Putting a hand to it

Once upon a time I almost exclusively hand quilted my quilts. Using the tools I had at the ready. Don't get me wrong, it was not, nor has it become a skill of mine, just a tool and a means to an end.

The last project that I decided to hand quilt is a queen sized bed quilt I made for myself. That is the death toll to timely finishes, let me tell you.

I finished piecing this quilt, I dunno, some time in 2007 or 2008 I would guess. Once I had cleared enough floor space to baste it, that went pretty smoothly. And then I put it in the quilting frame.

And worked on it a few inches at a time.

And then it sat. Untouched. Gathering dust and taking up space in my living room.
For way too long until I finally dismantled the whole operation some time last winter (or was it the season before??) and stowed both the quilt sandwich and the frame in my basement.

I am not sure what hit me during the last week or so besides the change in weather, but I was suddenly inspired to bring this puppy out of retirement and make some tracks.

So back in the quilting frame it goes, positioned in front of my super-comfy arm chair.

Just getting back into the swing of things...

A close-up of the needle in action

Now, as I stated before, I am no expert at hand quilting. I will never win any awards or even get more than 5 or 6 stitches per inch, but I AM reminding myself of the calming quality it has, unlike machine quilting for me.

I have no doubt that this will take me another year or two to ultimately finish up, but I am looking forward to the process. And as long as I have the space beside the chair for the frame, I shall stitch on.

WIP Wednesday - starting from scratch

I'm taking a new approach, after my cataloging of UFOs earlier this week, which I wrote about here. I came up with 17 already begun UFOs (spanning the last 5 or 6 years), not to mention 6 projects in the idea stage only (perhaps the fabric gathering stage, but not further than that).

Since one of my goals for this year is to chip away at that list of UFOs, I've decided to start my count there. I'll cut myself a *little* slack and not include the stacks of fabric waiting for action as WIPs!

Some Progress
So, the UFO I was able to strike off the list this past week (or rather, move to another list of completed quilt tops yet to be quilted) is the one mentioned in my previous post, resurrected from the pieces of a set of place mats that was just not to be!

I'm also finally making some headway with another project that's been lying in a basket off and on for the last couple of years...

I'm hoping to finish this top within the next week or so.

Now, I must admit I AM guilty of one new project! I've been lusting after one of the luscious AMH louLouthi flannels that Marie has at Cool Cottons, but since I rarely if ever work with flannel, I couldn't justify buying any. But sitting on my couch one evening, just dreaming up possible projects for this fabric, I figured why not make myself a flannel throw quilt?? Really, Lin, there's no reason you shouldn't treat yourself to a little gift, right?? So, today I picked up a lovely stack of flannels, which also happen to work with a few FQs I picked up a couple of years ago for burp cloths that never got made.

Can't wait to get started on these guys!! Y'all will probably see something soon!

Now, the bitter truth of starting my count where I am...
No Progress
(get ready for quite a list!)
Bliss November quilt
Purple/Green Asian sampler
Seams Perfect Sampler
Curved Piecing Aqua/Green
Batik Warm/Cool QAL
Lee & Glenn's quilt
red/brown/green I-Spy
girly hourglass
Medallion quilt
Judy Neimeyer double wedding ring
broken dishes
Trip Around the 9-Patch
Halloween Stack 'n Whack
leftover I-spys from Hopman quilt
tote bags
blue/green place mats

Tally:
New - 1
Completed - 0
In progress - 18
Unquilted tops - I'm guessing at 15

Thank you, Lee, for providing us all a place to link up and share our endeavors! Please go visit the others at

actual UFO count (oh my!!)

Okay, do any of you get a certain amount of motivation and inspiration from sitting down (figuratively) and cleaning up, sorting through and reorganizing your sewing space? I find it so strange that I can actually enjoy doing this at my sewing studio, but to clean and straighten at my house?? Hardly ever happens like this.

Thursday I went into the studio and was kind of in a funk. I'd been struggling with getting quality photos of the quilts I was hoping to submit for the MQG showcase at the Houston International Quilt Festival, which was seriously stressing me out. At least I had plans with J for him to bring his studio photo equipment to help me out - in the 11th hour, mind you. To say that I was distracted seems like an understatement, but we'll stick with it.

So, to help me focus and to get my mind off of the stressful photos, I decided to clean out the drawers and shelves and bags that held projects in progress, collections of fabric that I had selected at some point I can't remember to put together in an impending project, those sorts of things.

The count --- a whopping 17 UFOs! This does not include the 6 stacks of fabric simply set aside for specific projects, but not yet begun. Nor does this include the 15 or so quilt tops I have completed just hanging out waiting to be quilted.

A modest sampling of what I came across:

a starburst block that perhaps one day I'll try again

the semi-girly hourglass toddler quilt I began a few years ago for a friend's daughter, but decided to change course.

A quilt I drafted in early 2011, using the Kaffe Fassett print as the focus, but after piecing a few of the blocks, something fell short...

