Oh, that's where that went!

Like most people I have many projects that I started but never finished.  Some quilters call them WIPs (works in process) or UFOs (un-finished objects).  I call them "Oh that's where that went!".  I have several areas in my sewing room where I put stuff for safe keeping. 
 
You know the stuff I'm talking about?  That group of fabrics that are just made for each other so you can't break up the set.
 
This one is "Rachel's Basket", so pretty and feminine.  Just about my favorite colors, pink and green, in pretty floral prints.  This is going to be gorgeous!


 

Or how about the one where there's just a few more blocks to go - this one below actually did get finished last September and it's now happily residing on the back of my favorite comfy chair.

Or then there's the that 30 minute project that you're going to do the next time you have just 30 minutes to sew.  I've been wanting to make some mug rugs for ages now!  Isn't this one cute?  These are in my on-line file of table top quilting stuff.

And how about that baby quilt pattern you just fell in love with and had just the right fabrics all from your stash?  This one is called 'Tea Party" and it's a snowball and 4-patch layout.  I found all these pretty pastels in my stash but have I done it yet? NO!  They're all in the green basket near my sewing chair.

My all time favorite is when you bought those special fabrics, in those specific colors, for a particular person . . . .and then changed your mind!  These fabrics were supposed to be for my friend Kim's quilt. 

 

But after several block tests I changed my mind and went with fall colors and these beautiful chickadees from Timeless Treasures instead. She loved it so I guess it was the right choice!  Now I just need to write the blog post that goes with it.

 

 

My method for keeping track of all of these projects is to put them in a neat pile somewhere sewing room.  They could by in (or on) the green basket beside my sewing chair, on the 3-tiered cart near the design wall, in the wicker basket near the window, or even in the bins under my sewing table. 

 

 

All I really know is when I'm looking for a specific project I usually come across something I wasn't looking for that makes me say "Oh, that's where that went!"

 

How do you keep track of your unfinished projects?

 

A New Year With Lots To Do

It's a new year and already I've got a list a mile long of quilting projects I want to work on including trying out a new format for my blog. Change is good right?   :o)

I started this pillow top just before Christmas. I wanted something quick to work on while my Whacked Christmas Trees were at the quilter. I found the free pattern, Holiday Lane at Jill Finley's website, Jillily Studio.

 The piecing for the background was really easy and I had all the Christmas fabrics out so I decided to make four of them. The finished size on the pattern says 35" x 15" including the flange. Mine is about that size but I'm not going to have a flange. I bought a pillow form that is 28"x14" so I"ll make it to fit the form.


I used this fun fabric for the night sky. I found it at Joann's. It's the same print as the red I used on the back of the Christmas trees quilt.

I'm experimenting with the whites. I bought some creamy minky, some white wool felt, some white with glitter, and a white-on-white cotton that has some shiny bits in it as well. So far I've only made the one with the felted wool. It was fluffy when I started out but when I pressed the fusible on it kind of flattened out. I'll be checking with the Friday quilt group this month to see if they can tell me what's what with working on this stuff. It's kind of stiff so I'm not sure I'd use it again for anything. I'll let you know how the others turn out.

I'm finishing up the binding my Whacked Christmas Trees quilt and will post some pictures of the fun quilting that Lorri did for me as soon as I can figure out the picture problem UGH!

Planning what to do for quilts in 2013 was easy.  I've been mulling over some quilts for the family including Sally, Roddy, Sue, Dutchy, Georgie, and Basil. The biggest difference between these quilts and the ones for the Girls is I will be asking for a little input from the people getting the quilts.  The Girls didn't know what they were getting and that worked out just fine but sometimes caused me to delay while I fretted over color choices and patterns.  The six quilts for The Girls took me the better part of 2011 and 2012 so God only knows how long it will take for the Family Quilts but I'm excited to get started.

And the list of WIPs is pretty long too. 

