For the past week my sister has been in town to use the longarm.  She flew into town with her Featherweight, 5 quilt tops with backings, 2 panels and a couple of coordinating fabrics, and blocks she only works on at retreats.  After a trip to the quilt shop, and 1.2 million stitches on the longarm, she had 7 quilts ready to bind and 20 finished blocks. Before she finished the last quilt top, I was able to get a customer’s quilt quilted. Other than that I knitted while she was here when I wasn’t working. But now it’s time to get back on track with my quilting.

I finally finished the stitching on my Celtic knot for the center of Cairdeas. This is the Bonnie Hunter project I started in Ireland in June.  I now need to pull my green and neutral 1 1/2″ strips out to do the piecing.

These three quilts need bindings. They are Kimberly, Tara and my Christmas Swap quilt which is on my Brandon Quilters UFO list.

Waiting to be quilted, are my Squedge table runner, Crystal, and my Christmas Row quilt, which is also on my Brandon Quilters UFO list.

Projects that I want/need to finish this year are a sweater which I started at least 15 and probably closer to 20 years ago. One sleeve to go since I finished the first one earlier this week. The Squedge pillow since I have most of it cut out, Athena from UFO list. Also on the UFO list is the sweatshirt jacket which needs to be done by September. Cairdeas, then the QBHD Rainbow Charm swap & the Auction blocks. Those last 2 are also on my UFO list.

You would think I would stop there, but no, I have more that I want to finish by the end of the year.  Halloween Whimsy, a linen top with a bit of embroidery, 1 maybe 2 more RWB quilts, a Christmas tablerunner and placemats, the QBHD Challenge quilt (I have decided what I’m going to do) and another sweatshirt jacket. Not pictured is my Upton dress with a 3/4 circle skirt. I’m not certain which box it is in.  I’d like it and the Halloween quilt done by October 9th, the sweatshirt jacket by September 18th, the challenge by October 16th.

I best get a move on it.

It’s the 4th of July 2023, so I have gathered all of my red, white, and blue quilts in one place.  I was surprised by the number that I’ve made over the years. First up is the first one I started.  This one was started in 1995. I did not finish it until 2009.  It folds up into a quillow and is quite hot as it had polyester batting.

This is another quillow and my first attempt at longarm quilting. This was also finished in 2009.

These next 2 quilts are the result of a mystery quilt. I didn’t like the final quilt, so I made a couple of baby quilts.  The one on the left was finished in 2009 given to my team lead at work. The one on the right was finished in 2011. I don’t remember what child got this quilt.

Chain of Stars was the first retreat mystery quilt I wrote.  I finished this quilt in 2010 and it was sold in a silent auction for a friend’s nephew’s medical care.

Playing with Jacks is another Quiltville free pattern.  I finished this quilt in 2012 and was sent to fire victims.

This table runner is another of my retreat mystery patterns. I finished this one in 2012.

This 4-Patch Stacked Posies in Kansas Troubled Fabric was given to Lynne Hagmeier in 2013.

I also finished Ladder to the Stars in 2013. This was my first published quilt pattern.

This is another one of my patterns. I finished this one in 2014 and gave it to my college roommate’s daughter.

These two tops are made with blocks from Bonnie K. Hunters, free pattern Star Struck.  In 2015 I took my original quilt top and split it into 2 so they met the requirements for Country School Quilters in Virginia.

I also sent them these two sampler tops.

Narragansett Blues, a Bonnie Hunter design was finished in 2020.

2021 I designed Wonky Wishes.

I made this June Tailor Sophie Tote in 2022.

This in May I purchased 14 5/8-yard cuts of red and blue fabric, plus a background, accent and border to make three quilts from Stripology 3 by GE Designs. Tara, Crystal, and Kimberly.  I added a bright white layer cake to the mix and purchased more background fabric for a couple more projects to used up the original 5/8-yard cuts.

I started this post saying I was surprised by the number of red, white and blue quilts I’ve made, but as I was writing the post I found a couple I had forgotten about.

It’s been two weeks since my last post and I’ve been busy working through the projects that I had going at the beginning of the month.

