UFO for 2012

I'm out of town for my birthday (tomorrow) so I'm doing this list off the top of my head. I will add the rest of the 12 UFOs when I get home. I have until January 1, right?

My UFO quilts for Judy Laquadara's challenge are:
#1 12 Days of Xmas. This was on my last year's list and I really need to finish it. It's the Nancy Halvorson quilt with her fabrics. I collect 12 days of Xmas stuff so I had to make this quilt. The top is finished and the back is made so all I have to do is quilt it.

#2 Henreitta Whiskers
This was a 2011 online BOM by Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs. Her adorable animal characters  are irresistable and I encourage you to check out her website.

#3 is The Big Easy, a mystery quilt by Linda Ballard I started in 2009. I love this quilt top and all I need to do is quilt it. (Hate to admit this was also in my 2011 UFO list)

#4 would be my Ferris Wheel top. I started this
making these traditional blocks at least 5 years ago with 30s fabrics. The block is pretty intricate and takes a long time to make so I made about 15 of them and put them away. I discovered them a last year, made a bunch more and added this "hankie" border. It's been worth all the time it took and now I need to make a back and quilt it!

#5 Anteitum. This quilt was made in a Linda Ballard mystery retreat in McCloud, CA in June.I actually changed the configuration of the blocks as they were to be set on point with 12" snowball blocks in between. Since I don't like a lot of "empty space" to quilt in I decided to set them better this way and I just love it. Again, top and back are finished all I need to do is quilt it.

 #6 is my Orca Bay Mystery by Bonnie Hunter started just before Thanksgiving! I  haven't even finished all the clues yet but I know I want to finish this quilt ASAP! The pink and green blocks on the scale here are parts of it.

#7 is a project (as of this writing) I haven't started yet: A quilt for my daughter and her wife who are in escrow with their first house and have requested a "black and white and Tiffany Blue" quilt for the back of their couch. I knew this pattern (Happy Hour) wold be perfect for it.

















#8 is another project I hadn't started yet: for my daughter's best friend who's expecting her 3rd baby in February. I made quilts for her first two and she says they cannot go to sleep without their special "binkies". (If I had a quilt for myself with Minkie on the back like I made theirs, I'd probably feel the same way!) I've purchased a Mother Goose panel that's supposed to be made into a book that I plan to cut apart and put pinwheels as sashing. If Judy picks #8 first, I will be happy!                                                   

                                                              

                                                          

                                                                        

                              

By the Skin of My Teeth

Last week was a busy one for me: we had guests 3 of 4 nights and gave a party for 35 people. I was so afraid my Bonnie Hunter Mystery clue #4 was not going to get finished before clue #5 was posted! I'd been so good at completing clues 1-3 by Tuesday of their respective weeks and I was bound and determined not to fall behind. (Besides, I'm absolutely LOVING this process!

Happy to say, I completed all 64 of the 5 1/2" strip squares by Thursday night. Just to be different, I took my photo on our kitchen scale and as you can see, clue #2 (pink) and #4 (green) weigh 13.6 ounces together. Of course, the clue #4 blocks still have the paper on them but it's only tissue-thin yellow pages paper which I plan to pull off by the time this posts on Judy Laquadara's Design Wall Monday.

I'm timing how long it takes me to complete each clue and #4 took me 6 hours and 15 minutes (including taking the paper off the back) bringing the total for all 4 clues to 35 3/4 hours.

As for Clue #5: Since I'm going to be out of town Tuesday through late Thursday, I knew I had to finish this clue by today! And. . . I did it! 5 hours and all 350 are done! I'm also keeping track of the number of pieces are in this quilt. To date, I count 3,392 pieces in mine! Can't wait 'til Friday!

Group Quilts Revealed!

Cooky's quilt

My quilt

Today was the big day! My Calendar Girls group, together 11 years, revealed the quilts from a block exchange we had in July. Every year we decide on a block project, make one for everyone, exchange the blocks mid-year then each go home and make a quilt from them. The theme this year was "North Woods Winter" and we decided to make 8 blocks, 9 1/2". We could make anything with a winter theme but not Christmas (because we've done that a couple of times), applique or pieced. Aren't they all wonderful? It's always so amazing to see what everyone else has put together.

 and Kim's

Here's Sharon's

and Linda's quilt

I'd love to hear what you think!

