Friday already?

I feel like spring is rushing by, so much to do. I have accomplished some stitching this week which surprises me because my schedule is full!

My April UFO finish is ...

Pumpkin Peel from the book Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts 

written by Mary Elizabeth Kinch and Biz Storms. I used blue bias binding which I don't think you can see very well in the photo.

 Here are some photos of the machine quilting done by Jan Hutchison.

This is a large wall quilt, nearly 80" square. For now, I plan to store it on a spare bed because I'm already seeing fold lines just from having it folded since getting it back from the machine quilter.

After seeing another blogger's progress, (Quilts...etc.), on her Love Entwined quilt, I was inspired to get mine out and start appliqueing the stems for Part 6.

I had previously taken off the heart wreath on the left in the photo to try to make the points sharper. Not sure I'm making a major improvement but it looks better to me.

 Serengeti Oaks is at the machine quilter and I should be able to share it with you next month.

I also continue to big stitch quilt on my Jubilee+5 quilt. I can only manage to stitch a few blocks before my fingers are too sore to continue so its going slower than I'd like. You'll notice the bird is still there. Embroidery starting soon!

Until next time, Mayleen

This past week

 "Mustard & Ketchup"

Because of guild stuff and Easter preparations this past week, it was difficult to motivate myself to work on my UFO's so I tried once again to master the first border of "Mustard & Ketchup". This is the closest I've come to getting the pieced diamonds fussy cut and the diamonds to actually look right. However, the camera doesn't lie and I see some rework needs to happen. 

One thing I've been challenging myself to work on lately is to become more spontaneous in quilting. In other words, don't drive myself and others crazy by over thinking fabric and design choices!

  I'm trying to do that on this quilt guild BOM and am not sure I like this approach at all. I'm reserving judgement until the project is finished but that's at least 5 months in the future. I would love to go back and make every thing match, fix mistakes, choose better fabrics, etc. Guess I want to be in control and not be surprised!

For some reason, I also can't motivate myself to finish binding Pumpkin Peel. I'm about half done and think I'm going to have to make myself do a little every day. And then there's the sleeve...

The bird is still in the quilt. No decision on my part yet and I think I'm avoiding it. If I don't do something soon, this project will go back into the UFO box.

 Why I thought I needed to get another UFO out, I don't know but here's another one. All I need to do is finish hand quilting the border and tack down the binding. Is that all, lol? I admire hand quilting but because I don't choose to do it very often, I'm not proficient or very fast at it.

When I began this project I don't know how long ago, I hadn't discovered reproduction fabrics yet so this wall hanging has a little bit of most everything in my stash at that time. I'm surprised I used so much yellow which is a color I don't use very often. It has quite a few creases from being folded and put away so for now, I've pinned it up on my design wall hoping that the creases relax.

As you can see, my quilting this week has been a little of this and that. I feel like I'm jumping from one project to the next making little progress. I'm looking forward to more productive quilting time this coming week!

Have a happy and meaningful Easter, Mayleen

Not Modern

I thought I was going to pick a more "modern" UFO to work on next but that didn't happen. None of my UFO's are really "modern", I'd call some of them contemporary but I didn't pick what I'd call a contemporary UFO either. I chose my current UFO project simply because most of the blocks were already finished!

Before I tell you about my current UFO project, here's a teaser picture of my Pumpkin Peel UFO. Its back from the machine quilter and ready to be bound. I'm going to use the blue fabric at the top for the binding.

Are you ready for fall? For those of us in the northern hemisphere, we're ready for spring! This quilt called "Turning Leaves" was in the September/October 2002 Quiltmaker magazine. I don't remember when I started it but as I said, the leaf blocks were all finished and waiting for me. There were enough leaf blocks to make a twin size quilt so that's what I'm making.

I've stitched the blocks together and sewn the sashings on. With help from friends, I chose border fabrics, then preshrunk fabric, cut and pieced the narrow border. Today I seem to have come to a full stop, no stitching happening here. 

Instead, I spent time looking through my older quilt magazines and books. Every year, our quilt guild, PQG, holds a library sale with donated books/magazines to raise funds for new quilt books and equipment for the library. It was fun to look through my quilt magazines and books and find the projects I had planned to make but now have no attraction for me.

I donated two computer printout boxes of magazines and books. There's a little room in the cabinet but for how long? I wonder how many magazines and books I'll buy at the sale in April?!?

Until next week, Mayleen

Granny Smith Goes to PQG!

I shared my version of Bonnie Hunter's "Crisscross Applesauce" quilt at Prairie Quilt Guild's Show and Share yesterday. Sometimes I rename my quilts from the original pattern name and for this quilt I wanted to still have something apple related but also Civil War related. (I started working on this quilt in 2011, the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War.)

