Spring 2019 UFO Challenge

I did so well on the 2019 Winter UFO challenge on Ravelry, that I am joining again for the spring quarter. I completed 5 UFOs this quarter and have only one more of the 'Grammy quilts' to complete.  However, it may take a little while to complete that last one for a few reasons.  The tension on my Pfaff is a little off, so I will take it in to a shop to get a tune-up.  And, this last quilt will go to my daughter, so the quilting will be more intricate than the others.  That's the privilege of having the quilt maker be your mom.

So, for this Spring UFO Challenge, I will complete the 9th and last of the the Grammy quilts.  The backing is made.  It needs basting, quilting and binding.

The next thing on the list is the guild mystery quilt that I'm hosting.  The last clue will go out April 1st and I'm hoping to see completed quilt tops at the May meeting.  I know at least one member has been keeping pace with the clues because if I am late, she reminminded me.  So far I have all the components completed and need to assemble the top and add final borders.  I would like to have the quilt completed by the May meeting and should be able to do that.

Once the mystery top is completed, I would like to do the quilting on my cat quilt.  The blocks were collected in an Internet block exchange starting in 1993!  I put the top together over a year ago and it's been patiently waiting for the 'Grammy quilts' to get completed.  I'm really looking forward to quilting this one.  It needs a back made, basting, quilting, and binding.

The left overs from the bright baby quilt I completed late last year are hanging around and will be made into another lap or crib sized quilt.  I want to see how the brights look alternating with solid grey diamonds.  I think I have enough cut out to make a good sized quilt.  This is just play.

The stars left over from the guild's last raffle quilt were assembled into a top a few weekends ago at a quilt retreat. The scale of the blocks and the 9-patch blocks looked much better on the bed-sized quilt, but I wasn't going to expand this project.  I'm reasonably pleased with this, but would like it a little larger, so I'm planning a piano-key border to finish the top.

That seems like enough to plan for the next three months.  I have to remember that the weather is getting warmer and I will be spending more time outside and less time in my sewing room.  If I can complete all five of these before the end of June, I'll be thrilled. Wish me luck!

Progress and Completions

I've completed more than I thought I would in the past two months.  That is a good thing.  Winter is still here in full force, but once spring arrives and the weather warms, I will have less time to spend on quilting while I persue other activities.  So, it's good that I'm taking advantage of my quilty productivity while I can.

So, I've completed three more of the 9-patch 'Grammy' quilts.  I really slogged through the quilting on the last one.  My initial goal was to quilt each of the 9-patch quilts differently, experimenting with quilting designs.  But, this last one was done using the same circular pattern as an earlier one.  I was in get-it-done mode and not lets-have-fun-quilting mode.  D is for DONE.  I have two more to do and may baste both of them before I start quilting again.  I'm beginning to see the end of this project and that is good motivation.

The tumbler pieces that I thought I would put together and make a top turned out to be a whole quilt.  I don't have a design wall, so for this, to try to get the diferent pieces sort of evenly spread throughout the quilt, I laid out a row or two on my ironing board and before I sewed them together.  I wanted to try some simple quilting, so this was the excuse to do that.  I have never really liked the look of quilting 1/4" away from the seams, but this quilt seemed right for that.  That's what I did and I really like how it turned out.  I also used a thicker, green thread so the quilting would stand out.  And I found that I really liked that, too.  It was a successful experiment.  This quilt was donated to my guild's comfort quilt project.

The other small project that I spend WAY too much time on last month were the stickers for my new sewing machine.  I love this Pfaff, but I've never been a big fan of the color.  So I figured some stickers would make it a bit more cheery.  My original idea was swirls or flowers.  However, I couldn't find any suitable patterns on-line to use in the vinyl cutter DH has access to,  But, I did find these dragons!  And, with a lot of manipulation and time learning new software, I got the design I liked and DH cut them out for me.  They are not the daisys and swirls I had originally imagined, but I like them anyway.

