Saturday, January 20, 2018

UFO Busting #3


Some weeks you crush things other weeks you don't.  This week was feeling like a "you don't" week.  I'm going through major withdraw.  The struggle is real right now.  My eye is twitching and I'm having trouble not throwing caution to the wind and start every new quilt along I read about.  This is harder than I thought it would be.

I have made the decision to start Pat Sloan's 2018 mystery BOM, Let's Go Camping, (though I probably wont' start till March).  My guild will be sewing on this one as a group as the year progresses, so it would be extremely unsocial not to join in, right?   

This past weekend, while the snow fell, I spent some time doing some social sewing working on the Sewcial Bee Sampler by Maureen Cracknell and Sharon Holland.  I probably should have bowed out from sewing because for what ever reason, I was in a cranky sewing mood.  It all started with block 6.

My block in Paradiso is on the right and David's in Bee Creative is on the left.  See any difference?  Mine is sewn together wrong.  I was so frustrated with my border strips being kind of wavy that I didn't even notice I turned my blocks wrong.  For now it stays as is.


Next up, block 7.  This is where Tish has a small melt down and starts dinner.  I pre-cut all my blocks back in July.  When I pulled out the pattern and fabrics, I couldn't remember what was what and of course me being me, planned to construct the block a bit different than the pattern.  This only added to the problem.  Super Dave was flying through his block like a hero.  While I pouted over the Instantpot in the kitchen, Dave to the rescue, was able to figure out my fabrics and with a few additional cuts, I was back in business.


This week I worked on a WIP in the form of the 2017 Aurifil BOM.  I tackled the December block by Amanda Murphy called Tightrope.  I was extra careful sewing all those little 1" white strips.  This quilt is still lingering on my WIP list.  I still have the October block to finish and I'm waiting on Pat Sloan's quilt layout.  I've also decided to participate in the 2018 BOM.  I love the small challenge that comes with piecing some of the blocks.  Plus I don't think I could call myself a good thread girlfriend, if I didn't participate in the Aurifil QAL.

As I leader/ender project while working on all these blocks, I started another kind of WIP project.  I unearthed a pile of strip sets, left over from making blocks several years ago.  I'm glad a hung on to them.  I started making little 16 patch blocks for a baby quilt.

Here they are in phase 2 of construction.  The fabric line was Moda Flirt by Sandy Garvis.  

This is going to be adorable!  I have sashing fabric already pulled.  I'm hoping to stumble onto some border fabric this weekend.  I know a local shop that did still have it.  Below is my tentative plan.


So that's about it for what I've been up to.  Ron's Quilt aka Not Turning Twenty quilt is still looming over my head.  I'm determined to start quilting on it this weekend.  David was nice enough to remind me that he did not piece this quilt 6 months ago like I originally stated.


It was exactly a YEAR ago.  Oops...time flies.

I wanted to highlight a finish from last week's linky party.  


I absolutely love this Cars quilt made by Marti at Marti's DIY!  It has very cool detachable garages for the cars that can be removed in a flash making it perfect for snuggling as well.  If you missed it from last week, please hop over to Marti's and read about it here.  I would have had hours of fun with is quilt when I was a kid.  I loved cars as much as my dolls.

I also wanted to point out Julie at Pink Doxies post from last week for a few reasons.  Number one...


This!  It is a challenge project she is working on and will be posting about on the 1st of February.  What you see above, is one of four mandalas she created using ice dying.  It as been waiting for a while for her to come up with a project for it.  Let me tell you, I have personally, with my own little Tisha eyes, viewed these mandalas and I LOVE them!  I can't wait to see exactly where these little beauties are headed.  And two, the post talks about her finding quilting/life balance and staying energized.  Both are subjects we discuss when we talk on the phone.  I also like to think of her as my QAL Sponsor....she is helping me to not lose focus and abandon this UFO quest I am on.  She keeps me from binging in QAL's.  Quilter's problems, right??  Make sure you hop over and check out Julie's post here.

Now it's your turn?  What have you been up too?  Are the squirrels and quilting gremlins calling you?  Are you stuck and don't know how to finish something?  Do you have a UFO finish to celebrate.  Or are you pouting in the corner because you got distracted or frustrated?  Link up and share with us.  Feel free to grab my button below.  We are all in this big boat together.