Orca Bay Clue #3 Progress

Thanks you Judy for giving us Patchwork Times, a great place to post our design walls and chat with quilters from all over the world!

I'm pretty amazed that I'm enjoying Bonnie Hunter's mystery quite as much as I am! After all, asking quilters to make nearly 650 multi-pieced components in the first 3 clues would be daunting to any quilter and I'm simply not used to this type of scrap quilting. BUT I'm absolutely loving this!

I had company this weekend and was so sure I would go completely crazy and not be able to work on clue #3 but things worked out really well--my cousin from South Lake Tahoe visited for 2 days and our plans included 3 craft fairs and a Holiday Home Tour in a spiffy part of Sacramento. And with all the chit-chatting we would do, when would there be time for sewing?! She was due around noon on Friday so I got to work early. I use half-square triangle paper to make my HSTs using 21 different purples and neutrals. I don't have strips on hand and would rather use larger pieces of fabric so this method works better for me. You might say, "but I hate tearing off that paper and cutting off the 'dog ears'" but I have time-saving tricks and if I told you it took me only 4 1/2 hours to make all 350 HSTs, would you think my method was time-consuming? The great thing about it was I was able to include an eager cousin in my process! She LOVED helping me with my 'project' and we tore off paper as we watched holiday movie DVDs. Win-Win!

Yes, by a little over an hour after my cousin left on Sunday morning, I was able to get them ALL finished. (actually, I miscalculated and made 380 HSTs--anyone need a few extra? They're purple!) In that little container in the lower right, I put the tiny dog-ears. Figure Bonnie will have something in mind for them! LOL!!

Next Friday, we're expecting about 50 people for a holiday party. Hope I can squeeze in at least a little sewing on Clue #4 that day so I won't go crazy!

November's UFO and #12

Yes! I DID finish November's UFO. It was our Quilt guild challenge. We needed to use the fabric that I used for the borders and I drew the green fabric too. We could add 3 other fabrics--I used the backs of the fabrics too.

I was inspired by the cover of the January 2011 issue of American Quilter magazine. Each of the pieces of this "mosaic" wall hanging is no larger than 1/2" x 1/2". It was a very tedious project and in the end, the fusible webbing I used started coming off! Couldn't get the little buggers to stick! So. . . I covered the whole thing with black tulle and machine quilted around EACH AND EVERY tiny piece! You'd think I would hate this quilt but I really am proud of myself for sticking with it (LOL!).

My #12 is a Ricky Tims "Cool Kaleidoscope" and it's almost finished!! I'm going to look at everyone else's finished UFOs on Judy's blog!

Started and Finished

Every time I start a small project and finish it quickly, I realize I should just do small projects--then I'll get them FINISHED! I taught a class in Anna Faustino's woven technique last week and was so inspired by the quilts made in the class that I had to go home and make another one! Found this great husky and adapted it to a silhouette. Finished this 20" x 24" wall hanging in a couple of hours.

I need a name for this guy. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I'm also working on Bonnie Hunter's Orca Bay mystery. Took me 10 hours to finish the 224 required QSTs in Clue #1 and now I'm working on Clue #2.
These 3 1/2" square string-pieced blocks are so adorable and they finish very quickly! I've finished 42 of the 72 required and will probably only spend about 4 hours total

Bonnie's idea to use telephone book pages is a good one and I have a slick trick to removing it after the block is sewn:

Give a gentle tug in opposite directions and the paper will split on the seams making removal really easy!

Check out Judy's blog for some other great projects!

I'm IN!!

I've never done a Bonnie Hunter mystery but I've seen so many gorgeous quilts from them I just had to dive in this time. I'm using greens, pinks and purples with neutrals.

My method for QSTs: cut a light and dark 2 1/4" square. Right sides together, sew a scant 1/4" seam down one side then down the opposite (parallel) side. Cut diagonally, corner to corner press open. Try it!

I've made all 224 plus a few more so I'm ready for Clue #2! Check out everyone elses QSTs on Bonnies Blog!