UFO Finish!

Happy Friday! It's been a long time since I checked in with the Little Green Quilters, but that doesn't mean I haven't been working hard on my UFOs.

Today I present my Finished Rehab quilt!

 Like I mentioned in my video this week, I started this quilt about 3 or 4 years ago for a friend who was going to Rehab.  I thought I would be able to complete it in a week.  Ha!  Being the new quilter I was, I had to sew, unpick, and re-sew these blocks a few hundred times.  They turned out completely wonky.  But I preserved and sewed them into rows!

It's a queen-sized top with a little drape over the sides.  This quilt quickly grew too big and I was worried about quilting it with my domestic.  So I took one row off the top and pieced it into the back.  Then I quilted it on my Bernina.  Yes, I quilted this entire quilt on my domestic.  Dedication!

I made the binding from leftover red and orange fabric and then hand stitched it to the back.

I printed the design on paper, then pinned the paper to the quilt top to quilt right through it.  That left a bunch of miniscule pieces of paper stuck in my stitches, so last night I attacked it with tweezers. I did free-hand leaves in the stars.  Those were a relief after the endless feather sprays and wreaths!

 I quilted it in black, gray, orange, and red thread.

This was the same quilt top that had soy sauce spilled on it.  I don't know how that happened, but it was during our move to California last year.  The quilt was folded, and the soy sauce leaked through each layer.  I soaked it in vinegar, then hand washed it several times to get the smell of vinegar out.  It dried in our shower and leaked red and orange dye all over the tub.  What a nighmare!

The pattern is Wandering Star from Quilter's Cache. I thought that was fitting.  A friendship star for a friend who momentarily lost his way. All fabric came from JoAnn's.  This was before I knew about quality fabric!

The kitties have been having a great time playing, sleeping, cuddling, and examining the quilt!  We've been sleeping under it for that last week.  Before the binding was finished, we were sleeping under it.  

I'm so happy that this humongous quilt is finally finished.  What a crazy undertaking.  I lost touch with my friend when we both lost our jobs (we worked together), both moved, and I got married. I did find him on Facebook last night though.

I don't know what I'm doing with the quilt yet.  For now, I'm enjoying it on our bed in its Finished State.  I'm feeling proud of myself for finishing the Beast!

Check out other UFO updates at Barbara's blog: Blackberry Creek Home Arts.

Talk to Me Tuesday #4

Happy Tuesday!  Today was a short day at work (hello off-site meeting!), so I got to sneak some sewing in today.  Love those days!

My latest finish just went into the washing machine.  Pictures soon =D>

For now, check out my video.  I talk about the quilting class I took last week, my March UFO Finish, and a big, exciting change in my life!

I'll be back tomorrow with some more about my class with Peggy Martin.  Until then...

I'm still here!

Ack! It's been 2 weeks since I've posted. I'm okay! A bit busy, a bit overwhelmed by this whole gluten-free lifestyle. I've been catching up on homework, reading and researching gluten-free living, and grocery shopping and cooking. Doesn't leave much time for sewing!

This month I thought I'd try something new. I split the month into 2 parts: the first half is reserved for UFO work and the second half for current BOMs. There is one quilt that is a UFO, but since I work on it so much, I also consider it a WIP (work in progress). That's my Xmas quilt and it gets worked on the whole month! I am determined to get it done in time for Xmas!

This month I got my 50 feathers quilted on my Rehab quilt.

I like to leave all the paper on until I reach my 50 goal. They've already been removed.

Do you ever have one of those nights where everything quilty just comes together perfect and you get so much progress done? I had that happen Monday night! It was awesome. I got a whole row of my Xmas quilt pieced together and several blocks finished. Everything just went together perfectly.

Here's a snapshot of my design wall. I need a few more blocks to finish the other two rows. This quilt is from the VERY first quilt book I ever bought. I can't wait to finish it!

For more UFO updates, check out Blackberry Creek Home Arts. And come back tomorrow, because I'll be having a Giveaway to celebrate hitting 100 followers!

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.

It All Adds Up

Guess who else went back to school this week?!

That’s right, ME!

I’m taking two Accounting classes this semester. Both are very intensive. I only need to complete 1 for a promotion at work I have my eye on. The other one is a “why the heck not” class. They are super hard so far! It’s been 12 years since I took my last Accounting class and I am completely intimidated. The big book weighs 8.3 pounds!

