FEBRUARY UFO CHALLENGE

This is my February challenge.  I plan to quilt and bind my heart quilt this month.  What better month to work on it?  And since I plan to use big-stitch hand work with perle cotton, it will be perfect to stitch while watching the Olympics.

These hearts are from a swap on the DJ Alternate yahoo group back in 2009.  I finished the top that year, but it has languished along with my other 15+ tops that need quilting.  My bad!!!  The setting is using the Disappearing 9-Patch.  I posted about it on this blog way back then. 

Rosa recently quilted her's (well her DH did on his long-arm), and it reminded me of mine.  I worked on my blocks for this swap at the Dear Jane Retreat in Shipshewana, IN, in the fall of 2008.  Whew, that was a while back.  Brings back memories of the many on-line friends I met there, including Ruthie Quilts.  She was working on her's there too, it's the one with that lovely lace in the center'ish.

Happy stitching to my quilty friends. 

FIRST FINISH OF 2014

Here's my first finish of the year.  It is a wall quilt for my daughter.  Done-done.  Yeah!

Still have to finish my other UFO challenge for Jan. on one of my groups,  Now what will I select for February?  Surely something that needs quilting and binding for at least one of them.

Stay safe, those of you in the cold/snow/ice regions.  Strangely we are hitting 80 today, but only 50's tomorrow.  Weird weather for sure.

UFO POST 1

Since this is my first post of 2014, one would expect it to be about sewing resolutions.  Like last year I was going to have 13 finishes in '13.  Yah, that happened.  Not!

But I am joining in with a group to try to finish things we have started.  No matter how long it takes.  Finish it.  Not that we are promising not to start new things, not to buy fabric or patterns  (yes, English majors, the triple negative is intentionally confusing).  I know I'll be starting new things.  I know I'll shop sometimes.  I did on Jan 1 sale at LQS (40% off everything).  Just to also finish something from the past once in a while.

Here's the first UFO I dug out.

I has been three years waiting to get quilted.  Three years.  I started big-stitch hand quilting it, wasn't happy, put it away, got it out, thought about taking out the stitches and machine quilting it, put it away, got it out, thought about how great it would look if I did it this way or that way, put it away, got it out, repeat.

This quilt is for our daughter, Melissa, and was made specifically to fit a quilt rack our son, Eric, made for her.  Geesh!  Finished is better than perfect.  I plan to finish this one this month.  Or soon.  Or at least never put it away to ponder again!

DIA DE LOS MUERTOS

Nov. 1 is All Saints/Souls Day to me, when we honor those who passed before us.  In Mexican tradition it is called Dia de los Muertos -- Day of the Dead. 

In honor of this holiday, our guild had us dig out the skeletons in our closets -- yes, our oldest UFOs -- for show and tell  Too fun.

Here's mine, an applique Santa from about 1991 or 92.  I think.  I know it was near Desert Storm time and it was a kit from Keepsake Quilting.  What is really funny is that all necessities are in the baggie.  The pages have yellowed, but check out that Dual Duty cranberry thread I was using for needle turn applique!  Geepers!

In my defense, I was living in Saudi Arabia at the time, and probably used whatever thread I could find to match.  There's also a neat spool of 100% cotton thread from France.  I'm sure that's from Al Zamil's.

I was just learning to use freezer paper for applique, and look.....   It is still ironed on after 20+ years!!!

Here's how far I got back then before it got boxed up and put into storage for years.  Hmmm.............  Maybe I should finish it for this year.

The oldest UFO and grand prize winner, was a quilt top our guild president made in 1976, her first year of teaching.  She traced and embroidered each 2nd grader's hand print, and added their names.  The top is all complete, but not quilted.

So, what's hiding in your closet?  Do you have any skeletons?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

No, it's not my birthday. That's in July. In fact it's Columbus Day here in the USA, and Thanksgiving in Canada.

However, yesterday I did finish a table runner made from my birthday blocks from a 08-09 birthday block swap, blocks I received in July '08, and posted two photos.

This is my Friendship Block Swap group which is an offshoot from the SBS group. We each chose a SBS block to make for all the others in the swap, and send it to them for their birthday. That way you could choose a block you were confident you could do a good job on. They are 6" blocks. The receiver selected the colors she wanted. I chose jewel tones of purple, blue, green, etc., and asked that the makers sign the blocks with birthday messages.

When making this runner, I arranged the blocks with the writing going from the center out, so no matter where you are sitting you can read the birthday messages.

It brings back warm memories of current and past members of our group. I plan to use this table runner for my birthday for many years!

REALLY OLD UFO

I learned to make cathedral windows long, long, ago (30 years?) and this was my first project! It was put away, just as you see it on the left. It's a beginner's job for sure -- don't look closely at the windows! The fabric is horrible, and was cut with scissors -- not especially straight. This must have been started before rotary cutters came into style. Evidently, once I learned the technique and had the border half on, I grew tired of the project and stuffed it away. Anyhow, I can't throw away anything I've worked on, so I finished it into a pillow. The back side of my work is so awful that it had to be hidden and as a pillow top it is. This sad little project is now done. Perhaps one of my granddaughters will like it as a tuffet for their dolls.

BULL'S EYE QUILT

This UFO is about 5 years old. It is a traditional, primitive, bull's eye pattern made in Civil War era reproduction fabrics. The circles were cut by folding a fabric square into fourths, and then free-hand cutting the circle. The circles are sewn with raw edges. When I put it out on my queen-sized guest bed to get ideas for quilting, I realized that with just a bit more border it would be large enough for a queen bed.

So back to my stash I went. Since this is a primitive quilt, I want to stick with that thought and only use stash on it. I pulled several good-sized pieces of fabric that I could use. I'm looking for suggestions.

Which fabric(s) do you prefer, and how would you use them in the borders? Please leave a comment with your ideas, and thanks in advance for your help.