UFO Busting #10

UFO Busting---we've reached double digits!  So as I've been quilting away this week, I've allowed my mind to wonder and ponder UFO's, but we can talk about that in a minute.  This week has been all about the small quilts, doll quilts, super quick and fun quilts.  Last weekend me and the mister went a little crazy.  Together we pieced a total of 11 small quilts.  We are nuts.

I took them with me to the guild meeting this week, so here are a few shots of me talking about them.

This is one that David pieced.  These fabrics have a special story, but I'll tell it once I have all four of his completed.  Man, I'm being very mysterious this week.

So, as I was sewing up these quilts, I have to say, I was feeling a bit guilty. I'm creating new projects when there are old ones to finish.  What is wrong with me??  How can I write about busting UFO's when I started new stuff.  Then an awful realization happened.  Technically when you take your first cut into a piece of fabric for a project, doesn't it become a UFO until it's finish?  I UFO is simply an Unfinished Object.  Gasp.  We call them many things;Works In Projects, Unfinished Objects.  Isn't it like me saying, "look at that red flower," and someone else saying, "no, that flower is clearly scarlet."  

If I stand back and look at my project when I'm finished working on it for the day and ask the question I this project finished and the answer is no, doesn't it qualify as an unfinished object?  I know that we typically relate UFO's to old projects, but if we are honest, unfinished just means it's not complete yet.  So why so much guilt?  I'm not sure if I feel liberated by this, if I'm making excuses to not feel bad about not working on something a bit older, or if I'm going stark raving mad?  I think I need to turn the music up louder and stop thinking :)  I guess I'm  just saying most projects don't get finished over night, all progress should be celebrated just like all finishes.  UFO's come in all shapes, sizes and time frames.  No more guilt.


In other exciting news, next week kicks off Cheryl at Meaow Mist Designs and Paige at Quilted Blooms block hop for their recently published book, Modern Plus Sign Quilts.  Believe me you want to check out all the wonderful quilts in this book, there is something for everyone.  You will be POSITIVELY amazed.

My day on the hop isn't until next week (and I can't wait to share my projects with you), but until then make sure you check out all the awesome quilts next week.

MODERN PLUS SIGN BOOK HOP SCHEDULE

Monday, March 12th

Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs

Paige @ Quilted Blooms

Tuesday, March 13th

Soma @ Whims and Fancies

Ann @ Brown Paws Quilting

Kitty @ Night Quilter

Sophie @ Luna Lovequilts

Afton @ Quilting Mod

Shelley @ The Carpenters Daughter Who Quilts

Wednesday, March 14th

Jayne @ Twiggy and Opal

Jen @ A Dream and a Stitch

Abigail @ Cut & Alter

Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl

Sandra @ mmm! quilts

Karen @ Run Sew Fun

Thursday, March 15th

Linda @ Flourishing Palms

Bernie @ Needle and Foot

Liz @ Savor Every Stitch

Stacey @ Stacey In Stitches

Michelle @ From Bolt to Beauty

Patty @ Elm Street Quilts

Melanie @ A Bit of Scrap Stuff Blog

Friday, March 16th

Myra @ Busy Hands Quilts

Izzy @ Dizzy Quilts

Ruth @ Charly and Ben's Crafty Corner

Christa @ Christa Quilts

Monday, March 19th

Jessica @ Quilty Habit

Cindy @ Hyacinth Quilt Designs

Jennifer @ The Inquiring Quilter

Julie @ The Crafty Quilter

Tuesday, March 20th

Tish @ Tish N Wonderland

Judy @ Sew Some Sunshine

Emily @ The Darling Dogwood

Wanda @ Wanda's Life Sampler

Karen @ Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

Katherine @ Sew Me Something Good

Wednesday, March 21st

Anja @ Anja Quilts

Kate @ Smiles from Kate

Sue @ Sevenoaks Street Quilts

Carole @ From My Carolina Home

Alison @ Little Bunny Quilts

Thursday, March 22nd

Debbie @ Esch House Quilts

Laura @ Slice of Pi Quilts

Beth @ Cooking Up Quilts

Janice @ Color Creating and Quilting

Joanne @ Quilts by Joanne

Friday, March 23rd

Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs

Paige @ Quilted Blooms

If you would like to pick up a signed copy of the book hop on over to Cheryl or Paige's Etsy pages and grab yours today.

