Hearts and Scraps

June's ufo is finished so I'm still on course to get at least 12 finished this year. I actually finished it in the first week of July, but I've been rather busy and just didn't get around to posting.

The quilt was finished from my stash so a ufo finished, scraps used, a piece of fleece used, lots of scrap squares used. A total win win win.

I added a border to the heart square, then stitched the scraps into blocks of 16 before adding them to the centre. Used a piece of fleece for the backing, quilted it and used some cream fabric from my stash for the binding.

 There is something comforting about a finished quilt all folded up and ready for use.

 Here it is out on the garden bench at dusk

Hearty Scraps

On to my June ufo: An 18" scrappy square with a heart in the middle started back in the early 2000's

This is what I'm starting with

My plan when I first got it out of the box was to turn it into a cushion, quick and easy finished in a day.

But oh no that would be far too simple.... after all I could kill 4 birds with one stone - 1. use up some of my scrap squares, 2. cut and use more scraps, 3. use a piece of fleece from my stash, 4. finish another ufo. So that's what I'm doing.

I'm going to make it to fit the size of the fleece piece so I don't finish with yet more scraps and I'm hopeful I can finish it from my stash.

Catching up, May UFO - Bargello Seasons: Summer

So I finally got the April ufo finished and quickly moved on to May.

This is another bargello from 2005, when I seem to have had a thing about bargello quilts. Again it was something I made with Quilt University. It is called Summer and is one of the class projects from Bargello Seasons now available at The Academy of Quilting, taught by the lovely Ruth Blanchet.

Here is is just out of the box its been stored in. Sorry this picture is a little dark, its the best one I have.

There wasn't much to do as it was layered up and ready for quilting. It got simple quick quilting just picking out a few of the contours and a couple of straight lines in the border. I added the pre-cut (by me in 2005) binding, a hanging sleeve, and a label and it was done.

Summer wall-hanging finished, (approximately 41" x 26")

All the bargello quilts are now finished, so where to hang them?

Scrap Attack - Finished

Finished the scrap QAYG (quilt as you go) quilt.I love how quickly these go together once you have enough blocks made. Though they do get a little unwieldy towards the end.

I chose to use a plane cream fabric for the sashing and binding, and the seam ripper is out. I'd stitched that row together the wrong way round. 

Its turned out to be quite a big quilt and in fact it measures approximately 80" x 64" which is much larger than I intended to make when I set out on the project, as I was thinking of making a lap quilt!

I love how the back turned out too.

Now it's finished I just need to get it to the local Project Linus rep for re-homing.

April UFO - Ready to Quilt

All tacked and ready to quilt. 

The quilting is now well underway and I've thought of a name for it. I do like to give all my quilts names. It's called Ring a Ring o' Roses. 

Still making April's UFO...

Oh dear I knew this one was going to take time.
I've unpicked and remade the centre with the correct blocks, so that's all good now.
The border blocks are sewn together and have been stitched onto the quilt.
I've made the pieced back, my favorite way to back quilts at the moment!
Cut the wadding to size.
Time to layer it up.

Although its not yet finished, and its now the 7th May, I'm reasonably happy with the progress. It is after all  much further on than it has been for the last several years!

April's UFO

Another month another ufo.

This one's a biggie I have part of a quilt made, using  the Bethany Reynolds Stack-n-Whack® method. The centre is pieced as are twenty something blocks required for the border. Having changed my mind about how to do the centre section half of it was unpicked.

On Sunday in a zealous fit of enthusiasm I unpicked the centre. Then chose some blocks to add, cut the extra pieces necessary, and remade the centre section.

On Monday I began to piece the border, this is when I discovered I had used the wrong blocks for the middle. Before I abandoned the quilt top I had clearly made four new blocks for the middle, half an inch smaller than the border blocks, grrrh. Obviously these were not the blocks I chose to add to the centre section on Sunday.

Time to unpick again......

Finishes

March UFO

This is a small bargello wall-hanging I began making back in 2005. I made the quilt top in an online course at the now defunct Quilt University. It was ready for layering up and quilting when I stalled, which is all to often my stalling point. However, I'm glad I didn't quilt this piece back in 2005 as I was nowhere near ready to do it justice, I'm not sure I've done it justice now but I like it.

 Purple Power (size 26.25" x 23.5")

Detail of Purple Power

Although in the pictures it looks blue it is much more purple in the flesh.

The original design is Bargello Blues and was designed by Ruth Blanchet of Arbee Designs where it is available as both a pattern and a workshop.

I quilted it very simply as you can just about see in the detail photo. Following the curves I quilted in the dominant dark purple and every three to four rows on either side. I didn't want to take away from the drama of the design so I used different threads to match the fabrics. Although this meant more stops and starts to the quilting I felt it warranted it.

I also added a faux piped piece just inside the binding.

