August UFO Challenge Project

WaaHoo! August's UFO Challenge is finally marked off the list. 

This is Hawaiian Sunset 1845.

This pattern is still available as a down load from Quilters Newsletter.

It really was a fun quilt to make.

I was so afraid to quilt it so I put it away for 6 long years.

How sad.

When I pulled it out of the bin, I was stumped as to what to quilt.

And then it came time to choose thread.

I decided a nice gray was perfect. 

I can't wait to wash it and see if the gray hides a bit more 

but if not, I'm happy with it.

While pin basting, I decided it was so busy it only needs a meander.

I was shocked that it only took 1 day to get it quilted. 

I sure do love my Sweet Sixteen.

It is now trimmed and ready for binding which was in strips in the binding box. 

That will happen today. 

When Ernie asked who it was for I told him I had no clue and

 that I really wanted to keep it for myself.

You can read all the stories about it here.

Funny How Time Slips Away

I can't believe how fast the tie is going by,.

Almost a month since I last posted. 

Not because I had nothing to say,

I just didn't write it.

Here is another UFO marked off the list.

I sure love my new to me Sweet Sixteen! 

This is Friends and Companions Designers Sew Along by Marcus Fabrics. (2014)

Here is the link to Marcus Fabrics page about the quilt but I didn't go down the rabbit hole to see if the links to the designers leads to the blocks. 

I do remember it was a fun quilt to make. 

I was ready to quilt a smaller quilt so I jumped ahead on my Judy L Challenge.

I used flannel for the back. 

Daughter Crystal and I attended our retreat last weekend.

I decided to focus on this UFO designed by Judy L and the September project for her challenge. 

I did a quick search of her page and found it here.

I had the center complete and the framing pieced border was on and border 3 was pieced.

I cut fabric for all the other borders and made this my first project.

I took all the extra fabric thinking I could piece the back.

Wrong, so  I pulled out a new project that I can't share yet. 

When I came home at night, I went into the backing stash 

and found a 6 yard piece of flannel. 

That wasn't enough so I grabbed all my flannel that went with my flannel.

That was my project for because I wanted to pass it to my long arm quilter friend Jane.

I take a picture of this old snag at each retreat. 

I had a blast hanging out with my daughter and my friends. 

I love these gals!!

Today my dear sweat friend Pam (Hey Pam!) read me a text from a high school friend Ruth.

So here's a message for you Ruth.

Heeeyyyy.  I am so jealous of your planned trip. 

Thanks for reading my blog.
One of these days we have to get together! 

Help Me--The Squirrels are Winning

The road to my crazy started with Sweet Adorable Clella.

That's not true, I've been a bit of a crazy for a very long time.

She wanted to learn embroidery. 

I found a cute little heart sampler for her and fixed her up a kit.

Then I found this on Facebook Marketplace and started researching on you tube.

The first video I watched was from Quilt Roadies.

I felt like I had found a long lost sister. 

I've watched every single video. 

Which led to some wool applique and a return to counted cross stitch.

So I went shopping. 

I bought this wool kit. I have it cut and ready to start.

I thought I should start with something small so I ordered this cut kit for my first attempt.

I'll write up another blog post about it.

After watching a few of the Stitch Roadies on You Tube,

I decided to return to cross stitch.

It's only been 35 or so years.

I partly blame my friend Dottie for the cross stitch--she told me about floss tube on you tube. 😉

I'll write up about this project in another post too.

So the squirrels are working overtime. 

I've acquired a few more kits. 

I've decided not to buy any more kits for a while.

Until I see one I can't resist.

June UFO Complete

Celtic Solstice (Quiltville mystery from 2013) was my project Judy L's UFO Challenge for June. 

The top has been done since February 2014.

In that post is this month's Challenge project,

Tell It To The Stars -a Judy L design, still available on her blog.

I have worked on it this month.

I needed to cut 4 borders and the binding.

They are all cut and ready to sew on.

The binding is cut and ready to make.

The left over fabrics will be for the back.

I'm having so much fun with my Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen. 

I'm so glad to have let go of that I'm not a good enough quilter to quilt my Bonnie quilts. 

I truly believe in finished is better than perfect. 

Here's my post about the chevron border. 

Neil Diamond was a perfect companion for my basting party.

Hubs was in the recliner, reading. 

I told him there would be singing. He rolled his eyes. 😀

Of course Miss Polly must claim her spot. 

I love this quilt and I'm so happy to have it ready to put on my bed.

But first I'll show it off at retreat next month.

Perfectly Imperfect Easy Street

I'm sew excited to have the quilting finished on Easy Street.

This is April's UFO from Judy L's challenge.

Today the binding will go on.

Why Perfectly Imperfect?

When I basted the quilt, I had the back the inside down instead of up.

I noticed it when I had it about 3/4 quilted.

I am not a perfectionist.

I just kept on quilting. 

No big deal, it's going on my bed.

Here is how embarrassingly far behind I was on my UFO Challenge projects.

Now I can remove the top 2 sticky notes. 

Today is stay home and have a binding and basting party day.

Doggie cuteness.

Just like kids, one will not give up her favorite spot

so the other makes do to get what he wants.

Win, win.

March UFO Moving to the Finished List

I'm working on my 2019 UFO Challenge list.

I'm behind, very behind.

So now I am going to work on catching up,

2 months at a time. 

It might be the excitement of my new to me Sweet Sixteen.

Who cares why,

I'm just excited to be quilting again. 

So the March UFO is quilted and Daisy approved. 

I'll head in now and trim it and sew on the binding.

It's always good when the binding is premade so the mojo keeps flowing. 

I have bobbins wound for April's UFO that is all basted and ready to go.

Easy Street is up next. 

Bur first I have to change the needle in the Sweet Sixteen.

Cross your fingers for me. 

Welcome To The Family Sweet Sixteen

I've been wanting to upgrade my beloved Brother 1500 machine to a 

Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen machine.

I've wanted one for a few years and lately started looking seriously.

I looked at new, 

I looked for used.

There are not many used machines on the market.

I looked in 3 states and recently found one 3 hours from me.

Yesterday we took a road trip to north western Washington to test drive one.

Who am I kidding, I knew I was bringing it home with me.

She is now set up in the living room.

I played with her for quite a while last night.

I watched videos and played some more.

I'm confident in my free motion and I'm ready to start quilting.

Today I had to put off quilting to get a couple of quilts basted. 

I am so behind on my UFO Challenge list that I pulled the 

March and April UFOs off the pile and basted them.

I'm about ready to wind a couple of bobbins and 

be brave and start quilting. 

I hope to soon be moving these and several others to the finish page. 

9pm Update

The learning curve is quite curvy but I'm having so much fun!