Design Wall/UFO Challenge in ONE!

This photo will have to do for my "design wall" because I blew a fuse while sewing on my UFO Challenge #6. It was cold and I turned on the space heater while my iron was on--CHeeze! (This photo was taken in a totally dark room.)!

This is a top I completed in a mystery class last summer. It was supposed to be a Christmas quilt but really didn't look Christmas-y when I got done. I bought 'chili pepper' fabric for borders but didn't like that either. SOOO, I was 'forced' to go out today and buy fabric for a border--right??! You see that little black area under the presser foot? That's a 1" black 1st border before the final border. I needed 'something' to differentiate between the main body of the quilt and the 6" border I plan to put on. When in doubt, use black!

Did I mention how proud of myself I am for starting my #6 UFO at the beginning of the month its due! I'm serious about lightening my UFO stack!

What's on YOUR design wall?

My very first Stash Report

I've never posted a stash report because, frankly, I didn't want to know how much fabric I was buying and using! I like Judy's rules though: don't have to know how much is in your stash, clean slate for the start of the year, etc.

But wouldn't you now, I had to go to the quilt shop today to buy border fabric for the UFO Challenge #6 I signed up for, also on Judy's blog! See, I made this top last summer at a mystery retreat. I wanted it to be a Christmas quilt but it ended up not looking like one. So I bought chili pepper fabric. But I didn't like that (and put it on the back of another quilt!) The stash report below reflects my purchase today for said borders and the amount I'll be using for them . . . after I get my husband to flip the breaker in my sewing room: It's been so cold, I ran the space heater and the iron at the same time and KA-blooee!

Used this week: 1 yard

Used year to date: 1 yard

Added this week: 2 1/4 yards (I don't like pieced borders)

Added year to date: 2 1/4 yards

Hooo Do You Love?

This is a baby quilt for my daughter's best friend's sister's baby (got that?). Hey! I have to quilt and I have over 100 quilts in my house (although some of them are the antique quilts I collect) so I need to have excuses to make them. What better than a baby?

This is a panel kit I purchased while on vacation near Portland Oregon. Holly Hill Quilts in West Linn Oregon is a fabulous quilt shop! We were on our way to the airport to fly home when we stopped here and when my husband, who likes to take a nap in the car while I'm in quilt shops, came in looking for me after about 40 minutes. I took one look at him and said, "You go ahead Dear. I'm going to just stay here. LIVE here. IN this quilt shop".

I bought the kit before we knew the gender of the baby but now we know it's a boy so this fabric with all the adorable little owls on the border, will be perfect. It's backed with orange Minkee.

2011 UFO Challenge

Over at Judy Laquidara's WONderful blog, Patchwork Times, she's created a challenge to the bravest quilters: post 12 UFOs you'd like to finish and work on one a month to see if you can complete 12 in a year. Judy will draw a number on the first of each month and that's the number of the quilt you need to finish. Here is my list:

1. Jelly Roll Xmas Quilt, top completed in 2007

2. 12 Days of Xmas, pattern by Nancy Halvorsen, top completed in 2008

3. Pastel Stars from a Linda Ballard mystery in 2004

4. "Michigan Hideaway", black and jewel-tone top completed in 2006

5. "Big Easy", a yellow, black and quilt top made in 2008

6. "Glory Bee" red, green and white top started in 2009

7. "Twinkle Little Star" a little Xmas quilt started in 2006

8. "September" wall hanging.

9. Brocade Jacket--I assume garments count?

10. Red and black skirt--ditto #9 (I haven't even started this one)

11. VQG Challenge quilt. This is my own quilt guild's challenge; we have 2 fabrics, add can only 2 more making something with the theme "Blooming Fun".

12. Kaleidoscope. Ricky Tims' pattern. This one's pinned, I only need to quilt and bind it.

As you can see, my 'bog down' point is when I have to pin the quilt. Hate that part! So I have a lot of tops. Some of these I really like and want to complete. Others, not so much. They will be donated to one of the many worthy causes in my life.

Good luck to all my fellow Judy Laquidara aficionados!

FINALLY!!!

I can finally show everyone this quilt I've been working on for 6 months! My quilting group "Calendar Girls" selects a block and color-way every December, we make 16 blocks, exchange them in June and 'reveal' our respective quilts in December (yesterday, actually). Since I know some of my quilting buddies read this blog, I had to keep this under wraps because it's a very hush-hush thing every year.

So this is my quilt! We were to make any basket block we wanted in red and white. I came up with about 15 additional blocks because I really wanted a mish-mash of sizes and shapes. This is the 10th year we've been together so I commemorated this fact in the top with paper-pieced lettering.

So what did the others Calendar Girls make? Oh MAN! Every quilt was outstanding! I was surprised that only 5 people chose to add other colors to their quilts. One tea-dyed hers, one added butter yellow stars, one appliqued pink-ish red flowers with green leaves and 2 others added all the colors of the rainbow! The rest were pretty much true to red and white and they were all FANTASTIC!! I'm so lucky to be part of such a tight group, all of whom have become really great friends!

Mended Hearts

A couple of months ago, I told you all about my dear friend Lee who passed away after an 18-year battle with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma at the age of 60. The day before she passed, she called from her hospital bed to "ask me a favor". She wanted me to complete the 2 quilts she'd started for her daughter and her niece. You saw her daughter's, here's the niece's quilt, Mended Hearts, in progress to be finished for Christmas. This is a 'quilt-as-you-go' method, a little different than I'm used to. Once you applique the hearts on to the background, you stitch with different decorative stitches in varying colors then cut some of them in half and 'mend' them together. Then you butt the blocks together to finish the quilt--which is the part I have left to do. I'm sure it will be a touching moment when her husband delivers the finished quilt to her niece.

Miss you, Lee. . .

I Got the Extra Fabric!!!

I'm so happy to report that I was able to get enough of the red fabric I told you about last week to finish the binding on my red and white quilt--woo-hoo!! I called the shop, they still had some, my son picked it up for me and got it to me! Just when you think it's a lost cause, the Universe surprises you! The photo here is not the quilt, just my cute kitty Bobo with another red and white basket quilt I made a few years ago. I will post a photo of the Calendar Girls quilt on Monday, December 14th the day after the group has their 'reveal'.