Yes, I’ve finally finished the seam on the back of the Green and Cream quilt. Of course there are three more rows to do, but the challenge was just to ‘finish partial finished rows‘.  I can now in good conscience set this aside and do something else from my bag of  “UFO Quilt Steps”.

I promise this was not rigged.  Well, admittedly I didn’t put the next step of the Green and Cream quilt in the bag until I pulled the next challenge, but still.  Since I finally settled on a design for the Row Quilt and bought the fabric last week, I’ve been itching to work on this quilt.  I knew if I had the fabric washed, I couldn’t hold back, so now I’ve got to wash the fabric so I can start making those square in a square blocks.

Of course I’ve not totally focused on the Cream and Green quilt.  I was supposed to be quilting the Crossword Puzzle quilt, but got stymied when I discovered the backing scrunched.  So I worked on Mom’s Chain of Stars, this month’s UFO.

Yesterday I decided to quilt the Crossword Puzzle quilt on the longarm and now have a rental appointment.  But what to do with the sticky batting?  Cut it up and work on baby quilts.  Mom’s Chain of Stars is now quilted, bound and labeled.

Since I need to wait for the Row Quilt fabric to wash, I’m going to see about quilting another baby quilt. I still have a lot of sticky batting.

I finished the top.  In the morning I think I’ll quilt it.

Judy, over at Patchwork Times has picked the UFO # for August.  It is # 7.

#7 on my “complete the top” list is a peach and green Chain of Stars — the same pattern as  July’s UFO finish.

After I wrote the pattern I asked my mom to test it for me.  This is as far as she got.  My intention is to finish it and then give it to the next great grandbaby – if it’s appropriate.

On the ‘to-be-quilted’ list is Red, White & Blue Baby 2.  It’s not listed as #1 on my list, but I finished #7 off this list back in March.

Stay tuned to see which one — if either I work on this month.  In the meantime I’m off to finish sandwiching the Crossword Puzzle quilt, but you can check out what others finished off their UFO list over at Judy’s.

Judy has pulled the UFO # for June, so now it’s time to report if I finished May’s UFO.

May # was 9. That’s the Cream & Green quilt as you go project that was on both the “to complete the top” and the “get it quilted” lists. Needless to say, given that I’m in full swing on my self imposed challenge, I didn’t bother to open the box this quilt is in.

However, I did finish two quilts – the BQ2 with Peacocks and the Turning Twenty Again that I’m calling “Summertime”. Both of these quilts were on my ‘To Be Quilted” tab on January 1st, so I’m counting them as my UFO completion for May.

#8 is the pick for June. Not that it matters what #8 is, I have 5 more quilts to finish by the 22nd – all but one were on my lists January 1st. So, look for me to complete the Crossword Puzzle top, and finish Victoria’s Rose, The Chain Event, Ribbon Candy, Kansas Troubles and the Neutral Strip Twist (not technically a UFO) in the next couple of weeks.

When July rolls around I’ll may set a new challenge for myself — get caught up on the quilts I skipped over!

The number for April was 4.  On my list to get to the top stage was my Red, White and Blue quilt shop sampler.

On my to be quilted list was this Thangles quilt.

But given I was going to a retreat, I think I said I was going to work on Mom’s 4-patch Stacked Posies, which was March’s pick. 

None of these quilts made it to the top stage or got quilted.  But have no fear, I did complete two UFOs in April.

The first was my Dresden Plate which I’m calling Metamorphosis since the fabric came from my old skirt.  This was #10 the pick for February.  It took all of February, March and a couple of days into April to get it completed.

As of 4/3/11

The second quilt I finished was my Miniature Ohio Star.  I finished this up in time for the quilt show.  It’s not on either of my Challenge lists, but it was on my Quilts in Progress tab at the beginning of  the year.

This month Judy picked #9.  That’s my Green and Cream quilt that I’m working in a Quilt-As-You-Go method.

I’ll say it right now.  This quilt won’t be finished by the end of the month.

That’s not to say I won’t be working on my UFOs.

On the piecing front I have the crossword puzzle quilt.  I started this last fall, but couldn’t begin putting it together until my sister’s latest grandbaby was born. I’ll also be working on the binding of “Summertime” – a Venetian Glass Turning Twenty Again.  Between now and the end of the month I have 4 days reserved on the longarm.  All of the quilts I’m planing on working on were on my To Be Quilted tab at the beginning of the year.

The good news is Judy’s challenge has gotten me focused on my UFOs whether it’s from the list I put together in December or my master list.  Since the beginning of the year I’ve competed 6 7 quilts — all UFOs and I’ve only started 3 – 2 of which are tops just waiting to be quilted.  Not bad if do say so myself.

Check out the link over at Patchwork Times to see how others are doing on their UFOs.

Judy has announced this month’s challenge number.  It’s #4.  In theory that means I’ll be working on one of these two quilts:

From list #1 (get the quilt to the top stage) is the Red, White & Blue Sampler.  These blocks came from a couple of different sources.   Some of them are from a small shop hop I did in May 2009 and some were birthday blocks sent to me last year.  I’ve tossed in a couple of extra blocks to get the count up to 15.

These blocks are tossed into my retreat bag to take with me next week.  At the moment, I’m leaning toward sashing and quilting the blocks and then assembling them in the same manner I’m doing my Dresden Plate.  If I go this way, the completed blocks with sashing will be my “top”.

From list # 2 (quilt & bind) is “Thangles 2”.  This is one of the two baby quilt tops I made from  my Thangles BOM blocks from several years ago.  I picked the “black and bright” theme but didn’t think the brights selected worked well together and made two baby quilts with 2 blocks left over for “back art”.  Then there was my piecing.  Ugh!  Anyway, in theory this is the quilt top #4 which needs to be quilted.

So, what will I really do?

Last month Judy picked # 1, which is the 4-Patch Stacked Posies quilt my mom started several years ago off my list #1.  I didn’t work on it in March because I needed something to take to the retreat in April.  It is my plan to get this quilt to the top stage at the retreat.

It’s my intention to finish the Dresden Plate quilt (February’s Challenge) this weekend.  I’m in the process of putting the borders on, so with luck, I’ll have it done for Monday’s Design Wall.

Also on this month’s list to complete is the Mini Stars quilt; appliquéing the letters for the Crossword Puzzle quilt (one of the “7 by June” quilts), complete two twin quilt tops (pieces already cut out) and get hanging sleeves on any quilt I’m planning on entering in the Guild quilt show.  I’d really like to quilt the baby mystery quilt, but think I ran out of month three or four projects ago – especially since I want to get The Chain Event (a “7 by June” quilt) done this month.