Winter Completions, Spring Goals

This documents a few finishes and the list of UFOs I plan to work on this next quarter.  Since I've only finished two of the 8 UFOs I listed in the goals for last quarter, none of the projects on the current UFO list is new.

On to the finishes....

I bought the fabric for this purse about a year ago.  I fell in love with the fabric and bought it with a purse in mind.  I had a pattern in mind, but it all came together when I found some leather at another sale.  The pattern is the Renegade Bag from Sew Sweetness.  It's a bit larger than bags I usually carry, but since I also make that little clutch earlier this year, I think this will work out for times I want a larger bag.  

My next finish is this bonus quilt that I made from left over border pieces from the left over Stars quilt I completed last quarter.  I realized it needed something else, and seemed like a good home for the chicken I had put together in another workshop.  The chicken wire quilting was a new technique for me using a template and chalk pounce powder.  I liked the pounce technique for marking the quilt, but it wore off a little too quickly.  I had to learn how much of the quilt I could mark at one time before I had to reapply.


And I finally finished this pair of socks that I started in January.  I just became disinterested in the pattern and yarn and procrastinated working on them.  They turned out lovely, though.











This is the UFO list for spring 2020:

1. Ladies of the Sea

She is in the hoop.  I've completed the outline quilting on 14 of the 16 blocks.  I'm still contemplating how the background will be quilted, but I'm a long way from having to make that decision.  This will not be completed this quarter, it's still on the list so I will make progress.

2. Scrapitude Take 2

My plan was to baste this large top at a quilting retreat that was scheduled for March.  However, the retreat was cancelled due to isolation orders because of COVID-19.  This quilt is large enough that it does not fit on my kitchen floor.  DH suggested the deck.  On a pleasant Saturday afternoon, I swept off the deck and got this pin basted.  I am currently machine quilting it and expect this will be my next completion.



3. Bright Baby Revisited

Again, still on the list.











4. Handy Dandy Scrappy

The next top to be basted and quilted.  I do not, however, have batting for this.  Depending on the timing, I may have to take advantage of the curb-side pick up of a local quilt shop that is struggling to remain open.







5. Maxine

Still here, too.











6. Blue Floral

I've been thinking about what I want to do to finish this piece.  I'm contemplating what kind of blocks I want to make for the border.  I just saw some log cabin blocks placed to make a wave or swag pattern.  That has potential. 

She's Getting Stuff Done!

Although I don't feel like I've gotten a lot done in the past 6 weeks or so, I do have quite a few finishes - just not very many UFO finishes.

OK, first a UFO finish.  I did complete the Left-over Stars quilt.  I think the finished size turned out to be something like 48" x 75".  It's just big enough to cover the top of my double bed with a few inches of overhang.  I like it, but I'm not in love with it.  Mostly I'm glad to have it done.















My next finish are these two adorable cats.  These patterns came courtesy of Val Spiers of Australia.  She published the patterns on her blog quite a few years ago and I used 2 of the 4 as decoration for an applique portfolio I made.  (Val is currently selling very nice American Girl clothing patterns on Etsy, by the way.)  I've always liked the cat patterns and decided to make these as entries to my guild's silent auction in May.  They're about 15" square each.  I hope they bring in good bids.



The next finish is this little purse.  I don't often carry a full-sized purse and my cell phone and my wallet don't always fit into the tiny pockets that are put into women's jeans these days.  I had been carrying another bag about this same size, but it's really not very attractive. I bought this fabric to make a full sized purse and had plenty to make this smaller piece for every day.  This will do just fine.






And there's this little zipper bag that I completed.  This was part of an estate that was donated to the guild.  It was mostly assembled.  I just finished it and am using it to hold a small knitting project. 

That's all for the finishes.  And, there was only one official UFO finish.  But, progress none-the-less.







 In addition to sewing, I started a pair of socks in January.  I've sort of lost interest in these once I got used to the stitch and got the leg on the first sock done.  I've been much more interested in hand quilting.  But, I've picked them back up this week and will try to plod along.

The biggest project is this baby.  I finally got Ladies of the Sea all together, completed hand basting and have started quilting.  As of today, I've completed outlining the applique and blocks on 6 of the 16 blocks.  I'm very much enjoying getting back to hand quilting.  I'm still thinking about what design I would like to use for the quilting.  There have been some gorgeous machine quilted versions of this that I've seen on the web.  I'm not sure how dense machine quilting would translate to hand quilting.  Sue Garman's original is quilted with a cross-hatch design and is stunning.  I've got quite a bit of outlining to do before I make this decision.