These actually have been started: Steven's T-shirt quilt; my 1930's Bunny quilt; the Cone Flowers; Caroline's Mermaid quilt; campers; running shoes; and a snowball baby quilt.

These I have the fabrics for:  Rachel's Baskets; Birds;scrap quilt from The Girls scraps;  Fruit Bottom Ladies . . . . the list just goes on and on!

It will be interesting to see how far I get on any of these projects.  In order to inspire myself to finish some of them I'm seriously thinking of joining the "Finish Up Fridays" on Crazy Mom Quilts blog.  I'd love to be able to finish up a project and post it on her site.  She's one of my favorite quilt bloggers.

So hold on to you're hats 2013 is about to begin.  Happy New Year!

Marian's UFO's

Have you ever tried to work on a UFO (Un-Finished Objects) that someone else has started?  It's tough enough trying to finish up my own unfinished projects but to take something that someone else has started and try to finish it is really a challenge.  It's not something I've done much of and I can tell you after this experience I won't be doing any more any time soon! 

A while ago my sister and several of the girls in her Monday quilt group lost one of their regular members.  When Marian's family got around to cleaning out her house they had no idea what to do with all her crafting/sewing stuff.  I had never been to Marian's craft room but had heard stories of how lovely it was and how much stuff was in it.  She was involved in quilting, knitting, rubber stamping, and other crafts/hobbies.  So much so that her husband had a craft room built to hold all her stuff.  I often heard the girls talking about going to Marian's to enjoy group sewing or other projects.

After the family had taken the items they were interested in, Marion's husband invited the "Monday night group" to come over to the house and help themselves to whatever they wanted.  Each of the girls had received so much stuff that I understand it took them several visits to clean the whole room out.  While I didn't participate in the clean up I was lucky enough to receive several kits and a selection of fabrics from the stuff my sister Dutchy had received.  In fact it was a whole storage tub full of stuff!

 

The fabrics are beautiful!  And there were lots of kits of all different types and sizes of projects.  I selected several of the smaller table runners and place mats thinking they would work up quickly.  I hadn't touched anything in the that tub until last winter and what a surprise!

Occasionally one of the girls in my Friday group will mention that they had picked up one of Marion's projects to finish.  The comments were always the same;  poor Marian, she must have used some of the fabric from the kit on another project; or isn't this one of the patterns we did in class, it seems to be missing some pieces; or I tried to finish this project but the pieces are cut wrong. 

You see, Marian was in it for the fun not the finesse!  She had enough money to buy whatever she wanted, and her husband indulged her, so she often had two or three (or more!) of the same kit or piece of fabric.  She's buy several yards of fabric at the quilt shop then come in the following week and buy more of the same!  We all chuckled because we all wish we could do that!

So when I finally got around to tackling some of those UFOs from Marian I saw for myself that all the comments from the girls were true.  The first project was the Pumpkin Patch table runner - it was missing some of the beige background fabric so I substituted with one from my stash.

Next I tried the Bunny table runner.  This one wasn't missing anything.  In fact it had enough fabric to make SIX table runners!  LOL  I guess she was planning on giving these away.  She had completed four of the bunny faces and cut some of the other pieces but not all of them.  I decided to finish just two of them and put the rest of the fabric in my stash for another project.

And lastly I tackled the Christmas place mats. These were a puzzle.  She had the triangles cut but I'm not sure what pattern she was following!  And since they were cut on the bias, well, lets just say they were a bit "wonky"!  Again I substituted the red for some fabric I had in my stash and I think they came out pretty good.

I spent about two weekends working on these projects and when all was said and done I enjoyed the challenge and spent some time fondly remembering a quilting friend!  I have to admit I only completed the piecing on the 3 table runners and 2 place mats.  I decided that the next steps, quilting and binding, would have to be done by someone else so I returned them to my sister.  I'm not sure if she's done anything with them but now she can have some fun and fond memories of Marian too.