I've Been Rockin' those UFO's Lately!

I pulled out a UFO the other day.  (I'm determined to get as many finished this year as I can.)  

This particular quilt top was started in 2011 when I participated in a block swap involving "made fabric."  That's when you take your small scraps and sew them together, then use that "made fabric" in other projects.  Some people call them crumb quilts.  If you google "crumb quilts" or search Pinterest for them you will see some great quilts made that way.  Here are some examples.

 In this blog post from 2011 you can see how my blocks were made.  The basic blocks were by the other gals in the block swap.  I made the purple ones.  (I know.  Purple, right??)  I cut them up and rearranged them, then added the contrasting strips.  After that, it became a UFO because I couldn't figure out what to do about borders.  

This week, determined to get something checked off my list, I pulled it out and started to play.  At first, I thought I would put a small black inner border and then use made fabric for the outer border working my way around the top with red, then yellow, then teal, purple, blue, etc.  I wan't motivated to do that much work, though.  Lately, I've seen a lot of quilts with a pop of black and white stripes so I thought I'd do something with that.  It works.

What to do for the backing was another tough decision.  (I'm not used to making all these decisions without input from Hubby, but he was out of town, so I had to do the best I could!)

Thinking I would use a black on white print I dug through my stash and, instead, came up with these very cool prints.  I had about 5 yards of each.  I remember buying these at Hancock's of Paducah a while back when I was at a retreat at Kentucky Lake. 

Here's the backing I came up with.

Now it's basted and ready to quilt.  

That's the goal for this coming week.  Checking off another UFO from the list will be so fun!


I'm linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  I'll wait until it's finished before I ask for a Whoop Whoop!

Purple Progress

If you've been following my blog you know that I'm determined to reduce my stash this year, and the first stash-buster is a purple project.   Starting out with 4.5" purple squares I made modified snowball blocks by stitching 1.5" ivory squares onto three of the corners and pressing them back.

I thought I had cut enough to make 120 squares for a total of 30 blocks, but I ended up with extra.  That happens to me quite often.  Either I don't know how to make hash marks while I'm cutting, or it's "the dreaded math" and I set out to cut the wrong number of pieces in the first place.  Either way, I just use the extra blocks on the back of the quilt and pretend that it's a design element.  

My original plan was to have bright yellow cornerstones.

Once I had the first row sewn together,  Hubby asked me if I didn't think green would look better, and guess what?  It did!  So, I ripped.

It still needs some yellow, though, so I think I will embroider centers into the flowers.  Or maybe find some cute yellow buttons to use there?  Hmmmmmm.

I had the quilt top finished last week so this week I focused on piecing the backing.  Ahhh, yes, time to use up some more of that stash!  I spent the past few days on it, but I wasn't really happy with the results.  

First of all, I completely forgot to put the extra two blocks in.  I most certainly did not want two leftover blocks.  That would make me feel like I have to use them, and by using them I mean turning them into another whole quilt!  So I ripped ..... again. 

I added the blocks, then ripped out that large ivory piece near the top and replaced it with a pieced strip.  NOW, I'm happy with it.  

Time for basting and quilting.  I should be able to get to that pretty quickly.  This is one project that will definitely not end up on the UFO list at the end of the year!

Progress on Aidan's Quilt

I honestly thought I would have Aidan's quilt finished by now, but spending nearly three weeks in bed with an upper respiratory infection does not make it easy to accomplish anything.  The few times I did have a tiny bit of energy I used it to either throw in a load of laundry, empty the dishwasher, or take a shower.   Today, was the first time I was able to get into the sewing room in well over a month.  It was a treat!

I used all the fabrics I had left over from the front, both Alabama prints and the houndstooth, then added a red blender and a black/white print from my stash to make the backing.   It's about 77" by 86" at this point, plenty big enough.  Next up -- basting!!

 

Progress. Is There a Finish in my Future?

I just can't keep away from the sewing room since I got that Tile Tango top put together.  

I bought the cutest little pink flowered print for the backing, but worked in some of the border fabrics, too.  I love pieced backings.

Now it's basted.....

.....and the binding is made.

It is ready to be quilted and then checked off the list!

I even put this picture on my cell-phone as wallpaper because my grandson said I needed "one of my beautiful quilts" on my phone.

He's a smart kid!