Another thing I was thinking about this week was Lynette at What a Hoot! and her Listen With Your Eyes progress.  She has me drooling with anticipation for her eventual quilt finish.

How can you look at this smiling (literally) quilt progress and not smile back at it??  This quilt will be full of personality.  I also think I smell a finish with my eyes almost around the corner for her, so if you missed all her hard work last week, make sure you check it out.

Now it's your turn, what have you been working on?  Do you ever get lost in your own thoughts while you are working away on a project?  Help me try to undirty(is that even a word) or clean up that little phrase UFO, maybe it's not such a bad label after all.  If you link up, feel free to grab my button in the side bar.

An InLinkz Link-up

Cabin Fever-A Finish

Cabin Fever a Five Fat Quarter Fun Quilt by Amanda, Jedi Craft Girl and Amber, Gigi's Thimble oh how I love thee!  I partnered up with Dave the Quilt Engineer on this project.  Though I will note, I have fabric purchased months ago to make one of my own.

Dave was asked by a co worker if we would make a quilt to donate to an upcoming raffle to raise money for a group of home school children.  Dave, always eager to help, said yes we could.  I agreed to quilt and bind the project, if he would do all cutting and piecing.

So over the course of two weekends this quilt was pieced and basted and handed over to the quilter...me.  We decided on a simple and quick overall meander and played with several different thread color choices.

In the end I went with this beautiful spool of Aurifil #2615 Aluminum.  Of all my choices this one seemed to blend in the best and play well with all of the fabrics in this quilt.  I love that my Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen keeps track of my stitches and time quilting.  I had this one all quilted up in less than an hour.  You cannot beat that.

Since this quilt will be a donation/raffle quilt, I decided to add a corner tag to the back of the quilt to document for the recipients where their new quilt came from.  This is the first time I've labeled a quilt this way and I have to say I rather liked it.

I still need to give the quilt a quick wash before it leaves our home this weekend.  I do hope the new owners will love the quilt and it will bring them lots of snuggles in the future.  I think this is the fasted finish the mister and I have had in quite a while!  So I will leave you with a few more pictures of the quilt before I sign off.

I love taking my quilts into the "wild" for photo shoots, but I have to say that I'm starting to run out of places.  I've been thinking about asking my fellow neighbors via Facebook, if anyone would be willing to let me use their properties for taking pictures or knows of any good places I'm not thinking of.  How do you find places to photograph your quilts?  I'd love to hear about it.

Today I'm linking up with Main Crush Monday.

UFO Busting #9

Welcome all those searching for ET life forms (extraterrestrial elapsed task...UFO's).  I promise I have been working diligently on a WIP that was border line turning into UFO.  The sad part, I can't really show you yet because it is secret sewing for an upcoming blog hop this month, but I'll leave you with this teaser shot.

I've also managed to get myself quite distracted with a bunch of little squirrels in the form of doll quilts.  They are happily bouncing around my sewing room as we speak and multiplying like rabbits.  So maybe they are squabbits?

In just three days, I have two quilts pieced and three more cut.  I guess I'll chase this squirrel as long as allows me to still work on other things.  If I get out of control, please someone stop me!

This week I decided to feature Deana from Dream Worthy Quilts and her Up on the House Top Quilt...because Santa is always watching (and I need all the good graces from Santa I can get).

Well, he will be as soon as those button eyes come in.  Last week she was showing us all her finished blocks testing it against the sashing fabric and it's going to look marvelous!  I can't wait to see it once the button eyes and shinny buckles are added.  Keep up the good work, Deana!

So, what is Santa spying in your sewing room?  Are you being good little quilters, nose to the stone, working like an elf in a toy shop the night before Christmas?  Or are you like me, one of the toys stuck on misfit island beating to your own little drum?  What ever the case link up and show us what you are up to.  Don't forget to grab my bottom from the side bar and let people know you do believe..UFO's...Santa, it doesn't matter.

An InLinkz Link-up

TBT-All Framed Up

Oh my goodness, where has the month gone??  I know February is a tiny month, but it just seems like it was January.  That's okay, I'll ring in March with a little Throwback Thursday fun and my dear friend, Sandra at mmm!quilts.

For today, I chose my version of Melissa Corry's All Framed Up baby quilt for Moda Bake Shop.  I used precuts and yardage of Moda's Blue Berry Crumb Cake line.  To this day when I see this fabric I still want a blueberry muffin.  I'm drooling now.

