Wool Applique project

 On January 18, 2014, I joined a workshop given by the London Friendship Quilt Guild taught by Jill Buckley on wool applique and embroidery embellishment.  This was a really fun workshop.  I finished the top and all the embroidery and beading a long time ago, but every time I dug it out of my ufo bin of items to be quilted, I froze and couldn't decide how to quilt it.  A couple of weeks ago I had it in my hands again and made myself put the needle down and step on the pedal of my sewing machine and get it done!  It only took a few hours!   It really is true that you just need to start sewing and something will happen ☺!  So happy that it is finished finally.  I hope to hang it in my sewing room. 

(click on the photo to enlarge for a better view)

I quilted it on my Bernina 830 vintage machine

I found a few filler ideas in various machine quilting books.

The batik insert looked a little puffy when the dense quilting was finished in the black area so I hand quilted along some of the lines and added beads to the darker areas.

The finished wall hanging

The whole class with our projects (photo courtesy of Gail McHardy-Leitch).

 

A very old UFO completed

On Sept. 16, 2013, I took a class with the London Friendship Quilter's Guild with Becky Goldsmith.  The class was on her method of applique.  I learned a lot in this class and I finished the applique a few years after the class! I finally came across it last month and decided while I had it in my hands, I'd finish it!  I just did a simple stitch in the ditch and then 1/4" from the edge of the house and tree and also in the borders.  Fortunately I still had some of the exact grey in my stash and I used that for the binding.  I will hang it in my sewing room.

 

 

Treadleon Autumn Leaf Exchange - an old UFO

Here is a blast from the past!  A UFO from 2003!!  And, it's finished 😀.  This is one of those quilts that present a huge challenge and makes me keep waffling.  

In 2003, the Treadleon group (dedicated to sewing on people powered sewing machines) hosted an exchange of 12", 9" and 6" autumn leaf blocks.  I did a set of 12 blocks for each size.  Of course this is a challenge to put together already.  But, a fun puzzle.  However, life keeps getting in the way and interrupting the process.  And, the one thing that really challenged me was whether or not to put that one pink and purple leaf block in!  I did not want to leave it out as it was part of the exchange and truly what that person would see out of her window in the fall.  I dug around in my scraps and found lots of fall colours and made up some half square triangles and flying geese units to make coping strips to fit the sizes of the various blocks.  I put in two purple scraps to try to tie in the block.  That took some juggling as more than two did not work!  This was done in 2014.  Then the top went off to the local Senior's center where the Busy Bees hand quilted it for me.  And, then it sat in my room for a long time waiting for the task of making a label.

Purple daisy in the flying goose

I had made a drawing on paper of the basic quilt layout with the paper and fabric labels pinned to the proper spots.  Finally last week, I found the quilt under a pile of stuff and decided to get it finished ☺.  The label is huge and more functional than pretty,   Great memories of a lovely block exchange with the Treadleon group.  

Arranging the blocks and spacers

the purple block

outside on the patio

This quilt has been gifted to my friend Sya who is enjoying it very much

handquilted

The label.  There were five fabric labels which I hand stitched onto the larger label.

Here are some closeups of the label for those Treadleon members who participated (click on the photos to enlarge).  Do any of you remember this exchange? ☺

So happy to have this one finished.  I have another set of blue and white blocks from 2000 from this group...should work on those next!

Dr. Suess baby quilt - February UFO Finish

The second Dr. Suess one block wonder quilt from the panel below was finished this week and delivered to a new baby at his shower on Thursday :-).  This was definitely a very fun quilt to work on.  I quilted it with diagonal lines 1/4" away from the seams which worked very well.  The seams are all pressed open on these OBW quilts so you don't want to stitch in the ditch. I am linking up with The Crafty Quilter for her February UFO challenge.

(Click on the photos to enlarge for a better view.)

original panel produced enough hexagons for 3 baby quilts

close up of the quilting lines

Finished quilt

I had a Dr. Suess fabric in my stash which worked great for the backing.

Table runner finishes!

I have been working on the table runners on my UFO list off and on since Christmas.  During the Christmas holidays I spent some time playing with rulers and trying out some free motion ideas on various table runners.  The decision of what to quilt on each one is the most difficult!  Then I just follow Lori Kennedy's advice and sit down, put the needle into the quilt and start sewing and see what happens ☺.  Table runners are great small pieces to have fun with and if you don't like the look of it, just add more quilting and it always turns out.  If I still don't like it, I just use it outside on my patio table.

This brings my UFO list down to 79 projects. Click here to see the original UFO post :-).   Some of these are very near being finished or just need to be blogged yet, so I'm making good project on that list.  I have another pile of table runners that I hope to start quilting next week.

This is a very old UFO. 

I did some machine quilting in it years ago and then I started adding hand quilting in the borders.  It finally got finished as well and gifted to a niece and nephew

This was a fun border stripe which lent itself to a very quick and easy table runner by cutting out 60 degree triangles.  It was a great one to practice free motion quilting on.

I just followed the trees and wavy lines which worked well. 

This was a fun way to use Christmas scraps and try out my 15 degree Creative Grids ruler.

I just quilted wavy lines down the length with a gold thread.

One of my students did the one on the left...it shrinks a "little" when you sew it together :-).

