It’s time to link up with Vicki over at Field Trips In Fiber my UFO Busting Report for March.
# of Projects in Process March 1st: 67
# of Projects Completed: 0
# of new Projects started: 1
# UFOs trashed Tops sent to new homes: 5
# of Projects in Process March 31st: 63
I hope to finish at least one quilt this month. We’ll see how it goes.
4 or 5 years ago I made this quilt top from Bonnie Hunter’s free pattern Star Struck. It measures 64″ x 80″. My intention was to eventually quilt it and bind it in either red or blue when I got that far. Last night I started packing up the quilt tops I’m sending to Vicki and I thought about this one. It’s too big for the purposes of Country School Quilters, but with the removal of 4 rows it’s about right — 48″ x 64″.
But now I have 32 “orphan blocks” and there’s room in the box for one more quilt top.
I dug through my neutral stash and made this ‘Boston Commons’ layout with the rest of the stars. – 3/4 of yard of fabric from my stash, no orphan blocks and two quilt tops for the quilters to give to the veteran’s hospital.
It’s a win all the way around.
UFO Count (Quilts in Progress + Tops to Be Quilted): 63 down from 69 January 1st.
These are more sampler, shop hop and test blocks. I think I see a couple of left over blocks from a mystery quilt that I made incorrectly as well. Now to package up the last three tops for Vicki.
This brings my current UFO (Quilts in Progress + Tops to Be Quilted) count to 64 from January 1st’s count of 69.
A whole lot of fabric passed under my needle this past week – the majority of it at the retreat Friday and Saturday. Most of the units needed for the blocks for the graduation quilt are made. I still need all of the HST in both sizes and the triangle in a square units for the outer blocks. That pile in the top right corner is the start of the block assembly.
Stash Report: – Reported at Patchwork Times
Fabric Added Since Last Report 0.25 yards (FQ from the retreat)
Fabric Added to Date: 18.91 yards
Fabric Used Since Last Report: 0.75 yards (Orca Bay Borders)
Fabric Used to Date: 16.964 yards
INCREASE in Stash to Date: 1.946 yards
350 Blocks Report at Prairie Moon Quilts
I reported 23 blocks. I counted the Orca Bay pieced border as 10 and I finished 13 stars.
I have nothing to show for the UFO Parade at 52 Quilts in 52 Weeks. Orca Bay only made it to the top stage.
I thought I was aiming for 31 blocks (which I missed) but I read over at Prairie Moon Quilts we only needed 20 this month. So, what did I get done?
So, for January, I have 28 blocks. For February, I hope to get the Orca Bay top finished, start making blocks for a graduation quilt and get at least 28 more stars done.
Pop over to Prairie Moon Quilts and check the comments to see how others are doing.
It’s the end of the month and time to report my UFO Busting Progress.
Last year I was making black and white 4-patches with the intention of making Bricks & Stepping Stones, but then there was quilt-a-long for Jared Takes A Wife and I repurposed the 4-patches.
I quilted this with the panto “Floral Meander” using Transitions Variegated thread #41062 – Primary Explosion in the top and a burgundy bobbin thread. The batting is Hobb’s Tuscany Collection.
The quilt is bound with Susie’s Magic Binding – the same green as the sashing with a touch of the pink showing.
After washing the quilt measures 65″ x 77″.
While I was at it I also made a pillowcase.
I’ll link this finish up to:
Now on to those stars!
Scrappy Trips was completely made on my treadle machine “Miss Florence Jane“. Everything from piecing the blocks, assembling the quilt top, piecing the quilt backing, the quilting itself, piecing the binding and attaching the binding – both front and back to the quilt was done on the treadle. The only thing I didn’t do on the treadle was stitch the label down. I did that by hand.
I used Scrappy Trips, a Bonnie Hunter pattern for the blocks, and then set them as one big trip.
The quilt tops was started April 4, 2013 and I finished the top January 11, 2014. I started the quilting on January 10, 2015 and put the last stitch in the label on January 15, 2015.
The washed quilt measures 68″ x 90″. I used Hobb’s Heirloom Natural Cotton Batting. I used a khaki colored thread on the top and a white thread in the bobbin. The binding is red with a gold flange. I used Susie’s Magic Binding. The backing was pieced from two 60″ wide lengths of this Kansas City Chiefs fabric which came from Mom.
I’ll link this finish up to:
I really want to bust a few UFOs. Of course to do that, I need to stop starting new projects. Over the past 6 years my UFO count – both quilts in progress and tops waiting to be quilted — has fluctuated between a low of 67 in 2012 and a high of 76 in 2011. As of January 1st the number was 69. The specifics are listed in the tabs: Tops to be Quilted and Quilts in Progress.
Vicki over at Field Trips in Fiber is hosting a UFO Busting Link up. She’s asking us to be accountable for the # of UFOs as of the Link Up Day, the # of projects finished since the last link up and the # of project started since the last link up. I expected that last question may just keep me in line. This month she is also asking about our oldest UFO.
Here are my first link up #s:
As for my oldest UFO — it’s the Christmas BOM which I started in August 2003. I’m patiently waiting for the border fabric to arrive so I can finish the top. Quilting will be down the road, as I have no idea what color thread to use or how to quilt it.
In the meantime, I finished quilting another UFO and just need to get it squared and bound. Pictures when that happens – hopefully this week.
Here’s this month’s link up.
The Final Countdown is on over at Prairie Moon Quilts. The third and final challenge is to Pick a New Habit to Start (and keep).
But what to pick? Don’t start a new quilt until one of the UFOs is finished is less habit than resolution. The same is true of don’t pile stuff on the cutting board (an interesting proposition as it is the 1st flat surface when we enter the house) treadle machine (2nd) or ironing board (3rd). Also, those surfaces get cleared off when they are needed.
I guess the biggest issue I have is scraps. Not so much those that I generate myself such as these from the current project
as soon as I get the quilt bound, labeled, a pillowcase made and both washed, I’ll deal with these.
It’s those scraps which come into the house in large quantities via friends and scavenging for them off of Craiglist.
The top box is more of a “stirring box” — I think those the scraps I haven’t put back up from pulling fabrics from the Star-A-Day project. Those bottom two boxes though…
If I put everything on hold, I could work through these scraps over the course of a few weeks. But I have a graduation quilt to start, BOMs to catch up on , UFOs to work on, etc. So, I think the new habit is going to be to spend 30 minutes a week working on my scraps until I get them under control, and then weekly as needed. Going forward, I’ll add a comment on my Sunday Stash Report post of how much time I worked on my scraps.
As for tasks #1 and #2, I’m happy to report that I have them completed.
Task 1 Before:
Task 1 After:
Task 2 Before:
Task 2 After – The longarm box:
Task 2 After – The retreat box:
Task 2 After – The Star-A-Day bag:
Both the long-arm box and the retreat box get stuff added to them on a case by case basis, but they contain the basics. The long-arm box is in the bag I haul my quilt in, along with the 2 pantographs I own. Once I find the second set of zippers they’ll go in the bag as well. The retreat box, is under the rolling cart under my sewing desk as I can’t easily get to my sewing machine bag due to where it is stored. The Star-A-Day bag is on the end table in the living room. Perhaps I should get working on them again as that is star # 65 which should have been completed on the November 4th.
