What Was Lost Is Found...Sort Of

Some time ago I posed a question on my yahoo group Stashbuster. What is your oldest UFO and what are your plans to finish it? I told the group about the antique top I bought back in the late 80’s or early 90’s. I told them my plan was to find the top and then make a plan to move it forward towards a finish. I could not find it.

I have a window in my sewing room. I had this top sitting on a quilt rack in front of that window. At some point the top fell off the rack and against the window sill. There was condensation on the window that got to the quilt top and damaged it. When I discovered it I saw that there were red and blue spots that had faded. I saw shiva sticks at a quilt show in those colors and bought them with the intention to color in the faded spots.

I have looked off and on for that top with no luck. About three weeks ago I quilted a top and went looking for the premade binding. Same story, can’t find it. I have looked every where that I thought it could be. No luck and then.... I found the lost UFO top. I took it to the LQS to discuss that plan.

While we were examining it and discussing the age we realized how thread bare the sashing was. The current opinion is it is from 1960’s. My friends suggested I replace all the sashings rather than try to color them. We tried color matching. It looks like a teal blue but the original color was probably navy. I’m going to take it with me to the Dallas quilt show to try to find something suitable. I’ll be thinking of a backing and binding too while I’m at it. I do plan to hand quilt this so will be considering thread color as well.

What’s your oldest UFO and what are your plans for finishing it?

Swooze who is still looking for the bindings

Happy Progress

Last night was my sewi in at the church. I took 4 things with me. Two got a glance which was their purpose. One for border ideas and the other to show and share the quilting I did. I had hoped to trim it but was making such good progress on the other two that I put that off.

Project number 3 was strip cutting on my mystery to make progress on my needed 216 2” finished HSTs. No time for subcutting.

Here is what took the lions share of my time. I finished the rows for the footer block of rail fence blocks. I finished off the header and footer to bring it to size. I attached them to the center piece with brown sashing. I added sashing to the sides and have the sash cut to add to the top and bottom. I was going to cut the final border which is black but am trying to decide if I need a strip of color between the sash and the border. Hmmmm...

What do you think? Are you sewing today?

Swooze

March OMG Setting

When I posted my February finish I began thinking about March. I struggled a little trying to decide. I remembered my list of 12 quilts I’d like to finish this year and chose from that list. Duh!

It’s my tumbler quilt. I want the backing to be red but the quilt isn’t agreeing with me. I may just use the same blue as the border or even the gray of the inner border. Thoughts?

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal.

What’s your goal?

Swooze

First UFO Finish of 2018

I just finished the binding on another Matchstick Marimba. It’s swimming in the washing machine right now and I have hopes of mailing it off tomorrow.

First UFO finish and one of my FAL goals for 1Q.

Do you have UFO goals?

Swooze

February OMG Complete

I set my goal to catch up with my mystery quilt and to fix my horse quilt. I set stretch goals too. They were to finish the next installment of the mystery and get the next border on the horse quilt. I made strides on those but didn’t meet them.

The mystery quilt now has the flying geese, some with corner squares, the pinwheels, the strata joined and 76 of the 216 HSTs needed.

I worked at a retreat yesterday for a solid 8 hours sewing on the next border for my horse quilt. The goal was to cut down the first border and reattach the chevron border. I am making a header and footer of rail fence blcks. I originally decided to make them the same size of 4 rows each. As I workedon it I decided I wanted the symmetry of odd rows so went with 5 rows on top and 3 on bottom. By splitting it this way it will keep the horses on the bed below the pillows and still keep the design on the top of the mattress. This is subject to change as I go.

Pictured here are the parts laying on the bed. I was short 1 x 1.5” blue strip to complete the last rail fence row needed!

Open to your ideas and thoughts if you care to voice them.

What’s under your needle?

Swooze

Quilted Another Strip Stacks

I freehand quilted hearts and flowers using my Avante. The quilt pattern is Strip Stacks.

I immediately loaded another quilt and am trying to decide how to quilt it. It is a sampler quilt. The last sampler I quilted, I quilted in each block and in the sashing. I will probably do the same for this one. I think the key is going to be to just get started.

How are things in your quilty world?

Swooze

Valentines and Lips and Quilting

IWow I’ve had a full week and now my blog content has stacked up.

First I pulled this off the frame this week. My goal is to bind it over the weekend.

Then Valentines arrived and I was most definitely honored on that day. Gifts and cards galore.

Finally, did you see the Mardi Gras swag Glen, from Quilts and Dogs, received? They were lovely red lips embroidered with Artemis as they came from the krewe of that same name. I asked what she intended to do with them since Artemis lives here. She gifted them to me and threw in a few bonus spools of Sigma poly thread. I look forward to trying it (or maybe not based on her feedback).

How is your week going?

