish Along simply because I listed all of my UFOs. It brings my total finishes for the year to 18 quilts and 30 pillowcases and my UFO count is down to 52 – 22 tops to be quilted and 30 projects in pieces.

Now off to stitch the label onto the quilt — I got so excited that the quilt was finished, I missed the last step! At least the label is already made.

Posted in: Challenges, Finish-A-Long - 2015, Pink & Black 4-Patch Stacked Posies, UFO Parade - 2015, UFOs

2015 Final Countdown Task Two

December 30, 2015 1:10 pm ⋅ Pam

Shelly, over at PrairieMoonQuilts is hosting the 7th annual Final Countdown. It’s a chance to do a few things in your quilting space to get you ready for the new year. I’m not sure how long I’ve been participating, but whatever the challenge, it’s usually something which needs to be done in my space.

Task Two:

Organize ALL our UFOs

This task is easy for me — as I’ve been tracking them since 2009. I’m now down to 30 quilts in progress and 23 quilt tops.

I have a spreadsheet with multiple tabs. One tab lists the quilts in progress.

The WIP_UFO tab lists each project, a code for the current status/type of project (C – still cutting, Q – Partially Quilted, P – Still Piecing, S – Swap Blocks, L – Leader/Ender Project, B – Needs Borders, H – Hand Piecing, A – Applique Project, I – Inherited Project), where it is stored, who it is for, when I started it, when I need it and a few notes.

The location is PB for Project Boxes:

3 is for the UFO box on the shelf:

Another tab contains a list of all of my quilt tops.

It lists the quilt top name, when I started it, when it became a top, when I need it, a few notes, whether or not I have the backing and binding, what size it is and how I plan on quilting it.

The tops are in two boxes. The box on the floor contains the tops which have quilt backings.

The box on the top shelf are those which need backings.

This past summer I culled my UFOs. At least one BOM only had a few blocks made, so the fabric was put back into the stash and the blocks into the Orphan Block Box. Two sets of blocks were used together to create a couple of donation tops and a couple of tops waiting for borders or to be quilted were re-worked to a size for donation. So, my UFO/Tops are in pretty good shape.

I guess that sends me back to Task # 1.

Posted in: Challenges, UFOs

What’s On My Design Wall

December 28, 2015 1:17 am ⋅ Pam

I thought I would use this last Design Wall Monday post of 2015 to recap the projects that I’ve worked on this year. The pictures above are all of the quilts and a couple of groups of pillowcases not associated with quilts that I finished this year.

In addition to completely finishing the quilts pictured, I reworked and/or assembled the following tops.

My leader/ender project for the year started with the postage stamp quilt, which is nowhere near complete, then in July, I started the Tumblers, which also has a way to go. My hand project – Star-A-Day I kept up with through March. I have 113 stars, so I’m about 1/3 of the way to completion.

Additionally, I started Allietare, the Bonnie Hunter Mystery, although I’ve not gotten very far on it.

I worked a bit on the Green & Cream Swap Quilt. I’m afraid I handed out an IOU for a UFO for Christmas. It will be the first quilt I complete in 2016 — right after I get my machine back from getting cleaned. It’s developed a squeak that I don’t like.

But before I take it in, I will finish one last quilt. I still have a bit of repair work on the 4-Patch Stacked Posies.

I didn’t get everything done on my Crazy Challenge II list, but I didn’t miss it by much. After all the original challenge was 12 quilts in 4 months, then the list grew. 🙂

Check out what others are working on by following the links over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: designwall, goals, UFOs

Black and Bright

December 27, 2015 11:47 am ⋅ Pam

This is Black & Bright. The blocks were from a May 2007 swap I participated in. The blocks then sat for several years waiting for inspiration. At one point I wanted to set the blocks with applique (yes, I know I say that’s a 4-letter word) flowers.

I went as far as taking an on-line class to learn applique and quickly decided that wasn’t going to work. So, I took the class blocks and made this wall hanging in 2010.

I didn’t like the original border with the wall hanging, so came up with this layout with the plan to use it on the quilt when I got that far.

The quilt top finally got finished in April 2013 at a quilt retreat. It then sat in my stash of quilt tops to be quilted. This summer it was on of the quilts that was picked to be quilted as a thank you for the help in the yard (Aiming for Accuracy, Orange Crush and Nifty Thrifty were the other 3 quilts).

I found a bright green fabric on clearance to use for the backing. I also used it as the body of the pillowcases.

It was quilted on both the longarm and my DSM. I had a plan for the black borders and quickly realized I wasn’t able to execute it well — especially in the bright variegated thread I was using (Superior’s So Fine #40/3 in Crickey!) So came home and ripped out the top border and did a simple cable. It was either Wednesday night or Christmas Eve morning I realized that I wasn’t going to have enough thread — I was using Crickey! in the bobbin as well. So, I had a design opportunity.

The ‘inner’ black band between the pieced border and the blocks is narrower than the ‘outer’ black bands, so I did a simple diamond in those two borders and used black thread on the top. Finally in the turquoise of the pieced borders I did a simply s-curve and used turquoise thread. I think I have less than 1/2 bobbin of Crikey! left.

