Donation project

 

Picking up a quilt from your long arm quilter is always exciting, right?  I stopped into The Pin Cushion today to pick up needles and a new bottle of Best Press. And the bonus was that the group/donation project quilt that I dropped off a week or so ago was ready to be picked up. And the quilting is just gorgeous.  This is a design I will request again for my own quilts.  Thanks for the recommendation ladies!!

 

I've explained before how this quilt came to be.  A group of 12 of us each made a set of 13 identical blocks which had to include that brown floral focus fabric. Then we got together and exchanged the blocks so we each had 1 block from everyone.  The 13th set - this one - was put together and will be donated locally.  We had originally talked about donating it to the local school district scholarship committee for their annual raffle/auction fundraiser. 

 

It just needs binding and a label now, and then we can hand it over to the committee if that is what the group decides we still want to do. 

Farm Girl Vintage top is done

Farm Girl Vintage is now a finished flimsy! These are all of the 6" blocks plus the larger Silo Barn block in the center.  The outer border is actually a light blue with specs of red, yellow, and white. I absolutely LOVE this quilt.  And I still have the 12" version of all of these blocks waiting to become something. 

Wish I had a better picture to share, but this was the best out of several taken inside and outside.

Design Wall Monday - borders

 

Pieced borders are done on 3 sides of Farm Girl Vintage. These flying geese blocks are only 1.5 x 2.5" - very small.  I have about half of the geese for the last side done and hope to finish that side this afternoon. Then there will be another narrow white border, and then a wide blue print border. Can't wait to finish this top and get it quilted because I really love these blocks.

 

Check out the Design Wall Monday posts on the new site, Small Quilts & Doll Quilts:  http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/2017/06/design-wall-monday-june-5-2017.html

Stash Report & the 4 Bs

I've been determined to cut back on frivolous fabric purchases and have done well so far in 2017 by mostly making purchases that had specific purposes. So far most of my purchases have been Backgrounds, Borders, Backing, and Binding to finish existing projects. The 4 Bs of finishing UFOs. 

• Fabric IN this year:  44 yards
• Fabric OUT this year:  81 yards

It's really exciting to be so far ahead this year.  A little mental discipline is paying off so far.

This isn't saying that I don't have some new projects ready to start or already started.  For example, I'm doing Saturday Sampler again and that fabric was all new purchases. And I have purchased a couple of new patterns in the past couple of months that I'm just dying to try out - and that just may require a few purchases.  Since it's the process that I love I'm determined to enjoy every project that I work on, whether it's new or finishing a UFO.

Finished exchange block top

 

I set a goal of finishing this top by Father's Day weekend, but I had Friday morning open.  No work - and the little tiny flying geese for Farm Girl Vintage just didn't appeal to me.  Both projects are currently living on my cutting table, ironing board, and sewing table.

 

This went together so much faster than I expected.  I did a bit more figuring (math) and then just cut into those strip sets.  Trying to be brave and hoping that the math was right. And it turned out just perfect.  Lucky me!  It's appliqued, pressed, and ready to be quilted.  Also the binding is ready to go too, also from that same dark red.  So I think my portion of this donation project is done.  Check off UFO #10 from the Challenge.

 

The other exciting thing is that it appears there are enough opposite wedges left from those strip sets that I can do something similar in my own personal version of this quilt.  I really hadn't decided what I wanted to do with my own set of these blocks but I like this outcome so well that I think I'm going to copy it.  Maybe a different color inner border and binding.  And maybe I'll add an outer border to make mine larger.  New goal?  Both tops done by Father's Day?

Exchange blocks

Here is a glimpse of my June UFO Challenge project - just the exchanged blocks. In the center of this will be a Dresden Plate, pieced from 2 different strip sets.  A few of us got together last summer and laid out the blocks in this pattern and chose the fabrics for the strip sets. Luckily I took a photo with my phone to remember what order we decided on. And luckily I had all of the parts and fabrics all in one project box so I didn't lose anything.

The strip sets for the Dresden are already sewn. I did that last summer but I've been afraid to cut those plate sections because I am worried about cutting them the wrong size.  This was going to be a group project but this next step was supposed to be my task and I've been procrastinating.  Surprise, surprise!  So, I have set a goal of finishing this top by Father's Day weekend.

June UFO Challenge

#10 is the June number for the American Patchwork & Quilting UFO Challenge. My charts says it's a 2015 Friendship Exchange, so now I have some decisions to make because I actually have 2 of these. I have my own personal one AND I have the blocks for the group charity version. Each of the 12 of us made 13 identical blocks and then we met and exchanged them so we each had a block from everyone. And the 13th set of blocks is for a charity quilt.  A small group of us got together last summer and figured out a layout for the charity version, and I have the blocks.  So maybe that one needs to be done first.  Right after I finish that Farm Girl Vintage quilt top!

	UFO/WIP Project	Status Before	Status After
1	Valentine Bench Pillow	Needs blanket stitching around applique, then sandwich, quilt, and add envelope backing
2	4 Seasons Cats Pastel 9-patch	Finish hand quilting, bind quilt and bind	DONE in May!
3	ABC kid quilt	Machine quilt, bind
4	House Warming Party	Finish blocks
5	Circa 2016	Finish making blocks
6	Easter Sunrise runners (2)	Applique, quilt, bind	DONE in January!
7	Batik Stars Saturday Sampler	Finish blocks
8	2016 2015 Saturday Sampler	Finish blocks, need to cut out setting pieces Quilt and bind	DONE in February!
9	Reindeer 60-degree runner	Quilt and bind
10	2015 Friendship Exchange	Blocks are made, need to determine a layout
11	Beach cross-stitch piece Harvest Bounty 60-degree runner	About half stitched only Re-do quilting	DONE in April!
12	RSC16 Crown of Thorns	12+ blocks finished, need to determine layout	DONE in March!