{Dusting Off the UFOs} Celebration

I've got a few more blocks than this, but those are all dark so they won't show what the quilt will actually look like. 

I don't know why I put this one aside from so long, except for the fact that cutting and piecing the blocks is pretty fiddly (especially if you're the kind of madwoman who wants a different fabric for every single block...a decision that I'm reconsidering as I type this)  The blocks aren't hard, they just take more time than little postage stamp squares or bow ties or spools.

The pattern is Celebration, from the April 2004 issue of Quilter's Newsletter. It looks like I started it back in 2009 and I couldn't tell you when the last time I worked on it was.

While I was going through the dining room and boxing everything up so that the refrigerator could pass through on its way to the kitchen, I kept finding fabric that would be perfect for this project. I should start cutting some of that, shouldn't I?

{Dusting Off the UFOs} North Pacific

If my blog posts are accurate, I haven't done any actual work on this project since sometime in 2011. I started it at about the same time I was making Leif's Snails and got a handful of blocks done before getting distracted by other things.

Pattern: North Pacific by Janine Holzman (Quilter's Newsletter September 2006)

It's not as grim as it sounds. Looking back through the posts that mention this project, I came across a lot of other UFOs and WIPs. Most of those have been finished for years.

These days, I've got a lot more dark and light prints to incorporate into the quilt. And my skills are better. So maybe it'll turn out better than it would have if I'd finished it ten years ago.

This post is linked to Quilter's Monday, Main Crush Monday, Monday Making,  Moving it Forward, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts 

Brand New Year, Same Old Goals?

My big plan for 2016 was to reclaim my sewing room. That didn't even begin to happen. I've got goals and plans for 2017. Mostly, they're same as my goals and plans were for 2015 and 2016.

Maybe first on the list should be getting my UFOs in order. I'm at that stage where, except for a couple of current projects, I have only a vague idea what I was working on.

Be My Neighbor
Scrappy 16-Patch
Redwork Vignettes
Anatomy Embroidery
Baby Blue Lozenges
Baby Blue Trip Around the World
Baby Blue Laura
Jo's Stair Steps
Rosey
365 Sampler
Hocuspocusville
Garden Party Quilt
Nail Polish Quilt
Heath's Ocean Quilt
Low Volume Nine Patch
Pink Birds Baby Quilt
Petals Baby Quilt
Spools
Lozenges
Alice
Buttonhole Cat
Dingbats!
Rose Dream
North Pacific
Basket Quilt
Hobo Quilt
Lego Quilt
Scrappy Irish Chain
Little Trips Around the World
Santa Fe String Star
Summers by the Lake
Sandstone Stack the Deck
chicken wool kit
Blue Dresden Plates
Turtles
Ugly Christmas Sweaters

Weekly Stash Report

Fabric used this week: 0 yards
Fabric used year to date: 0 yards
Added this week: 0 yards
Added year to date: 0 yards
Net added for 2016: 0 yards

Yarn Used this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Used year to Date: 0 yards
Yarn Added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Added Year to Date: 0 yards
Net Added for 2016: 0 yards

I've Got Quilting to Do

I knew I had tops to quilt, but I didn't realize how many were hanging right there on the ladder --

Alex's nail polish quilt
Alex's low volume postage stamp quilt
Heath's panel quilt with the seals and otters
Turtles (partially quilted)
Baby Blue Lozenges
and the black floral print, which is the backing for a sixth quilt that isn't hanging there
and the Blue Dresden Plates

I should probably quilt something soon!

UFO List Update

The last time I posted my UFO list, I went through it and weeded out projects I had no intention of finishing, the false starts, and the ones I couldn't find. This time around, I've been adding all of the things I've started and then lost track of because life keeps throwing distracting bumps in the road. The list has gone from seventeen to twenty-seven (not counting the six that I decided to leave off because after two years they still haven't surfaced).

Hocuspocusville
Black and White Appliances
Garden Party Quilt
Nail Polish Quilt
Heath's Ocean Quilt
Low Volume Nine Patch
Pink Birds Baby Quilt
Sixteen Patch Baby Quilt
Petals Baby Quilt
Spools
Lozenges
Alice
Buttonhole Cat
Dingbats!
Rose Dream
North Pacific
Basket Quilt
Hobo Quilt
Lego Quilt
Scrappy Irish Chain
Little Trips Around the World
Santa Fe String Star
Summers by the Lake
Sandstone Stack the Deck
chicken wool kit
Blue Dresden Plates
Turtles

Weekly Stash Report

Fabric used this week: 0 yards
Fabric used year to date: 6 1/4 yards
Added this week: 0
Added year  to date: 400
Net added for 2015: 393 3/4 yards

Yarn Used this Week: 400 yards
Yarn Used year to Date: 7200 yards
Yarn Added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Added Year to Date: 9539 yards
Net Added for 2015: 2339 yards

This post is linked to Patchwork Times.

a head start on a new project

This UFO that didn't make the list, because I'd already decided to scavenge these pieces for a new project.  I still have plans to make the original quilt, but when/if I get around to it, I'll cut new pieces. I'd have to do that anyway, since the black fabrics I was using have been absorbed back into my stash and there are other pieces of the project hiding in another box somewhere.

 

So I wind up with a head start on the new project and no guilt over the abandoned one. That works, right?

Hobo Quilt update

I get giddy over sampler quilts. Not the kind with a dozen twelve inch blocks -- the kind that represent an insane long term committment. If there's a sampler quilt book, I've either got it or I want it.  Not that I've started any of them yet.

Except for the Hobo Quilt.

This may be the messiest, fiddliest project I've got going. It's a mix of applique and piecing and all of the little pieces are odd sizes and different colors so  I wind up cutting each one individually. I'm working from my stash of thrift store shirts and obsessing over every last fabric choice.

And, as crazy as it makes me, I do love it. I want to make the big version of the quilt, which calls for sixty blocks. I didn't realize until I pulled it out today that I've got almost half of them done. Maybe it's time to make some more.



Judy is planning a UFO Parade on April 15, and I'm pulling my UFOs together for my entry.

UFO #3

This month's number is three, so I guess I've got to finish my 30s quilt. The quilting should be straightforward enough, if the machine cooperates. It's the zig zag binding that I'm thinking may be a challenge.



I still feel like this one was a waste of fabric, which is why it's sat unfinished for a year. This is probably going to be the last of my make-a-quilt-to-use-a-fabric-collection projects.

I'm actually relieved that I get to start with something I know how to deal with, and have everything I need to finish.

Inspiration

I love reading end of the year posts and seeing how much fabric people have used, what projects they've finished, and what they've got planned next.

Some leave me in awe, like this one at Diary of a Sampler Lover. That is such a huge amount of work!

And the little quilts at mamacjt make my heart go pitty pat. There's a tutorial!

The last bit of the free motion quilt along is up at A Few Scraps and I'm just awed by her branches and words.