Twister Table Toppers

Hi all!

Are you ready for Christmas yet?  Not me!  LOL

These are two Christmas table toppers that I made for incentive draws for my fitness classes.  Every time they cam to class in the month of December they got their name in a draw to win one of these.

They are from the Twister pattern by Designs to Share with You.  They work up from 4 fat quarters plus backing and binding so they work up from a fairly small amount of fabric which is nice.

They are two slightly different versions of the same pattern.  the only thing that I would change is the binding.  For my next one I might consider doing the inside out method so that a binding isn't necessary.  The binding certainly looks nice yes; but, all those inside and outside corners WOW!!  If you're not good at corners on binding you will be after you finish this project lol!

I hope that you can see the quilting.  I machine quilted them in a feather that radiates out from the center into each point using a gold rayon thread.  I love the way that it looks :)

Rug Hooking Frame Cover and 2" Squares Project

Hi all! I got this months issue of Rug Hooking Magazine and they had a pattern in it for a gripper frame cover that you could make to suit your particular gripper frame. I really liked the idea of it so I made it up yesterday using some blue tapestry fabric that i had lying around. I quite like the way that it turned out. At least those shar grippers are covered now :)

Now I just need to make an edge cover for my frame. I really like the ones that you can get made out of polar fleece but I'm sorry I refuse to pay $50.00 to buy one! LOL.

This is my latest 2" squares "leaders and enders" project. I saw this one the cover of a block somewhere and really liked it as an easy pattern to use up my 2" squares. I didn't actually buy the book b/c the pattern was pretty easy to figure out without even opening the cover. Here is a link to the method that I use for my 2" squares. I used the same approach for doing the white units as well. It's a nice way to use up fabric and make something while you're working on something else. I would never be able to sew this many 2" squares together all at once but to do one at a time is great!

What do you all think?

Another Finished UFO

I finished another UFO today! Label, hanging sleeve and binding all are finished! I think that this is about #24 but I have lost count now.

My original plan for this was to make a whole bunch of these blocks and make an under-water sweatshirt jacket. The blues in this quilt ended up looking more like ice and less like water though so these 12 blocks sat in a bag in my UFO area for a couple years. I pulled them out a while ago and realized that the reason that I had never finished the jacket is because the blues were just completely wrong for me and what I wanted.

So I decided that maybe I could make a baby quilt from these blocks. So I put the quilt together and spray basted a blue flannel on to the back. Then it sat there for another couple weeks. Then I realized that this really wasn't a baby quilt LOL! So I replaced the backing with a blue batik fabric that I had in my stash and quilted it free-form with a variegated blue thread top and bobbin.

Now that it is quilted I actually really like it! I was never all that in love with this quilt; but, now I think that it is pretty cool. I am extremely pleased with the effect that the quilting has on this quilt and I had a really fun time quilting it. Sometimes UFO's can surprise you and this time this one really did :)

Yet Another Baby Quilt! I Am on a Roll!

Yey! I finished turning the binding to the back on this baby quilt last night while we watched a movie!

I know, I know this is yet another 4-patch 1-patch baby quilt but I just love that pattern! This is the absolute last of the baby bali fabrics that I bought a few years ago. I bought about 1 meter of each of the two baby bali's that my LQS had in and I wish now that I had purchased about 3 meters of each as they are sooooo wonderful! The colours can suit a boy or a girl, although this quilt is going to a girl, and, because they are batiks they are wonderful to work with and press like a dream! I backed this quilt in a mottled yellow flannel fabric to be nice and cuddly. I would have made it longer like the baby quilt in my previous blog post; but, like I said, I honestly don't have anymore of the batiks left! LOL! It is still about 36" square however.

Now to peel off the baby fabric that I had put on another UFO and replace it with something less babyish so that it can be used as a table-topper. I was going to use a UFO as a baby quilt but it really isn't very babyish. It could be used as a baby quilt but I think that if I put something more genaric on the back it may be more appealing. I'll post a picture of it tomorrow maybe.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Another Baby Quilt

I finally finished this baby quilt! It is a gift for friend's of ours that just had a baby girl. The pink fabric has little stick figure surfers on it which is perfect for them since they met in California and love to surf! I could not believe it when I saw this fabric lol!

Once again I have used my favorite four-patch one-patch baby quilt pattern but i just love it so much! It shows off the fabric really nicely, it works up quickly and it always looks good. With baby quilts I think that a lot of the times simple is better.

