>>rewind<< ...please?!

I haven't done *any* sewing since my last post... not even a drop of knitting either.  I'd like to rewind time so I can go back & work on my sewing.  Too bad life doesn't work that way.  School (work) is just so busy that by the time I get home from the gym in the afternoon, make dinner, spend time with my family... I'm totally burnt out & haven't the energy to sit at my machine & create.  That's really sad!

However, I *did* get my quilts back from the Long-Arm quilter... they are simply amazing.  She does beautiful work.  I'll need to get off my duff & get the bindings on them so that they can be officially crossed off the UFO list.  One is going on my bed... I'm super excited that my very first quilt (UFO #1) is completed.  So cool.  Will be sure to post pictures once it goes to it's place of honor. :o)

In the meantime... interim grades are due by the early part of this week... so no sewing while the little guy is napping. (serious bummer!) I'll be back & forth between my grading stack & the computer. Maybe I'll be able to sneak in some sewing tonight.

In the meantime, Happy Quilting/Sewing to those of you with time!!! :o)

Sewer's Block?! Check...

I still have Block 5 sitting~ half sewn, mind you~ on my cutting table.  My last post was the 9th of August, when I got the pieces cut out.  I have since run out of steam!  Guess that's what happens when summer vacation ends & an entire classroom need to be set up & prepared for.  Sewing takes a back seat...

...well, and I also didn't help my cause much by starting on a knitting project right in the middle of trying to get this UFO finished.  So, it looks like I'm partially to blame.  But the yarn is *so* exquisite, I just couldn't *not* start this project... If you are ever looking for a high quality yarn (without breaking the bank)... look no further then my good friend's Etsy shop.  Go here~ and buy yarn.  She's amazing! I bought the blue yarn... it's merino & silk. Just divine.  Not being a very good knitter, I hope that the shawl I'm making comes out nice enough to showcase the yarn. I'll turn into a yarn-snob real soon after working with this stuff....

Right now, I'm torn with how to spend my evening... sewing... or knitting... choices, choices, choices!!! The yarn won out the other night; so in fairness, I should probably finish the block.

WIP shots:

Block 5... in it's half-finished glory... 

My shawl... hope I don't have to tear it out & re-start... 

Of course I realize that the more I blog about my unfinished projects~ the more they *stay* unfinished... so I should get back to work.  But, one last note: am reading a fabulous book (The Friday Night Knitting Club) & would encourage any of my girlfriends to read it; wonderful book about why we all need that close group of friends-- no matter how happy we may be with our spouses.  Many thanks to whomever left it in the teacher's lounge at the end of last school year after cleaning out their classroom... I'm loving it! 

Back to work... Happy quilting! (...or knitting...)  :o)

A UFO from a UFO?! Oh No!!!

Well... sorta... my infamous Celestial Star UFO had these paper pieced log cabin blocks to accompany it as a border.  I've since changed my mind on that approach~ but what to do with all these already-pieced blocks?!  Well... since the quilt is going bed size... why not make a coordinating sham to go with it when it's finished?!  Brilliant!!! What resulted is the sham top... which is technically (because it's sitting in partial form) another UFO.

The things multiply!!! They're like dust bunnies!!!

Co-ordinating pillow sham for the Celestial UFO quilt...

Here's another shot of it~ the colors are a bit truer here... and I think it's a bit closer, too.

View #2  :o)

Now, back to work on the blocks... I got one cut last night & (now that the child has decided to actually *sleep*), I am going to sew it up! That'll be Block 5 with 3 more waiting in the wings. 

Happy Quilting!!! :o) 

New project, anyone!?

With my two quilts off to the long-arm quilter... and a huge dent in my wallet accordingly... what better way to celebrate accomplishment of getting half the UFO stack finished then by starting a new quilt?! Seriously~ I have new fabric that simply *must* be used.

But before we get to the series of what I've been up too tonight with the new quilt... let's look at the prep work to get one of the quilts ready to go... last night (thankfully), I measured by backing fabric for my king-sized bed quilt.  Most certainly *not* the 4-6" extra on all sides necessary for quilting.  Oops!  I suppose in the last 9 years my eye for measurements has ben refined a bit more than when I started out.  So, at 8:10pm, I'm hopping into the car to run to JoAnn's to buy backing fabric. It's a long drive to town & I made it 15 minutes to close; and had a 40% off coupon.  Sweet! So, 120" muslin backing... check.  King-sized batting... check.  Quilt top... check.

