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!

New computer and Rug Hooking

Hi all!
I hope that everyone has had a wonderful holiday season. I received an IMac for Christmas :) What a lucky girl I am! I have to say that it is really wonderful and sooo much better than my old PC. My poor old PC would chug along and crash on me. So I have been in the process of trying to remember my passwords for my e-mail accounts and this blogger account. What a lot of passwords for everything! Now to get my ITunes library transfered over :)

I have been working on a little rug hooked sheep over the holidays. I wasn't really sold on it when I first got it but I have to say that it is really growing on me :) I added the little swirls in the sheep's body as a detail; but, I'm still not really sold on it yet. I like the way that the nine-patch squares are working out in the background though. I was thinking of expanding it a bit by putting a picket fence or something around the outside of the sheep. There is quite a bit of burlap left around the outside of the sheep so I think that it might look nice.

Now I just need to get onto finishing the 30's Dresden Plate quilt top for next week!

A New Baby Quilt in the Making!

Hi all!

Here is one of my next project! I have a new baby quilt to make! Yey! Well, actually I have two now to make but this is the next one that needs to be finished LOL!

This quilt will be a simple one patch four patch design. The bottom fabric is the feature fabric and border fabric. The yellow poke-a-dot fabric is going to be in the four-patches and the small orange is the first border. The orange batik fabric is actually from the expectant parents' wedding quilt. You can see the quilt here. The top green fabric is the brushed cotton backing fabric. The pattern that I am going to use is from the Ursula Reikes book Quilts for Baby: Easy as ABC. I've done it before several times and I always really like it (you can see another one here). I like a simple baby quilt so that people will use it instead of putting it away to be an heirloom! Do you like my fabrics?

Christmas Pencil Toppers Finished

Hi all!
We are starting to get really close to Christmas and I am working frantically trying to finish up a few more Christmas projects!

Here is another one finally finished! I thought that I would make Christmas pencil toppers for my two son's classes. Well 44 toppers, and many hours, later I have them finished!! Wow! I don't know if I will do this again but it was fun to do it at least once! I think that this project would have been better started in the summer LOL!

The snow man is from Ann the Gran and the Christmas tree is a freebie from Embroidery Garden. They both stitch out very nicely and use felt as the backing so it's not all a fill! just add a pencil into the spot underneath and you are finished. I am going to go out tomorrow and see if I can get some Christmas pencils for the kids. I think that would really complete the gift.

How are your holiday projects going??

Snowmen Fabric Postcards

I finally finished making these snowmen fabric postcards today! I will get them out into the mail tomorrow and heave a sigh of relief. I don't know what I was thinking signing up for a swap that had to ship out right before Christmas; especially, with all the fabric postcards that I made for friends and family. I really liked the theme of the swap and I love that it is so international. Two of the cards are going to Australia, one to Turkey and one to France. I think that's pretty cool!

With all the snow that we have had over the past couple of weeks I could have built about a dozen or two snowmen in my front yard today!

Christmas Fabric Postcards

Hi all!

Well, this is this year's batch of Christmas fabric postcards! They are finally done! What a lot of work but I just love them :) All the white ones are addressed and ready to go I just have to do the coloured ones. I bought some of those clear peel and stick envelopes that a lot of people use and I think that I will put them in the envelopes this year since the postcards are white. What do you think? I bought a few hundred of them so I don't mind using them :)

These were fun cards to make. I saw the metallic net fabric at Fabric Land a few weeks back and thought that it would be a nice easy way to make cards if I layered the fabric over other fabric. I didn't buy any of it and so the idea took firm root in my mind. I went back a week later and guess what?? It was on 50% off!! Gotta' love that! So I grabbed a meter of each and then dug into my stash for some other fabrics.

The white trim is just a knitting yarn. I think that it really finishes them off and makes them look cozy.

Are you all done your Christmas preparations yet?

Christmas Yo Yo's

Hi all!

Here is a yo yo Christmas tree garland that I started a while ago! Now that I am thinking about putting up the tree I thought that I would pull it back out and start sewing the yo yo's together. I am using the Clover yo yo maker and it is wonderful!!! I saw this idea several years ago in a quilting magazine and loved it but I really didn't want to make yo yo's the traditional way. Way to tedious for me :) So when this tool came out I promptly got it and started these. I figure that this can be one of these projects that I add to every year and it just gets better and better. I have realized though that I need to make a whole lot more of these and in many different fabrics if I want the garland to be interesting :)

Now I just need to finish a couple more gifts and my Christmas fabric post cards and I will be all set!! How are you all doing with your Christmas projects??

The Center of the Dresden Plate Quilt is Finished

Well here is the center of the 1930's Dresden Plate quilt! I really like the way that it is turning out so far. It's so cheerful and very different from anything that i have made so far. I usually use a lot darker colours so this is out of my comfort zone a bit. I think that it will be so nice for the summer time. I will be putting a sawtooth border on next followed by a solid white border.

