Bible Quilt UFO

My current UFO project is a Bible Quilt, pattern by Jan Patek, I began - oops - in the nineties, finally completed the appliqué in the 2000s and set it aside. It has embroidery work for the lettering and I was not real comfortable with that so, I put it away all neatly in my portfolio case. Since I have done so much work with wool in the last 3 years, I am no longer afraid of the lettering and hand stitching.

 Here is block one and

 the picture of Jan's quilt on the cover. This was one of the first BOMs I had ever seen and it seemed SO expensive - it was $6.50 a month, and all I could think was that you could buy a book for $20 back then. Anyway, I liked it so much I bought it.

 I used a lot of Roberta Horton plaids and stripes which were so easy to appliqué with the fineness of those fabrics.

 Here is my portfolio case. Only problem is, it holds the blocks so neatly you just let them age too well!

 I put a pocket for the patterns on one side and

 the other side holds the blocks in place nice and flat. My first case was made by a friend and given to me and since then I've made a couple more to accommodate the size blocks I was making.

Going in Circles - Finished!

 Another completed UFO!! This quilt is about 24" x 24" so even the binding was easily completed quickly. I tried to follow Carol Taylor's instructions for the machine quilting - on my domestic sewing machine. However, I ran into problems (operator error) as I had some excess fabric which kept getting moved ahead and did not quilt out. Needless to say, after sewing so much, I was not taking the quilting out so I continued on......with some little 'tucks' on the front. Maybe I'll try another quilt like this again and use my long arm template for circular quilting (that I do not own yet).

 Here is a close-up! I love the fabrics and colors and am delighted with the overall look!

 I must conquer piecing curves!!

I just really like fun backs on quilts and this one makes me smile! Just a leftover piece from another quilt.

And a close-up! I am being inspired by Rosemary Young with all her quilt finishes these last few months! Stitch when you can!!

Wonky X's

 Another baby quilt finish! This began with a group of 30 10" squares (store made layer cake) and ended up pretty bright. I thought the batik border might calm it down but at least it gave it a softer edge.

Another pieced back with some of those pretty Kaffe spots in it that I had on hand. Still pulling from the stash!!

More Projects Being Finished

It seems I am just on a mission to finish some things. I am enjoying the journey while I am doing it, since I get a feeling of accomplishment when this happens. Here are some recent quilt projects:

 This little quilt - 20" x 26" were leftover half-square triangles from my SBOW 2012. It was a struggle with all those tiny pieces for me but it did turn out quite lovely IMO.

 Now all that is left of those projects is the "Freebie" - below, that Lisa Bongean always does. 

The blocks finish at 4.5" or 5" so they are tiny but cute. A dozen of them to stitch sometime this winter maybe. It's called Favorite Things and has a special word with each block.

 And here is my latest Word block quilt, SBOW 2013, from Primitive Gatherings. I just finished the Hospitality block. It is SO nice to have them all bonded, in a container, ready to stitch! Worth the extra effort to get them all ready.

And my latest finish, Chinese Coins, begun from leftover fabrics from a guild challenge in 2009. I sewed all the extra pieces together in the 'mile a minute' fashion, no matter the size, I just sewed them together and squared up the blocks. All I had left was adding the sashing - why did I take so long?? This will probably be a charity quilt to brighten someone's life!

Happy Stitching!!

Diagonal Madness & More

 Diagonal Madness was begun over two years ago in a class with Kaffe Fassett. I eventually got the diagonals completed but it was set aside waiting for those 50+ nine patches in the border. So, this past week I finished the borders, sewed them on and quilted it!! Wahoo!

 Here are two close-ups of the quilting. I used a variegated thread since there were so many colors in the top and a pattern called banana swirls.

 Above is the back of the quilt. And now the binding is sewn and ready to be attached. It's nice to get another quilt of my own finished!

 Here is a quilt top that my mother-in-law began over ten years ago. I had taught her how to string piece on lightweight paper and even though her sewing skills had diminished with illness, she still loved to try new techniques. After she died I took the little plastic shoe box with the blocks she had finished and sewn together. I am going to finish this quilt for her with just a few more blocks being added.

There is a new blog I am a part of called String Thing Along. I will be posting more pictures of the progress of this quilt there. It's such a fun way to quilt with all those strings and scraps we have! Come join the fun and be a part of this blog!

 Here is my UFO project container. By UFO, it is really mostly leftover fabrics from other projects and it is now running over. The lid will hardly close which shows how long since I've played with my leftovers.

 This is inside the box!! I used to enjoy taking the leftover fabrics, add a few more and make charity quilts or smaller quilts with no rules. I hope to attack this box soon. There are so many fun projects that could be made if I will allow myself to play.

 And here is a recent tablecloth, yet unquilted. I went to a retreat in January and sewed this. I already had the strips cut so it was easy to sew and get the blocks made with a group of 50 quilters in the room. Now it is waiting to be quilted. I chose the fabric combination from a quilt I had on display in the fall. So, it'll be a few months before I'll need this one.

 And now for my house blocks!! Two are 3", one is 4", and two are 6". The six inch were much easier to make I must confess. It is fun picking the fabrics from the scrap pile. Hopefully there will be more or enough to make a small quilt before the year is out.

And now, another small project I had been putting off. I needed a little pillow behind my back at the computer. After months of just the pillow form with no cover, I got around to making a colorful pillow case. Now how hard was that?? A 30 minute project that I had delayed for months. Happy Quilting!!

Next Door Neighbor - UFO

I began working on another UFO this week called Next Door Neighbor. I have learned some interesting things by doing this. First of all, I don't think I ever want to use this half-square triangle technique again. Now don't get me wrong, it is VERY accurate, makes perfect HSTs, but it just seems to take too long and there is more prep work than I care to do to keep from having to sew them on the bias.
Another problem may be that I pulled this UFO out of my project box and realized it was begun in 1998. I didn't even live in this city then and I've been here almost 11 years. A friend and I taught the technique to our guild but I never finished my quilt. So here it sat, half the blocks made and lots of HSTs still to be cut with a bias square ruler and sewn together. I was determined not to let these pretty fabrics go to waste so continued on. It's a small throw size or baby quilt and will go to a charity project.
I pieced the back with 3 different fabrics and will hopefully get it quilted later this week but I just wanted to share for the hours I spent working on it. I learned that you really DON'T have to finish every project you ever began. 12 years later it was not fun and I just wanted to finish it. I'm glad I did but I will be thinking more carefully about which projects I spend my time on now, especially UFOs.
Years ago a friend, Ille, cleaned out her fabric/quilting/magazine stash and was able to clean out a lot of unused fabrics and items. I could not imagine doing that at the time but I realized later that I could. It was actually freeing when I donated yards and yards of fabric and even partially made quilt tops that I knew I would never make. I did end up making a quilt with 23 UFO blocks and class samples that became a really fun quilt - I'll have to take a photo and share it soon, too. That was before I had a digital camera. I have enough other blocks to do that again and was more exciting than adding to each existing project.
Last Monday I really did FINISH my Lollypop Trees quilt top. I will be purchasing my backing fabric soon and make it become a quilt! 2 1/2 years in the making as I do not hurry my applique.

There are 16 blocks - these are just the bottom rows. It is a cheerful and happy quilt to me! The pattern is available at Glorious Color and is by Kim McLean.