One ready to roll.  This morning I worked on getting the other one ready~ the Bits 'n' Pieces Starburst quilt.  Silly me~ I didn't check to see if I had enough batting for that quilt before my emergency trip the night before.  I used the old muslin backing that was supposed to be for the king-sized quilt... cut that down just a tad~ perfect for this one.  The batting was another matter.  Nothing says "yay" like having to piece together batting & trim it down.  At least the batting I bought for the original king-sized quilt went to good use.  Thank goodness my eye has improved!!!

Mira approved of this quilt.  She's *always* getting into my quilting! 

Anyway, after the trials of getting everything ready~ it barely fit into my big bag that I made for taking "stuff" to quilting class.

My quilty-Claus bag... stuffed to the brim! 

Much relief that these two babies are off to be finished properly.  She asks for a 6-week turn around.  For me, with one of these having sat finished & patiently waiting for 9+ years, what's another 6-weeks?!  Seriously~ more than fair.  Everything will be done for Fall & the Starburst can get mailed to my dad; probably in time for his birthday.

Aaahhh... onto the new project. Some of the fabric I got from Connecting Threads in this last order goes totally against my grain.  I am *not* a bright fabric type.  However, I have pregnant friends. :o)  So in a bold move (for me!), I am making a baby quilt out of these bold fabrics.  

Start with 10" blocks... split into 3 groups of 6 fabrics. 

So I did *no* arranging of fabric on this... I pulled them out of the package & laid them out exactly as they came.  I only pulled out the 2 black fabrics; I'm not that daring quite yet. Maybe later.

Layer them all carefully & cut them into 2" strips; 5 units per original block.

So I *thought* I'd make this really cute strip pieced quilt... almost a Rail Fence pattern. Daisy-chaining them together made sewing 15 blocks a total walk in the park.  Probably the easiest sewing I've done in a while.

The blocks as sewn~ they'll be squared off later. 

Next logical thing to do is to lay them out how you're thinking of sewing them.  Except, I hated it.  It looked cheesy & not very exciting.  So now what.  I've got 15 blocks sewn up with no idea what to do.  

Guinea pig cutting.  That's what!  I took one of each pattern & cut them into quarters.  Re-arranged the blocks & this is what I've got... 

Sew much better then my original "thought"... 

They're not sewn yet & the rest of the blocks will need to be squared out & quartered. Once all the blocks are sewn, I'm going to have a tough time with the final layout.  But, so far, so good.  I've got a package of 2.5" strips in the same fabrics.  Quite possibly this quilt will be reversible.  Which is fine with me because I wouldn't have a clue what to do with the left-over fabric!!!

Seeing as though it's past Midnight... I ought to call it a day & try to catch some Zzzz's! 

Happy Quilting!!!

Half-way finished...

... with the eight blocks I need on the Celestial UFO.  My plan is to have four on the top of the quilt & four on the bottom to give it the necessary length to be bedside before I start adding borders to it.  Ultimately, it'll be a queen-sized bed quilt, when all is said & finally done.  Surprisingly, the blocks are going together much quicker the second time~ I remember my shortcuts & tricks, which helps.  And, because I'll most likely create the Starburst quilt again (which are the 8 blocks I'm using on this UFO), I'm writing in my notes.  Who knows how long my memory will hold~ and I'd rather be safe than sorry.

So, here are the first four blocks... I'm half-way finished... then, onto sashing & adding them to the Lone Star. Hopefully I don't end up with "math" issues; ie: measurements are off & algebra/geometry are required to fix the situation.  However, given that I had no pattern when I started this thing, that very scenario is highly likely.

Top Left: Block 1; Top Right: Block 2; Bottom Left: Block 3; Bottom Right: Block 4

With that note looming~ because undoubtedly I will have math angst~ I think it best to put down the rotary cutter & shut down for the night.  It'll all be there waiting for me tomorrow... or whenever I get back to it! Till then...

Happy Quilting!!! :o)

Tech Savvy?!

Jury's still out on that one.  In the last few days, I've hopelessly been redesigning, repositioning, reconfiguring just about everything on this blog!  Without much background in programming (ok~ No background!), this has not been such an easy task.  However, I did discover that there are *very* generous people out there in the internet world who make all sorts of free backgrounds & what-not for blogs.