Now to finish the other baby quilt!!!

Whole Cloth Jacket Finished!

I finally finished my whole cloth jacket!!  All that I had to do was put the binding and cuffs on but I just wasn't motivated to do it before now.  Completely ridiculous that it took me that long to do it!  This jacket has been sitting in my to do pile since the spring just waiting for those finishing touches.  Now it is at my LQS and on display to advertise my sweat shirt jacket class.  Nothing like a deadline to get you moving!

I actually think that I work much better with a deadline to be honest.  I get things done when they need to be done and don't make excuses for not working on it.  If I don't have a deadline I can start other things or play with something else.  Not good!  UFO's bother me!  I feel like I shouldn't start anything else until I finish the projects that I have already started and yet a lot of times I need a deadline to do it.  Now isn't that a conundrum!  

Fiberfest Weekend and Rug Update

Hi all! I am back from Fiberfest and exhausted! What a great time I had! Some women from the Olde Forge Rug Hooking Guild were with me in the morning and the ladies from the Women Matters group were there in the afternoon. What a great group of women it was an absolute pleasure to meet you all. Here is a picture of their wonderful rug! I can honestly say that this picture doesn't do the rug any justice at all! it truly is a wonderful rug! A lot of people were amazed by the colours and the beauty of this rug.



I made a bit of progress sitting and hooking this weekend but not as much as you'd think from spending a whole weekend there! Ah well! Slowly my circles are getting completed :) We did a lot of talking about rug hooking and showing people how to hook as well as guiding people through pulling their first loops. What fun it was to see people get "hooked!" Alot of people had never seen rug hooking before and they were amazed at the beauty of the rugs and the diversity and colours. Lots of people loved my circles and some didn't know what to think of them I think LOL!

Dulcy asked about some of the smaller rugs in my last post. The primitve house is actually a kit that I purchased at a second-hand store a few years ago for $5!! It is actually a kit from Hooked on Rugs and they still have the kit here. Most of the other small rugs are kits by Loretta Moore the woman that I learned to rug hook from. SHe makes wonderful little kits that are really fun and cheerful. Let me know if you need more information on her and I will look it up.

I hope that you've enjoyed seeing the display!

Rug Hooking demo at Fiberfest this Weekend

Hi all!! This weekend I will be demonstrating rug hooking at Fiberfest in Almonte. If you are in the area this is a great little show! It is the first Canadian destination for the 2008 Hoffman challenge show (which looks wonderful by the way!). And, there will be displays of many types of textile arts including; quilting, doll-making, spinning, weaving, knitting, wearable art, and rug hooking.
This is a picture of the display that I have put up so far anyways. I will be adding to it tomorrow when I go back, in the morning, but, this is most of it anyways. I set all this up myself so it took a lot longer than I thought that it would have taken. Thank goodness I went in the morning!!

I will be bringing my gripper frame with me and strip cutter and sitting and hooking with a friend. A few people should be coming over the weekend to help out. We will also have a Q-Snap with some burlap in it for people to try hooking if they want. It's always good to get people to pull those first few loops and get them "hooked!" I think that it will be great to show people how the fabric is cut and then hooked into patterns but also that you can use old clothing or hand-dyed wool if you like.

So what do you think of it so far? I will take some more pictures tomorrow :)

Fiberfest the weekend of September 6th and 7th in Almonte, ON

Hi all! If you are in the Ottawa area the weekend of September 6th and 7th I hope that you will check out Fiberfest in Almonte, ON. There will be lots of various displays including the Hoffman Challenge quilts, a quilt show, vendors and demonstrations. I will be helping out with the rug hooking demonstrations this weekend. It will just be an informal hook-in with some of our rugs on display to promote rug hooking to the public. Hopefully it will generate some intrest in the art and show people what traditional rug hooking is as opposed to latch-hooking.

I was contacted by a very nice woman from the Gananoque area. She and her fellow hookers are making a wonderful rug to raise money for the women of the Congo. A few of them will be bringing thier wonderful rug to display at our Fiberfest booth on Sunday afternoon and to join in our hook-in for a couple of hours. I think that the rug looks absolutely stunning and I can't wait to see it in person! If you would like to check out the rug and the blog these ladies started please check out Women Matters Rug Art web site. The colours in this rug are rick and wonderful.

Some links!

