Basting Away

I finally put together a backing for my May UFO Challenge quilt and got down to the job of basting it together.

First I had to shove my kitchen table and chairs out of the way and sweep all the crumbs off the floor. Normally I would give the floor a quick wash before laying out a quilt on it, but I opted for a sweep this time.

After laying out the backing and taping it(wrong side up) to the floor with some painters' tape, I smoothed out the batting and the quilt top on top of it.

And started pinning.

I try to keep the pins approximately four fingers apart. The rows look further apart in this picture, but they're close to the same distance.

I just start at one end and roll as I go -- and take breaks between every three or four rows to give my back a rest.

This twin sized quilt ended up with about 450 pins.

I'm getting a late start on the quilting -- it looks a little iffy on getting it done before the end of the month, but I'll give it a good try.

Ready, Set, Go

I love seeing all the fabrics that are available lately for boy quilts! When I saw this Ready Set Go line from Robert Kaufman Fabrics, I couldn't resist purchasing a few pieces.

It was fun to dig through my stash to find some coordinating fabrics. I absolutely love this quilt. The Kaufman fabrics are incredibly soft organic, and the overall bright color appeals to me. I have to admit I like to pick it up and carry it around like a security blanket.

I have some of the fabric left -- I think next time I'll cut the squares a little larger to better show the planes and helicopters.


I pieced a strip of helicopters into the backing fabric. I don't often take the time to piece backings on larger quilts, but it's fun to do on the small ones.

The bright colors cheered me up so much that I had to stop at the flower shop on my way home from work so that I could add some of that color to my kitchen table. So cheerful!

Don't you think they look nice with the quilt?

I finally put together a backing for my May UFO Challenge quilt -- now to get it basted and try to squeeze in lots of quilting hours before June arrives!

Nine Patch

Here's the other quilt that I finished in April. I had hoped to get a better picture of it but ran out of chances . You'll have to take my word for it that it's much prettier in real life.

This one was made for a coworker, and I surprised her with it on Wednesday. I know my memory isn't that great, but I think it may be first time that I actually made someone cry happy tears. Made my day!

I'll have company all next week, so I'll be putting my sewing aside to enjoy a little activity in my normally quiet life. Then I'll have to push to get my May UFO finished. That one's still waiting for a backing, so it'll be a challenge.

Hope all you moms out there enjoy a wonderful Mothers Day. I'll be feeling very blessed to be able to, at my age, spend it with my mother.

Happiness is.....

A brand new iron,



a new ironing board cover,



and some brand new fabric to play with!

April UFO Challenge

I was hoping for a nicer day and greener grass to get a photo of my completed April challenge quilt. I had to be content that the snow has finally disappeared from under my clothes lines.

This quilt is the largest that I've machine quilted -- 84" x 84". I kept the quilting to a minimum -- straight lines 3" apart only one way. It feels great to have this one completed -- and again I'm thankful to Judy for this challenge!






I backed the quilt with several pieces of brushed homespun and bound it with a heavier red flannel -- all pieces found in my stash.



I was worried it would end up being heavier than I wanted, but I was pleased with the weight of it -- it's quite soft and snuggly!


The May challenge will be to work on this quilt which was made using The Yellow Brick Road pattern. It needs to be quilted and bound. I'll have to browse around on Flikr and see if I can get some inspiration for quilting it. I may have to finally force myself to try some free motion quilting -- I've been avoiding learning how to do that!