1. Christmas Star Swap – quilted and needs to be bound
2. Squedge 18 degree table runner – needs to be quilted.
3. Community Quilt – quilted and delivered, so not pictured
4. Auction Quilt – quilted and delivered, so not pictured
5. Postage Stamp Leader/Ender – dormant, but I’ve added 1 1/2″ squares to the basket
6. Pink, Green, & Purple Quilted Sweatshirt- no progress
7. Sheet to make body pillowcase – no progress
8. Fairy Frost Sunset pillowcase – done
9. Christmas Star Swap pillowcase – no progress
10. HST for Rivanna – nearly 2 batches stitched (that’s 120 HSTs!) I have another 120 ready to go.
11. Kimberly from Stripology 3 – squares cut and ready for class
12. Tara from Stripology 3 – ready to trim and bind
13. Crystal from Stripology 3 – cut out and first column assembled

Here’s where I started from:

Take note of the fabric in the bottom left corner of this picture. All that is left is this:

After I get the 3 quilts bound, I think I’ll have enough to make a pillowcase. As for the rest of the fabric, I haven’t decided if it will go in the stash or if I’ll squeeze one more project out of it.

I finished Chilhowie over the weekend. Chilhowie was the 2022-2023 Quiltville Mystery Quilt.  This year there were 7 clues.  I kept up with the piecing through Clue 6, but when the assembly instructions came out in Clue 7 I needed to circle back to make 4 additional blocks. As I was pushing to finish the log cabin quilt, Chilhowie got set aside.

I found a backing in my stash that was perfect for this quilt.

• Started:  11/25/22
• Finished : 3/19/23
• E2E: Fresco Feathers, resized to 16″ with an offset of -4.5
• Glide 40 wt in Strawberry Blond – 3 bobbins
• Legacy 80/20 batting
• Washed Size: 73 3/4 x 90 1/4

I spent this past week in San Antonio Texas as the 3rd generation of our family joined the Air Force Reserves.  This photo of my brother, sister-in-law and nephew was taken immediately following the graduation ceremony.  This was day 2.

This was the first day — the Airman’s Run.  It was cold and blustery — for San Antonio.  The run was the first time families got a glimpse of their loved ones after 7 1/2 weeks of BMT – Basic Military Training.  I will admit this view made me emotional. My nephew is in the 2nd flight.

After the run, there was a break as the Airmen got cleaned up for the Coin Ceremony. It marked the end of their basic training.

Everyone was given a Town Pass so we went into town for lunch at one of the eateries at the Pearl.  It’s a collection of eateries and and shops in the old Pearl Brewery. We ate at the Boiler House Texas Grill & Wine Garden then had desert at Lick Honest Ice Creams.  Both were excellent. Afterwards we headed back to the Airbnb we were staying at to visit more with David.

The next morning was the Graduation Parade.  Another blustery day.  But both days were sunny.  David is the 2nd from the right in the 2nd rank.  This is at the end of the parade right before they were dismissed.

The President’s Challenge this year is for us to make a name tag.  This is mine.

The cream ribbon will be used to attach little bows that we’ll get for each show-n-tell project. We’ll also get one if we demo a ruler, or are the meeting speaker.

But since I’m in multiple guilds, I have made extra labels.  They are held on by Velcro.

I also added a pocket!  When I was in Starlight Quilters Guild, we had raffle tickets that I had to keep up with during the meeting and we were handed our ribbon bows as we approached the stage for show n tell.   This would have been handy.

This was my old name tag.  I can’t wait to start adding ribbons to my new one.

Quilters love their acronyms – BOM, DSM, FQ, HST, LQS, WIP, PIG, UFO, but today’s focus is PIG – Project in Grocery Sack.

The only reason I’m looking at this is because I day 3 of the Final Countdown was to “Take a project inventory and devise a plan“. Given that I already have a comprehensive list of my UFOs and Tops to Be Quilted – with a plan to finish at least 12 of them by early December, I decided to focus on my PIGs.

When I first started this blog I divided my UFOs into 2 lists since the thought of having in excess of 125 UFOs was mind boggling.  I’m happy to say that 15 years later, the combined list is down to 52 with less than a dozen from the original list. At the time I think I had 4 kits.  However, my kits and PIGs have exploded in the last 4 or 5 years.

So, a philosophical question is a curated collection of fabric, purchased to use together to make a quilt but without a specific pattern in mind a PIG?

What about partial bundles, such as a pattern and focus fabric, or a panel with an idea, but the rest of the fabric hasn’t been pulled or purchased?

With the count over 50, perhaps I need to divide the list in two. Projects I have everything for – kits/pigs, and project missing a pattern or fabric – WHIMMs.