Hi all! Summer has finally started to be a bit nicer here for us! We had a few days finally without rain and it actually feels like a treat!

I thought that I would post a couple links for everyone if you are interested in a couple hooking techniques.

Laurie's Hooking Tips and Tricks

Gene Shepherd's Rug Hooking Web site has some wonderful information on it and even a free video for you to watch.

Just a short post but I thought that these link might just be useful to some of you :)

Rug Hooking

Dulcy asked for some progress on the rug hooked stool cover I have been working on so I thought that I would share. I have been working on this for a while now but to be honest I haven't touched it since June LOL! It just seems to be too hot to be working with wool right now. I used Gene Shepherds's technique for making the circles that he outlines in the Rug Hooker's Bible and in his DVD's. When I brought this to the rug hookers guild everyone was amazed that the circles were actually round. I had no idea when I started this that circles were actually apparently hard :)


We went to the Museum of Civilzation today in Hull and they had a wonderful exhibit on Quebec Folk Art. And, what do you think that they had but some hooked rugs! It was wonderful to see them! So, I thought that I would share a couple of pictures. If you can get to the museum to see the exhibit it is really wonderful! The odd thing was though that there weren't any quilts! I love the colours in these rugs! They are so colourful and vibrant and the whimsy in these rugs is just amazing.



These two rugs are more pictorial and really show a scene from life. I like how the words are incorporated right into the rugs. You can see how the rugs are displayed right in with the other peices of folk art. There was carving, painting, mosaics, hooked rugs, drawing etc. It was a very diverse display. They also had a nice picture of a woman pulling some loops which I liked.

I hope that you enjoyed the pictures and I think that the stool cover is coming along fine! Slow but fine :)

Wedding Quilt with Curved Piecing

Hi all! As promised here is a couple of pictures of the quilt that i just completed for a friends wedding in June. this was a completely last minute finish but I still think that it turned out nicely :) I was turning the binding to the back on the plane and in the hotel a few hours before the wedding. It is a free-form curved piecing pattern called Eureka by Maple Island Quilts by Debbie Bowles. I just loved using batiks in this quilt. The batiks made the piecing really easy and the IDT on my Pfaff sewing machine made the curves come together without using even one pin. Amazing :) Sorry you'll have to look at the picture sideways for now I will change it in a bit LOL!

Here is a close-up of the quilting. I used a gold rayon thread in the center with my free-form meander that I like to do in the center and two different colors of purple rayon thread in the boarder. I quilted the boarder using a double stitch flame feather to add to the funky effect of it. The backing was also a batik wide back that my LQS had and I loved the effect of having batik on the top and the backing.

I hope that they like the quilt.

A new Baby Quilt

I finished this baby quilt a while ago and i am sorry but I am just uploading it now :) Sorry everyone it has been a while since my last blog update! I actually have not been quilting all that much. It is summer time and sitting behind a sewing machine is just not all that appealing to me now *shock* lol! However I do have this wonderful little baby quilt that was delivered to it's owner a few weeks ago. The nursery has a jungel theme to it so when I found this great red jungle print I just had to use it! I love that juicy green first boarder print! I think that it makes the entire quilt. I know that I keep using the 4-patch one-patch pattern over and over but I really like it a lot! It show cases the fabric wonderfully and always looks nice. I have another quilt to put up tomorrow that I did for a wedding gift.

Rug Progress and Another Jacket

Well I have been working on the cover for my stool and I think that I have made pretty good progress on it. This took the better part of Sunday to complete LOL! There are all different cuts in this rug. There is everything from a 4 to an 8 cut. I should mention that this is linen burlap for the backing.

Doing this stool cover I have also figured out that I actually really like hooking these multi-coloured, anything goes circles! i love being able to use the colours that I want without imposing any rules about them. I think that I might just do my hearth rug (another rug that I am planning) in circles. Actually I was thinking of putting a game board in the middle and I think that circles on the edges would look really nice. What do you guys think?
I taught the sweatshirt jacket class again yesterday and this is my jacket so far! This is one fabric used on the whole jacket and I really like the effect. I still need to take the jacket in under the arms and over cast the edges but other than that it is finished. I have a nice light gold fabric that I am going to use to o the binding and the cuffs. It really sets off the cranes in the jacket. The ladies were all really pleased with the course and love their jackets so I am very pleased as well. So many jackets to make so little time LOL!

