Double Four Patch

I love a good barter and I can't seem to stop trading. What did I do this time? It is for another bronze statue. This is from a young new artist. He wants a king sized quilt in earth tones and I wanted this one of a kind bronze. The majority of the four patches were already made as leaders and enders ala Bonnie Hunter so I didn't have to make too many more. I raided my 5" square bins and came up with a lot that will work by cutting them down to 4.5". The rest of the squares will be cut from yardage and fat quarters. This will be a true scrappy stash quilt even the batting and backing are from stash.

This is  the UFO/WIP that I need to finish first. Stay tuned for progress reports.

UFO Challenge List

Okey dokey. Here is my UFO Challenge List. There are ten projects here, but the Number One project is that Double 4-Patch. It is a commission quilt and WILL BE worked on first until it is finished. After all, I have already received payment so I must deliver, right? There is a lot of applique here folks, five to be exact. Plus one hand piecing project that is more a WIP* than a UFO**.

*WIP - work in progress
**UFO - unfinished object

A Christmas Wish

This is the other Focus Quilt that I committed to finish in Finn's New Year's Eve UFO challenge. Simply quilted with diagonal crosshatching using a walking foot on the sewing machine, it measures 37x15".

The embroidered blocks were stitched at bee over the course of 2010 as the blocks were released from Gail Pan Designs: A Christmas Wish BOM. Another wall hanging was not needed around Casa del Quilter, but a runner would be nice under the class on the coffee table so I commenced designing an additional block because Gail's only contained nine blocks. You can find the pattern on my Freebies Page.

Once the embroidery was completed, I tried to match up fabric from the stash to frame the stitchery blocks. Nothing in the stash was quite right. Off to the LQS* and as it turned out, Thimbleberries fabric was the perfect match and so two FQ** came home with me. But I forgot about something -- the binding. Once it was backed, basted and quilted I realized I had to go shopping again for MORE Thimbleberries. O the horror! So another FQ came home with me and I was able to get enough binding out of that one 18"x21" piece of fabric to complete this table runner.

Whew! Finished just in the nick of time.

*FQ: fat quarter
**LQS: local quilt shop

Trick or Treat!

Did that get your attention? One project down and one to go.

Remember when I posted about Finn's New Year's Eve UFO Challenge? Thinking it was doable, I committed to finishing two projects. This is the larger of the two projects, coming in at 60"x60". It is my first real attempt at liberated piecing in the form of the words.

The last year was spent working on those stitched blocks every other Friday at bee and they are obviously different sizes. I used twisted frames to bring them all up to a consistent size. One block got twisted in the other direction, but I left it alone. I made one too many blocks so the extra one was turned into a label for the back.

Some of the designs came from various internet sites, some were clipart, and some were my designs. To see a full version of the blocks (and to be able to read them) click on the corresponding links below the photo mosaic.

1. Halloween001-th, 2. Halloween0009-th, 3. Halloween0003-th, 

  4. Halloween0004-th, 5. Halloween0002-th, 6. Halloween0005-th, 

7. Halloween0006-th, 8. Halloween0007-th, 9. Halloween0008-th

UFO Challenges

Have you seen the mentions of UFO challenges lately? Here are two that I’ve come across:

• UFO Challenge 2011
  JudyL of Patchwork Times is issuing a 12 month challenge to finish one UFO per month
• PhD Challenge
  Myra’s PHD (project half done) Challenge is for 6 months and you commit to a certain # of projects.

I keep a spreadsheet online of the quilts I’ve finished, the UFOs and the haven’t started projects. I know, I know – it is a bit OCD but I have tons of information at the touch of a keyboard. I accessed my spreadsheet just to see what I have in the UFO category; I am terming my UFOs as a project that has actually been started in some fashion.

1. A Christmas Wish – only needs quilting and binding
2. Echinacea – appliqué
3. She Wants to DANCE! – appliqué
4. Hugs and Kisses – appliqué
5. Iris Garden – appliqué
6. Shore Birds -- appliqué
7. Faithful Circle – hand piecing
8. Double 4-Patch – piecing
9. Embroidered 30’s flower blocks– piecing
10. X-stitch Calendar blocks – piecing

Do you see what I see in that list? A lot of long-term projects: #2 - #7 to be exact. Not something that could be completed in a month’s time, no matter how much I wish it so. I may commit to the PhD Challenge for #8, #9, and #10 since all three are machine piecing and I can then send them to a long arm quilter.

Did you notice that #1 was not mentioned? That is because it is part of the New Year’s Eve UFO Challenge. Hopefully, it will be quilted this coming weekend.

New Year's Eve UFO Challenge

I have joined Finn and some other bloggers on the New Year's Eve UFO Challenge. Want to join in? You can click on the badge over there in my sidebar and it will take you to Finn's blog.

Committing for two UFOs is maybe, just maybe, do-able. Now what should they be?

I would like to get this runner quilted before Christmas so it will be the first UFO done, hopefully.

The second UFO, is something I've been sporadically working on: a Halloween quilt. It won't be ready for Halloween this year, but I'll be ahead of the game for next year.

Thanks for hosting this challenge, Finn.

Crazy? Maybe so

If you are a frequent reader, you will have noticed that I am a member of The Appliquè Society. See it listed over on my sidebar under Society Affiliations? Recently, on the eChapter, there has been a push to make a list of the 5 (five) UFO appliquè projects members want to finish in 2010. I did not think that I had five UFO appliquè projects, but while driving back from Denver-town recently I had these items pop into my mind.

1. The Iris Garden
 You have stayed with me during my blathering on and on about this one but if you want to read more just click the link to read more about this quilt. This one is machine appliquè .

2. Father Christmas triptych.
I don't believe I have ever mentioned this one. It started in the 1980's? (check out the pin dots) with a quick (ha!) applique project of Belsnickel that turned into a larger project with nine blocks and now is back to a smaller one with three blocks. I have Belsnickel done, Father Christmas is partly done and the third is probably going to be the central figure in an Italian folk tale. This one is hand appliquè.

3. Dance!
This was a challenge quilt with MagicLady that neither one of has finished yet. I have no idea what her quilt looks like but what you see here are just a bit of the front and all of the back on mine. The rules are the perimeter could not be larger than 1200 inches total, the quilt is inspired by a song or poem, and had to use a certain fabric, which you can see there on the backing. See it? That polka-dotted one? I had this pin basted and ready to quilt but something bothered me about it so I unpinned it and it awaits further work. Of all five, this one is the closest to being finished. This one is machine appliquè.

4. Coneflower was started in a David Taylor workshop this past summer. I fully intended to finish this one because I just love the process involved. And we all know that I am a process oriented quilter now don't we? This one will be hand appliquè.

5. Something to Crow About is another challenge quilt that MagicLady and I are doing. We each have two of these very sad vintage blocks that we picked up at a quilt show. They are wonky, ruffled, not square and the red has bled into the white making it a mottled pinkish color. The rules are to make another quilt using these blocks either whole or using bits and parts. It must be 24" square. Other than that, anything goes. I have my design and coordinating fabrics. I just need to implement. We got the idea from Vintage Revisited exhibit at a quilt show. Want to know and see more? Visit this website: www.marywkerr.com. I have not decided if this will hand or machine appliquè yet -- to be determined based upon the design.

And there you have it. I must be crazy.

A Quilt Finish!

Hey Finn! Not much of a finish but it is a finish! I finally got the label put on the Minnesota Hot Dish quilt.

That's one down and 2 to go.