Swooze

OMG Update and Getting Unstuck

I had a date with the seam ripper this past week and got the chevron border off the horse quilt. I ripped the borders down and have to sew two of them back together where I spliced a block out rather than taking the corners off too.

Everything is pressed and ready to sew for the borders. I’ll cut the brown border down and add the shortened chevron borders back on.

Why did I take the borders off? I didn’t like how it lay on the bed. I wanted the chevron completely on top. Plus the brown border looked too chunky to me. When you make it up as you go along that is how it goes. Sew a little. Rip a little. Repeat.

I own a Handiquilter and they have a ruler club going on right now. My meeting was today. There was discussion and demos. I asked everyone how they get started quilting when they feel stuck. The shop owner suggested I keep a practice piece on the side and wsrm up on that before I start quilting. Will try that out!

The other part of my OMG goal is getting caught up on the Border Creek Station mystery. I have to make six pinwheels, which are now done but need trimming, and make 24 flying geese. I have to cut a few more strips and subcut them but have 1 done and 16 half done.

How are you doing with your quilty goals?

Swooze

February OMG

I didn’t meet my January goal so let’s hope this month is better. This month is going to be two piecing goals.

1) catch up on my Border Creek Station Mystery through installment 4. I have to make pinwheels and flying geese to do this. My stretch goal will be to get installment 5 done too but won’t keep me from declaring this goal complete.

2) I am going to remove the borders from my horse quilt, cut the first one down and put it back together. My stretch goal is to get the next border on after this.

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts for OMG linkup.

Swooze

From Sunrise to Sunset

I sewed and trimmed and sewed. I had a pile of half chevrons that were half trimmed. It took 1.5 hours to finish the trimming.

I started making the chevrons then joining them together into borders. Once I got the borders made I had to figure out how to turn the corner. It took me at least 5 hours to get to this point.

I made my corners and started attaching everything to the center. I had a plan up until this point but now I’m starting to rethink my plan. I will take a break to think and plan some more.

Hope you sewed today!

Swooze

Cut. Press. Trim. Rinse and Repeat

I have all the units sewn. Half are trimmed to their final size with one a .25” short. I’ll finish trimming and address that last.

I have an all day sit and sew Saturday. This quilt will be my focus for the day. I will have a backup project in case I finish or get bored. 🤣🤣

How goes your sewing and quilting?

Swooze

Cut a Little Sew a Little

I’m trying to not over make units for my chevron row. After I sewed what I had cut I inventoried and cut a little more. Still a little more cutting then my units will be done!

I started this quilt on New Years Eve and is my highest number UFO.

Are you sewing?

Swooze

Round 2 and a Win

I have round 2 of Ray’s quilt under construction.

The buckskin color really draws out the light brown in the first round. My initial design called for this row to have three colors but I decided to simplify.

I am already thinking ahead to the third and fourth round. I have to plan how I want to turn the corners and that will decide round three.

I also had a win. It is a cute little FQ bundle that Sarah Goer picked for a lucky winner. Me!! I landed on her blog because of reading about the temperature quilt sew along. Visit Sarah here.

What quilty things are you up to?

Swooze

Round 1

I’ve been working on Ray’s quilt. Round 1 was applied. Needs a good pressing. I have the overall plan for his quilt just need cutting sizes. I’ve been sketching and planning round 2. Pretty sure I have it figured out.

If you enlarge the photo you can see the brown looks like tooled leather.

I took a little time to pull out the 12 quilts on my FAL list. The flimsies are all now together with their designated back if I have one. 1 needs repair. All the bad spots are marked. 3 are in the piecing stage. 5 have their backings ready to go. Now to pull thread, cut batting and binding and get busy quilting!

How are you doing qith your quilting goals?

Swooze

UFO and Finishing Challenges

I started this year with 50 UFOs. The majority are unquilted tops. As I mentioned before I made a list of 12 quilts that I’d really like to finish this year. I am also using that list for the first quarter finish along.

One challenge I haven’t mentioned is the Stashbuster UFO Challenge. Each month, one the ladies chooses a number between 1-12 and then a high number between 13 and 100. If you don’t have 100 some just work on their highest number or make a free choice. For most of last year and starting this year I mostly worked on my high number. The goal is to finish one or both in the month.

Stashbuster 2 is my Matchstick Marimba which is also my January OMG.

Stashbuster 79 is my high number 50. This is a quilt I’m designing around this panel I bought for Ray for Christmas with the promise of a quilt.

Just for fun I have my Border Creek Station mystery offered by my LQS that I’m trying to get and stay caught up on.

I have spent some time on each of these this week. I’ve been planning the quilting design for Matchstick Marimba. I’ve been designing Ray’s quilt and made the first cuts. I did a little more piecing on the mystery quilt. I’m not caught up but I know where I need to catch up.