 I got myself an extension table for the Featherweight.  Once I started using it, I thought I would set up the Pfaff as a quilting machine and the featherwieght for piecing.  But, I only had one table in the sewing room.  That meant moving the machines every time I wanted to do something different, and that just wasn't happening.  It was easier to change feet and settings on the Pfaff than to move the entire machine off the existing table.  So, when I saw the extension table and bought that, I figured I needed a new table to go with it.  Nothing useful was turning up on Craig's list, so we took a trip to Ikea to see what they had.  This table (Pahl) is perfect!  It has adjustable height legs, so you can raise the table as your child grows.  The medium height is a perfect sewing height!  I just got it all together a few days ago and haven't had the chance to use it yet.

 The last project I've played with is this antique sewing puzzle box.  I've had my eye on them for a while and bought this last spring with the idea that I would outfit it for my hand sewing.  It came with none of the originall tools inside, which was what I wanted.  I removed the original liner, sanded it and applied new coats of finish.  Then I glued new velvet to the inside. attached the box, the pin cushion and some elastic to hold the pencils and scissors and have a new, beautiful piece of history to use as my new hand sewing box.  It doesn't hold nearly as much stuff as the last bag I was using, but this brings a smile to my face every time I use it.

The next UFO Challenge

I updated my UFO list the beginning of this year.  The 2017 tabulation listed 33 projects, nine of which I either completed or discarded.  A few of the items on the 2017 list expanded from one to many; the "Do something with Grammy's UFO blocks" became 9 separately listed quilts, five of which are still on the current UFO list.  Other items that made it to the new list were abandoned projects I was either given to me (with my consent) or bought because I liked them and didn't want to see them thrown out.

Of the 33 on the master list, I have set a goal to complete at least 10 of them before the end of the year. But, for this quarter, these are the projects that will get my attention:

Grammy Quilt #5 - This is basted and I have started the machine quilting.

Floral Hexagons - I will call this complete when I get the top put together.  It will then be donated to my guild as a comfrot quilt for someone else to quilt and complete.  There are a fair number of folks in the guild who have long arm machines and are looking for tops for practice.  It will make a good sized donation quilt.

Left over Star Blocks - These blocks were left over from a guild raffle quilt.  They were raffled off and I won them.  This will be a fun little project.  I have no idea right not the number of blocks and how they will be arranged.

Cat Quilt - The top is complete.  It needs basting, quilting and finishing.  I'm looking forward to playing with this, so I may work on this when I get bored with the 9-patch Grammy quilts.

Grammy Quilts 5 through 9 - These are the remaining 9-patch quilts that I want to complete before July.

Scrappy Mystery - This is an in-progress mystery quilt that I am hosting for my guild.  I will be working putting the blocks together and trying to stay one step ahead of the clues I publish.

Maxine Panels - I bid on these panels at a guild auction a few years ago.  I think this will make a good back for another quilt.  This should be a quick, fun top to piece together.

Thanksgiving Table Runner - I guess this is not technically a UFO since I haven't started it yet.  This was a quilt guild holiday gift this year.  I'd like to complete this before Thanksgiving 2019.

Ladies of the Sea - An on-going project, the third border (pattern shown) is the next step.  This will be my evening hand project for the next at least the next few weeks.  I have two outer borders and 4 more ships to complete the applique on this project and hope to finish that work this year.

I guess that's all I'll list for now.  Twelve is more manageable to think about than 34 and I think I can manage to do these 12 things this year.  Wish me luck!

Saying Goodbye to an Old Friend

My sewing machine died.  I brought it to the repair shop earlier this year because the presser foot wasn't holding pressure.  When I picked it up, they said she was getting old and wearing out and that further repairs weren't worth the price.  I was not going to take this information easily.  I looked up repair videos on the net and found that I could replace the brushes in the motor and give it new life.  I was able to make that repair and decided to her it as an exclusively for quilting.  But, a few months later, it just stopped.  I have power to the machine, all the buttons work, but the needle won't move.  It's not the foot pedal (I tried one from a friend's similar machine).  It's some sort of electrical problem that I don't know how to diagnose without schematics.  So, I mourned and went on a search.  Meet my new (to me) machine:  The Pfaff 1471!  She is replacing the Pfaff 1371 that I bought in (approximately) 1984.  I think this machine is vintage 1985 and runs great!  Sewing on this does indeed confirm that my older machine was wearing out.  Fabric feeds much nicer through this new machine and the tension is much more reliable.  And there are twice as many decorative stitches; I'm excited to make some new napkins with some fancy decoration.  So, RIP my old buddy and welcome to my new loyal friend.