Starting to rug hook the stool cover today

Hi all! I finally decided to take the plunge and start to rug hook the stool cover today. I decided to do a simple cat's paw pattern using some of my scraps. I think that I will so a black background behind the circles. Eventually there will be more circles and it will look something like the cat's paw rug this on Gene Shepherd's site. Also if you are interested in rug hooking blogs Gene's is great. Here's a link. I also found a great video about rug hooking on YouTube that I wanted to share with you all. I have been waiting for someone to upload a video about rug hooking on YouTube for ever! Since I am not a rug hooking teacher I really didn't want to up load anything. This is the MS Rug Hooking Guild tutorial. And here is another great link that shows the rug hookers of Mexico. I'm happy that people are finally getting some videos out there for people to see.

Rug Hooking Sunflowers

I have finally started to rug hook the sun flowers from the rug that I started ages ago. I have never rug hooked flowers before so I have been a bit stalled to start this rug. I decided that since I went to the rug hooking guild yesterday that I would plunge in no matter what :) Well, I ended up pulling almost 90% of what I hooked and changing it but hey! I still don't know. What do you guys think? I've never done any type of shading before so I'm a little bit stumped! With quilting, I would know that if I didn't get the shade or the effect that I wanted, with the appliqué, that, I could thread paint it, or, just plain paint it. With rug hooking I don't have that experience yet so I am trying to get shading with a #5 cut because I don't want to do a fine cut on a rug that I want to put on the floor. I am a bit frustrated and feeling a bit over my head here; and, to be honest, I love it! I love feeling like the field is completely open and like the whole rug hooking world is my oyster :) i have a ton of mistakes to make and a ton to learn and it makes me really happy to be starting a whole new (well, new to me) thing.

Please tell me what you all think of my rug so far. Is the shading just whacked or is it ok?

Look what I bought and found!

Hi all!
I just had to share what i bought and found today. I bought this little stool today at a store for a few bucks because I have been wanting to recover a stool with a rug hooked cover like on this page. You may have to wait to see some of the photos but they are worth it :) this stool is in a bad enough condition that I don't feel bad about taking off the cover and replacing it with something that I make. If it doesn't work out then I won't feel bad about it. The legs are metal so some type of gold would be nice. I see some type of gold and green and maybe make it look funky but oriental and old at the same time. What do you guys think? I think this stool has some very great promise.

You can see my oldest dog Zen in the picture along with Chi's paw. Zen is now 14 and starting to show his age but he is still a happy active old dog and we love him.
This jar I found in this state, beside the grocery carts in the grocery store parking lot. I picked it up, originally, to get it out of the parking lot if it was broken; but, I soon saw that it was completely intact! Both the lid and the jar look great but they are dirty. I can't believe that someone would throw the jar away, with the shopping carts, when it wasn't broken or cracked or anything. I have no idea what I will do with it but it is a nice jar, with a lid, that could do something very useful in it's future :) What do you all think? Is this jar screaming out for some purpose?

Stitch and Flip Jacket Finished

I finally finished turning the binding on my jacket today! Yey!! Just in time for the quilt guild tonight. I am really pleased with the way that this jacket has turned out. I love all the bright colours, and, I love the decorative stitching in gold rayon thread on the jacket. You can see the one embroidery, that I decided to put on the jacket, on the left sleeve. It is my "sunshower" sun that I like to put on some of the work that I do.

This was a fun method that used up a lot of bits from my batik stash but I will say that my sewing room was a real mess while I was piecing this jacket. There was no sense clearing it away since I would just have to get everything back out again to do the next section. I thought that this would use up a lot of fabric but it didn't make a dent in my stash!

This is the back of my jacket. Doing a piece this large (the back) was challenging, but, I developed a system that allowed me to appliqué some of the pieces down so that they wouldn't get overly big. You can see the two appliqués along the right side of the jacket. I think that doing a jacket like this in 1930's prints might be really nice too. It would also look nice it the jacket was made up of individual blocks that were crazy patched then laid over the jacket instead of having one large crazy patch.

Rearranging Quilts

I decided to put some new quilts on the wall in my sewing studio. I am trying to decide if I want to try and sell a couple of quilts so I thought that I would put, the one on the left, up on the wall to see if it grows on me :) Well, putting these two quilts up in the corner above the gas fireplace has completely transformed this corner! I actually like the two quilts together. The quilt on the right is called "Sue's Favourite Blocks" I designed it as a Block of the Month (BOM) for my local quilt guild. I designed this quilt so that people would learn a new skill or unit each month. I wanted to make it so that if people made a block for the guild draw and a block for themselves they will have a nice wall quilt for themselves. The project went over really well and people liked doing a sort of group project.