I love this little quilt and am really happy it is finally finished.

February's UFO

I finally got February's UFO finished albeit in March, it is finished and that's all that counts!

Finished and pinned to the design wall.

Detail

It was quilted using a purple variegated cotton 30 thread from Gutermann. It was actually finished mid March, I've just been rather slow to update the blog.

Progress

The Purple Quilt or Light Fantastic to give it its official name has been progressing well.

Here we have the border pieces laid out ready for piecing.

The quilt top went together like a dream, then I procrastinated about how to quilt it....
I prefer simple quick and easy quilting, I'm not a fan of doing stipple or any elaborate quilting. Not that the design I decided on is particularly quick, but it is easy and a simple design.
Inspiration finally struck whilst browsing through Angela Walters Shape by Shape book. I adapted one of the patterns she suggests for triangles, and I think it'll work well.

Here is part of it layered and marked up ready for the quilting. 

I am running a little behind as this one should have been finished by now, but I'm hoping to be able to catch up this month. I've found the March quilt, a small wall-hanging, which is ready for layering up and quilting, so if I don't procrastinate too long I will hopefully get back on track...

February's Ufo - The Purple Quilt

So The Purple Quilt is on the list for February's Ufo. Again its one I've had on the go for some years. I'm using  Fabric Freedom's Light Fantastic range, and a pattern designed by Sally Ablett.

The bits are all cut:

 The blocks are going together beautifully:

Scrap Attack - update

The pile is growing:

The pile of strips doesn't seem to be reducing though!

Quilt as you go - Scrap Attack

One always seems to have lots of  bits of wadding leftover after any project. These bits are never quite big enough for another project, but too small to discard/recycle, and I positively hate joining wadding, frankly life's far too short for that, so they sit there in their own stash. Then there's the box/es of strips and fabric scraps  along with the ever growing fabric stash. A Quilt As You Go(Qayg) project is called for.

I've cut all the bits of wadding into either 8.5" or 7" squares, anything smaller went for recycling, one has to call a halt somewhere.

I've dug out some of the strips.

Decided to attack the stash and use some of my hand dyed fabrics for back of the blocks, which I've now cut to either 8.5" or 7", with leftovers becoming yet more strips/scraps.

and I'm ready to go...

Hugs & Kisses - UFO January 2017

After much hard work, and just in time, I've finally finished Hugs & Kisses, January's UFO.

This is a terrible picture but its the best I could manage so it will have to do for now!

As you can see from the detail photos the quilting is very simple.

Quilting half an inch either side of the ditch of the blocks and then again on the outermost side of the middle section of the blocks. All done with a walking foot the half inch was chosen as that was the measurement from the edge of the foot to the needle, so no need for marking.

That's one UFO down and so on to February.....

Hugs & Kisses - Progress Report

I'm making good progress, and with a little jiggery pokery, I've now made enough blocks for a single bed quilt.

This is it sitting on my design wall in all its glory.

Now to get on and join the blocks together....

New Year - New Start

Wow, it's been awhile - a slight understatement!

So I'm back to talk about my New Year's Resolution which is to finish some, actually twelve, UFOs (Unfinished objects to the uninitiated!)

Yes I've vowed to do this before... and it didn't work. so what's different this year?

Firstly, in 2015 as I finished a project I recorded it in a notebook, just the date and the fact it was finished. This was useful I could see how productive I'd been and give myself a pat on the back each month and at the end of the year. Though a good idea it had no effect on the UFOs. So last year (2016) I also recorded when I started a project. At the end of the year I had a start and a finish (or not) date for each project, and I could see just how many genuine UFOs I'd actually finished. Turns out it was only two which was disappointing as in my head I'd been going great guns!

A new strategy is called for.
First - Accountability. I'm declaring what I'm up to here
Second - Finish one per month alongside any other ongoing/new projects.

My Rules:
I'm counting anything started prior to 2016 as a UFO, anything started in 2016/17 will be considered and ongoing project. I don't want to be adding more to the list and there are two from last year that are looking suspiciously like it, if given half a chance! Vigilance will be called for.

One project per month, I'm tempted to put minimum here, but that will just lead to overload and consequently abandonment, so I'll stick to one.

I've chosen, I use the word chosen loosely as I've actually just taken the first 12 off one of my UFO lists and allocated them a month chronologically. This might require some adjustment later as I've got some pretty big quilts in the first few months, but I'll deal with that as and when I need to.

January 2017
This month I will be finishing a single bed quilt called Hugs & Kisses, started several years ago using two jelly rolls. At the beginning of this week, when I found it, there were 36 blocks completed and it was destined to be a throw. But I thought if I add a couple more rows it will make a reasonable single bed quilt and use up more of the fabric, thereby adding less to the scrap stash!

This is a glimpse of it up on my design wall.

Now to get on with making more of the extra blocks....