I want to play with wool

I don't know if its the slight chill in the evening air or the schedule change at work that has allowed me to have my relaxing evenings back, but I was really needing some wool time. So I have been working on this penny rug and its finally finished!

I have learned a few things, which is always a good thing, and I realize now that I need to throw my wool back in a hot washer for another go around, its really not as felted as I thought with just one trip through. I need to continue practicing my buttonhole stitch to work to get a more even consistent stitch width and length. But all and all, I'm pretty pleased with the result.

Stuff

The countdown is on! I have about 2½ weeks to prepare for the retreat in September. I have been cutting kits and gathering fabrics to hopefully finish loads of tops during the five day quilting extravaganza! But I have managed to complete a few things.

A chili pepper potholder made from a pattern found in Pam Bono's Big Book Of Rotary Cutter Quilts for a swap at Mailblocks. Lotto blocks using Marcia Hohn's pattern for Starflower from Quilterscache.com for lotto blocks.

UFO or UFOs?

So I did it, I backed a UFO with another UFO. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. Scrappy and fun...I'm smiling!

Back is Turning Twenty from homespuns.

Front is Wonky Houses from quiltville.com with some free formed wonky looking trees and geese all around.

Just a little time...

Last weekend my mom, sister and I all met in Gatlinburg, TN for a mini girls only reunion. We had lots of fun talking and exploring Smokey Mountain National Park. What a beautiful area, I know I will be returning as soon as I can! It was a great way to spend the first part of my vacation.

The second part has been spent doing a little tidying up around my sewing area and trying to get caught up on some swap/lotto blocks.

This first pic are my Blocks in a Box from The Golden Thimble.com Aren't they fun? Super easy and a nice size at 9" they will work up into a couple of quilts very quickly.

These are Bear Tracks blocks from Quilterscache.com Talk about a really nice autumn quilt for the winner Genevieve!

Me and my poor machine...

...have been apart now for almost two weeks! I have just not had a spare minute to sit down and have some girl on machine action and I'm truly missing it!
I would show some great non quilty pics if I had them. I guess I could take some pics of yummy recipes that I have been trying. But its garden time and who wants to see the sliced tomatoes and cukes I ate last night? Or the sliced cukes and tomatoes I ate the night before? :-)

Work, work, work makes Mary an unfulfilled quilter.

UFO Analysis

I am involved in a UFO challenge at Mailblocks, we have four months to complete up to ten different UFO's that we listed at the beginning of the challenge. This really got me to thinking about how many UFO's I truly have and what makes them UFO's. Why have some of my projects lain at the back of the closet or at the bottom of the stack for so long? So I decided to pull a few out and seriously evaluate them.

This is a 4 Patch Stack n' Whack that I started at last September's retreat. What about is it that had it tucked away to live a life of loneliness? I think its maybe because I don't really like it. I loved the fabric, the whacked patterns did not turn out as dramatic as I would have liked and the blocks look uninspiring. I am thinking they might be better served if I gave them to someone who likes them or make a little charity quilt. Its not that they're not nice, I am just bored.

These raggedy flowers are just nine of a total thirty six that I have from a row robin that finished in April. I like them, I plan to add leaves and some butterflies and a nice floral border. Why haven't I worked on them? I think because there's still so much work to be done to complete the top let alone quilt the big beasty once the top is done. Oh yeah, and let us not forget that once its done and on my bed a 90lb. muddy dog will surely fly in there to avoid having her feet wiped off and roll all over that cream fabric! :-)

This is an older one, Wonky Houses from Quiltville.com made during a swap in 2006. I loved the blocks and decided to make some wonky trees for corner stones. But its small, I want to make a really killer border, like maybe pieced deer or bears with larger wonky trees. Again...that's just a lot of work. Maybe I will just make a nice colorful scrappy border of geese and use the following quilt to back it?


Homespun Turning Twenty from 2007. This was a retreat project that I used unloved homespuns just to try out the pattern. Now I really like it! I have a distressed black that I planned to make an inner border and smaller pieces of homespun for an outer border. I think the colors will work well with the Wonky Houses from the previous post. (Wow, it sounds like I have a definitive plan...maybe these will be my next UFOs to tackle!)


