January UFO Update

I've had a couple of sew days this month at my house and have gotten to work a bit on my January UFO Talkin' Turkey. I am almost done with the last round on the 30 blocks. Then, I will need to make sashing and assemble the blocks and do the borders. Piece of cake! All of the units are done. It is just a matter of sewing and pressing and sewing some more! Last week, I pressed the units.

Last night, I decided to take a break from decluttering and I started attaching the units to the center of the blocks. I'm hoping that I can finish the blocks up in the next few days and get the top assembled by next weekend.

Speaking of decluttering, I have been following the 91-day declutter challenge from Mary Organizes blog. I tried this challenge a few years ago and got hung up in the kitchen. This year, I made great progress in my bedroom and bath and am hung up on the kitchen again. BUT! Next week is the laundry room which isn't much in my house so I am going to keep at the kitchen. My goal is to move all of my sewing/quilting items back upstairs into my studio but in an organized manner. It feels so good to get some things out of the house that I am not using or needing anymore. I've been working on selling things and things are moving out slowly but surely!

And I got the dogs new fleece jackets for the cold weather. Lula likes to wear hers and her tail is wagging non stop when we walk and she has it on. Kinsey, on the other hand, has to be goading into wearing it when I know it's cold enough outside that she needs it.

New Year, New UFO Challenge

Happy late holidays! I spent the week after Christmas with my folks in Florida and it was a nice and relaxing time! Then back to reality and month end at work. I am behind on my book reviews and hope to catch up this week.

I was also late getting my UFOs for the 2020 UFO Challenge together. All of my quilting items are still a mess in the basement, but I was able to unearth enough to put together 12 projects.

1. Aviatrix - carried over from last year
2. Memories of Monet - kit I've had since I worked at Best Friends Quilt Shop that closed many years ago.
3. Judy Martin log cabin - kit I've had cut for many years
4. RWB quilt for Matt - still don't have fabric, but that pattern was picked out a couple of years ago when he moved in for 2 months. Also was a carry over from last year.
5. Tucker University BOM - only a couple of years old and most of the blocks are finished.
6. Literary Lounger - a kit from several years ago
7. Pinwheel Puzzle - Kit since BFQS years
8. Queen of Hearts table runner - a thimbleberries kit so many years old, too
9. Talkin' Turkey - from a Bonnie Hunter class maybe 4 years ago
10. Jellystone - a kit from a few years ago
11. Twinkle - a kit from my current quilt shop so maybe from 2 years ago
12. Jammin' Jelly - a kit cut out last fall

Over the weekend, I had a day to organize my recent finished tops and some of the table runners that I want to get done. I got everything paired up with the backings and made sure I had bindings. I made 2 backs and one binding. The stack in the front is all of that on top of a bag from a customer with her quilt and back in it. In the back are 3 quilts - 2 need binding stitched down and one is a rag quilt that needs snipped. Quite a bit of work to do!

The dogs are exhausted just seeing all the work to be done!

Nothing much to show

I have been working on customer quilts so I don't have anything of my own to show.

I have been quilting 4 Charley Harper quilts for a woman from my old guild to give for Christmas presents. The last quilt is on the frame now. I've done all of them with the tree bark/tree knots design. There is something about the fabric that my machine doesn't care for and the quilting has been taking longer than I like.

I am also almost done with 3 t shirt quilts. A co-worker recommended me to a friend of hers for these quilts for her daughter and granddaughters with her husband's t shirts. I always find it interesting the shirts that people include for the quilts. These had such a wide variety of UK shirts with some Grandpa, Christmas and beer/drinking shirts thrown in.

I'm ready to get these all done and handed back to the owners so that I can start back on something for myself!

Trying again...

I am going to try another come back to the blog. I have been doing a fair amount of sewing this year and sort of keeping up with my 2019 UFO challenge. I have been quilting. I have been teaching classes with my partner in crime, Tina, and we have been having fun with those.

The last post on the blog was in April 2018 and there have been some big changes since then.

• The kitchen renovation is mostly completed as well as the rest of the condo upgrades. I'm working on getting more done and will plan on a big push in the new year.
• My brother bought a house and moved out. I am still working on putting things back to normal here. My sewing area is still set up in the family room and the master bedroom/sewing studio is almost empty. After the beginning of the year.....

Max got very sick and I lost him in June 2018. It was one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make.

The next hard decision was that Lula needed a companion. For a while, I wish that I had waited a bit longer and I wish that I had tried to find a slightly older dog, but we survived. Somehow.

So now, I can introduce Kinsey Milkbone, PI. She was named after the main character in the Sue Grafton Alphabet series.

