UFO BLOCKS FIND

I have spent a good deal of time organizing my fabric stash over the last couple of weeks.  A favorite fabric store going out of business, and a great deal of shopping to assist them with selling off their stock caused a bit of a fabric traffic jam in my quilt studio.  I also unearthed a number of unfinished projects that have made me see that my UFO's are piling up and something should be done about them.  

I have nine of these babies and they are large at 22.5 inches square.

That means a fairly good size quilt of 66 inches square.  Of course I have not saved any of the fabrics they were made from and lattice will have to be added as joining them is a bit of a problem with seams all pressed the same way.  That will increase their size.  I still am in a bit of an issue with to use Kona Snow like the white fabric I used in the blocks or come up with something a bit more exciting.  

And of course that first set of blocks was not the only set of blocks I found.  I'm not so fond of these and I think they will be going to my guild's charity project.  They are smaller at 16 inches square and there are 16 of them.  Again a good size quilt with lattice as well.
I guess I should get to these and try to get them off my mind and out of the house.

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PILLOW CASES

My quilting guild every year in March has a National Quilt Day event.  We all gather to make charity quilts that the guild gives away every year in October to various worthy agencies.  One of the things required by each attendee is that they first make or bring with them a pillow case, which is given to a children's cancer hospital in our area.  Last year 170 pillow cases were given the the hospital.  
I prefer to bring mine completed and usually make two.  I know it was a bit early to think about that, but I don't like to leave these things to the last minute.  

So often the pillow cases for some reason seem to have more of a girly theme so I tried really hard this year to make mine more boyish.  

I didn't quite finish this second one.  A phone call with my oldest daughter that lives in another state took priority over sewing in the afternoon.  I should manage to get it finished up later today.  They are so much fun I might decided to make a third.  I have a plentiful children's stash so whipping up another sounds like a fun afternoon activity. 

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PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Last year from January through December 2017 I participated in a Block of the Month with the Fat Quarter Shop.  Each month we made 6 blocks in a particular pattern.  I chose to do mine all in red and white.  So I ended up with 72 blocks that were 5.5 inches unfinished.
This past week or so I decided to at least begin thinking about getting them together into a quilt top.  Earlier in that thought process I also decided to incorporate some printed red work blocks that had been hanging around in my stash for ages.

After much figuring I finally worked out how to get the 7.5 inch red work blocks into a row with the 5.5 blocks, complicated by the fact that the red work blocks will only be in every other row.  I also needed to get a lattice worked in between them as well.  Lots of graft paper drawing and crossing outs, but I finally got it figured out to my satisfaction.  

And here we are 4 rows done.  I have 10 rows in mind, but given the 48 inch width of the top I may end up only making 9 rows for the length.  Not sure if I will add borders yet.  I'm pretty pleased with it so far.  So, will just have to see where this goes to finish it off. 

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ANTHOLOGIE #8

Another week to add to my Anthologie quilt.  This one appliqué block is an easy one, but such fun to make.  

This looked like a good start.  Now just another three petal sets.  

I carefully laid out my six sets of petals.  They were all measured out on the proper length of fabric to start and end evenly.  However I came up short on the top even after all that planning and measuring.  I really liked them and did not want to start over.  Who says I can't add another two petals, not me.  That is exactly what I did.  Instead of twelve petals we now have fourteen.  I'm off to appliqué them down.  Not sure if I will use a blanket stitch or small zig-zag in matching thread, or a hem stitch in invisible thread.  I'm thinking on it.

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INDY FOLK

Some time ago I purchased a fat quarter pack of Indy Folk by Pat Brovo.  I started the blocks and eventually finished enough of them to make a 46 by 54 inch throw quilt.  

I loved the blocks and got the 56 blocks done in record time.  However, once sewn together I just wasn't very crazy about them.  I put four rows together and stopped.  

They just weren't very exciting.  They were left hanging on the closet door for several months.  Over the weekend I decided I would work to finish at least one of my UFO's and this was my choice. I figured I'd finish the top up and donate it to my charity group. 

 So I added the last four rows and decided I really did like it after all.  In fact I know exactly where it will be used.  It is to become my new evening lap quilt.   

