May UFO

 

Judy pulled #2 for May's UFO Challenge and I couldn't be more thrilled with the choice. 
Above is a photo of the quilt that I snagged from the Quilt soup website.  I almost never buy kits but I saw this quilt at Road to California in 2010 and I HAD to have it.  It was so fresh and hip looking, in fact, the pattern is called "Hip Holidays" that I bought the whole thing.  The pattern was a free download with the fabric purchase.  I don't know if it still is.   I made the top at a retreat last year and I wanted to bring the finished quilt this year.  The retreat is in two weeks! YIKES.  Thank goodness for our Tin Lizzie. 

In March I took a machine quilting class from Linda Pohlenz and Joanne Sundahl that was really fun.  I learned a few patterns that I plan to use on this quilt top.  I'm fairly confident that I can get it done in time.  Nothing like a deadline to move me to action.

Just before I hit 'publish' I happened to glance a the UFO Progress bars on the right side of my blog.  I better start fitting in some work on some of the other UFOs listed there.  For instance, if she picks the number for my yellow and blue thing, I might be in trouble.  Alternatively, I might just finish it as a very small quilt.  HMM, not a bad idea.

Check out Judy's website to see what everyone else got done on their April UFOs.

Design Wall Monday 4/30/12

WHEW!!  I DID IT!  My April UFO is Done.

This is possibly the second or third quilt that I ever made.  It has languished in a closet for almost ten years. Thank goodness that Judy pulled the number for the April UFO challenge.

It's twin size so I didn't want to quilt it on my DSM.  I've shared a Tin Lizzie with two friends for about 4 years now and STILL I never tackled it.  I was stalled on how to quilt it.  That is what ALWAYS stalls me.  I lack so much confidence in my quilting except for stippling -- I can do that all day.  This quilt seemed to want some bugs.  It didn't get all the bugs it needed or wanted but it did get a bunch of curlicues and butterflies.

 

There's a big butterfly in the yellow jar.   There are also lots of threads --  OOOPS!

So this post is a twofer:  April UFO and Design wall Monday.   Hop over to Jusy's to see what other's are doing.

February's UFO DONE!!

Here she is.  I'm very happy with how this quilt turned out.  From a box full of VERY odd 1/2 square triangles, given to me by an elderly friend who could no longer quilt, I was able to make this.  I'm simply calling it Audrey's Quilt to commemorate her friendship and generosity.  I hope that she knows I made this quilt from her gift.

Hop over to Judy's blog to see what other things got taken off the UFO list this month.

February UFO has been chosen and I sold a book

Judy picked #1 for February.

I am very excited to finally be finishing Audrey's Quilt.  There's a bit of history to this quilt.  You can read about it here.

On other fronts, The Husband and I got very happy when Son #1 called to let us know he wanted to come down the weekend after next.  YIPPEE!

It turns out there is a concert in San Diego that he and his friends would like to attend and would The Hotel be open to guests??  But of course, mon amis.  We have plenty of couches, pillows and quilts.  The Husband also LOVES to make pancakes for a crowd.

Rapid change in Topic:
Have any of you sold books on Half.com?  Son #1 posted a lot of his old History textbooks there, unfortunately, he used my account.  That means that every time he makes a sale, I get an email announcing the event.  He lives in Irvine, the books live  with me.  You see where this is going don't you?  Because I am interested in maintaining my good standing in the the Half.com community, I dutifully print labels, pack books and schlep said books to the Post Office.

These books are used.  They sell for a cheap price.  Very Cheap.  To make up for my efforts, I have not actually been forwarding him the measly $4.00 profit from each of the books.  I finally emailed him yesterday whining about the inconvenience and excessively low pay and told him to please either raise the price or remove any remaining books with a price below $5.00.  He sent back a less than compassionate email.  I think the exact text was "Poor Baby."  And I spent 30 hours in labor with that human being!!
Well, not more than 5 minutes after receiving his email, I received another Half.com email announcing "You've made a sale!"  Oh joy! I read the rest of the notice without enthusiasm until I reached the sale price.  Believe it or not, he sold a paperback History textbook for ... $150.00!!  Ok, this makes my time worthwhile.