As a side not I am completely determined to redo my quilting room this summer. I think that I will paint the walls a light tan or cream and put in berber carpet. I like carpet in this room because I like to sit on the floor in this room. It will be A LOT of work just to take all he "stuff" out of this room but I think that it will be worth it in the end.

Baby Quilt Finished

Well, I finished another baby quilt and it is delivered to the woman who ordered it from me! She is really happy with it so that is always really rewarding. Even though they picked out the fabrics and the pattern themselves I couldn't help but be a bit worried that they wouldn't like it. I always get like that :) every time I give a quilt as a gift I worry that they won't like it.

Do we all worry that our work will be appreciated and liked? Probably. It's silly though.


I have another baby quilt to make for two of our friends who are due in May and I had a bit of a brainwave today about it. I think that I will do another 4-patch 1-patch quilt using the yellow and white patches and the blue batik bears as the feature fabric. You can see the border fabric with corner-stones but I am not sure what to do for the first border. I have three different fabrics in there. I like the pink/purple fabric or the green the best I think. We are not sure about the sex of the baby so I am leaning towards the green fabric myself but a purple batik might be nice too. I'll have to go and hunt through my stash again :)

Which fabric do you guys think would look nice for the first border and probably binding?

Latest Projects

Hi all;
I haven't been blogging much lately because I have been working hard on this project here. It is my latest sweatshirt jacket. I finally finished covering the sweatshirt with batik pieces and finished with the decorative stitching using a gold rayon thread. I used the stitch and flip method to do the crazy patch using the sweatshirt pieces as the foundation. I like this technique because after you are done the stitching the quilting is done but I really think that the decorative stitching adds a lot to the garment and provides a bridge between the colours. I am thinking of adding some machine embroideries to some of the patches to really set the jacket off and make it a bit more like traditional crazy patch quilts. When I teach this class again, on Saturday, I will assemble the jacket and add the binding. I am thinking about curving the neckline for some added interest. If you'd like to see my tutorial for making a sweatshirt jacket please go to this page for part one and this page for part two.
I am going to start another baby quilt today as well. I am going to use the same pattern as the quilt that I made here. It is my favourite baby quilt pattern and I love the size that it makes up. I am making it for a woman to give to her grandson. They want it a bit longer than I usually make it but that isn't a problem. The top fabric is the feature fabric and the others are the supporting fabrics. The bottom fabric is a really nice flannel fabric for the back. I think that it is going to turn out very nicely :) The fabrics are washed now to press and start cutting.

Hearts Fabric Postcards

Hi all!

It's been a while since I've blogged. I've been a a bit of a knitting kick right now so I actually haven't done all that much sewing. I've made a few pair of slippers for myself and my boys, and, to be honest, I've forgotten how long it takes to knit things :) I want to move onto socks, since I LOVE hand-knit socks, but, I hate how much they cost :) Isn't that always the way :)

I have, however, made up a bunch of these lips and hearts snow globe fabric postcards for a yahoo group postcard swap. I really enjoy making these cards to swap with other people from around the globe. They are fun to make, and, you can try out many different techniques without making the big commitment of a quilt. These ones use use clear vinyl to encase various confetti and beads and anything else that you might want. When you shake them the "stuff" moves around. If I get started early enough, I will make some Christmas ones for my Christmas cards this year. They take awhile so making 30 something might be a stretch.

Another Baby Quilt Finished

I finally finished that baby quilt that I bought the fabric for ages ago! I used my favorite one-patch, four-patch baby quilt pattern and I had the entire top made and quilted in a day. I also had the binding machine sewn on. Turning the binding to the back by hand, however, is another thing. It took four sittings for me to hand-turn the binding to the back. What is it about me and hand-turning the binding to the back?? I really like doing hand appliqué but something about hand-turning the binding really bores me :) I have friends that just LOVE doing it and can't wait to start the binding. Me? Not so much! It is the last step in making the quilt but I will put it off for as long as possible. Yes, I do know various ways to machine bind; but, I just don't like the look of them as much. How pathetic is that? :) I like the look but I don't like to bind by hand. LOL! Enough on my rant about binding.