Fabulousness!!!

My current "stuff" all came from Shabby Blogs.  They have a wealth of very beautiful backgrounds to choose from & we'll see how long the current one lasts.  If my blog is anything like my iPod, I'm constantly changing the song.  Either way, I've been having fun blowing a lot of time learning how to use this program.  In this day & age, I suppose it's not a bad skill to have acquired.  New resume skill, perhaps?!

In the meantime... I'm back to the mystery quilting of my remaining UFO... I'm two blocks out of eight finished on the *planed* next step for making this project land in the "completed" stack.  The hard part is staying focused~ my Connecting Threads order came today & I have beautiful batiks that I'd like to go create something from.  But, alas~ this is why UFO's stay UFO's.

Must. Keep. My. Focus.  :o)

Happy Quilting!!!

Extra! Extra! UFO's cut in HALF...

That's right... my two finished UFO's are going to be heading off for quilting on August 2nd.  Finally.  Time to make room for newer projects.  Once they're done being quilted, I'll only have to put on the binding & they'll be declared "finished."  That leaves me two lonely UFO's... one that's being <hand quilted> and the Celestial UFO.  Which I have (miraculously!) developed a plan for.

My plan involves the eight star blocks that come from the Starburst pattern by Bits n' Pieces.  Other then that tid-bit, I'm going to be purposefully vague until I can post a picture of my quilt top.  Or at least the blocks once I get going.  Since I'm working on it actively... and it's not sitting around being a bump on a log... I wonder if it still *technically* is considered a UFO. Hhhmmm~ food for thought.

Time to get the scissors & rotary cutter in gear~ the fabric shall be flying in mere moments!!! :o)

Happy Quilting!!!

I forgot one...

Yep. There's another UFO... it's tucked away in a different part of my sewing storage because it's "in-process"... allow me to introduce Exhibit #4.

Exhibit #4: Left-over blocks from my first quilt...
Background: These four blocks were leftovers from Exhibit #2.  I can't remember if they were either too small/big to mesh in with the others or if I wanted to keep the other one 4 blocks by 4 blocks.  Either way, I put this little wall-hanging together from extra blocks.  And then had a typical 20-sumpthin' wild-hair idea to: Hand. Quilt. The. Thing.  Obviously it's still in the hoop which qualifies it as another UFO.  It's been done for over a decade, too.  If I could just devote 30-45 minutes every night to finishing the hand quilting, it would be finished before not too long.

Exhibit #4: An almost-forgotten UFO... 

At the time I started hand quilting this piece, I felt that in order to be a "real" quilter (whatever that is...), I needed to honor tradition by at least hand quilting one piece. It's amazing what previous generations put together with a needle & thread.  No rotary cutters.  No cutting mats.  No sewing machines. So, in order to honor that heritage, I'm hand quilting at least one piece.  [I'm not one to speak to the future... so I can't rule hand quilting another piece out... but at this stage of the game, it's slim to none & slim's getting ready to leave town!] However, the binding was put on by machine.  

All this (internal) talk of UFO's really has me going... I emailed a lady today about getting the two that are finished long-arm quilted; waiting to hear back.  And I think I'm going to dig out Exhibit #1 & see what inspiration I can come up with for finishing it into a bed quilt for my son... 

Happy Quilting!!!  :o)

Current UFO's that just linger & linger...

Every quilter has them.  Some have more then others.  I am, of course, referring to the UFO~ otherwise known as an UnFinished Object that sits in our piles/stash/tables/cabinets/closets/or wherever you find a home for them.  I am guilty of having several~ some are over a decade old!!! Every summer I always say to myself that "this will be the UFO summer!" and (somehow) I'll manage to complete at least one of them by the time my summer vacation wanes away.

This summer is no exception. As far as I've gotten in the UFO pile is thinking about them.  Wondering what exactly to do with them.  Since I'm giving them thought~ I should at least pay homage to their status as UFO and share them... maybe someone out there has some insight as to what should become of them?!  Let's delve into the pile, shall we?!

1.  Exhibit #1: Celestial UFO
Background:  This project was started over a decade ago right after I finished college & was hunting for that first job.  I had a lot of time on my hands~ I quilted. A. Lot. 90+ degree temps with no AC didn't deter me from turning on the iron & sewing.  There was a large, empty wall on the backside of my then-apartment.  This quilt was started with the intent of it occupying that space.  I am now 6 residences past this apartment wall.  The project remains a UFO... however, it is not a long-forgotten UFO... I have an entire cube in my stash devoted to this project & all the celestial fabric I've accumulated through the years to complete it.  I probably have enough fabric for 5 king-sized quilts.

