2020 Final Countdown Recap

January 7, 2021 9:07 am ⋅ Pam

It’s time to do my 2020 Final Countdown Recap. Shelly over at Prairie Moon Quilts hosts the Final Countdown each year so we start the new year with a clean(er) sewing room.

Task One was Clear Your Main Work Surface. Here it is 7 days into the new year and the main work surface still only has the current project on it.

Task Two was Fabric Storage and Stray Fabric Piles. The above picture shows one of my biggest problem areas. It’s still a mess, but it’s better than it was.

Another place was the fabric shelves. Most of the fabric was backings, so they are now stored with my quilt tops.

Task Three was Take Stock /Organize/Deal with UFOs.

I did a several things here.

Passed 4 unfinished projects to friends and family
Sorted my quilt tops. I’ve now have a box of tops with the fabric I’ll need to make the backing and a box of tops with wide backs, no backing and backings without tops.
Finally started the binding on my ModaU quilt which was quilted several months ago.

The sewing room is not perfect. I still have a pile of fabric on the sewing table to enlarge the backing for Frolic, and if I load anything on the longarm, I’ll have to move a couple of bags, but I think the room is in a better place than it was.

There was a bit of piecing as well. I finished the lavender Broken Dish units for the wedding quilt and pressed and stitched a few seafoam HST. Those finished seafoam Broken Dish units were from before. I need 32 of each color for the next 16 blocks. Even with this progress, neither my 350 Challenge # nor my Easy Breezy # has gone up.

350 Challenge = 15
Easy Breezy = 92

Posted in: 2021 - 350 Blocks, Easy Breezy, Final Countdown, Moda U, Wedding Quilt

Tuesday’s Progress

January 6, 2021 8:46 am ⋅ Pam

There was a bit of binding while I watched Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist and the second half of The Lion King. Then I got up and went to the sewing machine.

All of the lavender HSTs are sewn and pressed. I’ve even started assembling the broken dish units.

Tonight I’ll review my Final Countdown Challenges to see where I stand. I think it’s a case of progress is made, which is definitely a step in the right direction.

350 Challenge = 15
Easy Breezy = 92

Posted in: 2021 - 350 Blocks, binding, Easy Breezy, Final Countdown, Moda U, Wedding Quilt

HSTs and Binding

January 5, 2021 6:30 am ⋅ Pam

Have I mentioned that the wedding quilt has a gazillion HSTs in it? Yesterday I cut a bunch more. After I get these sewn and trimmed, I should have enough tomake another 1/4 of the quilt.

As for the binding of the Moda U quilt, I have less that 6″ to go before I turn the first corner.

350 Challenge = 15
Easy Breezy = 92

Posted in: 2021 - 350 Blocks, Easy Breezy, Final Countdown, Moda U, Wedding Quilt

Design Wall Monday – 1/4/21

January 4, 2021 8:18 am ⋅ Pam

It’s been a while since I participated in Design Wall Monday and my wall is full.

In the back is 1/4 of a wedding quilt I’m working on. My next step is to cut more of the HST. If I did the math correctly, this quilt needs 1024 HST, so I have a few more to go.

The bright pink, turquoise and yellow blocks are for a sampler I’m designing for my SIL. I’ll send her the instructions for these four blocks then start working on the next 3 or 4.

Finally there are the 3 Easy Breezy blocks I made while working on the other two projects.

I’m also stitching the binding down on my Moda U quilt. I prefer doing a flange binding, but I didn’t want to add 2 new fabrics to the quilt. The top is from 2007/2008 and I didn’t have any of the fabric left for binding. I think what I bought last fall is a decent match.

350 Challenge = 15
Easy Breezy = 92

I’m linking up to the Design Wall Party over at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts. I can’t wait to see what others are working on.

Posted in: Easy Breezy, Moda U, Ruby's Sampler, Wedding Quilt

Letting Go

January 3, 2021 8:37 pm ⋅ Pam

I found two more UFOs that I’m letting go of. The top is a set swap of blocks passed to me 12 years ago. I’m giving them to my sister.

The second set of blocks are from a BOM my mother and I participated in back in 2004. When she died, my sister was not quilting, so I got all of the quilting related stuff from her sewing room. My intention was to finish this quilt and give it to one of siblings. Now that my sister is quilting I’m giving it to her to finish.

Although I cannot count any of the projects I’m giving away as finishes, I can remove them from my personal count. I essentially divide my projects into 3 categories: Tops to Be Quilted – which includes those tops quilted, but not bound; Works in Progress (WIP) – which includes those tops I’m doing quilt as you go; and Projects in Grocery Sacks (PiGS) – which includes things like sweatshirts, bags and a couple of stacks of fabric searching for a pattern.

So, the count as of January 3rd, 2021 is as follows:

PiGS: 25
WIPs: 38
TBQ: 23

Yes, that’s 86 projects. My goal for this year is to reduce that number.

350 Challenge = 15
Easy Breezy = 92

Posted in: UFOs

Sorting Through the Quilt Tops

January 2, 2021 1:38 pm ⋅ Pam

This morning I started working on the piles of fabric stuffed here and there. So it follows that I pulled out all of my quilt tops, right?

It all started with me trying to answer the question, where can I put these backings. The green at the top left I purchased this past summer with no idea what I’m going to use it for. But at 75% off you don’t worry about things like that. The blue floral next to it I purchased for Shimmer, which is still in pieces. The peach is the left over wide backing. There are also several other leftover pieces. They are just too big for me to put them into the scrap users system, but the really can’t live here. On the right is my Wonky Broken Dishes and backing. That needs to be one of my next quilts that I quilt, so I left it out.