UFO Busting







13 comments:

piecefulwendy said...

Oh, were we mind melding this week? Just not feeling the love for UFOs or, for that matter, not much of anything in the sewing room. Being completely distracted by everything that's out there, QALs, BOMs, etc. Buy more fabric? Why, yes, thank you! Oh look! A kit (and the last one available) just jumped into my cart. Sheesh. It's been quite a week. So glad Dave was there to help you out with those stinky problem blocks, which turned out to be beauties, by the way. I don't blame you for giving that first one a time out; I'd have done the same. Hope your weekend rolls out more favorably in the quilting room! Thanks for hosting the linky! Off to link up my post!

Yvonne from Quilting Jetgirl said...

I still see progress being made, Tish! Some weeks we spend less time sewing than we want, though. I had a slow sewing week and did a lot of procrastinating myself. Maybe we all just needed a break to come back ready and revitalized. :)

Marti said...

Thank you for featuring my quilt! I totally understand your block frustration. I made some blocks for a QAL that started this month and just couldn't get it to match up. I finally decided the pattern maker made a mistake in her calculations for the six inch quilt when she made the twelve inch. After struggling for hours to make two blocks, I decided I didn't like it well enough to do it again, much less for 11 more months. So I cut the two blocks into strips and used them in strip blocks. lol

Hold your ground with the QALs. After January, they should stop their siren song.

Stitchin At Home said...

I had one of those days today, nothing was going right. So I quit and will look at it later. It looks like you are making progress.

Lisa J. said...

Hi Tish: It looks like you have been making great progress on your blocks even though you are having a bad week. I hope you managed to get a lot done this weekend.

Cheryl said...

Great blocks! I see some good progress.

Anja @ Anja Quilts said...

Those are some great looking blocks. I love the prints for your leader/ender project. I linked up my Wayward Transparency -- it's not an old UFO, but I didn't finish it in 2017 like I had hoped. I just clued in this this is a weekly link up LOL

Kate @ Smiles From Kate said...

I’m alwYs amazed by the number of projects you juggle at any one time and for a bad week you did great. I have been working to a deadline recently and I have nothing I can link up but I can give you an exclusive, as in I haven’t even posted it on my blog yet! I have resumed quilting my Circles quilt as in started over eighteen months ago, resumed eight months ago and still not finished. I’m hoping to put it to bed in the next couple of weeks though, so wish me luck on that one, PLEASE!

dq said...

There is so much to see and enjoy in this post other than the parts where you had a rough sewing week. I think your block sewn together wrong should stay as is. I like it. I am glad you were sble to figure out the other one with the help of Dave.

I love the fabrics in your orange/brown quilt. Also, thanks to you, I am heading over to check out the Pat Sloan camping mystery. I might not be able to resist. I am earning my PHD in quilting this year (an online group) where I have to completely finish everything I start this year as well as completely finish half of my UFOs. Starting something new is dangerous.

Have a much better week!

Beth @ Cooking Up Quilts said...

I hope this week goes better for you! Although it looks to me like lots of progress was made! I have a quilt I'm putting off quilting too; maybe today's the day? Hmm.... Feel better and quilt on, sister! You got this!

Julie said...

I'm terribly flattered you featured my ice dyed project. Thank you. It had me awake at 1 am thinking what I was going to do with it. It's not cooperating like I wanted. And so maybe that's the reason we stall on these WIPs. Clouded vision? I'm not sure. But one sure thing that works for me is some loud background music to drown out the negative talk inside and noise outside, and keep plugging away. Perhaps that would work in your house, too. ;-)

Sandy Panagos said...

Thank goodness for Dave, right? I like what you're doing there! Love the colors in the baby quilt. It will be so cute!

Lynette said...

Oh, gosh. I can so very much relate to everything you've shared here! Befudgety sewing days, distractions of new projects, feeling constrained with the UFO work. . . :) I'm super excited, because I finally have a new UFO on the frame ready to start quilting when I'm finished with lunch. The non-UFO quilt I had on there for the last 4 weeks has really been chafing at me the last week, but it was my most important finish for the month, so the UFO had to wait. Hopefully I can get all its quilting finished by month's end. And like you, I had to give in and reward myself with a socially-oriented project. I got fabrics to do Esther Aliu's free BOM, "Queen's Garden." I'll start that next month.

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