Melissa of Sew BitterSweet Designs and Shanna of Fiber of All Sorts have come up with a neat process to have us FINISHING stuff, whether it’s something already in process or something new.  I’m planning on joining because I didn’t quite make it to 12 finishes last year (although the three pillowcases were only counted as one…)  I really would like to see that number hit a solid 12 or even go higher like they did in 2011 and 2010.

So, to that end, the January Goal is my 2006 Retreat Mystery quilt.

This should be an easy finish.  I quilted it last month and then it got set aside in the hustle and bustle leading up to Christmas and the new year.  It just needs binding, a label and washing to be completed.

I hope to finish it by this weekend as it is one of my tasks for Prairie Moon Quilt’s Final Countdown Challenge. It’s also listed as one of my four Getting It Done tasks I’ve listed as part of the new challenge at Patchwork Times.

Sometimes only listing something 3 or 4 places is the only way I’ll get something done.  Of course that’s doesn’t always help. 😉

There a linky box at Sew BitterSweet Designs and Fiber of All Sorts if you want to join up or see what others are planning on finishing this month.

Last week my husband built a PVC quilt rack for me to display some of my quilts.  It is pretty simple and more importantly modular so a single section can be setup or if the need arises more sections added to it with the purchase of a few more PVC pipes and fittings.

My rack has three sections.  Music Lessons (left) which was 82″ x 96″ before washing fit nicely across the width of a section and hung 6 or 7 inches onto the floor.

Parts

• 10 – 10 foot lengths of 1 1/4 inch PVC pipe
• 4 – elbows
• 16 – T-fittings
• 8 – caps
• 2 – couplers optional
• PVC pipe cutter, or other means of cutting the pipe

Cut

• 4 pipes to measure 66″ for uprights
• 6 pipes to measure 78″ for cross pieces
• 10 – 12″ long (2 are optional) sections
• 12 – 4″ long sections

Assembly

For each upright you’ll need an elbow, 3 – 4″ sections, 2 – 12″ sections, 4 T-fittings, two caps and an 66″ section.

The foot of the upright consists of two  12″ sections with caps joined to a T-fitting.  The caps are necessary to keep the foot from rocking on the T-fitting.

To the center of the T-fitting insert a 4″ section and another T-fitting. The top of the upright is an elbow, 4″ section and T-fitting.  The 66″ piece goes in the middle.

Assemble all four of the uprights. Cat supervision is optional.

The next step is to put in the horizontal supports.  Start with the lower supports.  Since none of the fittings are glued, they can be turned as needed.  We used an extra length of leftover pipe as a “wrench” to turn fittings.

Finally slide the last of the long pipes into the sleeve of your quilt and insert into the elbows or upper T-fittings.

Here’s a picture of my rack with no quilts on it.

The legs can be turned to get them out-of-the-way (to a certain extent).

Now for some miscellaneous information and pictures.

Originally we thought Music Lessons was going to need a wider cross-piece.  That’s why we had two extra 12″ sections with the couplers to use as extenders.  However, we neglected to take into consideration the length of the fittings.  This is also why the uprights are shorter than the cross pieces.  We had to cut a foot off the uprights to clear the ceiling fans. The uprights are 7 foot 3 1/2 inches fully assembled.

The feet and the smaller parts fit into a softball/baseball bat bag we bought at Target.

Here’s a picture of the end of the rack.

Here’s a “middle” upright.

The middle quilt hangs lower than the quilts on the end.

The backside with quilts hanging.

We opted to make all the uprights the same, so it would be easy to assemble and additional sections could be added if required.

I hope between the pictures and my narrative this makes sense.  If not feel free to ask questions.  If I can’t answer them, I’ll get my husband to answer them.

Since Judy announced this year’s challenge of Getting It Done, I’ve been thinking how I wanted to use it.  Picking one quilt to focus on last year worked pretty well, so should I do that with my Just Takes Two or Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler? I think if I focused on either of them I would have a top by the end of the year.