So I named it "Was Granny Smith a Northern Spy?" 

A Granny Smith apple being green and the Northern Spy apple, a rosy or red color. To shorten it, I'll probably just call this quilt "Granny Smith"!

Trisha Lehman from our quilt guild did the allover machine quilting on "Granny Smith".

To catch up on UFO's - 

"Trip Around the Prairie" is finished. I invisibly stitched the outer two rows of Prairie Points down so they wouldn't flop out and down as easily. The bottom border is still sagging and I may revisit it someday and then again, maybe not. Gravity happens.

I also finished stitching the "Pumpkin Peel" top together and it went to the machine quilter yesterday. I'm looking forward to seeing what she does in the red background. "Pumpkin Peel" is from the book, "Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts".

Even though I'd much rather start a new project, I'll decide on the next UFO to tackle later today. I'm fairly sure its going to be something a bit more modern!

Until next time, Mayleen

Almost done

I am so close to finishing this UFO top!

Today I finished appliqueing the last arcs onto the background.

Tried to lay the block out flat and no surprise, I've stitched a fold in. I thought I was being careful but I guess not. In the past, I've appliqued blocks to my jeans and even to my finger once. Didn't even notice till I tried to put the block down.

It was a minor fix so I went on to fix a few other things.

 Do you see the flat spot between the two pins in the upper photo? The lower photo shows my fix.

The white blotch on the lower tip really bothered me but it took me a week to decide I was going to fix it and how to do it.

Undid my applique stitches, hand stitched a small piece of fabric onto one side of the tip, trimmed off the excess shirting fabric, hand stitched the seam and needle turned the edges under.

I can't say I'm totally satisfied with my fix but I'm fairly sure I'm not going to redo this one!

Until next time, Mayleen

Pumpkin Applesauce Progress

I've made a little progress since my last post.

Pumpkin Peel wall hanging from the book, "Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts".

I've begun appliqueing the arcs onto the background fabric. In the photo, the lower two arcs are done and I still need to do the upper ones. I see I'll have to redo a flat spot on the left arc! My mistakes are much more apparent on the solid background.

This will be a four block quilt. Each block measures 39 x 39" finished so, to me, its a huge block.

I have a lot of stitching to do on it before it can go to the machine quilter. There will be plenty of opportunity for that this weekend as we're expecting more winter weather - snow, ice, and rain depending on the temperatures.

I've also been binding my Criss Cross Applesauce quilt. Only one more side to go before I can share it as my latest UFO finish at our next guild meeting.

Last but not least, if anyone reading this is near Paducah, Kentucky, my Selvage Star of Bethlehem quilt is hanging in the National Quilt Museum as part of the Heart of America exhibit until mid March. I'm not able to go see it but perhaps you might be able to. Here's the link with a picture of my quilt!

Until next time, 

Mayleen

In Hot Water

In my last post, I mentioned the fabric bleed I'd noticed on the only UFO Pumpkin Peel block I'd finished. You can see it on the upper left outer arc, just above the sliver of maroon with gold dot fabric. When I looked closer, there were also other areas of bleed but this was the most noticeable.

I followed Vicki Welsh's advice, "Save My Bleeding Quilt!", and gave it a good soak in hot water and Dawn dishwashing detergent. Here's a link to her article.

Since it was only one block, I soaked it for about 6 hours in my kitchen sink adding hot water and a liberal amount of Dawn dishwashing detergent. I used small plates to hold the block below the water's surface.

Here's what it looked like after it dried overnight. If you look in the lower left hand corner at shirting fabric to the left of the maroon with gold dot fabric, you'll see the bleed is gone!

I'm finally finished piecing all of the arcs and the next step is removing the paper foundation before I stitch them together. This pattern is in the book, "Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts" by Mary Elizabeth Kinch and Biz Storms.

Guess who's home from the machine quilter? We're expecting good binding weather this weekend (snow and cold temperatures) so that's my plan!

Until next time,

Mayleen

Trip Around the Prairie

Its been a long week but I've managed to get my latest UFO, Trip Around the Prairie, to almost completion stage!

The "only" things left to do:

Tack down the outer two rows of Prairie Points because when they flop in or down, I think they're distorting the borders and make and sew on a sleeve and label.

Some vital statistics:

There are 24 rounds of Prairie Points for a total of 1248, if I counted correctly!

It measures 36" x 37.5" and weighs approximately 3 pounds.

I won't have much time to stitch this week but I'm still hoping to start on my next UFO finish, Pumpkin Peel, very soon!

Until next time,

Mayleen

UFO Busting!