How are your quilty goals coming along?

Hugs,

Swooze

1Q FAL and Prairie Moon 2017 Final Countdown Challenge

When the FAL challenge comes around I have been laundry listing all my UFOs. Sort of cheating really. Not very thoughtful about what I really hope to accomplish. Then Shelly at Prairie Moon Quilts had her 2017 Final Countdown challenges. The third challenge is to make a list of 12 quilts you really hope to finish in 2018. In other words, a call to be thoughtful about what you want to accomplish.

Here is my list no particular order.

1) Carleens Matchstick Marimba
2) Double Four Patch
3) Strip Stacks - green and pink
4) Mystery Quilt LQS
5) Renees navy top
6) 4 patch on point - black green pink
7) Happy Block Jean Quilt - Jason
8) Pieced together contest
9) Double Wedding Ring
10) Renees yellow top
11) tumbler
12) Rays Horse Quilt
13) Any charity quilt I have languishing here for FAL purposes.

Most of these are unquilted tops. 3 are in beginning stages of piecing. 2 need to be checked over for popped seams and then quilted.

Quilting is my stumbling block but I’m trying to get over that. I am linking with Shelly at the above link for her challenge and Leanne at She Can Quilt for 1Q FAL 2018.

Hugs,

Swooze

January OMG

Time to declare my January OMG. I will finish my second Matchstick Marimba. It needs to be quilted and bound.

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts.

Hugs,

Swooze

4Q FAL and 2017 in Review

I set my quarterly goals here. It is my laundry list of my UFOs and WIPs. I did accomplish a few of them.

There was my Purple Cow baby BQ. Then Ricci’s quilt. Both finished in the 4th quarter.

For the rest of the year I finished:

- 2 big bags.
- churndash table topper
- Hugs and Kisses
- 2 sided bandana shirt
- wool pincushion
- Matchstick Marimba
- Happy Blocks table topper
- 3 pillowcases

13 little finishes. I’ll take it!

Now that was complete finishes. How about some flimsy (unquilted top) action?

- Wanderlust
- Writers Block
- 3D Bowtie
- Crossroads
- Matchstick Marimba
- 2 wall hangings
- Double Fourpatch

8 projects moved along. Major progress on a double wedding ring. New start on Bright Hope blocks. There’s another new start so watch this space 😁

Here’s to a productive 2017 and hopes for an even more productive 2018.

Hugs,

Swooze

Purple Cow Finished

I started this quilt back in 2009. I love cow print and had this lavender in my stash so decided to make a purple cow. I didn’t have my Avante back then and hadn’t really given the quilting design a thought.

I had cow print I planned to use for the back. After some thought I decided to outline the cow spots from the back. When I practiced moving the machine over the quilt I quickly decided all those starts and stops weren’t going to work for me. I landed on a design that pretty much is a meander. I think it turned out well.

it’s 47” square and the BQ pattern by Maple Island quilts. I accidentally cut the binding strips at 2”. Was a bit of a squeeze but it worked.

I set my 4Q quarterly goals here. This was #17.

Hugs,

Swooze

OMG Finish

It’s swimming in the tub right now but I declare it done!

My goal was to quilt and bind this quilt. After several missteps through the year I finally got it together and finished it last night.

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts for December finishes. I set my 4Q quarterly goals here. This was #44.

Hugs,

Swooze

OMG Progress

This has been loaded for a bit. Quilted it today with embroidery thread of all things! Also did ruler work.

Now to trim and bind. I’m pleased with how it came out.

Hugs,

Swooze

Bright Hopes Block

Earlier this year the stashbuster yahoogroup was talking about Bright Hope blocks. I thought they were cute and a little more interesting than Happy blocks. I have the rest of the year off so decided to go to my favorite LQS and sew. I took a mystery quilt to work on that is being offered through this same store but decided to start something new. More about the mystery later.

My friend Renee was having a little destash sale several months ago. I bought three jelly rolls from her. Two of them are plaid fabrics in multiple colors. When I got them I decided to make Bright Hope blocks. I did a little math and decided to cut 2 2.5” squares from each strip then cut the remainder into 2.5” x 4.5” segments. This will yield about 38 6.5” blocks from each roll.

I used this pattern to make the blocks. It uses a partial seam on the first segment. I sewed the partial seam and realized I had accidentally used an 1/8” seam. I corrected that and sewed again. I went to sew the next segment on and it was too short. I measured the length of my segment and it was the right size. I measured the width of my segments and found it was at least 1/16” too large. I had to go back and trim all the pieces I had cut.

Luckily I had only cut half the strips into 4.5” segments.

Once I got that worked out I sewed the first two segments to the square. I trimmed the remaining strips and subcut them. I’m ready for my next sewing session.

