Finished UFO

Happy news! I have one less UFO in my sewing room! Celebrating!!

This is Six Degrees, a UFO in storage for maybe 10 years, give or take. It has been a really fun finish, and I honestly don't know why I quit on it without a little more time and effort. I recall being dissatisfied with the sizing of the center medallion, but honestly, the bit of pull that is evident will easily be masked once quilted. 

Here's the post from about 6 weeks ago when I pulled it out for consideration. 

I was close to a finish when I discovered that I was going to be short on my background fabric by 4 - 6.5" squares. I searched the internet and asked friends - nothing. What to do? Go shopping, of course!

At the quilt show last Friday, I checked every vendor's table to see what I could find. Just one fat quarter! That's all I needed! So below, you will see the variety I bought. 

Arrow A shows my original background, and the square has been pieced so I can use it. I have two squares in the quilt made from waste-bin scraps. Arrow B indicates my substitute. I worked it out so that the subbed fabrics are on all the corners. It does not bother me one bit to substitute - our ancestors did this all the time. I certainly had no desire to stress over it. And I didn't.

What next? I am working on an Ohio State T-shirt quilt for DH. Then I have a whole bunch of quilts that I MUST quilt! That means getting myself right about that long-arm. If you have followed that saga here for awhile, you know how good I am at avoidance. *wink*

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Goodbye July!

Incredible. July is ending, and we are just five months away from a new year. Yikes!

Well, I don't want to think about that right now. I have too much I want to get done before facing a new year. (If I don't think about it, time goes slower, right?)

When Sharon was here on Monday, she continued to work on her Tag Sale quilt using some gorgeous 3 Sisters/Moda fabric called Double Chocolate. And typical for me, I have no pictures of her progress to offer. Shame on me!

I returned to working on Six Degrees, a pattern by Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie Quilts. Through all that bedspread construction and applique practice, I have ignored this UFO. It is made in sections around a central medallion, and that construction process had been started when I last worked on this quilt. I sorta' hoped as I revisited this on Monday, I could very easily finish this quilt top by the end of the month.

But doggone it, finishing the quilt top will have to wait. The photo above shows the center medallion and three of the four sides. While working on that 4th side I ran out of fabric for the setting squares. Major bummer! It is a Moda fabric called Garden Magic by Blackbird Designs. I think it is from 2005, quite old, in other words. I don't know if I can locate a half yard somewhere or not. I am searching all the interwebs for any signs of this fabric. Here are some helpful pictures, in case any of you readers might have a lead on it. I only have two bits of identifying selvage, but I think it's enough.

Alas, this Six Degrees will be a UFO for a little while longer.

Tomorrow I will have my July collage to share and - hopefully - a peek at some August goals.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Six Degrees - Slow and Steady Progress

Gracious, there has been precious few moments in my last week or two for any significant sewing! I have been busy with all sorts of "other activities" - those summer sorts of things like cookouts, vacations, family fun and garden/house projects.

The UFO I pulled out last month is still spread out all over my sewing room. Parts are laid out on the guest bed; parts are stacked and strewn on the cutting table, the ironing board and beside the sewing machine. I just need to find time to get back to it.

All of the blocks are made. I have been trimming them to 6.5 inches, even though they mostly came out very close to that measurement; I am finding that the rows are matching up more accurately with the trimming (duh!).

On the upper corner of this picture you can see the center medallion laid across just for a sense of the effect. I am really loving this! I am so eager to get back to stitching!

And that time is coming, for sure. However, while there is summer fun to be had, I don't want to miss a minute of it!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Six Degrees Is Coming Along

I have had such a good few days of stitching, dear friends! Last week I was so aimless - indecisive and unmotivated. I wrote about it in a couple of posts (here and here). It feels good to be back to focusing on a specific project instead of flitting from thing to thing, with no measurable progress on any of it.

So a week ago, I had a tubful of parts, put away for so long that I had forgotten why this UFO had become a UFO in the first place!

Some very dedicated puzzling took place as I figured out the hows, whys, wheres and whiches of this UFO. Before too long, I was happily chain-piecing my way to erasing the UFO status on Six Degrees.

Below is a miles-long (seemingly) chain of 1.5-inch strips. A neutral with a dark red and the same neutral with a blue. These are to become little 4-patch units.

Now, I will address those raggedy edges that you see. However long ago this project took on its UFO status (15 years?), I must not have been too overly concerned with cutting strips on the straight grain of fabric. Since they were already cut, I am going ahead with them, as I believe it will not be too terribly results-damaging in the long run if the little 4-patches are somewhat cockeyed.

And from the looks of these 12 pinkish-rose blocks, I think the little 4-patches will work out just fine. These came together in no time! I'd one made, and now all 12 are done.

Yesterday Sharon was here to sew and I put in a full, satisfying day of block-making. The 24 blue blocks are made (the pattern shows green, which I have switched out in favor of blue), and two of the 32 red blocks are done. The chain-piecing of those remaining red blocks will be my focus for today.

I am very eager to finally be finishing this quilt. The designer is Carrie Nelson, and I have made soooo may of her quilts over the years. She does love her little pieces, but the time required is worth it when you get a great finish, which she always delivers!

Click here, and here, and here for just a few of my previous Carrie Nelson quilts. She is also the designer of all those Schnibbles from several years back, and she designed Village, which I worked on, as well. I actually got to meet her when she came to Old Town Fabrics a couple of years ago.

Have a great Tuesday, Peeps! It's a gorgeous summer day here and after all the rain we have had, I plan to enjoy it!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Considering UFOs

In addition to the new projects I shared yesterday in my quest for what to work on next, I have two UFOs that I might return to.

I have both of these quilts on my goals list for the year. This should present me with some sense of urgency since the year is half over already. Maybe it has, just a little.

When I rooted through some of my project tubs yesterday, I came to this one labeled "Meadow Lily." It was begun in 2006; I made a mistake which sent it into a 13-year time-out. I hate dealing with mistakes, sometimes. Maybe enough time has passed and I can now figure out how to fix and finish.

 I have made all these setting blocks - easy blocks, and they look pretty good.

I have only one of the lily blocks finished. I do not know what mistake was made, or what I will have to do to fix things.

I am guessing that when I sort through this little stack of pinned pieces, I will discover the error. I hope I have enough of the fabrics for making corrections. We shall see.

The pattern is from this Thimbleberries book, published in 1997. I return again and again to Lynette Jensen patterns, even after all these years.

The other UFO is by another designer whose patterns I have made often - Carrie Nelson. This is from 2004, and I worked on it at Sherrie's Veteran's Day sewing.

Six Degrees became a hostage in time-out because that center medallion section did not fit somehow or other. I don't recall precisely. I suspect that my quarter-inch seam allowance is too wide. I hadn't learned, probably, about scant quarter-inch.

The pattern is shown made up in rose, burgundy and green. My plan apparently switched the green to blue. I like these colors and fabrics that fill this tub. To like a project after more than 10 years is something, isn't it?

Above is the center medallion. I pressed it, and found that the center of each star was big, so maybe that was what dissatisfied me way back when. I think it would be fine when quilted, so I probably should have kept going on this quilt.

All these parts - in various stages of completion. I wonder how it will look? My curiosity is getting the best of me.

Now, in addition to the three possibilities shared in the last post, I have these two UFOs to add. Five really promising quilts; I am leaning toward Six Degrees. I am also leaning toward Larkspur. Hmmm.

Decisions; decisions.

Happy Quilting, Friends!