Farewell 2017

This is my (hopefully brief) wrap up for 2017. First, Charley Brown and Snoopy - I just love the Peanuts gang. The waning year has been a good one - I have no complaints of any sort. The blessings are plentiful, and I am grateful.

I did finish the borders on the last UFO quilt top late last night. I am really pleased that I had the fortitude to stay with my goal of completing a UFO each month all year long. That sort of discipline is not my strongest trait.

Below are some random pics of my Large Tumblers quilt top. It is made with very scrappy Kaffe Fasset fabrics from my stash. The quilt top measures roughly 64"x 80" - a nice long quilt for a single bed. That darkest picture at the bottom was taken last night when lighting was poor.

I have to distinguish between large tumblers and small tumblers because I made two quilts with my template in two sizes - 3 inches and 5 inches. I was mostly just playing around when I made those first few tumblers, but then it seemed like a good idea to turn them into something useful, so now I have two tumbler quilt tops waiting to be quilted. Unplanned, but very much a good thing.

Today, I am looking back not just at the whole of 2017, but specifically December. As I attempt to wrap up both the month and the year, I put together this collage of December highlights.

The first picture is of my nephew Donnie, his wife Elisa and their new son, Elliot, born on the 28th. I was betting she'd deliver early, but nope! He came right on his due date and weighed in at 9.36lbs. A big'n! He is also long at over 21". Next is my very quick and easy table runner, a kit purchased in Holmes County/Amish Country. Then there's me with my wonderful gift - the Tin Lizzie long arm quilting machine.

The second row is of a WIP (work in progress) made with Roman Holiday scraps. I will try to finish it up soon. The train picture in the middle is a reminder of a fun night out we had with our friends the Ludwigs and their son, daughter and spouses; 8 of us in total. The Cincinnati Dinner Train was a true dining experience! The blue and white blocks are a preview of quilts Sharon P. and I are going to make in the new year.

The bottom row shows the really recent stuff. First, Emma finally has her wall hanging. I am so pleased with how it turned out, and I know she loves it. The pillows are a gift I gave my mom. The patchwork fronts are actually pockets and I tucked books into them. Of course, the final picture is the December UFO, Large Tumblers.

I have been mulling over some plans for the new year. We already know I am NOT going to focus so heavily on finishing UFOs, but I may tackle 3 or 4 as the months pass. I am eager to dive into some new fabrics I have acquired, as well as create quilts with the ample stash of old fabrics I treasure so much. Early this new year, I will post some goals and plans. It helps to do that so that I maintain my focus. I am too easily sidetracked, as evidenced by what I worked on this morning.

I have the attention span of a squirrel. This sewing room needs a major clearing out and straightening up. I need to be getting familiar with my long arm machine. I need to get a couple of appetizers made for the New Year's Eve party we are going to tonight. I ought to run a load or two of laundry. What do I do?? I ignore all that (typical Jayne behavior) and pull out a stack of scrappy stash fabrics and make this block. Teaching this dog any new tricks seems futile, at this point.

I will provide details soon on the pattern and how I became distracted - I need to finish up this last post of 2017, and get going on that to-do list!! Happy celebrating, wherever you are! And as always,

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Progressing On December UFO

While I have made it quite clear that I long ago lost my excitement over finishing UFOs, I am working pretty hard to get this last one for 2017 finished to the flimsy stage.

When Sharon P. was here on Tuesday, I made some significant progress on the large tumbler UFO from several years ago. When I bought the tumbler acrylic template, I cut tumblers in 2 sizes - 3" and 5".  I came to refer to the little quilts as small tumbler and large tumbler. I made them mostly to see how easy the template was to work with rather than because of a deep desire for a tumbler quilt.

This UFO from earlier this year - the small tumbler was finished early on in this challenge. I love how the small tumbler quilt turned out especially because of the wonderful floral border.

At last I am finishing the large tumbler UFO. I have had to cut more tumblers to increase the variety of fchoices, and I am cleaning up some of my jumbled tubs of Kaffe Fassett fabrics. This flimsy is going together easily.

When a seamstress sits at her sewing machine and looks down at this massive splash of intense color, she can't help but be happy to be working on such stuff, even if it is an ancient UFO. These bright fabrics make even the gloomiest wintry day seem cheery.

By later Tuesday, I had constructed about half of the rows I think I will make. My plan is to be near a finish on this center section by midday tomorrow. Then I will ponder border options for a day or two. I could conceivably have this UFO checked off the list by Christmas! Woo-hoo!

Today, we Frankfort girls are having our Christmas meeting! We normally meet on Fridays, but this week we are meeting on Thursday as one of our mgroup is scheduled to have surgery on Friday. We all have free enough schedules to allow us to make this change to our routine.

I will bring pictures of all the fun at Sharon O's house. Yes, that Sharon of "let's give Jayne a long-arm machine" fame. (What a sweet one she is.) Sharon's DH is fixing breakfast - yum-o! We will exchange gifts and also the blocks for our block exchange project that we began in late spring.

In amongst all the fun of parties and UFO finishes, I am finalizing semester grades for my two OU-C classes. Seems like there's never a dull moment around her, you know?!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Hello December

The magical month of December has arrived! Are you ready for all the excitement? I can feel the Christmas Spirit growing bit by bit!

I have been working on cutting out large tumblers for my December UFO. Yes, this month is my final UFO at last, and I must say I am not sad about the end. The last few months of working on UFOs has been a bit of a drag. I am thrilled on the one hand, to be so close to finishing all twelve, but on the other hand, I sure would like to have been making new, fun and exciting stuff instead!

Can't have our cake and eat it, too, now can we?? I will be happy about checking off my UFOs and will not dwell on that other stuff I missed out on.

Back to the December UFO. It is the large tumbler quilt I started maybe 4-5 years ago. The copyright date of the tumbler template is 2012, so my UFO is no older than 5 years.

The portion you see above is all I did immediately after buying the ruler. I cut random Westminster Fiber fabrics - mostly Kaffe Fassett - and stitched. This start measures 20" wide x 31" long. Meager beginning, wouldn't you say? Alongside this start are some remaining yellow tumblers cut and ready; these are from the beginning and will get added into the new ones I am cutting now.

Cutting is in earnest, and I have quite a stack. I will be finishing this quilt in a way I have never done before. It will be determined by the size of the backing I intend to use. I have three yards of "Frilly" by Rowan Westminster (very old stash piece). As big as that back will be determines the size of the quilt. Have you ever done it so backward? I certainly never have. We'll see how it turns out - I may have way too many tumblers cut. Maybe.

I have done some calculations. (That's a scary sentence for anyone who knows my lack of math skills.) Anyway, the goal for a finish will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 54"x75". I think this will leave me with ample backing fabric to use as the binding.

Here is the resulting stack of tumblers from a wide variety of fabrics in the KF stash. I love this bright, vibrant fabric. It will be fun working on this as we head into potentially gray days of winter.

I hope your December is a magical one; and a productive one, too!

I am linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts and her weekly Finish It Up Friday party.
Happy Quilting, Friends!