I’ve sorted and reorganized my quilt tops. This box contains completed tops and the backing fabric. I’ll have to make the backings, but I won’t have to worry about it being used for something else before I get that far. 10 Tops.

The second box contains this pile. On the left 2 Quilts with their wide backings, a pillow top sandwich that I’m machine quilting, 2 vintage tops, nearly cut off is Baubles and Beads. It’s backing is either in the project box or wrapped on a bolt on the other shelf. I’m not sure if I’m going to use the background fabric or the plaid that I bought for Atomic Starburst. The right pile is backing which is not matched up to a top. I just remembered I have the backing I originally bought for the RWB Wonky Broken Dishes that I need to put in this box.

In these boxes I found some Sunbonnet Sues which were given to me. I’m passing those along to my Guild.

There was also this partial “backing”. This was the left over backing to Eeyore. As it currently measures 44 x 70, I think adding a more inches to the width and I’ll have a new quilt top.

Finally, I’m taking this quilt center off my list of UFOs by passing it along to a fellow Guild Member. It was passed along to me in 2009. The blocks were from a block swap if I remember correctly. It’s just not me.

Now, to get the binding on the quilt.

Posted in: Final Countdown, UFOs

Quilting in 2021

January 1, 2021 11:39 pm ⋅ Pam

The first day of 2021 saw me assembling 1/4 of the wedding quilt I’m working on, piecing 4 sampler blocks and completing 3 Easy Breezy blocks as my leader/ender project.

As for my quilting plans for 2021, as with years in the past, I’d like to cross a few quilts off my UFO list. With 40 quilts in progress, 20 tops needing to be quilted, and 1 which needs to be bound, I could work on a different quilt each week and still have a few left over.

As for challenges, I think I will participate in Prairie Moon Quilts 350 Blocks Project. The 2020 challenge is wrapping up and the 2021 challenge will begin mid-month, but our block count begins today. I’ll try to remember to put the tally’s at the bottom of my posts.

Tomorrow I think I’ll tackle that binding that I picked out for my 3rd Task.

Edited: I was looking for some challenges and this morning (Saturday) I found Finished (or Not) Friday at Alycia Quilts. So, I’m linking this post.

350 Challenge = 15

Easy Breezy = 92

Posted in: Easy Breezy, Leaders & Enders, Ruby's Sampler, wonky dishes

2020 Final Countdown, Task Three

January 1, 2021 2:04 am ⋅ Pam

The 3rd task of the Challenge is Take stock/organize/deal with unfinished projects.

I’ve kept a spreadsheet of my projects for the last 12 years. The thought was the numbers would go down. And I suppose they have to a certain extent. Today I updated the Tops to be Quilted and Quilts in Progress tabs. But I don’t think that’s really what Shelly had in mind.

As I was comparing the spreadsheet to the blog, I found 1 or 2 projects, I’m going to pass on to my sister, and a couple I’m going to pass to one of my Guilds – when we are able to meet in person again. But the most tangible thing I’m going to tackle is getting the binding on this quilt. I quilted it in October, so it’s time. Check back in the next few days to see if I get it done.

Easy Breezy = 89

Posted in: Easy Breezy, Final Countdown, Moda U

The Final Countdown, Task Two

January 1, 2021 1:12 am ⋅ Pam

Task Two of the Final Countdown is clean up the fabric storage and stray fabric piles. So why didn’t I post this on Wednesday? Because I was trying to decide which pile to tackle. I have 4.

Up first, primarily large backings loose on the fabric shelves. They really don’t have a home, which is why they are on top of the boxes. But those boxes are full after my buying spree when a LQS went out of business this summer. The boxes themselves are in pretty good order since I misplaced a piece of fabric after that buying spree cleaning up. All the boxes were emptied and the fabric refolded and sorted. I think all that is left to refold is the KTQ box and the 30’s reproduction box, but given they have their own boxes, there is no hurry to do that. As for the backings, maybe in the box of tops even though they don’t have tops yet?

Another obvious choice is the longarm. In the foreground is a bag of scraps which will be given to a Guild Member who makes them into pet beds for the local shelter. The bag of brights contains the fabric and blocks for the Mississippi Quilt Association BOM I’m doing. There are 2 more blocks to go. I suspect that bag will just get moved around the room to get it out of the way until the top is done. The KTQ fabrics will shipped off to my SIL for a BOM as soon as I have the first set of pattern written up. With any luck that will be next week. Looks like there are a couple of Christmas fabrics which I might be able to squeeze into the Christmas box. The pile of batiks is for one of the quilts I’m currently working on. It will get moved around until the top is finished.

What I really needed was a challenge to clear my sewing table. There’s another backing, parts and pieces of a quilt top I finished, some of the blocks for the batik quilt, and way under there is the leftover fabric from Frolic that I’m going to use to make the backing wider. It’s been sitting there for months.

Of course, what really needs work is the area in “the hole”. I’m not sure I can even identify what all is in those piles from the picture.

I think we have until January 7th to complete our tasks, so maybe I’ll make the most of this 3 day weekend and knock a few of these piles back into submission. Look for an update next week.

Easy Breezy = 89

Posted in: Easy Breezy, Final Countdown

2020 Final Countdown, Task One

December 29, 2020 7:18 pm ⋅ Pam

Shelly over at Prairie Moon Quilts has hosted the Final Countdown for many years. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve participated, but I thought I’d try it again. Maybe I will be the catalyst I need to start documenting my quilting again.

Task one – Clear off your main work surface. Yes, that is a current picture. I had a head start since part of my Christmas was a new cutting mat.

As you can see, it wasn’t too bad. The box was put back on the shelf, the bag of pieces slipped into the drawer, the rulers put away, and the pipe cleaners & snips put in a box with the rest of the wreath supplies I’ve purchased over the weekend.