UFO Exhibit #1... I love this quilt... this is a favorite... 

Yes, this quilt is in the shape of an octagon.  Perfect table-topper, right!? Except that my dining room table is & always has been the wrong shape.  I'm not sure exactly what to do~ add more borders, square it out... yeah.  The possibilities are endless.  And yes, that's a Lone Star and yes, I pieced it one parallelogram at a time; none of that strip piecing method here. Somewhere around 5-6 years ago I started paper piecing borders that I was going to add to this... but, as you can see, they aren't attached & I don't have enough of them. :o)

Border option, anyone!?  Not sure about this one... 

Any which way that you look at it... this quilt is a bonifide UFO... I love space & the stars as well as the color blue.  Perhaps I'll figure out a way to expand it to a Queen size bed quilt. Or maybe I'll make it into a wall-hanging. Or ???... your guess is as good as mine.  Time to move onto Exhibit #2! 

Exhibit #2: My very first quilt. 

Background: My second summer home from college, I decided I wanted to learn how to quilt.  Not knowing what books/patterns I would like, I went to the library to check out all sorts of "stuff." Little did I know what I was getting into!!! I was 19.  Most 19 year olds don't think of far reaching consequences of choices~ fabric acquisition, top of the line sewing machines (and all those FEET that come with them...) Like I said with Exhibit 1, I like space.  So naturally, I took to all those star patterns & specifically Alex Anderson's book "Simple Stars."  My dad was intregued with this new hobby of mine & he took me to Borders to get this book.  [So I can *sorta* pass the buck on.. no.. yeah, I didn't think so either.]  I tried out just about every single star in this book before I totally lost my mind on this star: 

So many pieces, so long to assemble; 6 hrs. to be exact. On one block. 

This pattern is called a Memory Star.  It's a 12" block & I chose to sash mine.  For many years, I just made block after block out of whatever fabric I had at the time.  My aunt (who I visited on college breaks a lot... and is a fantastic seamstress... always had a stash for raiding & a machine for using...) By the time I put the quilt together, each piece had a story behind it's creation.  In fact, unlike most college kids who hang photos & posters on their walls... I thumb-tacked my quilt blocks to the wall.  Very relaxing & comforting to me.  Anyway, the thing's massive.  It's an over-sized king.  It needs tons more applique in order to make it presentable.  But I'm not sure what approach I'll take to the applique... other then it seriously needs to get finished.  I'm in my 30's now... this quilt is spanning decades!!!

Exhibit #2: A solid labor of love... & full of stories... 

Well, one second thought... maybe not much more applique... perhaps I just need to bite the bullet & have it quilted.  It's far too large for me to be able to handle in my little sewing corner.  It needs to be long-armed... *someday*...  and we're off to Exhibit #3.

Exhibit #3:  Starburst by Bits 'n Pieces

Background: Up until last year, I'd never taken a quilting class! Ever.  I am totally a self-taught kinda gal. In searching for other places to buy fabric other then JoAnn's, I stumbled across a quilt shop.  And not only that, they sell Bernina's (yes!) & offer classes.  I took this class & made this quilt top. None of the techniques were new, but boy did I learn some nifty tricks & buy a bunch more rulers & other nifty toys. (the corner trimmer remains my favorite to this day) I had the top finished in June... which my dad admired a lot when he came to visit.  So, I figured I'd give it to him for Christmas.  It was supposed to be sent off the the long-arm quilter... guess what?!  It's still sitting folded up waiting to go. Because it came out so well, I want to have Heirloom Quilting done~ which will cost me some bigger $$$ then if it was quilted in a more simple fashion. I'm getting ready to get it sent off... two Christmas' in a row is rather ridiculous.  Here it is: 

Seeing a pattern?! Me & star quilts?! Yeah... me, too... 

So... on this rainy Sunday afternoon... husby's gone to work & the kiddo's still napping... and I'm contemplating UFO's.  I do have a second Maggie May bag to make, but I'm still opposed to starting something else new, when all of these await attention.

I shall have to keep thinking on it.... in the meantime... Happy Quilting!!!  :o)