UFO Finish #10 - Preemie Quilts

Ta da!
Here they are! 20 little preemie quilts all ready for some little babies. I had ten tops all finished and the battings cut, and, even some backings cut, last year, and that's as far as I got for a very long time. When I made up my UFO list I decided to add 10 more to the goal for a total of 20 preemie quilts. I finished quilting the last three today so that gives me 20 finished preemie quilts. I like to make at least 20 every year. You can see my last years quilts here.

Our local NICU like for the quilts to be 24" x 24" so that they fit in the incubators nicely; but, check with what your local hospital will want first, if, you are interested in making some. These go to my quilt guild tonight for submission; but, I am going to see if I can deliver them to the hospital with my youngest son since he just loves going to deliver the little quilts.

This is such a worthwhile thing to do! I can't say enough about how much these little quilts mean to the parents of babies who have to stay in the hospital for a while after they are born. My youngest son was in the NICU for only 5 days but those little quilts were beautiful pieces of colour in an otherwise sterile enviornment. If you have some kid's print scraps and are looking for a good home for them; make some preemie quilts for your local hospital with a birthing ward or for your local children's hospital.

Anyways, if I get one more UFO finished I will be 1/3 of the way through my UFO's!! I am actually wokring on hand-quilting a little wall hanging. thetop has been finished for about a year and basted too LOL!

UFO Finish #9 for 2007!

Hi all!

Well here are the long promised pictures of my latest sweatshirt jacket. And, this makes UFO finish #9 for 2007 so far! I have 33 listed UFO's so I am pretty excited by my progress :) Of course all of the big projects are still to come LOL!

This jacket is made from scraps from this quilt here. I had so many extra strip sets left over and it seemed like a shame not to do something with them but they weren't enough to make a quilt or something with.

Here's the back. I was able to put the peices together in such a way that it made a sort of "trip around the world" effect. I was worried that it would look like I have a bulls-eye right on my back but I don't really think so. What do you guys think? I guess I'll know if someone throws a dart at my back or smacks me right in the middle of my back. If that happens I'll know that it looks like a bulls-eye for sure and then maybe I'll decide to change it LOL! :)

I just did this personality type blog thing that I saw on another blog and I was really surprised because it actually really speaks to my character. I don't know if that is goo, or, not; but, it really does LOL!

I'm a Mandarin!

You're an intellectual, and you've worked hard to get where you are now. You're a strong believer in education, and you think many of the world's problems could be solved if people were more informed and more rational. You have no tolerance for sloppy or lazy thinking. It frustrates you when people who are ignorant or dishonest rise to positions of power. You believe that people can make a difference in the world, and you're determined to try.

Talent: 54%
Lifer: 33%
Mandarin: 56%

Take the Talent, Lifer, or Mandarin quiz.

Summer Tote Finished

Hi all!
It's been a bit since I last posted. I've been busy lately. On Friday I taught the second of two classes on my free-form sweatshirt jackets. You can see the sweatshirt jacket method here. Everyone really enjoyed the class and the jackets really look wonderful. I just have to finish hand sewing down my binding and I will be finished mine too :)

This cute little tote bag is the Summer Tote pattern by Lazy Girl Designs. Isn't it cute? I did it out of the new Cho Cho fabrics by Maywood that just came to my LQS. I have received so many comments on it so far that it is very gratifying :) I know this wasn't a UFO but hey I just had to make it. It is such a nice size and it fits under my arm really well. I just love Joan Hawley's patterns. They are very clear and easy to follow and they always turn out really well. I have made a few of her bags and I have always been very pleased. If you haven't made any of her bags yet you should really consider it :)

I am still working on my UFO's. I just need to make one more preemie quilt and I will have all 20 finished and another UFO will be off my list. I'll post a picture of them all when I get them all finished.

Also, please feel free to post comments! I always love hearing from everyone and I find it very inspiring to read what you all think.

UFO #8 Finished!

