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! 

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. 

2020 Finish #10

Garden Party is finished and Daisy tested and approved.

She thinks if I lay a quilt on the floor for a picture, 

she needs to be right there!

Hope you enjoyed that Daisy Doodles,

it's the last time you get to lay on this quilt.

I quilted a simple meander.

After removing the wavy outer borders, this top sat there taunting me.

I finally couldn't take it any more so I got to work on putting them back on the right way.

No more just winging it for me.

I knew better at the time but decided to risk it,

My Big Mistake!

I am thrilled with this quilt! 

I don't think I did too bad on this one,

only 2 years marinating before finishing. 

Another UFO off of Mt ToBeQuilted

Hearts & Flowers From Friends

This had been put away since September 2011.

Why did I do that?

Three long rows were together..

sashing sewn to both sides of the outside rows.

All I needed to do was sew the center row on both sides,

add the top and bottom sashing/border and bind.

The binding was even made.

I do know why this was put away.

I made my heart hurt too much to work on it.

It was a bit rough today as the anniversary of the tragedy approaches

and memories flooded my heart. 

After some quilt hugs and tears,

I'm happy to say the binding is now stitched down and

this one is finish #8.

Design Wall Monday

I spent time this week assembling all the parts for Monkey Business.

My sewing sessions seem to come in small sections of time.

But it paid off!

It's amazing what can be accomplished a few minutes at a time.

I really wanted to lay it all out and start sewing it together but

I have a goal list for the month so I chose a project off there to work on next.

MB is a still on the list,

just farther down.

The real next project on my list was to quilt this String Quilt from October 2009.

9 1/2 years is long enough to marinate. 

I'm happy to report this is done! 

I call it Lucky #7 because it's 7th on my list of 20 Finishes Before 2020.

You can read about it here.

Check out all the great design walls at 

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday

Lucky #7

Finish #7 for 20 Finishes Before 2010!!

It was fun to revisit these fabrics.

Lots of my favorites are in here.

If you make spirals and they go array, 

you name them wonky. 😉😃

I took this picture after putting the walking foot on for the binding.

This one is a small size couch quilt.

I just searched the blog and found out that this has been marinating since 

October 2009. 

Oh My! It didn't seem like it was that old.

I used scraps from a few backings for this one.

It's quilted with wonky spirals.

Hooray for Lucky #7!!

2019 UFO Challenge-February Update

Here it is, the last day of the month and

Granddaughter Estella's 7th birthday and

I have February's UFO almost finished.

The binding is on,  ready to stitch down.

Ernie has hunter's ed class tonight so I decided
to rent Bohemian Rhapsody and bind.

I used up quite a bit of older stash fabric to make the back.

The cherry fabric has aged enough, the chicken panels too.

A friend gave the me navy fabric.

It was all I could do to squeeze the binding out of the rest of that chunk of fabric.

I had to piece some to get the strip wide enough for the last few inches and by golly, 

it worked out great! 

I'm pretty excited to mark this one off the list

and see which number Judy L pulls tomorrow morning.

Design Wall Monday

 

After finishing my log cabin quilt Saturday,

I went through my UFO list to find something to finish for our oldest grandson.

I didn't see anything I wanted for him,

everything is too feminine.

So I decided to pull out my 2 1/2" batik strips and a stack of books.

After looking at all of them,

marking and looking again, I chose to make Monkey Business.

It's in Kim Brackett's Scrap Basket Surprises.

Then I pulled UFO box #7 and 

decided to use the fabric I had set aside for something else for this quilt.

I have that big bin of batik strips but these are all ready to go. 

I think I may even have a great animal print to use for the backing.

Use the stash Judy!

While I was pulling, 

I got out the replacement UFO #12,

(I explained that it in Saturday's post.)

I have 35 12 1/2" blocks.

I'm not sure how I'll set them so I pulled out this Log Cabin book.

I might make another block for a 6x6 setting.

But I'll think about then when #12 is drawn.

In the mean time,

I pin basted February's UFO today.

This is #10 on my list. 

Since the tables were all set up,

I basted a small string quilt too.

And now I'm out of batting on my roll.

Any others basted in the near future will need to have batting pieced for them.

Use the batting scraps Judy! 

Check out all the great design walls at

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday

Finish #6 and Changes To The 2019 UFO Challenge List

While cataloging all of my UFOs and explaining to hubby what was happening

and how depressed it was making me with so many tops to finish, 

he suggested I send a big quilt top out to my friend Jane to get quilted.

So which one do I choose? 

I chose this log cabin top to be finish #6 for my goal of 20 Finishes before 2020.

This log cabin is on my 2019 UFO Challenge list as project #12.

I happen to have a set of log cabin blocks that are ready to be made into a top

so I will replace the old #12 with those for the new #12. 

(Is that even legal? 😀) 

I picked out a feathery design and Jane made my quilt fabulous!

What's a good way to get an extra UFO marked off your list?
Use it for the back of a quilt.

