Christmas UFO X2

Getting good pictures is so hard this time of year! I'm sad because I can't seem to capture the beauty of this quilt today, but I'm going to go ahead with the post and I'll try again for the money shot another day. The close up pictures are so much better. Too dark inside... too cold outside! After about 10 minutes my eyes were watering so bad I could barely see and of course my glasses were fogging over too. I see now the right edge is snow dusted a bit! Authentic Minnesota winter for you...

The pattern for this quilt is from the December 2003 issue of McCall's Quilting and it is called Christmas Fantasy. I remember getting the magazine in the mail and getting online immediately to start buying the fabrics I needed - Robyn Pandolph's Christmas Folk Art line - because I wanted the EXACT same quilt in the magazine! I was less than a year into my quilting journey at that time. I still find these fabrics to be breathtakingly beautiful.

When I pulled out all of my UFOs to take pictures for my UFO Page earlier in the year  I fell in love with these fabrics all over again and it was my dream to have it ready for this Christmas. So I am keeping the name Christmas Fantasy because (pinch me!) it is done. Merry Christmas to me!

Cindy at Tops to Treasures was so wonderful to work with on this quilt. She gave me two options to think about and I just could not be happier with the end result. Thank you again Cindy!

Moving back indoors for the back side of the quilt...

Cindy's work shows up better in this light even though the pretty fabrics don't. The rail fence blocks were from an online swap that I hosted on the HGTV Quilting Forum back in 2007. I had assembled them into a top and put it on a hanger. When I put the borders on Christmas Fantasy I started looking through my stash for some backing fabric with no luck at all.

But when I pulled out Christmas Rail Fence I thought hmm... and emailed Cindy to see what she thought. No problem she said. And amazingly it was about the same dimensions so I added the border and that's how you finish 2 UFOs in 1!

There are lots of fun Christmas novelty prints in these blocks which I have a bit of an obsession with. My Christmas stash could generate at least a dozen quilts (and I might be underestimating by a wide margin actually) so I'm excited to be able to flip the quilt over for a different look. Isn't the quilting gorgeous?

I'm linking this UFO Finish X2 up to TGIFF@Quilt Matters, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop@Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Link A Finish Friday@Richard and Tanya Quilts, Needle & Thread Thursday@My Quilt Infatuation and Finish it Friday@Crazy Mom Quilts.

And I am linking up to the Mid-Month Check In and will be linking it up to A Lovely Year of Finishes at the end of the month because this is my finish for that Challenge. Done early for the 1st time EVER!

Good Reads and Waste Triangles

My cold is getting the best of me. Last night I went to bed early with a book and stayed in bed this morning with Tucker by my side finishing it. "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" by Rachel Joyce was a charming book. It started out slowly but with each chapter the characters were brought to life and I was totally engaged. I think it will stay with me for awhile and remind me of how fragile life is but also how joyful it can be if you are able to reconnect and forgive.

This is the 2nd book this month that I've really loved. The 1st was "Love Anthony" by Lisa Genova. I adored her debut book "Still Alice" which depicted a woman's decline with Alzheimer's from her point of view and is to me an unforgettable book. "Love Anthony" is about marriage, fidelity and Autism. I found the parts of the book written from the little boy's point of view to be amazing. Based upon my experiences with friends who have autistic children it made perfect sense as to how the world may appear to a severely autistic child.

As I was cleaning my quilting room last week I was happy to find that the waste triangles from my Thimbleberries tree skirt are just what I need for one of my Christmas stockings! I was able to trim these into perfect 3.5" HSTs using a Triangle Square Up Ruler by Quilt in a Day.

I came across this ruler in my storage tray last month while making my Birds in the Air Blocks for RSC13. The simple markings made it really easy to use. Later, while browsing the internet for more info about the ruler, I found a video and was blown away by this simple concept...

Trimming HSTs before pressing them open - WHAT??? How have I been quilting since 2002 and NOT have known this!!!

It sure makes quick work of trimming HSTs! I don't throw my trimmed dog ears over my shoulder like Eleanor Burns does (just so you know). I'm thinking mug rugs for FMQ practice with the leftovers from the stocking.

In the spirit of new discovery, I've decided to break out another ruler that I bought once and have never used for the rest of the HSTs on top of the fabrics I'm considering.