Hi all!!
Thank you all for your great comments and congratulations about my ribbon at the competition. I really appreciate it. Thanks!

This is a picture of the completed bargello bag and this makes UFO finish #8 for this year so far. I wasn't sure if it would work out but I really think that my failed attempt at a bargello makes a really nice bag. I am also happy to say that this is another project completely out of my stash (even the lining) so that makes me really happy too. Thanks for the encouragement to actually try this project I am happy to get this UFO out of the closet and made into something useful. My winter jacket is green so it won't really match but I think that it will make a nice summer bag.

Prize Basket and UFO Finish #7

Here is a close-up picture of the ribbon and the $300.00 prize basket that I won from the Ontario quilt competition where I came in Reserve Grand Champion. The rosette is very beautiful and very big :) The blue bag is a sewing machine carry bag that nicely fits my Pfaff sewing machine. Pfaff is the sponsor for this event and provided the gift basket. The sewing baset includes a lot of goodies like scissors, a grabbit, a lot of thread, marking tools, a rotary cutter, two books, fusible web, a seam ripper and lots of other things that sewers find useful. I was thrilled just to get the ribbon so the gift basket is a really big surprise.
And here is another silly UFO! This makes my UFO finish of #7 for the year so far. This one was truly silly since I had this bag completely cut out and I just hadn't finished it yet. I just LOVE the fabric! It is so geometric and funky looking. I bought a skirt at a yard sale that was made out of this fabric since I loved the fabric, but, when I got it home and tried it on, it looked absolutely horrible on me! Well, I didn't want to waste the fabric, so, I cut up the skirt and made a pretty hip bag. I seem to be making a bunch of things out of yard sale finds lately LOL!


This is another UFO that made it on to my list. About 5 or 6 years ago I decided to learn how to make bargello quilts without any instructions or help LOL! Well, this not-very-bargelloy-bargello UFO was the result. My next one was much better I should mention :) I think that I am going to use this bargello peice and the co-ordinating black and gold print to make another of these bags. The front will be half bargello and half black. fabric and I think that it might just look pretty neat. If it doesn't work out no big deal since I really don't like the UFO anyways! What do you guys think? Will it look okay?

I Got reserve Grand Champion!!!

I can't believe it! My quilt went to the Ontario Agricultural Society provincial competition and I got Reserve Grand Champion! Or, basically I came in second place :) You can see a picture of the quilt at the Carp fair here. If you want you can see a picture of the 2006 winning quilt here. I am so very thrilled that I hardly know what to think about it. I hardly know what else to write about all this either LOL! My camera is away at the competition with the quilt so I don't have any pictures yet but I'll post some later.

Here is the picture that I promised to post. The ribbon is huge!! I also won a $300.00 gift basket from Pfaff! It is filled with lots of goodies. I'll take a picture of that later too :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

I hope that you are all having a wonderful day celebrating happiness and love for your family and friends. I sent the boys off to school this morning in cream coloured pants and red sweatshirts (the school wanted everyone to wear red, white and pink if possible) loaded down with their valentines to give to their friends. I think that they are going to have a great day today (despite this huge amount of whte fluffy snow that we are getting).

I have good news on my tablerunner! It is completely finished and actually already sent away in the mail! The small wallhanging is still not finished but it is nearly there. So they won't become UFO's after all. Thank you all for your great words and encouragement! It really helped me to get it finished. I just love hearing from everyone in the comments section. Thanks!
Here is what I was working on yesterday. One of my UFO's was to complete 25 preemie quilts. You can see the ones that I did last year here. I had 10 tops finished so I figured what's another 15?? :) These preemie quilts are all ready to go with the batting, backing and top layered. i will then sew around all sides leaving a small opening. Trim away the excess and turn it right sides out and they are ready to whip stitch the opening closed and quilt. I just love making the little quilts. Anyways, here is 15 ready to go. I have some great safari type fabric that I will be able to get a bunch more out of and I have enough left-overs from another UFO to make 2 more quilts out of homespun fabrics. When I get them all finished I will post a picture of them.