Hugs,
Swooze

Double Wedding Ring

Six years ago I bought a partially made Double Wedding Ring quilt from a Project Linus garage sale. There was a bunch of melons made and then even more arcs ready to put into melons.

The pattern they followed was John Flynn’s and the book and templates were included. If you are not familiar with his method he strip pieces the arcs and then there is additional sewing and trimming to achieve the curve. It includes several sizes.

The background they used was a purple that I would use, just not in this project. In fact I would call it hideous in this project.

A year later my parents were visiting me at my house. We had just spent a week together at my brothers house then they came to mine. I had had a house fire one year previous and they wanted to see the remodel. I came down with a stomache bug and didn’t want to infect them so I hid in my bedroom. I asked my mother to pick apart the melons and remove the purple. She happily did so to avoid boredom. I call this the last quilt “we” worked on together.

Fast forward to earlier this year. My stashbuster pals can correct me here. There was a discussion on the list about curved projects. Anything curved. Over the course of the year I searched through my stash and found a white on white that looks like lace.

I started cutting out the melon shapes and the centers of the blocks. I decided on a size that will be a bed topper so about 60x80. I needed 71 of the melons.

In the most recent months I’ve been piecing the melons back together. Do you know me? Have you read my previous stories? I got down to 65 melons and ran out of the fabric I was using for the connecting squares. Dated fabric!

I am part of a club at my LQS called PhD club. Projects half done. Back in September we made a list of 6 projects we wanted to finish. Yep you guessed it. My goal for yesterdays meeting was to finish my melons. Argh!

I lucked out and met with my sewing group at the church Friday night. Several of them looked at what I was trying to match. I sent a pic, crossed my fingers and went shopping the next day. I got a text asking if some fabrics one of the ladies had would work. I went and visited and will let you decide how well they worked. I did meet my goal on Sunday.

What do you think?

Hugs!!

Swooze

Progress on OMG

When I found myself struggling with the quilt I repaired last year I realized I was not following the right approach. The repair job was fine but the reassembly got way off track.

First mistake. I tried fixing the back when what it needed was replacing. Second mistake. I tried fixing the “batting” which also needed replacing. I have now replaced both. It was all loaded on my frame tonight.

For the past few weeks I have been looking for the right thread. I had one in my stash that I wasn’t sure about but decided to go with it. It’s a lightweight embroidery thread. I talked to my Handiquilter dealer and she encouraged me to go for it.

Now for the quilting design. I had thought about stitching along the seam lines and then quilt wavy lines in between. My issue is the lines of the quilt are not straight so will that just highlight the fact? My other idea is to just quilt wavy lines across the top without regard to the seams.

If you click on the picture you can see the gentle slope on the top of the ruler. You can also see one of the strips where the width varies...tucks and all. I left the tucks. His grandma made them. It’s part of the quilts character.

If you have any suggestions just leave me a comment please.

Hugs

Swooze

December OMG

Repeating Novembers goal.

I plan to quilt and bind Ricci’s quilt this month. I am currently working to get it loaded on my frame. It’s a tad wavy but I’ll get it! Semi have a quilting plan but the placement of the first stitches will tell for sure.

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts.
Hugs!

Swooze

Petroglyphs

Well due to the colors I could argue this is a petroglyph. Sadly it is just the casualty of a closed door. That was probably a kinder death than some of his siblings or cousins experience at my house. I remember finding babies on the fur of my dogs. They’d drop onto them for a free ride into the house. I try not to think about that too much.

Now that Artemis lives here let me just say there is carnage. We try to rescue them....
Bad cat!!
Hugs,
Swooze

Cats Beg?

My daughters cat sat in my lap while I was eating dinner the other night. Mind you I was sitting in a recliner so it isn’t hard for her to get on me. All of a sudden I had a paw in my bowl. At least a dog whines when they want something....

Hugs,

Swooze

I Would Ask What Was I Thinking....

...but apparently I’m not. Ive been wasting time and resources on this quilt repair.


- What I did was try to patch the sheer backing and add other fabrics that matched in color to make it big enough. I then loaded this flimsy, stretchy, oddly shaped thing on my frame. I will unload it tonight
- What I should have done is find a suitable new back and load it. I bought that backing last night and got it pieced and pressed. Will load it tonight

THEN

- What I did was try to piece additional batting onto a too small, lumpy, mixed material filler. I will unload it tonight
- What I should have done is load a nice, shiny new batting onto the frame. I might load it tonight

At least I’m working at it. I’m not quite sure why my mind isn’t right about this project but it will soon be complete!

Hugs,

Swooze

November OMG

I plan to quilt and bind Ricci’s quilt this month. I am currently working to get it loaded on my frame. It’s a tad wavy but I’ll get it! Semi have a quilting plan but the placement of the first stitches will tell for sure.

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts.

Hugs!

Swooze