A Row x Row from Quilting in Indiana. This is a killer top, can you guess what I haven't finished it? Because I have been too lazy to figure out how to continue the black and white pinwheels into the border. I have a really nice gray for a border, but my laziness just keeps me from continuing.





A row x row from Mailblocks, really cute isn't it? I designed it with a particular lady in mind, an ovarian cancer survivor that i have so much love and respect for. I have been telling her about it for 3 years now. I wonder when she's going to finally tell me to get off the pot and MAKE HER QUILT ALREADY!!! What has me stuck on this one? I am envisioning a picket fence border around the outside. Again, I am just dragging my feet at designing the block for the borders.

Another Round Robin. I am disappointed at this one. One robiner made her round completely contrary to my color requests. I'm sure you can guess which round has me upset. Its almost 2 years old, and I pull it out occasionally. My anger keeps lessening each time I drag it out, maybe in another year I will actually be able to throw a black border on it and get it quilted.

This was a Row x Row that got hung up in the events of one Robiners life and I got it back after an extra six months. I was so excited about this when it started, it just makes me happy to look at. But somehow it got lost in the shuffle and now I do not have the intended border fabric anymore....Grrr! So now I am on the lookout for a nice complimentary fabric, but it always slips my mind when fabric shopping.

There's another factor in finishing UFOs, the cost of completion. Now when I look at the stack of UFO's I cannot help but to see $$$ fly around in the potential cost for batting and backing. Of course I could always piece the backings...but that would become a UFO in itself!

Good Gawd! This is just a drop in the UFO bucket around here...this partial list has really hit home....I need to go and hang my head in shame.....

Decision Made

Ok, so the decision has been made. Not that I didn't like the waviness of the second, I just knew I wanted to do a border that would let the striped fabric really stand out and I was afraid the straight closed in border of the stripes would not work well with the waves. If it were larger than a kid sized I think I might have tried out the second setting. It is now on the frame and ready to be quilted....not sure how I want to do that either!
The applique is raggedy edged and was super easy to put together, all done in one day actually. DH asked what kind of template I used. I explained that I had to make special trip to get it and it was quite pricey...a dinner plate and a saucer :-) All in all I am so pleased with this design that I'm going to scour the stash for more workable directional fabrics to make another, I think the stripes make all the difference.

Opinions Please

This is the challenge for September's retreat called Dots and Dashes. At least 50% of the quilt needs to use stripes or polka dots. (Click on pic to see the patterns in the bullseyes are actually made from dots.) So which setting do you like the best?

Of course there will be borders, but I cant begin to think about those until I have my center finished.

Lotto and swap blocks

What I did with my Tuesday :-) First Lotto blocks in purple and yellows using Castles in the Air block by Quilterscache. And next swap blocks using Quiltville's Nine Patch split with Red Ok, now I really like the looks of these blocks. And since I started trying to convert my scraps using Bonnie's Scrap User's System I have plenty of 2½" squares and 2½x4½" bricks that I can make plenty more of these blocks.
I love scrap quilts, so I'm thinking a border containing greens would make a nifty Christmas throw that still had the scrappy look I love.

I'll be darned if it didnt work!

Have you noticed on my side bar? The listing of my fabric purchases? Half way though the year and the total is $245. That my dears is TRULY AMAZING! When I decided way back when in this post Looking Forward to start listing my fabric purchases to keep me in check I would have never thought I could have been anywhere near as frugal as I have been the first part of the year. I have to say, I think I am going to continue. I have barely made a dent in my stash, so why buy more? Its time to clear out the old.

However, I will be going north to retreat in September, with our regular shopping trip to Shipshewana, I know I will have to buy! buy! buy! at Yoder's and Lolly's. Plus, there's a Pennsylvania Dutch BOM at the Fat Quarter Shop using the Wisscasset Collection by Minick and Simpson that I'm afraid has my name written all over it. But I think if I am very careful, I still just might be able to stay under $500 this year....can I do it?