Working on UFO's

I am finally over the flu, I think, still have some sniffles and coughs, but feel much better.  I decided to look at my UFO list and see where I should get started to reduce this list this year.  I decided to start with Christmas Reel.  This is a Lisa Bongean pattern that was in a quilt magazine a couple of years ago, I think it was Fons and Porter.  I fell in love with it and ordered the same fabric that she had used. There are only nine blocks, really large blocks they are 20 1/2 inches square. When I dug this out of its box I had four of the nine squares finished.  I was pleasantly surprised, I didn't remember doing that many.  I only have five more blocks to go, plus the sawtooth border.  It is my goal to finish this one before I start on an more hand projects, since the blocks are applique I can work on it at night while watching TV with my DH. 

New Look

As I said in my post yesterday my blog was definitely overdue for a new look, well I have started on it, still have some things to  change. While looking at everything on my blog, I stared for a long time at last years UFO list.  I only finished two quilts on my list from last year.  Wow, that is pretty bad!! I have got to get some of these UFO's out of the sewing room.  While thinking about that it was perfect timing that I received the new issue of The Quilt Life.  I have cut back on the magazines that I subscribe to but this is one I still get and I had an epiphany while reading one of the articles about UFO's.  The author was talking about her huge stack of UFO's and how she hated going in her sewing room because of all of the half finished projects.  I can definitely feel her pain!!  She made the comment that she wasn't even excited about the quilts anymore and that she wanted to go out, buy fabric, come home and make a quilt while she was still excited about the fabric.  (I put this in my words, but it is basically what she said).  She decided to go through all of her projects and make three stacks, the ones she would definitely make (finish), the maybe pile and the definitely not stack.  The definitely not stack was given away or repurposed.  The  definitely finish stack was completed and the maybe stack was either completed, repurposed or given away.  I think this is what I need to do.  It was been a while since I got really excited about a quilt.  Before the end of January my goal is to go through my sewing room and make three stacks, hopefully this will enable me to get some of those UFO's finished or out of  my house.  Wish me luck. 

UFO goals for 2013

I am going to start out by saying that these aren't the best photos ever.  I should have taken some better ones, but didn't take the time.  I am proud of the progress I made last year on my UFO's, if I can do so well this year.  My first one is a Schnibble from I don't remember when, Paganini.  It is almost finished, just the borders.

Next comes a BOM from a couple of years ago, from Moose on the Porch.  There were 12 blocks I have 8 of them complete, I couldn't even find the pattern for the other 4, thankfully my friend Kristie over at M.S. Doolittle had the  patterns online no less and emailed them to me. 

I started this one about three years ago at a retreat at FFA.  I love the pattern and don't know why I haven't finished it before now.  The name of it is Black Diamonds from Country Threads.  I only have a couple of blocks finished but the fabrics are there to pick up and finish.

Believe it or not this has been on my list for three years, I am definitely finishing it this year.

Another Schnibbles, Imagine.  I can't even find all of the pieces for it.  Hopefully, I still have them so that I can finish it.  Who knew that it would take so long to make a Schnibble.

This is one that I just started in 2012, from Primitive Gatherings.  The name of it is Odds and Ends.  It is a scrappy quilt, I used civil war repros for it.  All of the strips are cut and most are sewn together.  It shouldn't take too long to get together.

Another 2012 start, this is Pat and Debby's mystery quilt.  I only have 2 more steps to go on this one.  I have seen the completed quilt and can't wait to finish it.

 

The other UFO's for the year include, Christmas Reel from Primitive Gatherings.  This one is nine large blocks of applique.  I have three of the blocks done.  I also want to finish two Bonnie Hunter mystery quilts, Orca Bay and Roll, Roll Cotton Boll.  I have an ambitious year planned.  If I can keep from starting too many new projects maybe I can finish all of these.  Wish me luck.

2012 UFO's

I can believe that 2012 is almost over.  My mom was right, the older you get the faster the years go by!!!!  (I don't know if that is good or bad, nothing we can do about it anyway) For 2012 I had listed 10 different UFO's that I wanted to finish.  I got off to a great start, a finish in January, February, and March, then things started slowing down.  I did manage to finish 6 of my UFO's.  6 out of 10 isn't too bad, considering I started several new quilts and managed to finish a couple of them.  I realized while looking back at some of my photos that I need to make sure I always take a photo of my completed quilt.  Now to start thinking about UFO's for 2013.  I'm sure there won't be a shortage of things to choose from.