Let’s see how it adds up:

School+Full-time work+long commute+homework=no time for quilting! Oh no.

I’ll be quilting and blogging less regularly. But I’ll still be keeping an eye on what you are doing! Help me keep the quilting withdrawals away with your pretty projects!

I did manage to get some UFO work in this week before school started. I quilted 48 feathers on my Rehab Quilt.

Still haven’t torn the paper away, maybe I’ll do that tonight. I'm linking up to my UFO Busters at Blackberry Creek Home Arts. Making some progress on this monster quilt! Every little feather adds up :)

Weekend UFO Quilt-A-Thon

For the last two days I've been quilting away on my Rehab quilt. I am linking up with Thearica at Pigtales and Quilts for her Weekend UFO Challenge. I'm so happy to be working on it and making some progress. I try NOT to think about how much more work I have to do on it. There is tons more. For this weekend I just picked a quadrant and quilted feather sprays. A reminder of the Before:

I know, you can't really see anything. Here's my paper stencils pinned to the quilt. I started with ten at a time.

My goal was to do 20 feather sprays this weekend. Here's what I did:

That's 25 done! It took me about 5 hours. And another hour to tear the paper off. Grrr.

Here's a close-up

I wish you could see better. When this quilt is finally done I think I'll have a photo shoot professionally done. There's such great quilting on there.

Some good progress! My FMQ is getting smoother and easier. I don't fight with the machine as much and feel more in control. I'm working better at quilting in the lines.

I hope you come play UFO's next week with us. Thearica will be picking prizes from everyone who links up and works on a UFO over the weekend. If enough people play you even have a chance to win a $100 gift certificate to her store, which carries quilting treasures such as buttons, charms, and extra-wide backings. There were only 2 participants this weekend, so there's a great chance you can win a prize! Plus, getting some work done on your UFO's is so worth it!

UFO Progress and Plans

First,

Where I’ve been:

This week not much sewing going on, UFO or otherwise. I’ve been hand quilting my Bliss Quilt. I did not think I would like hand quilting. It always seemed to me that it would be soooo boring. And why do something by hand that could easily (and much better) be done by machine? Surprise! Hand quilting is the MOST fun! It’s so relaxing and zen. Forget needle turn appliqué and hand-stitched binding. Those seem like chores compared to hand quilting. I really like the look of it too. Like it’s been stitched with lots of love.

At first I was just going to do the flower design by hand. Then I finished that and couldn’t stop! I decided to outline quilt inside the star. I thought it would make the star design stand out more. But I was worried it might make the quilting crowded and over-done. I was so wrong! I love how it looks.

I’m linking up with Susan at Blackberry Creek Home Arts. She’s been cracking the quilty whip on us to get our UFOs done. Thanks Susan! You’re awesome and inspiring!

Second,

Where I’m going:

This weekend I have some planned sewing time. First up will be my Rehab quilt. I searched every nook and cranny of my sewing room last night for my missing thread. I even dragged my husband from his video game and he helped. I blamed the cats, I found my little brother’s allergy medicine he lost 3 months ago, pulled the cushions from the couch and even had my husband look under the bed in our bedroom (blaming the cats again). Finally found it. In a drawer. Under my sewing machine. So I’m all set to FMQ to my heart’s content.

This is my before picture. I know, there’s not much to see. It’s hard to photograph. But I plan on completing 20 feather sprays this weekend. I think that’s doable. I can’t believe how huge this quilt is. It’s a monster.

I'm linking up with Thearica from Pigtales and Quilts. The idea is to work on your UFO this weekend and write a Before and After post. Thearica will be drawing prizes and you get some work done on some old UFO's. It's a win/win, so come by and hang out!

UFO Bust Report

I have been super motivated to work on my UFO’s these last two weeks. I am linking up with Susan's UFO Bust group. I finished the machine quilting on my Bliss Quilt and am working on hand-quilting the center design. Isn’t it cute?! I’m so proud of myself for doing all the FMQ free-hand. Weird Fact: I draw with my sewing machine MUCH better than I do with a pencil.