These are some of the last pieces completed on the old Pfaff:  

Another of Grammy's UFOs completed. This is the last of the drunkard's path quilts.

And the last one pieced.  The one pictured with the new machine is the first of the 9-patch grammy quilts that I've started quilting.  That makes 3 complete, 1 being quilted and 5 more to quilt.  My goal is still to have all 9 quilts completed by the beginning of July, 2019.  I figure if I can get 1 completed per month, I can meet this goal.

About 6 months ago, a friend told me her daughter was expecting their first grandchild and asked if I might be interested in making a baby quilt for the baby and new parents.  Of course I said yes - I hardly need an excuse to make a quilt.  When I asked her to tell me about her daughter and her likes, she said she loves bright colors and suggested purple, fuscia and turquoise.  I wanted to do something fun and thought diamonds fit that description.  This quilt was way out of my comfort zone because other than the color and shape of the piece, I had no clear vision of what the quilt would look like.  I took the pieces and fabric to a quilt retreat with the goal of having the top completed by the end of the weekend.  With no idea how to start, a friend suggested to start by sewing pieces together.  I sewed larger diamonds of 4 pieces then started putting them on the design wall.  After a few hours and a lot of rearranging, I ended up with this scrappy star, which I love.  I used left-over pieces for the back and a wild Kaffe fabric that was a perfect match.  My friend was thrilled with the results and it was finished just a week after Rosa was born.

My consultant on the quilt was a guild member and friend, Jenny, who often works in bright, cheery fabrics.  She let me raid her stash for additional fabrics and helped me with the lay-out and courage to play with the design.  Once on the design wall, everybody at the retreat assumed the quilt was Jenny's and not mine.  I still have some of the fabric left over and may make a more tame version of the quilt using grey or black with the bold colors.  But, not now.  There are too many other things screaming for my attention.

 Like knitting ...

These socks were supposed to be for me, but my measurements were off and they're a bit too small, so they will be a  stocking stuffers for my daughter.  And this scarf is from some the yarn my friend left me before her move.  I love the color!

 And cross stitch ...

 The cat is the label for the cat quilt I talked about a few posts ago.  The monogram was supposed to be for the pin cushion, but I misread the directions and it's WAY too big.  So, the hummingbird was stitched for a small pin cushion that is part of an antique sewing box that will be a later project.  The bird is less than 2" across.  I'll figure out something to do with the G later.




















And applique ...



I've completed two more Ladies of the Sea blocks.  I have 5 more blocks and 2 border panels to complete the applique.  I think I can have the top done in 2019!
























I've worked on a lot since my last entry.  I NEVER get bored!

Heading Toward the Finish Line

I'm looking ahead to the end of the year and deciding what I want to have completed by then (quilt wise, anyway).  Ravelry, a web site dedicated to all things yarn based, has at least one group of quilters who also knit.  This group is running a UFO support group for the last quarter of the year, and I'm pledging to work on these UFOs.  I may not get them all completed, but this is the list on which I will concentrate for the remainder of the year.

1. Jenny's First Grand Baby Quilt

This is the only one with a deadline.  The baby is due some time in November.  I asked for direction on the color and/or style that would appeal to her daughter, who I have met only once and when she was a child.  She said "think of Escher in royal tones, like purple, fuchsia and turquoise".  Brights are not my thing, so I will be asking the help of my other friend named Jenny who loves those color combinations.  My vision is triangles and Jenny had another suggestion using the designs from the Sochi Olympics.  We are going to a quilt retreat together next week and since she loves playing with pieces on the design wall and I don't, I expect we'll be spending a lot of time working on this together.

2. Grammy's Blocks #3

The next of the 9 quilts from DH's grandmother's legacy.  I got this one basted today and will work on quilting it this week and early next week.  It's a smallish quilt (about 40" x 60") and won't take long to quilt.  I have already completed two of these of a similar style and size.

3. Grammy's Blocks #9

This is the last of the quilt blocks that have not yet been pieced into a top.  I will work on this at the quilt retreat next week and get this last top done.  There will be 6 tops of a similar style using 9-patch blocks DH's grandmother made.  These are destined to be gifts for her 6 great grandchildren.  My plan is to have these completed by July of 2019 in time for a family wedding of one of the great granddaughters.