I made this quilt simply because I wanted to make something and I loved the fabrics and pattern.  It currently lives (all finished) folded on a shelf in my back room.  I guess it ended up in the back room kind of forgotten because I didn't think it was good enough to give away.  This quilt is part of my learning to free motion journey.

These two pictures are of a different quilt, earlier than All Framed Up, but I wanted to show the stitching on it.  I attempted to meander/stipple in the white fabric.  My stitches were so microscopic and close together you couldn't pick them out if you wanted.  My movements where kind of jerky and didn't flow with ease.  I think that's normal for most people starting out.  Even though these stitches are far from perfect, it still created wonderful texture and my (at the time) seven year old daughter, didn't care.  She loved it.

I show you those stitches, so that we can talk about these stitches.  I again tried stippling all over All Framed Up.  I guess I really had not been brave enough to try other motifs at this point and I also find myself wondering why I never quilted with my walking foot?

My scale is of course bigger than the previous quilt, but with the challenge of quilting on a larger scale, my stitches became bigger.  Some are much bigger than I would like.  My movement in the shapes are much better, but still jerky in places.  I will note that I did continue to practice (sporadically) between these two quilts, meaning practice does make you better.

If you look to the right of my hand, you may notice a thick goop or thread and I just noticed a spot where it looks like the thread just stops.  This is in the center of the quilt (of course).  I remember having a HUGE bird's next on the back.  I probably cried for a little bit, but eventually picked it out the best I could.  I am assuming that was me trying to back track or travel.  The random stopped stitch, not sure about that one.

But lets fast forward to now.

This is the back of a quilt I have recently finished.  My stippling is much more curvy and flowy.  It's not perfect because it never will be, I'm human (and I own cats that like to jump on said quilt while I'm quilting).  I show you all this, because I'm going to keep harping nagging encouraging you to free motion quilt.  I'm going to guess 90% of people who start out free motioning end up feeling discouraged and depressed that their stitches don't measure up to someone else's.  STOP.  I look at it this way, maybe the universe says you have to stitch so many bad stitches before you stitch good ones.  Again I think it's called practice, believe me I avoided it too.  So don't be afraid to quilt, it puts you one stitch closer to where you want to be.  Ok, it's getting windy up here on top of my soap box, I'll come back down.

All in all from the back I think it looks pretty good, wobbles and bobbles.  You can barely even notice the use to be birds nest spot.

And there is another picture of the front.  I should do something with this quilt other than leave it on a shelf, but I have no idea what.  So until next month, I leave you with Blueberry Crumb Cake All Framed Up.

Do you have a quilt from your quilty past you'd like to share?  Take some pictures, write a post and hop over to mmm!quilts and tell us all about it.

Today I'm linking up with Throwback Thursday.

Side Tracked-I'm not shocked

I'm officially side tracked, but it's okay.  I can work on new stuff and still get old stuff finished too, right?  I've been so far behind in blogland and reading lately, it's not funny.  I'm slowly but surely catching up.  One of the catching up was reading Bernie at Needle and Foot's call for making doll quilts for what she was calling Spread the Love, Quilting For Kids.  I was moved as I read Bernie's words about Amy and her venture called A Doll Like Me.  Bernie was asking quilters during the month of February to make doll quilts to send to Amy.  The out pour from the quilting community did not surprise me one bit.  I love how the quilting community came together to make quilts to send to this wonderful cause.  

I figure it's never too late, right?  My goal is to go into doll quilt making mode, but for three reasons.  One, I want to make quilts to send to Amy.  I also intend on telling my quilt guild about the project, incase some of them might want to join in.  Two, make doll quilts for our guild's upcoming boutique.  We are trying to focus on smaller quilted items to have for sell.  There has been much talk about fabric post cards, but doll quilts seem like a logical item too.  Plus they can pass as wall hangings and table toppers.  Three, quilting practice.  What a great way to practice free motion quilting!  I have a few designs I would like to play around with, so some of my doll quilts might be whole cloth style.

So the past few days, I have been chasing these squirrels.  I've gathered some fabrics and pieced up two quilts.

I will probably make a few more of this one.  The pattern is called Scrap Squares and it is in the 101 Fabulous Small Quilts book.  All you need are some charms and little yardage and you are good to go.