Most of the time when I make HSTs they are totally scrappy so this method doesn't work but in this case I'll cut a strip from 2 of these fabrics and give it a go. I'll let you how I liked it later in the week!

Snowbound Sunday

We are predicted to get up to a foot of snow by tomorrow at noon so it's not hard to predict which room I'll be hanging out in today! I've got Pandora playing my favorite 80's tunes, some chocolate kisses and a fresh pot of coffee - what more do I need?

No, I'm not protesting the snow! This is my light box to trace these cute designs for some embroidery practice. I decided to join the upcoming Stitch Me Up Embroidery Blog Hop which I'm really excited about. Embroidery was one of the first crafts I learned to love, I did many of the stamped tea towels and a few pillowcases too when I was young.

I bought this cute pattern last month and I think these will be a perfect warm up to my "big" project which I haven't decided upon yet. I kind of want to try something in redwork... but the patterns we have been given are calling for lots of color. I'll figure it out while I stitch these up. My new FriXion pen worked great drawing on the cold window.

The blocks for my "Four Patch and Friends" quilt are going to be trimmed today and I'm thinking a few might need to be frogged and resewn. Another of my 1st quilting projects (2002) that might have been partially sewn on my old Elna. I remember sewing most of them during March Madness because I pushed my sewing table out into the family room to "listen" along.  I don't watch much college basketball during the season but I ADORE March Madness!

This is going to be a such a pretty quilt... it might be my closest thing to an "heirloom" quilt when it is finished. Here is a picture from a previous blog post showing the lay out. I really want the corners on the white x's to match up and I think that's why it's been stalled for me. I know it's going to test my patience.

I might have to use my button to see me through!

I'm linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching@Kathy's Quilts and UFO Sunday@The Free Motion Quilting Project.

Making Headway on Imperfect

In my Thursday Thoughts post last week I mentioned my new mantra "Finished imperfectly is better than unfinished perfectly". If I knew how to make a blog button I'd make one! I think I'm going to need it...

Imperfect Test Case #1:

Thursday night I pulled out my Valentine's Day Table Runner UFO, assessed where it had been left and quickly finished piecing the heart section. I gave it a good press and added the background fabric border and the pink border. 

After easy sewing and a quick press I laid it out on my table to admire it. Yikes! How many waves can you count? I pressed it again and just made it worse so I set it aside (my normal reaction to imperfect!). At least I didn't stuff it into the garbage like I used to - thanks again Mom for all of those projects you rescued for me!

On the Threadbias board you can flag a project as "being in distress" so I uploaded my pics yesterday and asked for advice. I quickly received several answers and one of them gave me an "A-ha Moment" with the mention of uneven feed. 

I have sewed on my Pfaff for 10+ years. The IDT (built in walking foot) has taught me to rarely pin, rarely measure and I NEVER have waves. And, to make it even worse I just take it for granted! To get the same results on my Juki 2010Q I must pin and must measure my borders. Lesson learned along with a renewed wave of love for my Pfaff.  

Regarding imperfect... I can't live with this! I've started in with the seam ripper and will finish the piecing on my Pfaff.

Imperfect Test Case #2:

Friday night I went downstairs to pull batting for another Warm Wishes quilt and found I was out of Warm & White. But, I had read a blog about fusible batting that day which had reminded me that I had some June Tailor laying around that I'd bought on sale a while back. Let's try it!

The quilt top fused perfectly and I was pretty darn excited thinking I have 2 large bags to use up. The backing didn't fuse quite so well so I added some pins around the edges and scattered across the middle. Again, nothing unusual. I started to quilt it and the top looked fantastic! I peeked at the back. EEK! I frogged one row and tried it again with the same result. 

By this time I was frustrated and fighting my natural urge to set it aside. I forced myself to just keep going and finish the vertical grid. I knew going horizontal with anything would be a total disaster. Then inspiration... how about doing some walking foot wavy lines down the middle of the blocks? And, how about just making them random? How bad can it be?

As it turns not... THIS is imperfect that I CAN live with! I think after washing it will be even better. I did purposely sew one tuck along the left side to gather some fullness and that's just the way it's going to stay. I see that I have the animals upside down in my pic - how fitting is that?  But, look at the pretty top!

