UFO Friday-Week 39

Enter to win the Traveling Stash here!

Wow, is it Friday already?! This week went by so fast because I was a little sick. That means a doctor’s appointment and lots of rest.

Not much on the sewing front, but I did find some time to work on my Rehab quilt. This is the 50 feathers I quilted this month. 50 per month is my goal. I do a few every week. I pin the paper to my quilt and follow the pattern, then tear it off later.

Check out what the other UFO Busters have been working here.

Traveling Stash Giveaway!

We had fun together. But it's time for the Traveling Stash to move on!

This is what I took:

Picture shamelessly stolen from Marianne at Sew Ruffhaven, where I won this awesome prize. Check out her blog to read the history of the Traveling Stash and watch it's evolution.

Some Fall fat quarters, a few Xmas fabrics, misc fabric, a Yo-Yo maker, and a bag of red and white charms. And a gift card to Joann's Fabrics.

This is what I put in:

A few patterns I've already made, a tissue-cover for tiny tissues (I love it, but don't carry tiny tissues), an American Jane panel, a cute Pumpkin pin cushion kit with Fig Tree fabrics, a purse kit, a really cute vintage apron, a bag of Asian 3.5 inch squares, a bag of 2 inch squares (start a Charm quilt!), a few random pieces of yardage that I just chopped off. Also, some squares of really cute designer fabrics:

A smidgeon over 12.5 inch square. And some Joel Dewberry Heirloom charms:

Would you like a peep at the Traveling Stash?!

Of course you do!

The rules are simple. Take what you want. Replenish the stash. Host your own giveaway on your blog and send it off! I tried to make sure it left better than it looked when it came to me. Cuz that's what my Mom taught me :)

Please only US residents (because of shipping costs). Please only bloggers (to host your own giveaway). Please promise to send it off!

Leave a comment. I'll choose someone on Saturday morning!

But that's not all!!!

Did you see that big pile that I put in the box? Well, it almost fit. If it weren't for this darn book!

LOL. This is a great book. I've already read it from my local library though and want to pass it on. But it's thick! And the box won't close! So I will pull another name for this book. If you don't want the book, just let me know in your comment.

Good luck!

A Different Kind of Finish

Hello Fellow UFO Busters! I have another Finish to report this week.

A few years ago, when I first started quilting, I took a class to make this purse.

The purpose was to learn how to bind a quilt. Basically, we bound this quilted fabric all around and then shaped it into a purse.

I bought some really cute buttons to put on this purse. And that’s when it turned into a UFO. I have re-sewn buttons before, but never put a brand-new one on. How do you line it up correctly with the buttonhole? How do you know the button will fit through the hole? Why do my buttons always look like they got attacked by a sewing machine with a reason for revenge?

So this week I buttoned down and got serious about finishing this UFO. (hahaha, sorry, had to pun!)

Then I realized that I will never carry this purse. It’s shallow (which means that anything you put in it is in danger of falling out!), it really needs a zipper to be functional (and buttons, but whatever!), and the strap is too dinky (I know, easily fixable). When you add up all those cons, it just doesn’t make sense to finish this purse. I was never going to use it even if I did get around to adding a button. I couldn’t in good conscious pawn it off on a family member. And I would be aghast if I gave it to another quilter.

So I did the only thing left.

And that counts as a Finish!

I’m linking up with Susan at Blackberry Creek Home Arts for her weekly UFO Party!

Lots of Fabric!!

Last night I rushed home and tore into my Stash. I began cutting pieces of my favorite fabrics. I cut 12.5 inch squares from a pile of fabric I bought in San Francisco

and 6 inch squares from my new bundle of Heirloom by Joe Dewberry.

Then I went through my stash and began pulling and dividing what I thought was really cool: a panel of American Jane, a vintage apron with sweet birds on it, a large piece of 30s fabric…

What am I getting ready for?

The Traveling Stash is coming to visit!!

This must be my lucky week! Thank you Marianne! I want to pick some really cool things for you guys. Because when I’m done packing this Stash, I’m going to send it to a lucky reader.

Maybe even you!

Finally Have a Center Block!

I took a little break from quilting this weekend. I think my To-Do List is just too long. I have 6 BOMs I am trying to keep current, and 7 UFO’s I try to do a little bit of work on all the time. Maybe instead of working on everything each week, I’ll divide the month into two halves: UFO’s and Current Projects. I’ll try that next month.

This weekend I did do a bit of shopping though! I bought some border fabric for my Twilight quilt. I love, love, love this gray and can’t wait to play with it. The black will be a small Stop border and the polka-dot is for the binding, of course.

Last night I Finally finished my Center block for the Stay At Home Round Robin. This block is from the BOM by Erin Russek. She has been running a beautiful BOM at her blog One Piece at a Time. I wanted so badly to make this quilt, but the techniques were just OUT of my league. This was the first block and it took me a few months to complete!

This block had a lot of Firsts.

1. First bias-stem. I made them a little wide for this block. ***I also should have curved them more. I learned a very useful tip: always place the stems first*** Oops. :)

2. First Freezer-paper Applique method. I still need a lot of practice with this. My curves are pointy instead of smooth.

3. First time using glue. I glued the appliqué pieces together. I don’t know if I like that method. I’m scared it will come apart down the road. It looks nicer, but was hard to work with.

4. First time using Invisible Thread. Invisible thread is interesting! It kind of feels like fishing wire.

I tried to use it in my machine and hated the look. See all the large holes from my needle? I ripped out those stitches. So I spent hours and hours stitching the block by hand (I’m a slooooow stitcher). The thread knotted easily so I learned quickly to use smaller sections. It is hard to work with because I kept losing the thread and had to figure out where I had just come from.