I found this doll quilt pattern while surfing around on Pinterest.  It is a free pattern by Lindsay at PA Country Crafts called Star Doll Quilt.  Both of these quilts cut and pieced very quickly.

I even have fabric pulled for the next three quilts.  I'm not 100% sure what patterns I will use, but simple is good.  I will wait till I have several pieced before I quilt them.  Some quilts will no doubt receive custom quilting jobs and the others simple all over designs.

I also wanted to remind everyone that today is the last day to sign up for the 2018 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop.  If you are new to quilt blogging and haven't signed up go read this post now!  If you are a well seasoned blogger mark your calendars for the first two weekends in April and May and join us in fun giveaways and hopping around getting to know new quilt bloggers.  I know I can't wait for the party to begin.

Today I'm linking up with Midweek Makers.

NQBBH--What's it all about?

So you are new to blogging and you just ran into posts about this 2018 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop and everyone you run into keeps saying, "Just do it!" but you aren't so sure about it.  When I signed up I didn't even know what a blog hop was.  I submitted the application and thought, what the heck did I just get myself into??  I STRESSED over writing the post for the hop, but you know what?  There was nothing to stress about.

Basically, your hop post is your "HELLO.  My name is" post.  It's a chance to meet different new quilt bloggers facing the same challenges and issues you face and tackling those challenges together.  You get to know their quilting styles and learn from them, while cultivating friendships.  And vice versa, they get to know about you.

Below are my two NQBBH posts from 2015 and 2016 (yes, I participated two years in a row).  They will kind of give you an idea of what a hop post might look like.

2015 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop
2016 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop

Don't be afraid to be yourself.  Share what you are comfortable with.  What you write is up to you.  There is no right or wrong answer and I promise no one is grading you.  If you are like me and it is the first time you have participated in a hop, let this be the one you do!  You know the subject matter you are writing about better than anyone else.

Deadline for signing up, is quickly approaching on Wednesday.  To read more about the hop and to sign up please check out this post.  We have some amazing sponsors lined up with generous prizes to give out during the hop.  I look forward to getting to know everyone who signs up.  So please join myself, Beth at Cooking Up Quilts, Jen at Dizzy Quilter and Sandra at mmm!quilts for what I promise to be one of the most blog hops you'll ever do...well if you're like me you'll do it twice :)

UFO Busting #8

The good news and the bad new.  The good news, I have a finish.  The bad news, not a UFO.  I haven't revealed the finish on the blog yet, because the weather has been too rainy get any photos.  Hopefully, I can find a non rainy moment this weekend and snap some photos.

I did manage to sneak in some sewing time on two ongoing WIP's.  Block 11 Four Square of the Sewcial Bee Sampler.  I am itching to see all of these blocks come together, but slow and steady wins the race.  My next problem is locating block 12.  I pre cut all my blocks back in July and some how have misplaced the baggie containing #12.  So do I keep searching long and hard or give in and cut and make the block.  I know full well that if I do that, I will find the bag like two minutes after I'm finished.

And one of the next blocks in Cindy at Stitchin at Home's Medallion Quilt.  I technically have enough blocks made for the quilt.  I'll lay them out this weekend and decide if I'm going to use the extra Churn Dash block I've made or the last of the blocks released.  It will just depend on how I'm feeling about the colors.

I do want to announce that the closing for signing up for the 2018 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop is approaching next week.  Have you signed up?  If you have been blogging for more than two months and less than three years, I sure hope you have.  I think we are all going to have a blast and learn lots.  If you want to learn more about the hop and sign up please check out this post.  We have a long list of sponsors with some pretty awesome prizes we will be giving away each of the four weeks of the hop.  Check back here on Monday, when I would like to discuss exactly what the hop posts are about.  Don't let fear of writing that post hold you back, I promise it's easy.

Now let's see what you've been up to.  This week I wanted to feature Kate from Smiles From Kate and her Circle Quilt UFO finish.

Kate's finish makes me happy all the way around!  I've been following Kate ever since she started this quilt.  It's been fun to watch it grow and evolve into the finished top you see today.  I love the way she fearlessly tackled free motion quilting and tamed this beast on her domestic machine.

So what have you been up to this week?  Did you get distracted by me, or are you conquering those old projects one stitch at a time?  Link up and tell us all about it.  Feel free to grab my button on the side bar and let everyone know you are busting your UFO's and WIP's and staying on task.  Or at least make them think that :)

An InLinkz Link-up