This beauty is my current  lap quilt for snuggling up in the evenings with our Yorkie.  It currently should be considered a rag not a quilt.  I have had it for many years and it came to me pretty worn and I have added to its demise.  Well over 15 years ago I was visiting a friend and my husband called me with the news that at a garage sale he had purchased me four antique quilts and a maple quilt stand for $10.00.  Oh goodness, I thought really what a prize!  It turned out that the stand was beautiful and three of the quilts were indeed antiques in fact one had 1929 embroidered on it.  They were absolutely in perfect condition.  Then there was this poor little worn baby quilt.  For some reason is just had some sort of charm about it and I have used it since as my evening lap quilt.  Now with many washings it is finally in its last days.  Well, our poodle doesn't think so, she still gets up in my chair every day and snuggles in it.  I guess it will be going into her dog bed, and the Yorkie and I get a new pretty lap quilt.

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NEW YEAR'S RESOLTIONS

I don't usually make New Year's resolution.  Mostly because I don't keep them for very long.  I can't blame that on the last two days of this project.  

Beverly's Fabric, my go to quilt store is closing.  I read it in the newspaper, and they had all their fabrics 30% off.  Now, I know that discount will increase, as they clear their stock, but it will be picked over and I will not get the few items I want.  Few is a relatively small explanation for what I actually purchased.  

However, that is not the problem it caused me.  Yes, I did purchase more than a FEW fabrics.  The issue became where to put my fabric purchases.  I am busting at the seams.  

I have alway folded my fabric yardage 8 inches then folded in half to store it.  I usually buy at least one yard and often three and that is not the 10 to 30 fabric plus fat quarter lines I purchase.  Well, 8 inches actually didn't really work in my storage areas.  So yes, I dumped shelf after shelf and refolded it in 6 inches and folded it in half to store. 

This it just a tiny bit of the mess I started with.  Needless to say on top of everything I had broken up and switched fabric lines around a lot.  It was a mess.   

As you can see here it just a small bit of the dumping zone to refold fabric, and hopefully organize fabric lines together.  

 It did take two days of hours and hours to try to make some sense of this mess.  

And here is the improved storage system.  I did discovered one interesting thing.  I have a TON of fabric, these pictures are only about a 10th of what I have in other areas of my quilt studio. I have no idea how I will ever use it all, and what ever was I thinking.  Does that bother me, no not one tiny little bit.  Does that mean I will no long buy fabric, probably not, but my favorite fabric store going out of business is going to put a cramp in my style.  The nearest other quilt store is a half hour drive away, and they don't carry my favorite fabric choices.  That said I guess I am doomed to try to make some headway with what I have although on line purchases are always at hand.  

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APTHOLOGIE #6 AND #7

Despite working more than my regular weekly schedule this past week and more days coming up this week I did manage to finish up a couple things.

The first of two nine patches, easy and fast.

And the second.  I love being able to fussy cut some of these pieces.

And another block.  Such a fun place to again do some fussy cutting to show off some fun different fabrics.  

This is not my layout it came off the directions from BariJ Designs, but I have been able to lay out my blocks on the guest bed.  I would take a photo of mine, but hard to see my blocks and the open spaces on my quilted bedcover.  They sort of clash.  However, I have been able to accomplish the project this far.

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DAISY BLUE

I signed up for a 2018 BOM in the fall with Esther Aliu.  In just the last day or so the 2018 projects were ready for downloading.  She is offering three appliqué projects with another two coming.  You can make one, two, or all of them.  I choose Daisy Blue.  If you have never seen Esther's projects or her blog you are missing a wonderful treat.  She also offers other free projects throughout the year, and her blog is a great inspiration.  You can link into her blog above.    

This project is one of the easier of the three available now.  I like appliqué and have done some hand and machine projects, but I am not an expert.  I figured to start with this piece and see where it goes.  

Of course a new project often requires a shopping trip.  So off I went yesterday to select what was needed to start this adventure.  
I was lucky as the fabric store was having a 25% off on all their fabrics.  Don't you just love it when that happens?

Now I did run into a rather odd problem.  I downloaded all the directions and appliqué sheets to my desktop, printed them out and Adobe printing cut off the bottoms of the sheets.  I taped, reprinted, taped some more and did a bit of fuming over the problem.  Some of the joining of the appliqués were cut off.  This was not working.  I finally went on Esther's Blog and printed them off her site, which prints them on my computer/printer format not Adobe.  I did end up using 8 by 14 inch paper, but the problem was solved.  

After all that fusing around with printer problems I only had time to trace and fuse a couple sections of the appliqués.  So this coming week I will have to get busy and see about getting more started.  

Crazy Mom Quilts
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Busy Hands Quilts
Design Wall Monday