That's what's been keeping me busy lately.  I am still entertaining thought of knitting two cardigans.  I have the pattern and yarn chosen for each.  I just don't know when I will squeeze these into my evening hand stitching time.

A Long Awaited Update

It's been a while and I've accomplished a bit in sewing and knitting.  Let me bore you with the details.

My quilt guild, The Chelmsford Quilters' Guild, had it's bi-annual show a few weeks ago, and my Iris quilt won 3rd prize for viewer's choice.  Yay me!  I'm excited about that.  Now that I've had it officially in a show, I think it may go on my bed.

Since February, I have completed 8 of the 9 quilt tops that are being made from my husband's maternal grandmother's UFO blocks.  Three of the tops are Drunkard's Path blocks and 6 are (will be) from 9-patch blocks.  I completed the Drunkard's path tops in February.  I had all the pieces cut out and assembled 5 of the 6 9-patch blocks on a quilt retreat weekend in March.   I just basted the first one yesterday and got the straight stitching done on the machine.   I used the same setting for all the quilts.  This is typical of the drunkard's path quilts.

And this is typical of the 9-patch blocks.  

The blocks aren't particularly attractive, but set on point with unifying sashing and setting triangles makes them all look handsome.  I will be machine quilting them relatively simply.  My goal is to have them all complete for a family wedding that is planned for July 2019.  That's why I decided to get started on the quilting , even though it wasn't a particularly wonderful day for dealing with ironing or a large amount of fabric on my lap (too hot).

I finished the fisherman's knit sweater in June, just in time to put it away for the summer.  I love how it turned out.  It's very satisfying to complete something so beautiful and useful  I have to admit that I've been looking at other sweater patterns.  I'm not sure I'm ready to jump into something this big again.  But maybe...  

I also completed a pair of  'monster' socks made from left-overs from other sock projects.  The white was bought  just to pair with scraps, but the three other yarns in this pair came from scraps.  I am pleased to have used every scrap of those three small balls, even though one of the balls ran out after the heel on the second sock, and the toe on the second sock is slightly less white because I wanted to use the last of the last ball.  I used these socks to try out a new cast on (tubular cast on) that is supposed to be a bit more stretchy.  I find the long-tail cast on that I normally use just a bit snug on my thick calves.  This cast on is a bit trickier, but it seems to have the stretch I want.  I will have to see if they stay up and don't slouch, though.  I also tried out different ways to join yarns using a tail that is woven in later and using a magic knot.  I like the knot since I'm not fond of weaving in ends, but again, I'm holding judgment until the socks are worn and washed a few time.  They did turn out pretty, though.

This table runner was a kit that I bought in a quilt shop in Canada last year.  It was their Row By Row pattern commemorating Canada's 150 birthday.  I love the pattern and colors.  I don't often but the kits, but this had so many colors, I could not have made this from my stash.  I was thinking about saving the block for a larger quilt of places I had visited, but finished is much more satisfying.

I'm still working on the Ladies of the Sea blocks, but it's slow going.  I'm trying hard not to lose interest in this because I love the pattern and it will be an amazing quilt.  I just have to add in different projects from timne to time to keep me interested.

Until next time ...

What's Up?

I admire those who blog every day.  There is one that I follow (http://karensquilting.com/blog/) that I use as personal inspiration.  She does beautiful hand and machine work  (mostly quilting), keeps lovely gardens and cooks delicious looking and sounding food.  She posts daily with her progress on thread-based and home-based projects and I find her very motivating.  I do some sort of needlework almost every day, and the  competitive side of me thinks that if she can get so much done, so can I.

So, this is what I've been doing (thread-wise) since I last posted in August.

I really like knitting socks, and was starting to feel guilty that all but two pairs that I knit were for me.  So, DH, DD and MIL all got socks for Christmas this year. Oh, and there was another pair for me, too.  They are the pink/purple stripey socks that are my "Monster" socks using left overs from other socks.  I still have lots of left overs, so there will be more "Monsters" in the future.

In my quest to have a decorative table runner for each month of the year, I finally made one for October.  It is a pattern from a Row By Row a few years ago from Bits n Pieces Quilt Shop (http://www.bnpquilts.com/).  It's machine appliqued and quilted.