These were a stack of 20 16" Turning Twenty blocks.

I just started sewing them together.

No planned lay out, just grab and sew.

Then measure and add some more fabric from the stash.

With all the quilting and binding I've been doing, 

I've irritated my shoulder.

So it's short binding sessions, and then lay it aside for a while.

Miss Polly is making sure I don't overdo. 

 So while "resting", I made 2 more quilt backs.

I'm ready to having another basting party.

The first quilt to be basted will be the UFO for this month. 

Design Wall Monday

It's been a busy week in the sewing room.

After finishing last month's UFO, 

I decided this beauty was next.

The binding is sewn down and 

it will soon be headed to a special girl in Texas.

Shhh, she doesn't know it's coming.

Finish #4 for my goal of 20 Finishes Before 2020.

Next up is Sanctuary from Kim Brackett's Scrap Basket Beauties book.

It was started in May 2013 at a retreat.

It's done with flannel from strip swaps with friends.

At the next retreat, I won 5 yards of red flannel that was used for the border, back and binding.

There is a small piece left that will be cut up into more strips for the flannel box.

WaaHoo for Finish #5!

Trying to get a picture of this was a joke.

Daisy dog plopped herself right down and

Tony had to come and show how to sit pretty.

Little Dog took over the middle of the dog bed.

Saturday morning, trying to be quiet and clean up my messy binding box,

I started sewing the leftover binding hunks together.

After sewing 7 or 8, I realized there was no top thread.

Duh!!! So I put some thread on, threaded the machine and started again

only to realize the bobbin was empty!

While stitching down binding on the Dresden Plates quilt, 

I discovered where I had run out of bobbin thread.

7 Inches from the end and I didn't even notice!!

Joke's on me I guess.

So now I have my binding box nice and neat again.

I like having the black bindings all together.

The red on the right is all the same fabric. 

My heart sings at all those leftover pieces. 

I can't wait to use them.

The others are for specific projects and each are labeled.

This is why so much quilting is happening.

I'm perfectly content to stay inside and 

make pretties happen while we wait for round 2 of this "5 part weather event".

Check out the fabulous design walls at

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday.

Another January UFO Report

WhooHoo! Quilting is finished, binding is on.

I'll stitch it down in the evenings while watching tv.

I'm going to call this one a finish.

I'm not the best free motion or straight line walking foot quilter

 but I'm not the worst.

I have fun.

I'm a firm believer in Done is Better than Perfect!

Life's to short to be a perfectionist.

Last night I laid the quilt down on the floor to see if I really should 

quilt in the black half square triangles.

After the quilt inspectors report, 

I decided I should.

This was started in my first Bonnie Hunter class in June of 2014.

When the top was finished, 

it went straight onto Mt ToBeQuilted

where it marinated for a few years.

This will be sent off to a special girl as soon as it takes a trip through the washer and dryer.

I love sending quilts to my special people.

Since this is our day,

I'm going to go in a start quilting another one for a different special girl. 

Design Wall Monday

I am on a (slow) roll!

This is finish #3 for me this year.

I am on a mission to quilt at least 32 quilts this year.

I have my UFO Challenge list from Judy L's challenge up in a tab.

I must confess that so far no action has been taken on January's quilt 

other than to get it out of the bin,

choose the backing and buy the thread.

I'm hoping to baste today.

I have a plan of 20 Finishes before 2020 that does not include the Challenge list.

Seriously, I need to not even look at a new project for a while.

I wrangled the UFOs and will not confess the number because it is shameful.

I am very embarrassed to admit how many I actually have. 

Maybe one day but not today.

So this gem is almost complete.

(I  didn't note the book the pattern is from.

I know I still have it in my stash of strip pattern books.)

There is only one more side of the binding to stitch down.

That will happen sometime today.

Then it's a trip through the washer and dryer and 

into the mail to our oldest.

Notice in the upper left corner my glove.

I use gloves even with the walking foot.

It sure helps my arthritic hands not to hurt so much.

I won this jelly roll in 2009 from Sue Hecker.

(Check out her beautiful sewing room.)

It's called Gypsy Rose by Fig Tree.

When our oldest was young, her horse's name was Gypsy Rose.

How could this not go to her.

 I feel so guilty that she has not had it for all these years.

But she will have it soon so no more guilt.

I love being able to surprise people with packages in the mail.

I'm hoping to get good outdoor pictures today.

Of course there has to be a problem with all UFOs.

The binding was cut and with this quilt.

As were the extra fabrics from the jelly roll but nothing from the binding fabric.

No big deal, just pick another piece of fabric and make it work.

Here's a little cutie from 7 year old Corbin.

The kids love word search puzzles.

Corbin is working on his the other morning with his dinosaur watching.

As that thing moves it's head and growls,

I asked if Dino was helping find words.

Without looking up or thinking at all, he says

"No, he's thinking about cupcakes ."

Check out all the great projects at

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday. 

Have a great week.