I also pulled out my ginormous Rehab quilt and quilted some feather wreaths. I’m still paper-quilting (following the design on paper pinned to the quilt). Don’t quite feel comfortable with feathers yet. I did 7 feather wreaths last Friday night. When I first started doing these, I would try to get 5 done in a week. Now I’m zooming right along! This quilt is all about slow progress, and I’m okay with that.

I misplaced the huge cone of bobbin thread I’ve been using and that has stalled me from pulling it out again. I knew I should never have cleaned my sewing room!

Then I pulled out my Christmas Sampler Quilt. This is going to be one funny quilt. It was the second quilt I ever started and there are a lot of techniques in this quilt: photo transfer, paper-piecing, needle-turn appliqué, machine appliqué, embroidery. Most of it was my first time trying that technique. Add that to the fact it was only my second quilt and I was still learning a correct ¼ inch seam. This is also where I learned the difference between “finished size” and “will finish at” size. So some of the blocks look like a kindergartner sewed them. Whatever! It was and still is a learning process. It’s a good quilt to watch my skills evolve. So I’ve been grabbing a few minutes here and there to put together a block.

I am a lot farther than I thought. Hopefully we will be able to put it out this Christmas! I would love to hang it on the wall.

(It's not the camera angle, that block is totally wonky!)

So lots of UFO progress this week! Better than that, I’m motivated and having fun working on these. Thanks for the motivation Susan!

FMQ Challenge Days 4 & 5

I'm making great progress in the FMQ Challenge!
I had to skip a day because I was having socializing kind of fun. But I came roaring back this weekend by getting about 2-3 hours in each day. Since I’m doing all the black thread first, I can finally say that I completed one row of my quilt! I started my second row and am already making some fabulous progress. Here’s a picture of the back so you can see better.

It seems like that first row took forever to complete. Probably because all I could see were all the unquilted areas. Now I can see my quilted row and I feel like this project is within my reach! Some nights I feel like I have to wrestle and fight the quilt. Other nights it flows freely and we do a quilting waltz. Still a bit awkward and hesitant but my flow is improving.

FMQ Challenge

Are you participating in the FMQ Challenge? I've been having so much fun free-motion quilting that yesterday I took an hour off from work to go home and quilt!

Here's my quilt all prepped for FMQ. I basically printed the design, made several copies, and am pinning them to the top of my quilt and quilting right through the paper. I would go crazy if I had to mark every square with a feather wreath.

My second wreath! Those bright spots are the paper stuck in the quilting. They will wash out, so I don't worry about them. So far I've only picked two quilting designs and will just concentrate on those. My head hurts if I think about this quilt too much!

So I am doing feather wreaths and feather sprays. I'm doing all the black ones first because I'm sooooo lazy about changing the thread in my sewing machine! It's slow and painstaking work, but I'm getting through it. A great chance to catch up on my House episodes! My head reels every time I think about how many feathers I have to quilt. It's a little too early to tell if I'm improving yet, but I have faith!

Friday UFO Progress

This week I've been working hard on my UFO's! I started quilting on my First Quilt.

Sorry for the picture. I remembered at 6:20am to take the picture as I was running out the door to work. I really like this quilting design. It's basically a bunch of suns. I traced circles and then just free handed a bunch of radiating lines. For the most part they are straight, but I'm not going to lie: some of them start straight then dive off in a large curve. I really like how it's not just straight lines, which I wanted to use on this quilt, and that it's minimalist, which fits with the whole Asian-inspired fabric choices.

Then I started working on my second UFO. I introduced this quilt in yesterday's blog post. I worked this week on piecing the back. The quilt is huge. I couldn't get the back big enough to fit the top. It seemed like I just kept adding fabric to it forever. Then I hit on an ingenius idea: I took a row from the top and pieced it into the back. Perfect. Makes it that much smaller to wrestle through my sewing machine too!

This is me unpicking the row last night. This quilt has been upicked so many times! It took me all week to get this quilt ready for the FMQ Challenge. Piece the never-ending back, buy batting, iron the stupid pieces (believe me, that took hours!). This weekend I plan to baste it and started FMQing on Monday!

Azrael approves of the backing!

I feel really good about my progress this week, even though I didn't follow my plan of working on my First Quilt. Sometimes plans change, and right now I'm just going with the flow!