I see more walking foot curves in my future!  Fast, easy and fun. And, I'm batting .500 on "Finished imperfectly is better than unfinished perfectly". That's a whole lot better than having 2 projects stuffed in the garbage!

Football Playoff Sunday

The days of happily hand sewing binding while watching football are winding down. Both teams I was rooting for won yesterday so let's see what today brings. Actually I only was cheering for Baltimore because I have them in our pool (sorry Peyton Manning!).

I'm hoping to finish up Shabby Heart today. I am so enjoying being draped in this pretty UFO.

This year I've decided to track my stash activity. I'm not overly obsessive about my stash at the moment, as in trying to bust it or trying to build it. I'm happy to have it, quite frankly, with the price of fabric these days! I try to take advantage of online sales when I can since I live in a rural area. My LQS is wonderful for the more traditional fabrics but not so great for newer lines.

I have found that some of my fabric tastes have changed over the 3 years I wasn't quilting. I'm really into black & white prints now to pair up with my brights for Project Linus quilts so have been adding those. The modern fabrics are also calling my name (not the solids so much). I'm crazy about Kate Spain so am trying to add what I can find of her older lines.

I'm really most interested in seeing the movement of fabric in and out as opposed to the end result I guess, but I'm going to commit to a year of tracking and see. A 10 yard bolt of muslin for string blocks and a year end clearance parcel arrived this week to plump up my numbers. I'm not counting fabric used until the project is complete - more motivation to finish!

Used this Week: 5.5 yards
Used year to Date: 13.5 yards
Added this Week: 22 yards
Added Year to Date: 22 yards
Net Used for 2013: -8.5 yards

I'm linking up to Stash Report@Patchwork Times, UFO Sunday@The Free Motion Quilting Project and Slow Stitching Sunday@Kathy's Quilts.

A Finish That is NOT a UFO

Tucker and I have a good morning routine. After he has breakfast at 7:00 he snags my sewing chair for a morning snooze while I drink my coffee and use the computer in another room. This was the look I got when I claimed it was my turn this morning...

Oh I Think NOT!

I conceded gracefully, did some tidying up and settled down with some hand binding to watch the Vikings lose to the Packers. Can I tell you how I adore Adrian Peterson? Love him. 

Instead of posting about UFOs today I'm going to show you a finish on my family room table. But before that, let's talk about what has adorned that table for several years. My first quilt!

I took a beginning quilting class in January 2002 during our first winter here in northern Minnesota. We were given a copy of "Start Quilting with Alex Anderson" and had our choice of 3 quilts to make: Rail Fence, Flying Geese or Friendship Star. All 5 of us picked Rail Fence, in my case because it had no HSTs and I'm guessing I wasn't alone. We were turned loose in the quilt shop to pick a border print that we loved. Great advice that I still use today! Then our teacher worked with each of us to choose 3 color families and 3 values in each family. Let's just say there were bolts of fabric everywhere. Good times. I still love that border fabric and this quilt.  

One of the Other Crafts (per my blog title) that I enjoy is making mosaics. Here is a close-up of a tray made of tiles cut from dishes and a center cut from a dinner plate. I got into mosaics in 2004 and for a couple of years I sold mosaic tiles on eBay. One day next spring I will show you my mosaic room in our garage, projects I've made and my stash of dishes. You will laugh, because I have LOTS of dishes.  

Batik Pinwheels is finish #13 and is not a UFO. This was the project I started when I began quilting again after my 3 year hiatus in September. I bought this as a kit from my LQS within the last year thinking it might jump start my quilting mo-jo. The pattern is "A Little Twist" by This & That.

Beautiful batiks and simple quilting. I'm looking forward to trying this pattern again in a different palette as I really like it. And, it's a perfect fit for this table.

On a side note, I'm kind of fascinated by how the angle of the two photos of the quilts on the same table makes the table look like it's two different colors. Into the light (Rail Fence) is golden light and with the light at my back/side (Batik Topper) is pale light. I've got so much to learn about photography.

I'm linking up to UFO Sunday@The Free Motion Quilting Project and Sew Darn Crafty@Sew Many Ways.