I picked the green from the border to repeat in the binding. “Susie’s Magic Binding” is my go-to binding when I need to do a fast binding. There’s no pinning and the entire thing can be done on the machine.

I used Hobbs’ Heirloom 80/20 black batting in the quilt. It started out at 103″ square and after washing it measures 98″ square.

It was finished Christmas Day, just in time to leave for Christmas dinner.

It was part of my Crazy Challenge II and on the 4th Quarter Finish a Long list.

Posted in: Black and Bright, Challenges, goals, UFOs

What’s On My Design Wall

December 14, 2015 12:08 am ⋅ Pam

The design wall proper is empty, but the Crazy Challenge II is progressing. The Red Disappearing 9-Patch is done. It just needs washing and photographing. I’ll wash it as soon as I get the pillowcase made.

The hardware quilt is done. I’m so glad I couldn’t find the extra backing fabric. I love the pop of red. I need to get this quilt labeled and it will go into the wash when I finish the pillowcase. BTW I finally found the extra backing fabric. I had decided it was too dark for the neutral box and not dark enough for the brown box and it ended up in the yellow and Halloween box.

This Black and Pink 4-Patch Stacked Posies quilt is a hug quilt. I need to finish cleaning up the threads, make the label and finish the pillowcase, then it will go in the wash. I think Butterscotch is trying to tell me something. I know I’ve stopped for the night. The pillowcases will be finished up this evening.

I re-evaluated and realized I needed two more pillowcases for a total 7 not associated with quilts. These are cut to size, but before I can put them together, the inside of the cuff will get a label and I need to make two more labels. Maybe Tuesday?

So, what’s left?

That lime green needs to be made into a backing for the Black and Bright quilt. The quilt needs to be put on the zippers and I have to figure out how I’m going to quilt it on Saturday. That’s got to be Wednesday’s project.

The Cream and Green hanging to the shelves and under the lime green needs to be finished, as does the Compass Lone Star on top. They will need labels and pillowcases of course. I think these two will be necessity get pushed to next week.

And the mystery quilt? I think I printed off the instructions and put them with the fabric — but at this point, I’m not sure. But clearly there is no more work on it until after the first of the year, and possibly not until February. I’ve been given two commissions for quilts which need to be done in January.

If you don’t hear from me, you’ll know why. I’m buried under quilts!

Check out what others are working on over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: Challenges, designwall, goals, UFOs

Sew Scrappy Challenge Quilt – Week 7

November 24, 2015 9:51 pm ⋅ Pam

Last month I said that on Tuesdays until Thanksgiving I am working on my Sew Scrappy quilt as part of Jo’s “finish a UFO before Bonnie’s mystery quilt starts challenge”. Sew Scrappy is from Evelyn Sloppy’s book 40 Fabulous Quick-Cut Quilts. I don’t think I have any Bonnie Hunter quilts in pieces, but I want/need to finish this one and I’ve been stalling for 3 years. Monday I got it washed and hung to take a picture. These days it is too late to take pictures outside after work, so I hung it on my shelves. It has also been delivered.

The quilt measures 69″ x 83″ after washing. All of the fabric is Kansas Troubles, including those really light pieces. As I was working on the quilt, I’d pick up a light piece then go check the selvage to make sure it really was KT fabric.

The batting is Hobb’s 100% Cotton Tuscany and I used Cairo-quilt in Military Gold thread in both the top and the bottom. It blends so well, I had a hard time telling where I had quilted! There was one spot that I added a bit of quilting to after I got home.

The quilting was done free-hand – just a loopy flower that I do. The picture above is before I washed the quilt, the one below, after.

This quilt will link up with Jo’s Country Junction, Aunt Marti’s UFO Parade, the UFO Busting – 2015 over at Field Trips in Fiber, the 4th Quarter Finish Along (list is here) and of course my Crazy Challenge II.

I nearly forgot. Yes, there is a pillowcase to go with it.

Posted in: designwall, Finish-A-Long - 2015, goals, Sew Scrappy, UFO Busting - 2015, UFO Parade - 2015, UFOs

Sew Scrappy Challenge Quilt – Week 6

November 18, 2015 12:15 am ⋅ Pam

Well, the end is truly near. The binding is attached and I’ve started to stitch it down. Since I’m finishing it by machine, it won’t take long — but I got a late start last night. It’s the middle of open enrollment at work and since I was out on vacation last week, I didn’t start to look at the options until last night. There’s more personal computer work on the horizon for tonight, but I expect I’ll finish the binding. Then it will be time to trim the threads, label and check for spots that need more quilting.

See how others are doing on their project over at Jo’s Country Junction.

Posted in: Challenges, goals, UFOs

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Category Archives: Ufos

The Final Countdown – Task Three

Finish-A-Long Results

What’s On My Design Wall

The Last Finish of 2015

2015 Final Countdown Task Two

Organize ALL our UFOs

What’s On My Design Wall

Black and Bright

What’s On My Design Wall

Sew Scrappy Challenge Quilt – Week 7

Sew Scrappy Challenge Quilt – Week 6

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