March UFO

Judy at Patchwork Times picked #1 for the March challenge. For me that is a Kaffe Fassett "Ice Cream Quilt". It's so much fun for me that she's picking projects with such summery colors to work on through the winter months. When I look at some of the darker quilts I listed for my challenge, I keep hoping I don't have to deal with them until September or October.



My original goal for this quilt was to get the top completed. I now plan to also get this sandwiched and ready to quilt this month. I'm unsure yet if I'll machine quilt this one or save it for hand quilting. If I decide to machine quilt it, I think I can complete that and bind it before the end of March.

In other news, last weekend my DIL came to visit with six grandkids. None of my grandkids live close enough for weekly visits, so when they come to town it's pretty heartwarming.

Some excitement on each visit revolves around this "goodie box". I fill it with little prizes, some hand made, some store bought, and some of the prizes come from things I'm purging around the house. Before they head for home, they're allowed to pick a prize from the box. It's fun to see how much they look forward to this and it's always a surprise to see what they decide to pick. Next time I'll try to remember to take pictures of their choices.

A Tisket a Tasket

A green and yellow basket!



My February UFO Challenge quilt is complete -- with two days to spare. Thank you Judy for this challenge -- I surprised myself in finishing this one, in a short month at that! It was started years ago and was intended for my bed. Since then I had rose colored carpeting installed and made a quilt that would better blend with that. So this sat ignored for quite some time.




I'm so glad I was challenged to get back to it! It's wonderfully soft and gushy and I've managed one good nap under it already.

The basket squares are hand quilted, the rest of the quilting is done by machine. The white squares and white setting triangles, along with the border, are done using with machine embroidery designs from Embroidery Library.


The basket quilt took up almost all of my sewing time this month.

This little hexagon star was hand pieced and is the only other sewing I accomplished in February.

Now I can relax for a couple of days while I look forward to the March challenge!

Wake Up and Quilt!

My friend Marianne called and woke me up at 8a.m., and I'm thankful she did! It's a beautiful, sunshiny morning and she came right over for a cup of coffee and some quilting. I love this quilt she's working on -- it's so bright and cheery, guaranteed to put a smile on your face even so early on a Saturday morning.


She also wanted to share her latest completed quilt, made for a special great nephew. I'm sure he's going to love it!

While she worked on her cherry quilt, I managed to get a little more hand quilting done on my February UFO challenge.

Most of the quilting on this one is done by machine. The solid white blocks are all done with the embroidery unit on my Viking.

February is a pretty short month, and I have quite a bit of quilting left to do on this one. Not sure if it'll be done before March 1, but I'm pleased with the progress I'm making. Without this challenge, it would still be sitting in a ball in a corner of my room.

January UFO Quilt challenge

The snow has been a bit of a challenge too!


I managed to finish my string quilt for the January UFO Challenge on Judy's blog. I had actually challenged myself to get the blocks made and put together into a quilt top, but once that was done I decided I better not quit and still have a UFO. I'm glad I stuck to it. It finished at 48" x 60". It was fun working with these summery colors in the thick of winter. I look forward to planting myself on the beach with this one while I watch the grandkids having fun in Lake Superior.

I found some gingham check cotton dobby in my stash that worked perfectly for the back -- it really feels cozy.

I originally picked only six UFO's for Judy's challenge, but this finish motivated me to dig deeper and pick 6 more so I'll have one to work on every month this year. I don't expect to end the year with 12 finishes, but I will devote time each month to work on whichever number she chooses and hopefully January won't be the only one I finish.

#7 - I've been working on these blocks for a few years -- I still have a few blocks to finish before I can start assembling the quilt top.

#8 This quilt needs to be made just a bit larger before I can sandwich and quilt it.

#9 This quilt was made using The Yellow Brick Road pattern. It just needs to be quilted and bound.

#10 - I started quilting my blue and yellow basket quilt a few years ago, but it's been rolled up waiting for some attention for quite awhile.

#11 - I have this bin of pink and brown fabrics, but can't actually remember what I planned to do with them. I guess I'll start from scratch with them with #11 is called . My current hope is that they'll end up being made into a snails trail pattern, but that may change.

12. I can't remember when I started making these 6" churn dash blocks, but I sure need to get back at them and make some more. At 6", I'll need a ton of them to make a full size quilt -- a month devoted to them should be a good start.

Can't wait to see what number Judy picks for the February challenge!

Just a Little Mini

I've participated in the The Old Red Barn Quilt Along a few times and the latest one - "Ticker Tape Quilts" piqued my interest, so I thought I'd give it a try. It looked like a fun, quick project.


The instructions called for making four of these panels and stitching them together to make a small lap quilt. My interest waned by the time I had finished one panel. It was a fun way to play with some of my scraps, but I didn't make much of a dent in the bucket.

This one will be added to my grandkid goodie box. They all live far away, so when they come to visit I let them pick out a prize from the box. Maybe one of them will see some beauty in this and take it home to snuggle a dolly.

I backed it with some pretty Kaffe and brought it around to the front to bind the quilt.

If it looks like something you might want to try, you can find the instructions at deroo designs.

Now back to my string quilt -- it's all ready to sandwich today.

Pretty New Fabric and Some Progress

I found a fun package in my mailbox today. I won this fat quarter bundle from a weekly giveaway on the Pink Chalk Studio blog. What a treat! Beautiful Denyse Schmidt Greenfield Hill fabrics. They're available in three colorways from Pink Chalk Fabrics. Sign up for their newsletter and you're automatically entered in their very generous weekly giveaways.

It's so much fun finding fabric in the mail when I'm trying hard to restrict my purchases.

I've made some progress on my January UFO challenge quilt top. All the blocks are made -- now I have to get them sewn together and off my living room floor.
It won't be a very large quilt -- 48" x 60", big enough for a cozy nap. I didn't quite clean out my scrap bin, but I did run out of steam. The colors are much prettier in real life. I hope I can finish it up and get a better picture on a sunny day outdoors.

Lovin' Winter and UFOs

This is the view from my window today, and the weatherman is saying we may accumulate several more inches between now and Sunday.

It's my long weekend and it gives me a chance to enjoy the view from my window, which I love so much more than the view from my desk at the office.

Of course, it's hard not to dream about next January and being retired and enjoying this every day -- and not having to worry about it if I don't feel like scooping out the drift in front of my garage.


A long weekend also gives me time to work on my UFO challenge of the month. Judy over at Patchwork Times picked #6 to work on, which is my string quilt. I started the month with nine blocks -- I'm up to 41 now, so I'm making some progress. Since each block finishes at 6" square, it's not very large yet.

However, while I stitch away on these blocks, my pile of strings continues to expand. At one point I even had to transfer them to a bigger bucket. Not sure how that happens, but it's beginning to feel like I could make these blocks forever and never run out of scraps.

At some point I'll have to quit making blocks and start sewing rows together, but I haven't decided yet what size this quilt will be. My goal for this UFO is to have a top sewn together by the end of January. I'm hoping to finish before then and have some time left to work on Judy's monochromatic color challenge -- the color for January is yellow.