Happy Blocks on UFO Sunday

I've got two more Happy Block quilts that I'm working on today.  Both quilts are sandwiched with pieced backings and I've started quilting Under the Sea first.

Under the Sea

Some months during our Happy Block exchanges on StashBuilders Yahoo Group we would use four different fabrics to sash each center instead of one. Citrus Cats has some of these blocks which really add a fun extra colorful twist to the quilt.

Citrus Cats

On Friday I made some blocks for Hurricane Sandy victims after reading this post over at Knotted Thread. These are super quick and easy to make using a tutorial, so don't hesitate to sign up if you are able!

Hurricane Sandy Blocks

I'm linking up to UFO Sunday@The Free Motion Quilting Project and Sew Darn Crafty @Sew Many Ways.

Snowy Stars on UFO Sunday

Snowy Stars brings my UFO finishes to 5! This quilt started with a bundle of beautiful snow themed batiks that seemed in need of a simple pattern to showcase them. I'd seen many Lucky Stars quilts made with bright batiks and thought I'd give it a try with blues.  Some of the batiks have touches of metallic for extra sparkle.

I love how the two fabrics with a hint of purple worked out as I remember being a bit leery of them while piecing. Lucky Stars is an Atkinson Designs pattern which uses fat quarters and is super easy because of the floating star points. I started this quilt in 2004 and it was machine quilted by Nancy Clayburn of Quilting by Design in April 2005. It is the last of my trio of quilts that spent 7 years waiting for binding. Never again!

Nancy's quilting is amazing on this!  I love the micro stippling on white, the star in the middle of each star block and the wiggly line down each point.  The rest of the quilt is done with loops and bursts of snowflakes.

This quilt will be proudly displayed on my wall all winter long.  I'm linking up to Sew Darn Crafty@Sew Many Ways and UFO Sunday@The Free Motion Quilting Project.

Another Sunday of Football & UFO Quilting

I've got a short post today showing what I'm working on while mostly watching football. I decided to pin baste this quilt because I'm using a flannel backing and I wasn't sure how spray basting would adhere to flannel. The quilting is done and I'm going to try binding it by machine using fusible thread tonight.

Here's a sneak peak of my hand binding project for today. I absolutely LOVE the custom quilting done by my long arm quilter on this! Hopefully you'll see the finished quilt later in the week...

I'm linking up to UFO Sunday@The Free Motion Quilting Project.

UFO Sunday - Quilting & Binding

No piecing today... I'm getting tough and going after my least favorite parts of quilting which are making the quilt sandwich and the quilting itself. Actually I'm not getting THAT tough because I picked my smallest project to start with. Start small and work up from there, right?

I used June Tailor basting spray. Fast and easy! I'm using Warm & Natural batting and white cotton for the backing. My kitchen has a nice open counter at one end, so I put down a plastic tablecloth from the Dollar Store and sprayed away.

Originally I planned to stitch in the ditch, but I've been getting inspired following  31 Days of Walking Foot Quilting@Petite Design Co. so I did an easy grid using the edge of my normal machine foot along the main seams. It only took me about 45 minutes and was actually kind of fun!

Then it was time to bind and watch football. I finished 2 sides of my Yellow Brick Road quilt watching the Vikings lose to the Redskins and hope to finish the other 2 during the Packers-Texans game tonight. This will be a cuddle quilt for our master bedroom.

I'm linking up to UFO Sunday@The Free Motion Quilting Project and Sew Darn Crafty@Sew Many Ways.

Time to Bind... and Watch Football

I've been putting off sewing down some bindings, which is plain silly considering that once the binding is done I will actually have a FINISHED project to snuggle under!  I'm heading around corner #3 on this lap quilt so just a quick post and back to my needle...

Gathering my Tools

Tucker is happy to test the snuggle factor of this quilt next to me as I stitch along.  He approves!

Tucker a.k.a. Quilting Supervisor

Oh, and the Vikings won.  Woo Hoo!

UFO #1

I chose (rescued) this cute table topper out of my stack of UFO's because:

1.  Finishing this might inspire me to pull out my pumpkins & decorate.
2.  It's a small project and even though I haven't located the pattern yet I don't really need it to finish.
3.  Stitch in the ditch or simple cross hatch machine quilting are all that is needed to finish it.  Binding cut & ready!

Let's go...