This is Neighbor's Fence.



This was my next finish, A long Road Home.  This was a trade.  Love this one.



March Finish, Lap Quilt in a Hurry, this was a Moda Bakeshop pattern.



This is a fat quarter friendly pattern, Short Stacks.  It was a Christmas present for my brother.

Huckleberry Pie, probably my one and only purple quilt.

 



January finish, with one day to spare

Not a great photo, but this is my UFO finish for January, number 5 on my list, Neighbor's Fence.  I started this quilt either 3 or 4 years ago, I can't really remember.  It was finished all except the borders, for some reason I have problems adding borders to quilts.  I get to that point and then have a hard time finishing it.    I made it to use up some of the flannel scraps that I had been collecting.  This is the second quilt I have made by this pattern, the first one was made from batiks; they look totally different.  I like the appliqued stars, I think they add a little something to the quilt. 

Better look at the gold stars. 

Two UFO's finished

So far I am on track with my UFO list for the year.  I am really trying hard to work with what I have on hand and not buy new kits or fabric, although sometimes you just can't help yourself.  The pineapple quilt here is a kit that I bought in 2005 or 2006, can't remember which one, but a long time ago.  It had been so long ago that I was pleasantly surprised when I pulled it out and found that I had finished 7 of the 9 blocks that were needed. I also discovered that I didn't have enough of the fabric to finish the other two blocks. Luckily, Pat had some that she gave me.  This is the project that I worked on at Thimbles last weekend.  I finished the outer border yesterday.  This one isn't on my "official" list, but it is a UFO that is finished and waiting to go to the quilters.
 

My official UFO finish for June is the Bonnie Hunter trade that we did last winter, Patches and Pinwheels.  I would have been finished with it long ago, but I put together some of the pinwheels the wrong way and it bothered me so I too them apart.  I really like this quilt and can't wait to see it quilted, which will be  while.  Thanks to Kiristie, Pat, and Becky for helping me pick out the border fabric.

February UFO Finish

I finished my February UFO project with a few days to spare.  I mean finished as in quilted, with a label, and on the bed.  Woohoo!!!  I have been working on this quilt off and on for almost two years.  That is a record even for me.  The pattern is Buckeye Beauty, the fabric is Chocolat from Moda.  I am pleased with the way it turned out, the only problem came with the backing.  Remember I have had this fabric for two years, and I just knew that I had enough for the backing.  Not!  I didn't know what to do, I didn't want to get another fabric and wasn't able to locate enough to make it work.  After digging through  my stash I found several fat quarters that I had not used in the top.  I took four of those and put them in the middle of the backing.  It looks like I planned it.  It feels great to finally finish something.

I'm doing the happy dance

It  has only taken me almost two years to get this Buckeye Beauty top finished. I really like it, and it will go on our bed, but for some reason I just couldn't make myself work on it.    It was on my UFO list last year and I kept putting it aside, it is on my UFO list again this year. With all of the snow and ice that we have had this week, and four snow days, I told myself I was going to finish it no matter what.  You probably hear a shout out about an hour ago, I put the top on the bed to see how it was going to look and to show hubby.  Can't wait to get it quilted and on the bed.

Not one, but Two UFO's Finished

I am so excited, I finished not one but two quilts from my UFO list. The first one I finished was the Bonnie Hunter, Bricks and Stepping Stones, that I renamed Amazing Grace. I finished sewing t he binding on the second quilt, Glory Bound today. I love the way that it turned out. I could have named it Amazing Grace II because I lost some of the fabrics for it. I went into my stash and replaced the pieces that I had lost, then of course I found the ones I had lost. I think that I like it better with the fabrics from my stash than the original fabrics. It is definitely one of my favorite quilts.

UFO's oh My!!

My goal for this year is to knock out a lot of my UFO's. The last few years I seem to have been busy adding to that stack not decreasing, but this year things are going to change. Nancy over at Patchwork Penguin, has started a great UFO challenge, (thankfully you only have to list 10 UFO's) the challenge started in the first of the month, but better late than never. While selecting the ten UFO's to list I noticed that a lot of them are Thimble projects. I love all of the patterns that Pat designs and the kits that are put together by the local shops, and each quarter I want to purchase each of the kits. I try to limit myself to one kit a quarter but that still adds up to a lot of unfinished quilts. Time to buckle down and finish some of them. Wish me luck!