I am also still working on my UFO sweatshirt jacket. Don't worry I will post a photo of it soon too. I am teaching a class in it so I can't just rush ahead and finish it and get too far ahead of the class. Sometimes it is hard not to just jump ahead but the preemie quilts are keeping me busy and they are a UFO so what more could I want.

I did this funny blog thing that I saw on Quilting Kim's Blog and I thought that it was pretty cute. We are both blue blogs aparently. I think that this captures my blog pretty well especially since I already picked blue to be the colour of my blog LOL!

Your Blog Should Be Blue

Your blog is a peaceful, calming force in the blogosphere. You tend to avoid conflict - you're more likely to share than rant. From your social causes to cute pet photos, your life is a (mostly) open book.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ahh!! I started 2 new projects!

Oh I was doing so well too!!! But I gave in and I started two new projects. Well, the good news is that they were both out of my stash and out of my scrap heap.

This is some left-over scrap fabric from a store sample quilt I made for my local quilt shop about 4 years ago. These were the left-over bits from this project. It's a small little quilt made from 2" squares and it fits nicely on my kitchen table. It's not my usual colour scheme but I think that it makes a nice little table-topper. Now I just need to quilt it. I am not going to make this WIP into a UFO so I will finish right away.

I taught a class on this tablerunner a couple of weeks ago out of 4 FQ from my stash. When I teach this class I always end up making a runner too. I just need to quilt this one too and I am going to send it off to my Mother for a gift. She lives down in Florida during the winter to escape the cold and I thought that she would need a nice hand-made tablerunner for her house down there.

I have also been working on my latest sweatshirt jacket too which is also a scrap jacket. I will post a picture when I get a little bit further along. I am teaching a two part class on sweatshirt jackets so I can't jump ahead too far since the second class isn't for a couple of weeks.

Urge to Buy Fabric Resisted!

I am so proud of myself today :) I am working on a sweashirt jacket out of scraps from a quilt. Well. I really wanted to add a nice batik for the one front panel. I went to my local quilt shop with a very clear idea in my mind of what I wanted and I didn't find anything that was just perfect so . . . I actually got out of there without buying any fabric and I decided to use up what I had instead! I have some of two of the dark browns left, so, I am very proud of myself for resisting the urge to buy the gorgeous, but not perfect for the project that I am working on, fabric. Remember one of my New Years Resolutions was to finish my UFO's and use my stash as much as possible to do it. So far so good but today was a day of temptation :)

Working on UFO's but adding to the pile

Hi all!
Well I have been working on one of my UFO's. I have some scraps from a quilt. Here is the quilt. It is one of the bee that I belong to Silver Thimbles. Anyways, I had a ton of scraps left-over from this project and I put it on my list of UFO's to do something with them. So I laid them out all over the tables and there were less than I thought that there would be and yet more somehow :) So I thought that I would make a sweatshirt jacket from them. That seems to be a stand-by solution for me :) I teach the first of two classes on free-form sweatshirt jackets on Friday morning so I thought that I would get working on one to do with the class. I have the back, one sleeve and the two fronts all ready I just need to do something for the second sleeve. I am running out of fabric now for the second sleeve so I'll see what I can do about that :). When I get a little bit further on I will post a picture of it.

Thsi weekend we went to Winterlude in Ottawa to look at the ice carving competition and walk along the canal which is also the "World's Largest Skating Rink". It was really spectacular. We got to see the carving competition in the last few hours they had and it was really neat to watch the teams from all over the world carving these amazing and huge statues. We went at night so that we could see all the lights and it was beautiful. Everyone was nervous that the canal wouldn't be open this year because of the warm January we had but this February deep-freeze we've been having has more than made up for that. Brrr! I've included some Wiki links in case you want to see some pictures or get some more information.