4.  Grammy Quilt #4

This is top #1 of the 9-patch quilts.  I am planning to have this quilted and bound by the end of the year.

5. Tumbler Quilt

These tumbler patches are a set that I won in a UFO auction some years ago.  It's time to either complete the top of get rid of it.  These will go the the quilt retreat with me where there is a design wall and people who like to play with placement.  I don't know if I can get the top assembled, but I can at least get the design and a good start on piecing it together.

6. Left Over Stars

I was in charge of the group who created a raffle quilt for my guild two years ago.  Members of the quilt were asked to make either a 9" star block or a 9" 9-patch block with supplied fabric.  We had just enough 9-patch blocks, but 16 extra star blocks that didn't make it into the finished design.  We pulled names of those who contributed to the quilt and I won  the remaining blocks.  I want to have these put into a quilt by the end of the year.  I will probably use a similar design as the original raffle quilt, but haven't given it much thought yet.  The raffle quilt can be found here towards the bottom of the post.

Oh, and did I say that there would be more progress on Ladies of the Sea this time?  Yes, but not much.  I think I got 8 leaves sewed onto the next block.  That is the current evening project now that a few other distractions are out of the way.  I'll show those next time.

A Not-So-Old UFO and Other Progress

Back some time ago, there was a group of quilters who worked on hand piecing and applique and created a mailing list (did it start out as a Yahoo group?  I can't remember) that eventually morphed into a Facebook group then fizzled out.  These things happen, but I do miss the chat of those ladies.  But, before we went on to other interests and groups, we made blocks and swapped them with a small subset of the original group.  This was done in 2015 and I was inspired by Linda, who dragged out her blocks over a year ago, to do something with these blocks.  I received 8 blocks from the other members and had intended to make one for myself using the pattern I used to make my submission to the other members.  However, I really like this lay out using only 8 blocks, so 8 blocks it is!  My intention is to have this quilt on my off-white living room couch, and this is a good lap sized quilt.  

I'm not a very practiced knitter.  I have knit one lacy baby blanket over 30 years ago that is long since gone.  I've been itching to try something that is more open-knit (not necessarily a big lace project) and this single skein shawl fit the bill.  This is one of the skeins that I got from a friend who is clearing out her stash of yarns and other crafty supplies in preparation to down-sizing into a smaller home for their retirement.  This skein is one that she spun herself.  This pattern (Lionberry) is one that I started one other time, but got confused and frogged the project.  I didn't follow the pattern exactly because I got lost somewhere towards the end plus I added some extra rows at the end to use as much of the yarn as possible.  I won at yarn chicken!  I had less than a yard of left over yarn after doing one lace repeat one extra time before binding off.  I like shawls that are relatively shallow and

long.  I would have preferred this to be longer and am learning that I probably need to look for patterns that use at least 500 yards of yarn rather than the 325-ish that this used.  I thought that using a lace pattern and slightly larger needles would make that 325 yards stretch further, but I guess it's not lacy enough.  I'm still learning.

I finished the first of the quilts from DH's maternal grandmother's UFO blocks.  I have a the second basted.  They're not large quilts, but there are 9 (or is it 10?) of them, so I'm just trying to work through them between other, more interesting projects.

I've been itching to do some needlepoint lately.  I had a project in mind - a chair seat or something.  Not that I have a chair to put anything on, but I thought it would be a great idea.  I even went as far as to start looking for needlepoint canvases on Ebay, but didn't see anything I liked.  This is a piece that was started by a friend.  She gave me over a dozen boxes of craft supplies and projects cleared out of her stash in preparation to moving to a smaller house for their retirement.  I chose a few projects and some yarn before offering it up to friends, the quilt guild and friends of friends.  This piece is probably 9" square - too small for a chair seat, but like the colors and pattern.  So, I guess it goes into my stash until I find an appropriate use for it.

The next thing I picked up is a small cross stitch project of a Patchwork Cat.  This shouldn't take too long to do.  Mostly I'm procrastinating on starting the next Ladies of the Sea block because I don't really like this block.  I know, I could skip it and do another, but I want to have this block in the finished quilt.  So, I will do this next, after this adorable little cat.

That's it for now.  Next time there will be more progress on Ladies of the Sea!

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 ...