Time for some UFO Busting calculations!

# of projects in process as of January 1 - 34 

# of projects completed - 1

# of new projects started - 0

# of UFO's trashed - 0

(I don't think I've ever actually trashed a project. I pass them on or donate to Goodwill.)

# of projects in process as of January 31 - 33

It doesn't seem like I made much progress but any progress is more than what would have happened if I hadn't joined the UFO challenge. If I can average one finish a month, I'll be very happy!

Finish #1 - My selvage Streak of Lightning quilt, Flash!

It needed binding and I added a sleeve. As soon as I've finished four quilts, I'll print out labels and add one to it.

 I finished piecing Criss Cross Applesauce and its at the machine quilter in line to be quilted. I won't get it back until early March. I learned quite a while ago not to try to machine quilt anything larger than a medium sized wall hanging on my domestic machine.

Instead of trashing my Target UFO blocks, I took them apart and am making this "Trip Around the Prairie" wall hanging. In this photo, I'm trying to figure out the last 5 or 6 rounds of color. I know I need a lighter value color but my stash is limited in choices.

 

This will be the next UFO I work on. Its "Pumpkin Peel" from the book, Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts, by Mary Elizabeth Kinch and Biz Storms. I don't know when it got wet but there's a little bleeding going on so I'm going to try soaking it in hot water and Dawn dishwashing liquid. I hope its not ruined.

Until next time, Mayleen

Trip Around the Prairie

No finishes this week but here's an update on the progress I'm making on my latest UFO!

Do you have a UFO that for whatever reason you don't like anymore?

This was my Pine Burr (also called Target and Bullseye) quilt that I was no longer liking. It just wasn't turning out the way I'd envisioned so I took it apart.

I decided to reuse the Prairie Points in a new project. I ended up cutting more fabric to make even more Prairie Points and have no idea if they'll all get used. I thought I'd planned out the color placement and how many Prairie Points I'd need for each color but I'm changing my mind (often).

One of the things I didn't like about my Pine Burr blocks was that my circles were going wonky and I couldn't line up the Prairie Points to keep them even. 

A square or rectangle was my choice because I could draw lines on the foundation fabric to help me line up the triangle bases. I would also be able to space the Prairie Points more evenly. When I realized I was making a "Trip Around the World" with Prairie Points, I decided to name it "Trip Around the Prairie".

Here I'm trying to decide the direction I should take in the next round of colors. As usual, I'm short on lighter value fabrics because I tend to purchase medium and darker value fabrics. I'm considering using the floral fabric on the left for the borders. The colors in this photo are a little more intense than in real life.

Even with the placement lines drawn on the foundation fabric, it has been a bit of a challenge to keep the design from going wonky. Lots of measuring and adjusting after each row! It will definitely not be perfect.

I'd like to finish this wallhanging in the next week or so because I'm already planning which UFO to work on next! Below is part of "Pumpkin Peel" from the book, Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts, written by Mary Elizabeth Kinch and Biz Storms.

I think I have almost half the pumpkin peels paper foundation pieced. I'd like to applique them on red solid background fabric. Recently I saw this same design on a cheddar background. Mine won't be hand quilted like hers is but I'm considering using a striped binding if I can find one that will work!

Until next time,

Mayleen

Quilting Progress

Just checking in to show you the progress I've made this week on my quilting projects!

Here are the Pumpkin Peel arcs for the first of four blocks. Only the one on the far left is sewn together. I hope to mix the others up a bit after completing the rest of the arcs. I don't like it when there are a lot of the same color strips close together.

This pattern is from the book, "Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts", by Mary Elizabeth Kinch and Biz Storms. Their quilt has a white background but I'm thinking about using red. White just seems too white but I may change my mind yet. Afterall, its a woman's perogative to change her mind! Well, at least that's what I've heard, LOL.
I've really been concentrating on my Jubilee+5 Garden wallhanging quilt this week. I still have to add some of the gray polka dot insets and the triangle edges but its all hand pieced together otherwise. After I had it pieced together and back up on my design wall, I realized my initial is crooked on the middle block so (sigh), I'm picking it out and starting over on the embroidery. Not sure I liked that green anyway so the crookedness may have been a blessing in disguise!

The fragrance on our deck is wonderful! The Sweet Autumn Clematis vine is blooming and I'm not the only one appreciating it. The bees are attracted to it too. We have an agreement - If I don't bother them, they don't bother me.

Until next week, Mayleen

Dissecting

When things aren't turning out like I'm hoping, I sometimes step away and work on other projects for awhile. That's what I'm doing today.

These are strips leftover from another project which I'm dissecting.

... and cutting into smaller pieces to ...
make into Pumpkin Peel!