The blocks in this quilt were from a star block exchange in my quilt guild.  The idea is that you chose two main colors and an accent and whether you wanted 6" or 12" stars.  Every month one person in a group made a star in your colors, put it in your container and passed it to the next in line the following month.  We did this for two consecutive years.  The first year I noticed that one member made a block for herself in her colors every time she made a block for another member, so that's what I did the second year, too.  I had 20 blocks at the end and put them together in this quilt I've called Constellation.  I just machine stitched the binding to it yesterday and will complete the hand stitching to it this week.  This wasn't on my radar to finish this soon, but our guild is having a show this spring and they would like to have a display of the competed projects from the exchange.  The quilt finishes about 66" x 80". 

This little crib quilt was made from left overs that I picked up as a bag of scraps in one of our guild's UFO auctions.  One day when I needed some mindless sewing, I put together the center (see http://mairsmusings.blogspot.com/2016/02/oops-i-started-new-quilt.html) and set it aside. In the effort of trying to reduce my UFO list, I completed it.  It's put away in case I need a baby gift.

This beauty is my guild's raffle quilt for the year.  Because I thought it was important for guild members to be involved in making as well as selling tickets for this fund raiser, I was in charge of the committee.  Members were given either a kit for the chain blocks, or a piece of the blue and asked to make a star block of their choice.  The committee arrange the blocks, I assembled the quilt top and another member of the committee did the long arm quilting.  I think the quilt is gorgeous.  It will fit a queen sized bed.  If you want more information about this, let me know.  The winner will be drawn in May.

I've also completed a small shawl made from hand-spun fibers a friend gave me (she's clearing out her stash of yarn in preparation for a move cross-country) and am working on an applique border of another UFO that's been sitting for far too long.  The triangle quilt (called Flower Up) will probably be completed by the end of January.  That's the plan, anyway.

That catches me up on what I've been working on for the past 4 months or so.  It looks like a lot more than it feels.

There's a lot of projects I'm looking forward to working on once the Constellation and Flower Up are done.  I think next in the queue are a Fisherman's knit sweater I just got the yarn for and a cat block quilt that is another old UFO.  Keep an eye out for progress on those (but I make no promises on how soon.)

Time for Another Post

Sometimes I just need to jump in and start.  I've been feeling bad that I haven't updated this for a while.  I look at it like writing in a journal and my journal writing has always been sporadic.  I hate to write when life isn't going well because I don't like being that person who complains all the time.  Life has been good, so that's not my excuse.  I'm not making excuses, I'm just adding another post.

We spent a great deal of time on the road this year.  I've put over 10,000 miles on my new bike since April and we had a great time  The Honda is a lot more comfortable and fun on the road than the Suzuki was.  When we traveled in the past, once we were checked into a hotel for the evening I was loathe to get back on the bike for anything.  Now I don't mind running out again for dinner or other supplies.  It was a big decision to get this new bike, but I don't regret it for a moment.

I don't do a lot of crafting while we are on the road.  I used to carry some small hand work with me, but found that I'm usually too tired at the end of the day (especially when we're on the bikes) that I can only muster the energy to do some reading or watching TV.  So, there hasn't been a lot finished lately.  

I looked at the projects piling up and decided to start working on something else just to get to a 'finish'.  This picture of the Nubble Lighthouse in Maine was a Row-By-Row kit I bought last year.  It will eventually be a piece of a larger, marine themed quilt whose idea is still forming in my head.  Yes, it's not a total FINISH, but this block is done and the design for the rest of the quilt is started and moving forward. 

This block is the first border for Ladies of the Sea.  I worked on this all summer and most of the fall.  I'm happy with it with the exception of the light pink tulips.  I'm hoping with pop more when quilted.  Basically, I'm not much worried about it and will not change it (I think.)

I was feeling restless about not having a completed project for so long, so I put together a pair of socks.  I bought a small skein of black and used the left overs from two other socks to create the color stripes.  I wanted to use up some scraps and practice my color changes.  I did knot the colors together because I don't trust my weaving in the ends to hold everything together.  The knots aren't visible and don't bother me when I'm wearing them, so I may just keep up this practice.




I have been working on hand quilting the iris quilt.  I had the hoop in my sewing room, but found that I only worked on it a few hours a week.  Since I would like to have this completed by the end of the year (an arbitrary deadline) I moved the hoop and stand to the family room and work on it in the evening when we watch TV.  This way I'm getting a few hours a night work done.  I'm not positive that I'll get it done by year's end, but I'll be a whole lot closer than if I had kept it in my sewing room.  And it helps to keep me warm in the evening.

We had a good crop of wild turkeys in the neighborhood this year.  Last week we counted a flock of 26 strutting around.

Happy Thanksgiving!