But, what about that lengthy list of UFOs? There are 34 quilts on that list — not to mention another 36 tops which need to be quilted!

Since neither the JTS or SBS quilts are priorities (i.e. have destinations  identified yet), I’m going to simply go with the flow.

• Bind the 2006 Retreat Mystery quilt
• Make TNBC block using Faux Applique technique
• Complete the center of the Eyeore quilt
• Work on the Double Wedding Ring Quilt

I’m sure I’ll do other things this month as well, but I really want to get these four things done.  To see what others are planning on doing this month check out the links over at Patchwork Times.

Ah — the good news.  I have until Saturday to get the three tasks completed in Shelly’s 4th annual Final Countdown over at Prairie Moon Quilts.  This is good as my UFO from Day 1 still needs binding and the Day 2 “pile” of quilts are still hanging.  Today’s task is to:

Pick a project to work on that is just for you.

Well, it may not look like it’s just for me, but I’ve started on the first block of Twas the Night Before Christmas.  I fell in love with Kaaren’s  quilt, but knew I would put it off if I didn’t know others were working alongside me, so I’m doing it as a Quilt-a-Long.

The design has been traced and it’s in my hoop.  The only reason there are only a few stitches done is I finally realized I was using the wrong type of needle.  So, tonight I’ll dig through my supplies to find an embroidery needle and see how much I can get stitched.

At the moment I don’t have a design wall.  See those white strips above the quilt?  Those are the 3M Command strips/hooks I normally hang my design wall on.  I haven’t taken my quilt show down yet, so I still have my Dragonfly quilt hanging on the fireplace wall.

That doesn’t mean I haven’t got something in the works. Tomorrow I’ll announce the first block of the Quilt-a-Long I’m hosting.

While you wait for something new to appear on my design wall (or the wall to reappear) check out other design walls by following the links over at Patchwork Times.

I’m attempting to participate in Shelly’s 4th annual Final Countdown to get us prepared for the new year, but I’m running into some challenges. For example today’s challenge is:

Clean up a pile.

There are no piles — well except maybe my desk – as there is a quilt show going on in my house.  But, my sewing room is next to impossible to use, so perhaps my “pile” will be to take down the quilts in here.

The one on the fireplace wall is easy — and I need to put the design wall back up shortly.  The quilt tops  on the shelves are easy — they are just pinned in place.  But I will have to enlist the help of my husband to disassemble (and store) the hanging racks.  They are bigger than me!

Shelly over at Prairie Moon Quilts is hosting the 4th annual Final Countdown to get us prepared for the new year.  Saturday’s challenge is:

Locate your UFO that’s closest to being done, and do something about it.

Since my sewing space still looks like an art gallery, I had doubts that I could make this happen.   I know exactly where the UFO closest to being finished is. It’s on the shelf, but the big ironing board is leaning up against that shelf and there is a quilt hanging in front of it.  Then I remembered a UFO with easier access.  The 2006 Mystery quilt that I quilted on the 17th.  It is still in the quilting bag tucked under my cutting board with the zipper leaders still attached.

I’ve removed the zipper leaders.  I assume that counts as “something” – although I think the idea is to actually finish it.  So I will bounce back and forth between putting away the serving dishes from the party, laundry, binding the quilt and the 2nd Countdown Task (to be announced) until I get it all done.

I haven’t done a stash report in a couple of weeks, so sat down last night and brought  my spreadsheet up-to-date.  I didn’t quite make it to 100 yards used for the year.

Total fabric purchases for the year, including recycled shirts totaled 167.692 yards.  I used 92.6 yards for the year resulting in a net increase in my stash of 75.092 yards.

No telling what 2013 will bring in the way of fabric purchases or usage.  I will however continue to track the inbound and outbound fabric and participate in Judy’s  Stash Reports.  You  can see how others finished the year by checking out this week’s post.