February UFO Challenge Completed

It was relatively painless to get this UFO finished. The math that I had been avoiding turned out fine and it fits relatively well together. I'm not super fond of quilts that start with borders and make the center fit but I'm more comfortable with it for now and would probably tackle it again if the right pattern comes along.

Just before I attached the braids I took another look at the pattern in the book. Turns out the beginning triangles (striped) should have been on the outside edges of the quilt. I rearranged the braids but, after looking at it with the ending/leaf triangles on the outside edges for so long, quickly changed them back to what you see above. The outside edges will be trimmed when it's time to add binding - didn't want to deal with bias edges any earlier than I had to.

The basket there in the back left side was my great-grandmother's laundry basket. I really need to find a better place to keep it.

This last photo shows the colors a little more realistically.

Feline Friday

I caught Midge crawling into an open cupboard in the quilt room today but as soon as I quietly moved away to get the camera, she ran after me because I just might, maybe, somehow, probably, be heading towards kitty treats. No such luck cuz I still had to stuff things back into the cupboard.

You'll just have to suffer thru this pix of Cali, the Enforcer, chastising Midge who was actually playing with a cat toy (a treat in itself since she is the oldest cat and fairly sedentary) in the middle of my quilt pieces and made a mess. Cali seems to think that it's her job to rearrange my quilts. I was just happy that Midge was playing. The 2 older cats do a lot more playing now that Cali (only about 2 years old versus about 8 and 11) is in the house. Pepper and Cali even run laps up and down the stairs and upstairs hallway. I have yet to really confirm who is chasing who.

I now have the extra spacer strips onto the center panel. Maybe tonight or tomorrow I can get the braids onto the panel and have it done. That was easy!

You might be a redneck if...you get your Uhaul stuck in the driveway! The driveway is steep and icy enough that this Uhaul started from the parking lot across the street but the bumper is caught on the pavement.  It's still there as I post this so it's been stuck for at least 4 hours now.

UFO Challenge update

I’d really like to blame this on Erin (my friend and local librarian) but I can’t, can I? Oh yes I can! Hello, my name is Sarah and I’m a Deadliest Catch-aholic. AND ERIN ENABLES ME! Basically, all I have done this week is watch season one on DVD. Not a lick of stitching or even worrying about not doing a lick of stitchin. Season two has already been placed on hold for me.

Anyways… a long long time ago in a state far far away….I should have been packing all my worldly possessions to move from Miami back to my hometown in NY. Instead, I was still taking classes at my LQS since I loved my friends and teachers there and feared the quilting here in NY would be different. That’s why this months UFO was never finished although it was sew close. And do you know what the biggest obstacle was to finish it?? Math!

Rusty, AKA Jane Hardy Miller, was a teacher at our store and the person who forced me to learn "color." She had already published the very popular French Braid Quilts and was working on her second book: French Braid Obsession. We were testing a pattern for the book and had we finished our quilts we might have had the opportunity to have it included in the book. Guess mine won't be in the book, huh?!

WWHHAATT?? – in looking up links for Rusty’s book, I see she has a new one coming out in June this year. Better start saving my pennies!

When I pulled this UFO out of it's drawer I found I had all four braids done with their purple spacer strip attached and some notes on the math to get the panel to fit into the center. I would have done things a little different now, such as cutting the panel slightly narrower and the extra spacers I still need to add bigger, so I could save the selvage dots for my collection and I would have purchased more of that great stripe for the binding. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20 and when you stall you can’t make changes. Either way, I have checked the math three more times and it still appears to come out ok so I finally cut the panel this morning and tonight or tomorrow (before season 2 arrives) I can get the spacer strips attached.

I didn’t lay out the extra spacers in this picture but that same purple will be used to add a 1.5” finished border around the center panel. Then I add the braids, trim the edges and it’s done. What will that take? A couple hours? And then another drawer is emptied!

I have always referred to this quilt as my wine french braid because of the grape/leaf fabrics and the colors. Maybe I should get some of that wine cork fabric for the back. It would really complement the top. Not that I have the money or time to actually finish the whole thing super soon.

Mainly because I did buy this flannel backing for the t-shirt quilt finished last month for the UFO Challenge. Think 9 patch: there will be 40” squares of the green in the 4 corners, the inner side rectangles will be about 12” of the teal and the center 12x12 square will be the green again. I thought it would be the best use of yardage and would make it as interesting as the front.

Design Wall Monday - 2/7/11

Midge had the right idea this weekend - I sew wanted to be in that quilt with her!

I worked on these Blendable Curve blocks. They are relatively easy, even with the curves, but it just got tedious. I should have made more yesterday but I just couldn't make myself. Instead, I puttered around doing a little of this or that. I pressed, I trimmed, I made 170 more half square tri's for the Roll Roll Cotton Boll quilt, I trimmed the black border I need for the fireman quilt and of course two rescue calls and a bowling party for Tyler's Birthday. OMG, how did he get to be S.I.X.?

Here's a sneak peak at my UFO for the month...will post more on Thursday.

Doesn't that look like a Glamour Shots pose?

January UFO Challenge Completed

January's UFO Challenge was #6, my t-shirt quilt. My goal had been to complete the top. I started this quilt in 2007 or 2008 and after I moved back to NY, I didn't work on it again until this month. I'm thrilled to say that I got the top completed and I've even picked out the greet polka dot flannel to use on the back! It should be nice and snuggly!

I had a great picture of the quilt...however...as soon as I put the camera card into the laptop I discovered that there is a "card error" and all my pictures are lost. Thankfully this was only a 512 MB card but since I also have a problem with my other card it appears that I have to go buy a new one tonight. Wahhhhh...all my pictures are gone - cat pictures including Cali when she was new to me, my birthday with videos of the boys singing to me...wahhhhh :(

Will post a pic of the quilt tomorrow, if I can get a new card tonight. There is a "historical" snow storm approaching and I have no idea how soon/quickly the weather will get bad.

February's UFO is #10, my french braid with wine fabrics. I "think" I have all the fabrics I'll need but I have little idea of where I stand on the project so I'll neecd to spend some time to figure it out.

UPDATE - I got a new camera card last night. Yikes 4GB - that's a LOT of photos. This was a quickie shot this morning so it's not laid out perfectly flat. Poppie posed as today's Quality Control Officer.