I guess I should share the profit this time.

January UFO DONE!

Here it is.  It measures 18 x 24 inches.  I wimped out on the quilting and chose a VERY simplified feather stencil. It's bound, labeled and sleeved!  It just needs a good washing to get the chalk out and soften up the quilting (you know, make it puffy so the quilting hides a bit...)

Glad it's off the list and out in public.
Hop over to Judy's to see what other people are finishing.

Design Wall Monday - January 30, 2012

I went a little crazy this weekend and did a bunch of improvisational piecing.  These are blocks from a class I took a few years ago.  In truth, this is about 300% more blocks than I actually completed in that class.  This is on my UFO list and when I saw that I only had about 15 % done I knew I better work on it before its number gets pulled. 

Surprisingly, The Husband had some design input!  It was good, too!!  He seemed a little excited by them.  I still think they look like an unholy mess but I'm trying to loosen up - apparently, a very hard thing for me- who woulda guessed?  There are still a few blocks that can benefit from more editing.  It's a work in progress, just like me!

Have a great week.  The weather here in San Diego is simply spectacular.  I hope yours is as well.

Design Wall Monday January 22, 2012

 

Well, I finally dove in and quilted this thing.  I used a stencil to suggest where my feathers should go.  The "suggestion" may or may not be due to my skill at following lines.  Overall, I'm pleased with the feathers but I'm not sure it's the best design for this wallhanging.   BUT, it's quilted and that's the important thing.  It needs binding before I can call it a completed UFO.

The design is "Illusions" by Caryl Bryer Fallert.  It looks complicated but goes together super easily.  I think I made the whole top in a four-hour workshop.

Here's a bit of a closeup of the quilting with my chalklines still showing.  I think I'll bind, wash, add a sleeve and block it.  Then it should be good to go.

Hop over to Judy's to see what other quilters are up to.

Have a great week.

Design Wall Monday 1-16-12

My Design Wall Monday post is not exactly something I have designed - at least not in the usual sense.  However, it is about something I have created -- A MESS!!

Since Christmas, my sewing room has been a huge disaster.  I have been wanting to get Orca Bay finished so all the time I spent in here was devoted to getting that done (still not done, sigh).  You know how it is, things get added to the pile, the pile gets pushed aside, more is added.  Soon, there is nowhere to comfortably work.  This weekend was the time I finally set aside to take back my sewing space.

Above and below are the before shots in all their shame:

And TA DA!!  Two days of hard, hard work produced this:

I really wish I'd taken a "before" of the ironing table but I'm sure you can use your imagination

The reason it was so hard is because I didn't just re-shelve things, I took care of them (well, most of them). If I had taken a "before" of the ironing table, you would have seen a pile of jeans.  I cut them apart so they would fit into the proper bin in the closet.  There were six pairs of jeans and two dresses.  Can we say blister on the scissor finger? 

I ironed and trimmed a bunch of HSTs:

I sliced a big bag of scraps into this:

I ended up with this trash can -- it was empty Saturday morning:

Laptop is here for size comparison.

I am now ready to tackle my January UFO.  It needs to be quilted on my DSM.  I'm woefully out of practice so I made that little quilt sandwich so I can practice before attempting the real thing. 

The husband just walked in and said "Whoa!"  I guess he was impressed with the new look.

Check out Judy's blog to see what others are up to.

January's UFO

Well, Judy picked number 5!  Here is what I will be working on!  This image is actually Caryl Bryer Fallert's Illusion #3 quilt.  Don't I wish mine looked like this.  I was lucky enough to take an "Illusion" class from Caryl many years ago.  It's been sitting in a cabinet since then, all sandwiched and pinned and ready to be quilted. All that was lacking was my courage.  I guess I will have to pull on my big girl panties and have a go.

Eleanore Roosevelt said to do something each day that scares you.  I guess this will be it.