This quilt will be hand quilted, in the bee that I belong to, in crosshatch. I think that it is going to look beautiful when it is finally finished.

I am a terrible blogger

Hi all! Sorry I have been MIA lately. I haven't actually been doing that much sewing lately and what I have done I have done for other people. I machine quilted two quilts for a friend of mine and made a bunch of neckerchiefs for the local Wolf Cub Troop that my son belongs to. Lots of busy work but not for me LOL!

The one quilt that I am working on is for my Quilting Bee "The Silver Thimbles." It is a 1930's reproduction Dresden Plate quilt. I am using the Mardi Michelle templates and hand appliquéing it. So far it is turning out wonderfully! My quilt goes on the frame next to be hand-quilted by the group. I love hand-quilting in a bee! There is something really wonderful about sitting around in a group and working on a project together.

I need to work on some more UFO's and get them out of the way and I need to start working on some Christmas presents. I need to make some place mats etc. And, I need to embroider some ornaments. Oh so many things to do!

Rug hooking mug mats

Hi all!
I hope that everyone is well in blogging land!

These are some rug hooked mug mats that I just finished. I drew the patterns on some burlap and hooked them with some left-over pre-cut strips. They were really fast to hook up and did actually use up some scraps. Then I steamed them and glued some cork-board to the back of them. I didn't whip the edges or anything I just turned them to the back. Whipping the edges seemed like too much work for these little coasters :) Maybe I'm just lazy!?? Anyways, on to the next project!!
I got this older rug hooking pattern from a fiber show a few weeks ago. It is an older Rittermere pattern and still had the original tag on it. I'm not sure if you can really see it but I am going to do the sun flowers in yellow, the star in orange, the background in blues and I'm not really sure about the boarder. What do you all think? I think maybe that the first boarder would look good red and the second black; but, my husband says no! Maybe a dark green would be nice actually HMMMMM! Too many decisions sometimes :)

Sorry about another rug hooking post but I do love doing it!

Hummel Emboirderies

I am currently stitching out some of the Pfaff Hummel collection of embroideries. I started these about three years ago and never got around to finishing them! I feel so bad :( Anyways, they are wonderful embroideries and very well digitized. I have 12 done her but I can't decide if I should do 16 or 20 of the embroideries to make a wall quilt.

I would also like your help on the borders. I am thinking of a thin flap of the brown around each Hummel followed by a small, maybe 2" sashing around each block. You can just see the sashing fabric in the top right hand corner. What do you think? I would really appreciate some help with this one :)

Another Sweatshirt Jacket

Hi all!

I put the finishing stitches in the binding on this jacket this morning! I am happy to finally have finished this jacket. I made it for a friend (who owns the local quilt shop) and it was started in the spring if you can believe it. I cut apart the sweatshirt and did almost all of the piecing then I put it away until this week :) I really didn't do too much sewing at all this summer and this was one of the projects that got put away. It's very embarrassing that I put it away for so long especially when it is for someone else. Oh well!

Here's the back of the jacket. Just a very simple piecing pattern. I cut 4 1/2" strips and joined them together. Then I made them all into a tube and sub-cut it into 4 1/2" tubes. I rotated the tubes until I found where I wanted the pieces and then cut them apart. Very simple but with such amazing fabric you really don't need anything fussy.

If you want to see my explanation on how I do sweatshirt jacket you can check it out in my older blog post Part 1 and Part 2.

If you have any questions at all please feel free to post them and I will do my best to answer them.

An Older baby Quilt

Hi all!

I thought that I would share this photo of an older baby quilt with you all. I made this about 2 years ago for two very dear friends of ours. The baby's father and my husband go bird watching together so I thought that a backyard birds quilt would be great for them. From top left and down we have a chickadee, a cardinal, a gold finch, a blue bird and a nuthatch. They are all completely out of proportion but hey! They still really like it! The embroideries all com from Ann the Gran website and are free designs. i really liked how they all stitched out and the little boy who recieved the quilt still absolutely loves it. When I was trying to take this picture he was trying to pick the quilt up off the floor to take it back. I think that that is one of the most rewarding reactions that you can get from a child about their quilt! When I took the quilts back last summer to repair them the three children, to whom they were given, were all a little bit disturbed that their quilts were being taken away (even for just a little while!). I know that that might sound a little odd but it means that the quilts are loved and appreciated. And, to me, that is what quilt making is all about :)

More preserving :)