What is your favorite way of binding?

Another UFO Finish - #20

Well, I finally finished it :) This was a small wall hanging that I started about 8 years ago and I think was my third quilt project. My friend gave me the fish panel, and, I don't know why, but, I decided to border it in Japanese fabric. Hmmm? I wonder what I was thinking at the time LOL.

Anyways this is another project that I sliced the border on and put away for a number of years. Can you see a trend here at all?? LOL! Well, I finally finished it up this week and I am glad to get it out of the pile. It is only 21" square so it just seems like such a silly little project to have as a UFO. Oh well, it is finished now.

Next I need to finish up the baby quilt that I picked the fabric for a while back; and, I need to make a baby quilt for some people that commissioned one from me. After that, it is on to a wedding quilt that I need for the end of June. I have a good idea for the pattern and I think that I will use some of my own hand-dyes for it. I hope that the couple will like it. So many quilts so little time!! Life is good.

My 30's Quilt is on the Frame!

Hi all;
I thought that I would share a picture of my 1930's Dresden Plate quilt on the hand quilting frame. We just started hand quilting it last week but I forgot my camera. You can see a few lines of quilting at the bottom of the picture. I just love this quilt. It is so fresh and bright looking and I really think that it will be perfect on the bed in the summer time. I think that I may make some pillow cases to go with it (at some point!). The more I think about putting prairie points around the outside the more I like that idea. I think that it will really tie in with the points on the Dresden Plates. It will also use up some more of my 30's prints! As usual, I bought WAY too much fabric. I am also thinking about doing a sweatshirt jacket out of the 30's prints. It would be a nice jacket for the spring.

Tonight is our quilt guild night. I didn't make it to the last meeting since my husband didn't get home from work in time. I told him not to worry about getting home fast because the roads were really icy and it was really foggy. Oh well!! I live in Canada :)

Christmas UFO Completed

Hi all;
Well I got UFO #19 completely finished! I liked the layout of the scrap half-square triangles so I went with it! Luckily I had enough of the background fabric and some more batik for the borders. I used up a Christmas brushed cotton that was left-over from the back of a Christmas quilt I made a while ago and there was just enough for the backing and for a sleeve. I love using up left-overs like that.

I tried a slightly different feather quilting for this quilt and used Yenmet metallic threads for the first time. It worked really well and I am pleased with the result. I'm not sure if you can really see it but it is there :)

I think that I am going to rewrite my UFO list so that I take some out and maybe add in a few as well. Now to quilt the other little wall hanging.

More UFO Completions

Hi all!
I got UFO #18 completely finished yesterday! Here it is! Four place mats and a center piece or separate table topper. I can't tell you how pleased I am to have finished this. I just have to package it up, and, send it off now, and, see if the couple likes it. I hope that they do. I have made a vow to myself to stop buying pre-printed place mat panels. I have one more to finish, that has tea cups on it, but after that NO MORE!! I find that they actually take quite a bit of time, and, are not that much fun for me anymore. Back when I bought this project, about 4 years ago, I thought that these were the best ever; but, I like other things now. When I was doing another set I actually figured it out that start to finish, including machine quilting, they took me about an hour each. Ah well!! They are finished now.

I was so inspired by this completion that I pulled out another UFO that has been bugging me. I really wanted to get this one done before Christmas but hey it will be done for next Christmas. This is a whole bunch of half square triangles that I made several years ago while demonstrating the Eleanor Burns Triangle Square Up Ruler. I made a small quilt out of four of the center blocks that you see there and these were the left-overs. These have been sitting there in a ziplock bag all these years just waiting for something to be done with them. I pulled them out and placed them in what I think is a pleasing arrangement. Luckily I had enough of the background fabric to fill in the blanks and I put the quilt top together yesterday after I finished with the place mats. It is now basted and waiting to be quilted! I'll post a picture of it when I finish it off (maybe tomorrow or so).

I got so inspired that I actually pulled out another UFO and finished the top and basted it as well. This one is one of my first projects and has been sitting there for almost 9 years! It is another instance where I cut into the border fabric. I looked at it again and said "Ah, the borders are too big anyways!" So, the borders on this quilt got cut down as well. After I finish quilting it I will post a picture of it as well.

So all told that means that I am finished or making progress on UFO's #18, #19 and #20! Not too bad!