I couldn’t imagine hand-stitching all 20 leaves, so I zig-zag stitched them instead. Then I decided that my flower looked horrible (I did a bad job on the freezer-paper step), so I zig-zagged that too. Then I thought a zig-zag would make the top flowers look so much better and make them stand out more. So basically, I zig-zagged over the hand-stitching that I spent a week doing. Sheesh. Next time I may just skip the hand-applique.

I know you are pointing and laughing at me now. That’s okay. This block taught me many lessons. The first is that I really need to take an Applique class. I love the look but just don’t know much about the technique!

Okay, next assignment for the Stay At Home Round Robin is to make the first border. I need to figure out how I want to add the triangles. Wish me luck!

Still plenty of time to come play with us!

FNSI Results

How did your FNSI go? Did you ditch the husband and hide from the kids and sew to your heart's content? Did you wear pajamas and drink wine and lose yourself in fabric and seams and quilting lines? Ahh...FNSI, how I love thee.

My plan was to work on my Stay At Home Round Robin. But when I got home I got completely sidetracked by an old UFO. My Twilight quilt was a stack of blocks last night. I made the last block and then got excited and started sashing the blocks together. At midnight I decided that I might as well join the rows since I had already done all this work!

This block was the result of a block swap I participated in a few years ago. The theme was red, black, white, and gray. It was a Twilight theme, so I dubbed this my Twilight quilt. I made a few extra blocks to make it bigger. Cute, huh? Today I might stop by my LQS to find some border fabric.

That will probably be the extent of my sewing this weekend. I have errands, chores, and family stuff for the rest of my days off.

Yesterday I discovered that I was the winner of a giveaway from Lynn of Alamosa Quilter. She was celebrating her 500th post (Wow! That's A LOT!). Congrats Lynn! I won a $20 gift certificate from Intrepid Thread. Fun!

I chose the Fat Quarter Bundle of Heirloom by Joel Dewberry in Sapphire. Isn't it pretty?!

Is it too early to be counting down to Friday night?

This Friday is Friday Night Sew In! I’m so excited. After a week of dealing with a family death and pitching in to help cover the ragged ends, I could really use some sewing time.

My plan this week is to work on my Stay at Home Round Robin that Sunny is hosting on her blog, Quilting Dreams. I still need to finish that center block and add the first border. I am thinking either prairie points or small flying geese!

Here’s a few blocks that I’ve finished:

These are for my Black and White Delight quilt.

I’ve also been quilting some more on my Rehab quilt. My goal is to do 50 feathers on it every month. That quilt is so tiring that I prefer to do the quilting in smaller pieces! It’s coming along though and I’m excited to put it on our bed this winter.

Did you hear about the blackouts in the Southwest last week? Scary stuff. It didn’t affect Sacramento, but it did give me pause to think. Are you prepared for a national emergency? I get most of my emergency preparedness tips from the blog Deals to Meals. Shandra is awesome about teaching us to stock a working pantry and even gives tons of recipes for pantry meals. Not just mac n chz and beans either! LOL, that’s what my husband and I turn to on nights we eat from the pantry. Shandra is hosting a giveaway for an awesome Sun Oven right now that I would just love to win. Check out her blog and then check out her totally cool website, Deals to Meals, for a free trial membership.

Friday, here I come! Go here to sign up for FNSI!

Flip-Flop Bag

I have another finish for this week’s UFO Busters Club! This poor tote was a gift for someone (who shall remain nameless because now I’m thinking of keeping the bag!). It was going to be a beach tote and I bought a cute beach towel with embroidered flip-flops to go with it. I spent one night working on this bag at a Sew-In. Then I decided I like making quilts much better and bags are too hard and who wants a stupid handmade tote bag anyway.

But it was on my UFO list so I pulled it out this week. 2 hours later I was done! Oh my! I don’t know what took me so long to finish this bag! I could have easily finished it and given it as a gift like I planned. Then I looked at it harder. Who would carry around this ugly looking bag? It looks homemade. It looks like the handles will pop off as soon as you pick it up. Besides, the pocket barely fits my hands.

Maybe I’ll just try it out tomorrow, I thought, just to test it out. Maybe it will grow on me.

It did! I’ve been carrying it around for three days now. I love it! The handles have stayed put, although I might reinforce them again. I have a few thoughts on what I did wrong and what I did right and maybe next time I decide to make a bag it won’t take me over 2 years to complete it!

Go to Susan’s blog to check out what my fellow UFO Busters have been up to this week!

Where did this week go?

I'm linking up with my fellow UFO Busters at Blackberry Creek.

I can't believe it's Friday already! I had another lofty list of goals for this week. The only thing I did was to take a picture. And I was barely able to do that! Between school and work and yoga (keeping my sore back strong!) and preparing for our camping trip this weekend, I was too busy to get to my sewing room. *slow tear escapes*

But I do have a FINISH to show! You've seen this beauty before. It's Our Wedding Quilt. You can read more about it here,here, here, and here.

I started two of these quilts last summer. The first finish went to our Reverend as a Thank You gift. The second one we get to keep!

The label is a piece of scrap from the first Wedding Quilt backing. I cut a heart and turned under a 1/4 inch seam allowance. I just wrote my name and the date on the label in archival ink. Then I started hand sewing it down. It looked horrible! So I pulled out the stitches and picked out a decorative stitch instead. I think it turned out really pretty.

The binding is a pretty tiny print calico. I know calico is not IN right now, but I like this fabric! That's all that matters. It's also used in the border.

I hand-stitched the back of the binding down. It went a lot faster this time, so I must be getting faster.

I have no self control. I took this picture during class. I'm so bad!

So that's my quilt! Just in time too. Our first wedding anniversary is today! (Love you babe!) We will be spending a weekend under the stars by the lake snuggling under Our Wedding Quilt. Gotta love it!