This was an experiment in small log cabins to see if I could figure out how to add the diamonds around the outside.  I was inspired by a class I took with Marci Baker on "Not your grandmother's log cabin".  The diamonds are made with two log cabin diamonds and stitched together.  Worked slick.

I used my new Westalee circles ruler to quilt the center and the stitch in the ditch ruler to do the lines in the outer border.

This was a fun quick and easy quilt using half hexagons. 

I quilted circles in the centers but it seems like it still needs something else in there.  Not sure what, but I'll add something if I get a brainstorm.

This quilt was made using the Quick Curved Ruler

I used the Westalee arc ruler to echo some lines in the curved stars.

This was the perfect backing for this runner.

This is an old UFO as well done with the Little Twister ruler with a few Kaffe Fasset charm squares.

This is quilted with simple diagonal lines.

Getting organized

During the Christmas holidays, I sorted and organized all the table runners I need to finish and worked on finding backings and batting for all of them.  This stack makes me feel like quilting this morning ☺.  I did actually finish a number of them and will blog the progress on those after I take pictures.

getting organized

UFO report!

OK, it's finally time to report on my UFO list.  A UFO is an "unfinished object" in the quilting world.  There are many other acronyms such as PIG "Projects in grocery bag" and PNYS "projects not yet started".  When my sister was visiting from BC in January two and a half years ago, she came along with me to a trunk show that I had to do locally.  She was a great help in setting up and packing up. 

When we came home, we unpacked everything and she asked a lot of questions about what I was going to do with these quilts and tops.  I was turning 60 that year and that was kind of a 'year of reckoning' and I was getting to the point where my UFO's were starting to bother me LOL.  So, she grabbed a piece of paper and pencil and started a list....  We had a great time rooting through all my drawers and bringing everything into the light of day and recording it on a list.  I entered everything into a spreadsheet, and organized my drawers by number so that I could also record that and find a project quickly.  Now when I need a baby quilt, I just sort my spreadsheet by "baby quilts" and see what I have on the go.  Works slick.  

I worked really hard over the spring and summer and tackled a few projects....I am happy to report that I have 25 of them finished and could check them off!  I finally dared to actually total up the list and look at the final number!  There were 118 projects on the list and with the 25 done, I have 85 left!  So, I will persevere over the fall and winter and work away on these til they are down to a manageable number.  I'm not one to work on one project at a time...I need variety so will allow myself to work on multiple projects.  I am also sending off some tops to a long arm quilter to help in the process. 

So, I found this post in my draft box from 2016!!  Yikes.  Meanwhile, I found quite a few more projects that I had in nooks and crannies and also started a number of new projects (but finished most of them :-).  I have to sort my table runners on my list of 85 yet as I have finished a bunch of those and hope to blog them soon and remove them from the list as well.   So progress is being made!  

Here are two projects that I've had unfinished for a loooong time.

This was a small quilt that I had started for my youngest son after I made him a quilt for his bed.  It was supposed to be a cushion for his chair?  Or a little quilt for his teddy??  I finally finished it and gave it to his children (!) to play with.  The quilt is still being used so the kids were excited to have a matching quilt :-).

This was a sample for a Simple Splendid Stars Workshop I took in September of 1992 taught by Kay Phillips.  The fabrics are cheap and batting is polyester.  I hand quilted it many years ago and it just got uglier and uglier LOL.  I finally put the binding on and it's in the playroom to be used as a doll quilt.

The history was documented on the label :-).

 

Valentine Runner

My sister from BC was here for three weeks in January and we had a good time hanging out in my sewing room.  One of the things she helped me tackle was a master UFO list!!  Wow, that is a scary exercise LOL.  I am in the process of sorting through my fabric shelves and organizing and rearranging those and finding a few more projects.  Once I get through that, I will add up the total.  I may or may not report back on this blog :-).  

One of the items we found was a stack of red and white polka dot and Valentine themed half square triangles.  I had put them together to teach a class on doing HST's and showing how many designs you can come up with using HST's.  While showing my sister many of the options, we settled on this design and she "made me" sew them together before I could go to bed.  A little pressure helps eh?  I then quilted it while she visited my other sister for a few days and actually got it finished an on the table before she left.  And, we checked it off the master list!  One down.....xxxxx to go!

We managed to find enough triangle squares to match up a section

Here is it on my kitchen table.

A closeup of the quilting.  It's a little hard to see (click on the photo to enlarge it), but I quilted lines very close together in the center and in the triangles outlined by the red thread.  I added a wider red flat piping strip to give it a little colour as it was quite dark.

Sisters' Sew day

Last week, my sister and I enjoyed a looooong overdue sewing day together.  Eva had started an iPad cover a long time ago and we never had a chance to get together to finish it.  She also brought along some UFO's and we made some great progress on a few of them.  

A sampler quilt Eva made in 1999.  She didn't like the borders so took them off and we did a little brainstorming on possible borders.  We will go shopping together one of these days and get this quilt to done!

A little paper pieced project that needs binding

In no time we had a total disaster on the tables :-). 

Eva is making a cover for her iPad

A needle book that our other sister made for Eva years and years ago

Eva used one of my little Featherweights to quilt her iPad cover

Eva's version of our Sisters' quilt

That triggered a memory and I dug out my matching quilt from the bottom of the closet!  I have since been working on handquilting it again and am making progress :-)

A great sisters' day in my sewing room.  We'll have to do it again soon!