Tackling Another UFO

Hi all!
Even though I finished 17 UFO's in 2007 I still have many more to go! Some of these are really silly UFO's and some I really don't want anymore. I think that I will have to take a very close look at some of them and decide if I want to give them away or add them to our guild's yard sale. I did manage to turn several of my UFO's into gifts and baby quilts which made me really happy. I'm actually at a stage right now where I feel bogged down by my UFO's and unmotivated to start any new projects. I have made the resolution to either finish these projects or get rid of them! They are causing me undue stress and anxiety over completing them! This is causing me to not really want to quilt as much as I used to. I think that I will have to be brutally honest with myself and chop the UFO heap to only the projects that I actually WANT to be finished and either want to KEEP or want to GIVE AWAY. What do you think? I figure that there is no point in draining myself over projects that I really have no interest in anyways. Who cares if I lose some money in giving these projects away; I really think that my motivation is worth more than a few dollars.

This UFO is, I believe, a Kathy Schmitz panel that I purchased about 4 years ago to make 4 place mats and a table topper. I cut everything out and put the borders on the place mats. Then, with a quick slip of the rotary cutter, I sliced into the stack of place mats and made about a half inch cut into them. I was so mad, and, I didn't have enough of the border print to take off the top border and replace it. So into a bag it went to sit for a few years. You can see the little sliced bits at the top of the place mats.

This UFO has been really bothering me; because, I could have it finished in no time at all. Well, I pulled it out this morning and got a brain-wave! Why not just trim the half inch off the top and bottom! So, I did, and, I think that they look just fine! I pulled the Kathy Schmitz pinkish star fabric out of my stash as a suitable backing fabric and I think that I will try to finish these up today! I have a friend whose house I think that these would go very nicely in and would enjoy a late Christmas gift of them. I feel pretty good about this UFO since this one was really bothering me; and, I was able to pull out of my stash.

On another note. I finished the Dresden Plate quilt top and completely marked it! After I had finished marking it I decided that the border would need more quilting so I went back around it again and added more. I'm not sure if you can see the marking very well or not in this picture. I did a one inch cross-hatch all over the body of the quilt, and, in the center of the dresden plates. I did a single hatch coming out from the saw tooth border; but, that didn't seem tight enough, so, I added in another line a quarter inch in from that line. I used the Clover blue was away pen. Quilt marking takes so much time and if you try to do it fast it looks horrible. Ah well! It goes on the frame on Tuesday night to be quilted by the bee that I belong to "The Silver Thimbles." I can't wait! I got the new 90% silk and 10% polyester batting put out by Hobbs to try this time :)

I Finished the Little Sheep Rug

Hi all!
I finished the little sheep rug and I wanted to post a photo of it for you all. A friend of mine gave me the great orange wool to whip the edges with and I have to say that I think that it is a perfect match for the orange in the rug. I added the little C's and G's into the body of the sheep because I thought that it would look too dull without it. I really didn't like this project, when I started, it to be honest, but, it has since grown on me. I was making it for a Christmas gift but that space has passed now LOL! I think that I may keep it for myself now!

I have also finished marking my 1930's Dresden Plate Quilt. The marking took me hours!!!! I cannot stress that enough :) I think that I probably spent about 9 hours marking this quilt! I completely hate marking a quilt so this was a real chore but I think that it will be worth the effort! I'll post a picture tomorrow maybe :)

World's Stupidest Quilting Mistake!!

Well I've done it!

I have made the world's stupidest quilting mistake today! I was putting on the last two borders for my 1930's Dresden plate quilt. Everything was going along well. I measured the center of the top to find out how long to cut the borders. I was using corner-stones so I measured to the borders. But, wait for it, I measured to the inside of the first (pieced) border not to the outside of the pieced border!!!!! I even reconfirmed this measurement three times!! So I cut my borders, on the lengthwise grain, 5 full inches too short! You can see this in the picture. What was I thinking! Thank goodness I have enough extra fabric that I can get another two borders out of it! I had been thinking to bind it in the background fabric but that idea is shot now! Well, I guess I could still use the mis-cut border fabric. Oh well. I was also thinking that prairie points and a mock binding, out of the purple, would be nice. I guess that's what I'll do now.

Other than that I think that the quilt is turning out very nicely :) So be honest have you ever heard of a stupider quilting mistake?? Maybe it's a full moon!