It took a while, but she is comfortable here and follows Lula around and they play well together.

She even likes the quilts!

I have also finished quite a few UFOs this year and projects from my UFO challenge. In order, these are the 2008 (or 2009, but does that really matter?) Thimbleberries block of the month, the 2009 Designer Mystery block of the month from the Fat Quarter Shop, and a blue and cream Wagon Wheel quilt block quilt that I made for a charity for my aunt.

My other reason to try and start blogging again is to start doing some book reviews for new books and the recommendation is to have an active blog. So here goes!

Quilt #34 - Laura Beth's Brights

The next quilt I finished was this brights quilt for Laura Beth. I got another bright variegated King Tut thread for the top and used the Bountiful Feathers panto and just loved to see how it quilted out! The colors were all so vibrant and the feathers were perfect on this quilt!







See what I mean?

I used the bright green Bottom Line for the bobbin and it looked awesome on the polka dot backing!



And compared to the last quilt, the quilting was a breeze!

Quilt #33 - Laura Beth's purple and teal birds

I took the month of August off from quilting because work was getting so hectic and I had little energy once I got home.

When I started back to quilting, I worked on this quilt with the Baptist Swirl panto and had some tension issues. I got 5 rows quilted and just wasn't happy with how it was turning out so I took the machine in for service and started ripping out what had already been done.

I used a variegated King Tut thread in the top and a bright green Bottom Line in the bottom and I just wasn't having great results - lots of shredding and breaking of the top thread. So I doused it with Sewer's Aid. It's the first time I have had to use that on thread in the Avante, but once I did, the quilting went much smoother and I was able to get this quilt finished.





I have quilted other quilts since this one and I am happy to report that there are no more machine issues!

Quilt #32 - Jaclyn's hexie quilt

This is the first of three quilts that I quilted for Jaclyn this summer/fall. It is an antique quilt with hexagons and it was hand pieced. I quilted it with an off white So Fine in the top and silver Bottom Line in the bobbin and the Baptist Swirl panto.







There were a few stains and tears on the quilt, but Jaclyn knows how to fix them and is really going to enjoy this quilt!

Quilt #31 - Jennifer's pink baby

The next quilt that I quilted over the summer was this pink baby quilt for Jennifer. I used the Simplicity panto and a red and pink variegated King Tut thread.






I guess the quilting doesn't show up too well in the pictures I took.



But the thread matches nicely and Jennifer was able to gift the quilt to a co-worker for her new baby. :)

Quilt #30 - Laurel's Police quilt

In July, I quilted this quilt for Laurel. She gave it to her brother at his retirement party.



I quilted it with the Dazzle panto and white So Fine in the top.



 

Quilts #28 - 29 - Wilma's red, white and blue

Wilma brought me a large red, white and blue quilt with a couple of shams to quilt for her. I quilted everything with stars and swirl panto







And the shams. I loaded them right next to each other and quilted them all at once.





Everything turned out wonderfully and Wilma was very happy!

Quilt #27 - Christy's T shirt quilt

Early in the summer, it was the season of T-shirt quilts and I quilted quite a few. This one was for Christy who is in my Guild. Of course, I was a little lax in photographing some quilts right around this time. sigh....

I quilted a stipple with a medium gray So Fine in the top and gray Bottom Line in the bobbin.

Design Wall Monday - 7/7 - Quilt #28 - Snowflakes

I'm still catching up on the quilts I quilted during the month when I was blogging. :)

This quilt was quilted for Brenda and is the same pattern that I quilted last year for Jen in CT. Snowflakes!



I used a light tan Glide thread in the top and a matching Bottom Line in the bobbin. When I quilted Jen's, I remember having to fuss with the tension quite a bit, but I didn't have as many issues on Brenda's quilt. In spite of the panto, it was a breeze to quilt!









The quilting turned out well and the pattern is very lovely on the quilt.

Quilt #27 - Lynn's t shirt quilt

Last month, I finished this quilt for Lynn.



I like using a medium gray thread in the top because it blends well. I think I used a gray in the bobbin, too.

And this was my favorite shirt in the quilt.



I had to piece the backing for Lynn. A red and white chevron from JoAnn's. It was a nice fabric! JoAnn's has come a long way with their fabric in the last couple of years.

Quilt #26 - Star Fall

Back in May, I quilted this quilt for Brooke. It's Star Fall and it was gorgeous before my needle touched it!



I quilted it with the Star Dance panto and I used a silver Glide thread in the top and silver Bottom Line in the bobbin.



In person, the thread shimmers and shines!



Brooke is delighted with the quilting and that is all that matters! :)