Dragon!

The dragon is done!!  I really didn't think I'd be able to do this, but I actually finished this UFO this month.  It was about 1/4 finished when I pulled the bits out of storage, after Judy drew #2 for her UFO challenge on July 1. At the time, I fugred I'd be happy to make some progress, and at least have this back in the "in progress" pile rather than "ufo".  But once I got to working on it, I remembered how much I enjoy stained glass quilting.  And it came together much more quickly than I expected.

The quilt is now complete, except for the minor detail that I put the hanging sleeve on the bottom :(  So I guess I'll be unsewing that and trying again tonight.  I debated how to finish this one.  It is a wall hanging, and the foundation for the stained glass adds a bit of weight to it, so I decided it really did not need the added bulk of batting in there.  I finished the back with a simple muslin to hide the myriad of stitching from the bias, and then bound it with the same fabric as the outer border.

Once again I have to thank Judy for her UFO challenge.  I don't know when I would have pulled this one out, if not for that encouragement.

Design Wall Monday - July 25

I spent Saturday taking my son on a tour of a couple of universities, as he has a big decision to make this year.  Thank goodness for air conditioning in the car.  It was a steamy day, but nice and clear for driving which was good.  The trip ended up twice as long as expected, as we added a second destination half-way through, so not much quilting was accomplished on Saturday.  I made up for that on Sunday.  Got a head start in the morning, before the heat set in too deeply, and then it cooled off again in the evening, so the sewing room was again tolerable.  Looks like the heat has broken for a couple of days, so hopefully more sewing is in the near future.

My design wall this week has some progress which I'm very happy with. The dragon is complete, and the blue quilt is starting to take shape.  I'll have to find a way to get a better picture of the dragon.

For more design walls check out Judy's blog.

Accountability Challenge - July 20

I'm loving this summer.  Hot and steamy, and thousands of mosquitoes.  But it is summer, and mostly sunny, and life is good.  I am eager to have son #2 home from New Jersey at the end of the month, but in the meantime son #1 and I are hanging out. OK, maybe not together - he's hanging out with his friends, I'm hanging out with my quilts.  But overall a nice relaxing summer, and we do say hi to each other occasionally :)

The steamy weather and bugs are keeping me inside more than I expected, but that is allowing me to make lots of progress on my quilting.  Last week I set 2 goals:
1. Finish the head of the dragon stained glass
2. start on the blue quilt.

I'm thrilled to say I overachieved this week.  The dragon stained glass is done.  Just borders to do (which is on my list for this week) and then I'll have to figure out how to finish/quilt it.  I blocked it last night, so I should be able to add the borders this weekend.

And I did indeed manage to start on the blue quilt.  One block is complete, and cut lists are ready for the rest of the blocks.

So my goals for this week:
1. add borders to the dragon
2. finish the blocks for blue top (that's probably optimistic)
3. pull a quilt from the pile and make the backing and quilt it
4. mail quilts


Check out Bari's blog for more accountability reports today.

Design Wall Monday - July 18

Lots of progress on my design wall today.  I have actually finished all of the stained glass on the dragon.  Still a number of edges to tack down, but the fabric is all in place now, and the dragon is complete. 

The other blocks on the wall are for this month's block lotto.  A fun, easy block to help me transition from the intricacies of stained glass to some more traditional quilting. I'll be cutting into the fabric for my blue quilt any day now.

Here's a closeup of the dragon quilt.  I have to say a great big thank you!! to Judy at Patchwork times.  If not for her UFO challenge, I don't know when this dragon would have been dragged out of the closet.  Once I got back into it, things went quickly however.  Just some final stitching and the borders to do now.  It's hard to believe, but this might actually be done before the end of  the month.


Hop over to Judy's blog to see what everyone else has on their design walls today.

Design Wall Monday - July 11

My design wall has my July UFO on it this week.  This one has been a challenge to get started on.  I mentioned my trouble finding the bits and pieces last week.  And then when I finally took the plunge, I discovered that I didn't have any of the fusible web I needed to make more bias tape.  That took a few days to resolve, and I finally bought some on Saturday morning, after trips to 2 local quilt shops. But now that I'm fully supplied, I actually made some significant progress on the dragon.

I spent a lot of time on Saturday working on this, in between getting ready for my visitors to arrive.  Now that I'm back into the swing, I remember why I like stained glass quilts.

Check out Judy's blog for more design walls this week.

July UFO

It's the first of the month, and time for a new quilt for the UFO Challenge.  As I was completing my June project, I was thinking about which UFO might be next.  I dearly hoped that Judy would not pick my stained glass quilt.  This project is a true UFO for me - it's been in progress for over 4 years. Or, that's how long I've owned it, anyway.  I think I bought the pattern, and it sat for a year before I opened it.  When I did start the project, I made some decent progress for a while, but it's been hiding in the closet for at least 2 years now.

So today Judy drew the number for July.  #2.  Guess what quilt is #2 on my list?  I guess it's time to pull out the dragon.

Step1 - find all the bits.  I thought I'd packed it away carefully, but the bucket contains the fabric, and the completed part.  No templates.  No instructions.  And no picture.

The template turned up easily enough, right behind the bucket on the shelf.  Instructions - check.  In a pile with another UFO.  Picture -hmmm.  That was more difficult, but it did eventually reveal itself, in a drawer of non-quilting items.  I think this quilt really wanted to remain a UFO.

I don't think there is any way this quilt is getting completed this month - see how long it is?  In fact, I reduced this pattern to 1/4 of its original size before I started.  The pattern was for an 8 foot long wall hanging - which seemed a bit excessive to me.  Anyway, I think the goal for this month is to find all the pieces.  Oh, I guess I did that already :)  OK, I will aim to make progress on this - perhaps get past the halfway mark before the end of the month.  Maybe I should invest in some of that lapel stick that quilters keep raving about.