Hi all!
Again it is not quilting but here is what I did today :) I put up two full bushels of Roma tomatoes! We bought the tomatoes at the Parkdale Market in Ottawa yesterday and last night I chopped one 10 pound bag of onions and and about 6 pounds of chili peppers and red peppers. Wow was that a lot of work but it made a massive difference when it came to doing all the tomatoes this morning. I started preserving this morning at about 8:30 am and i finished at about 4:00 pm. Whew! You can see a picture of the three tomatoes sauces here. On the far end is tomato sauce with onions and red peppers and chilies. Big pot closest to us is tomatoes with onions and red peppers and the small pot is just crushed tomatoes.
Finally at about 4:00 pm or so today I had all the jars water processed and labeled! Not too bad huh? I can't believe that I was able to do this many tomatoes all in the same day! My secret is the Lee Valley European Tomato Press! It is the most amazing thing and if you like to preserve tomatoes you should definitely get one. This is not an ad I'm just saying that this is something that you can not live without once you've tried it :) 8 years ago I tried to process one full bushel of tomatoes the old fashioned way and it took me three days! (Maybe I'm slow) With the Lee Valley press we did two full bushels today! All you do it take off the stem end of the tomatoes and quarter them; put them into a pot and scald them until they release their jouice and their skins start to come away from the flesh; then put them though the press. I put them through the press three times to get the most out of the pulp. The press removes all the skins and the seeds! How cool is that!! Sorry but I just love this press a lot and it has eliminated a million hours from my preserving hours!

BTW I use this for jams in exactly the same way :)

Sorry about another no quilting post but this took up a lot of my time and I wanted to share my day with you all :)

Another Baby Quilt

Hi all!

Thank you all for your responses on if it is me or my age. I really enjoyed reading all your comments and found your perspectives very interesting. I really appreciate it!


I finished and delivered another baby quilt to a new-born little baby girl yesterday. What a cutie! The Mother is also a quilter so she really appreciated the quilt. I think that just because the Mom is a quilter doesn't mean that she shouldn't get baby quilts as well LOL! This is a pattern from Ursula Reikes' book "Quilts for Baby: Easy as ABC". I love her baby quilt books! She has I think 3 or 4 out and I would highly recommend them. The patterns are a good size and simple enough to whip up in no time at all. I have done this pattern several times and really like it since it showcases a nice children's print so well. This is one of the few baby quilts that I have had the opportunity to do for a little girl. I had to actually go and purchase the pink ducky fabric because I just didn't have really any baby girl fabrics! Shucks, I had to go fabric shopping LOL! It seems that most of our friends have had boys. Hmm . . . .so much for women being 52% of the population! :) Just watch now my friends will all start having little girls now :) Well, another excuse to shop for some more fabric :) Like I need an excuse :)

Is it me or is it my age??

I have to say this is a question that comes to my mind very often when I go into a new quilt shop. When I was on vacation last week I went into a quilt shop that I've never been in before. There was only one other customer at the time and they were having a great conversation then she left within a minute of me coming in. I said hello to the owner and smiled the owner just smiled at me and said "Let me know if you need anything" and proceeded to go and sit down in the back and start to sew. I looked around the shop for about 10 more minutes and took some bolts off the shelf looked at the fat quarters. I was the only person in the shop and she didn't even look at me again. I was going to purchase some fat quarters but then I thought "No way! Why should I after that service!"

At another time I was in a quilt store and I asked a question about a pattern for a Lone Star type of a quilt. The worker looked at me and handed me a pattern for an easy nine-patch quilt and said "Maybe you'd be better with this pattern." I couldn't believe it!

Now don't get me wrong I've had great service all over the place; but, I have to wonder if it is my age that's the problem. I am in my mid-thirties and I have been quilting since my late twenties. I ask this question because I have seen women of an older generation getting excellent service from the same quilt store employees. I've even been in one store several times and I keep getting the same service (I've stopped going there now). Do people assume that because I am younger that I can't be a serious quilter or that they'd be wasting their time with me? You'd think that store owners would want to foster the younger quilters not discourage them. I guess I just don't understand this one. I would love to know your view-points on this one :)

Not quilting or sewing but it's what I did yesterday!

Hi all!

I thought that I would post a photo of the work that I did yesterday! I know that it's not quilting or sewing but it took me 11 1/2 hours to make all of these so I thought that I would post it. I allowed myself 6 hours to process a whole bushel of pickling cucumbers and man was I wrong. I finished the last batch at 11:30 pm last night. I was exhausted!

From left to right: sweet sliced dills, bread and butter pickles, lemon cucumber pickles (this one is new to me) sandwich stacker dills, and kosher-style dills. I love doing preserving work in late summer. I love looking at all the different colours in the jars and knowing that I made it myself. I have done jam the past two years so this year I decided that it was pickles and tomatoes that would be put up. Do you guys do canning as well?

UFO Finish #16! for 2007

Hi all;
Sorry I haven't been blogging much :) I really haven't been sewing much and the weather has just been so wonderful right now that I want to be outside.
I have just finished my UFO #16 for the year. This one was left over units that I made while demonstrating the Eleanor Burns Triangle Square Up Ruler and flying geese ruler way back when! I made it into a baby quilt that will be on its way very soon. I am very pleased to get this one finished since there was no reason for it to be left for so long! I have got to learn my lesson and finish things soon after starting them :)