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 :-).

 

Celebrating a new Grandson

In May, we officially welcomed a new grandson into the family.  He's been with our daughter's family as a foster child for three years and was formally adopted a few months ago.  He is 7 1/2 years old.  It was his turn for a quilt for his bed and he chose foxes :-).  We adapted Sew Fresh quilts fox baby quilt pattern and enlarged it to fit Benny's bed.  He was thrilled to get a new little stuffed fox to go with the quilt as well!

Here are the rows lined up on the design wall....it took a little math to get all the pieces to come out the same length 🙂

Orange binding worked well to frame the quilt. 

It was quilted with a lovely cabin in the pines motif by Chris Bogart

The colours were chosen from this wonderful fox print for the back

FOUR BABY QUILTS

Once again, I'm woefully behind on my blog, but I've been sewing a lot! Our Church has been having a baby boom in the last year and we host a shower for the Moms who have their first babies.  I try to make a quilt for each of the babies.  Here are the four quilts:

This was a really fun quilt to make.  Emily's baby, Sawyer, has an elephant print in his room so this was the perfect fabric for his quilt :-).

I couldn't decide on which colour to bind it with so I used both colours.  I just did a simple straight line quilting to give it a modern look.

I didn't have enough elephants to do the back so used the rest of the blue as well.

This quilt was for Esther's baby, Mika.  It is a pattern by Christy Marnell of Blue Underground Studios, Inc. called, Posh Tot.  I thought it would be a great pattern to practise some free motion quilting and ruler work.  It took quite awhile, but was fun to do. 

I quilted 5 different motifs in the squares and repeated each one three times.

Again, I had to piece the back as I didn't have quite enough of the Lotus leaf print from the Kaffe Fasset Collective.

This quilt was so much fun to make.  It's a pattern from Lorna McMahon of Sew Fresh Quilts.  It was made for Teresa's new baby, Spencer.

Fox block #1

Fox block #2

I almost had enough of this cute fox print for the back so another pieced backing.

Unfortunately this photo is a little washed out.  It's the same pattern as the first quilt above.  I've misplaced the pattern and will update the information when I find it!  This quilt was made for Lisa's new baby girl, June.

I quilted this one with a feather flower pattern with pink thread.

The backing and binding coordinated perfectly with the Kaffe Fasset Lotus Leaf print.

Canada 150 Quilt Finish

The Canada 150 quilt project is finished and I'm happy to report that the binding, label and even a hanging sleeve are complete!  This was a huge job, but very enjoyable.  I did not really enjoy sewing the sashings and borders on, but persevered so it could hang in the Shedden Quilt Show April 13 and 14.  A deadline always helps to complete something on time.  A big thank you to Kat Tucker of Next Step Quilt designs for hosting this journey.  Click on the label at the bottom of this post to read the story about the year long project.  For those interested in the pattern, here is a link to the cd with all the patterns on it. 

I decided to sash the blocks with a black Kona cotton solid and a narrow border of black all around the quilt.  I was planning to put a red Stonehenge border around it.  But, I happened to visit a quilt shop and they still had the poppy fabric from the same line so I bought 2 metres and used that for the border.  That was my favourite fabric from that line, but it had been sold out for quite awhile.  I was so happy to find it just as I was finishing the sashing on my blocks :-).  It was quite a job turning that stack of 150 blocks into a finished quilt!  I will be putting it on my bed and since the walls do not match this quilt, my daughter in law has offered to help me paint the walls.  We're contemplating one black wall!  That could be really radical.  It was quilted by long arm quilter, Julie Cassidy using a pantograph called Maple syrup. 

Stack of 150 finished blocks

I fussy cut the Canada 150 circle from fabric to get an extra block

Another fussy cut Canada flag with 1867 - 2017 to get one more block

This map of Canada worked perfectly to make up four blocks to finish off the 156 needed to make the quilt top.

The finished top with the added poppy fabric for the border!  This top is huge!

The quilt was hung in a local quilt show a couple of weeks ago so I could finally get a photo of the complete quilt.

I'm very glad that this quilt is finished!

Canadian Eh?

I had a lot of fabrics left from my Canada 150 quilt.  After doing a number of jelly roll race quilts, my friend Alice came up with the idea of doing one in Canadian fabrics.  So, we dug through our stashes and cut at least two strips for each of us and then went shopping together to buy enough fabrics to make 48 strips.  This made a great lap quilt measuring 62" x 66".  We were both really happy with the way this quilt turned out.  I had it quilted with an all over pattern called Maple Syrup by Julie Cassidy on her long arm machine.  (Click on the photos to enlarge.)

The finished quilt

backing

lots of Canadian in this quilt :-)

all over quilting design is called "maple syrup"

I still had lots of leftover strips and I had a 26" feather pillow form in my closet so I put together enough strips to make a pillow to match the quilt.  I appliqued a red maple leaf with a black maple leaf cut 1/2" larger to make a shadow behind it.  The red maple leaf was just too small on that large pillow. It is quilted with straight horizontal lines. 

Finished pillow front

I did the usual zippered back in the pillow with a Canadian newsprint type print.  I had to buy a duvet zipper as the largest dressmaker zipper I could find was only 22".

I have used the pillow and quilt for naps several times...perfect size for the futon in the playroom :-).

Another Jelly Roll Race quilt

I was rooting through my 2 1/2" strip drawer that contains leftovers of fabric from many years of sewing and got into the mood to sort the colours.  There were a lot of the 1980's greens/teals in there and some purple and mauves that went together nicely.  I supplemented them from the comfort quilt stash at the Hearts and Hands Quilt Guild that I belong to and put together a Jelly Roll Race quilt from it.  This quilt has 48 strips in it and makes a nice lap quilt.  I trimmed 2 1/2" off the sides to make the finished size 55" x 62 1/2".  We even had the perfect floral fabric in the backing stash.  I quilted it with an overall swirly flower pattern and it's already being used by a chemo patient at our local hospital.  She loved the purple and greens. (Click on the photos to enlarge)
 

Perfect 1980's floral fabric for the backing :-).

Close up of the quilting

label

The finished quilt

A new grandson!

This morning at 4:11 a.m. a new grandson was born in our family :-).  His name is Jack William and he weighed in at 10 lbs. 4 oz!  That makes 13 grandchildren - 6 boys and 7 girls.  Fortunately the giraffe building was finished on time and all I had to do was fill in the label.  Love this pattern from Lorna McMahon of Sew Fresh Quilts. 

Aren't these the cutest little giraffe's?

The backing that inspired the colours for the giraffes