...so I auditioned another focus fabric for the pieced blocks

a set of reversible QAYG place mats

my personal sampler from the members' block selections for the Seams Perfect Scrap Bee.

a work in progress, with a particular recipient in mind

intended for my brother and his partner, using a Gail Kessler line from a couple of years ago.

another 60/30 diamond quilt started a while back that I've been meaning to finish up...

...and am one step closer to that goal as of this afternoon!

One of my goals in the coming months is to decrease this list considerably. And I mean to take an active approach, I tell you! So I am hoping that y'all will keep me on task if I seem to stray.... and would love to hear about any projects that you consider ready to come off your UFO list, so whadya got??

Over a hurdle

This past Thursday I cleared a hurdle. It was one of those that you see for miles down the track, and upon approach you stumble, bump you shins, psych yourself out until you are SO CLOSE to giving up and walking around it in the hopes of just moving on, but for some reason that's not an option. And then it happens, you clear your mind and concentrate on each individual step as opposed to the whole picture, and the next thing you know you're on the other side.

That is what quilting the Tangerine and Wine quilt has been for me. I think I was putting undue pressure on myself, for various reasons, which only results in a worse performance. And on top of that, because I am working on a very tight deadline, I found it difficult to concentrate on any OTHER projects in the mean time. It was like having a hangnail... no matter what else you're doing, all you can think about is this little annoyance! However, I took a couple of days away from the studio, away from my broken machine (which I still need to take in for repair!), and came back with a more open mind.

I came into the studio Thursday morning, set up and just went for it. I still did a fair amount of ripping stitches, but nothing like the previous week and weekend! And before I knew it, I only saw one more line of quilting that needed to be added!

A detail:

I was so happy to be at this stage (and with a whole 5 days to spare before the submissions are due) that I almost even enjoyed cutting and stitching the binding strips to the front of the quilt (my 3rd least favorite part in the quilting process, behind basting and the actual quilting!) But now I have the weekend to sit and enjoy the hand stitching of the binding, which I DO very much enjoy! Call me crazy.

So, that one being mostly out of the way, I am finally able to work on things that have been on the back burner for the past month.

I've pieced the backing for and basted last November's quilt for the Bliss circle of do. Good Stitches

And completed my second long-standing UFO quilt top of the year, Encapsulated - from a class with Lee Fowler here in Portland MANY, MANY years ago!

I'm looking forward to ticking off many more UFOs throughout this year! Have you all got any UFOs that have been hanging around that you're hoping to finish up in the near future??

WIP Wednesday - too many new!

There are actually quite a few things to report on this week, I am pleased to say! Last week and weekend I got some good, full work days at the studio, and new projects and inspirations on the horizon.

New Projects
We'll start small... I got a couple of sets of napkins squared away.

These would have been ready sooner except I was carrying them in a bag with a bottle of Best Press that decided to leak and soak a stinky, flowery starch alternative all over. Blech! Second round in the washer ensued.

Started playing with a new design and technique:

and have selected fabrics to try again, hoping the end result will be of a quality to submit for the MQG section of the 2012 Int'l. Quilt Festival in Houston this fall.

Completed
Okay, so this is a bit of a cheat, since I am still working on the binding, but by the END of today it will no doubt be finished! Quilted this baby quilt on Monday:

quick set of Jane Sassaman pillow cases

Some Progress
Completed quilt tops:

The Nubees blocks

A peek at project #1 for the FTLOS2 swap.

And baby steps:
finished cutting out freezer paper ovals to get the rest of those encapsulated blocks appliqued and ready to put together.

No progress
Bliss quilt quilting
Warm/Cool QAL
placemat sets
Starburst blocks

So the tally:
New - 4
Completed - 3
In progress - 6
unquilted tops - 16

Now it's time for me to get ready for work, then I'll be heading over to Lee's blog Freshly Pieced and see what everyone else has been up to this last week on their WIP Wed. posts!

WIP Wednesday

Well, this past week had a very different rhythm to it than the previous week or two, but I still managed to check a few things off the list (some expected, and some completely not!)

Completed
The Hopman baby quilt:

I got the binding finished up on a very slow and slightly snowy day at the quilt shop.

FMQ pot holders:

Throw quilt from YEARS ago:

Silly little table topper:

A few of these were simply a matter of bindings, but that counts as completed, right??

Some Progress
Summertime Stars quilt top:

Quilt top is pieced and on the shelf of tops awaiting quilting... it may be there a while;-)

Test block for Friends + Fabric bee:

I still have a fair amount of work on this one before it's ready for the next stage.

No Progress
Encapsulated
Trip Around the World
November Bliss top
Nubees quilt top
Warm/Cool QAL
place mats already cut out

This week's tally:
New - 2
Completed - 4
In Progress - 8

Go check out all the other activity in blogland through the links on Lee's blog, Freshly Pieced


Here's to a great week ahead, kids!!

Never too late (I hope)

As a periodic blog reader I undoubtedly came across all of the WIP Wednesday posts (hosted by Lee at Freshly Pieced) during 2011. As a novice blog writer, I wasn't ready to take on such a commitment.

It's a new year, right? Is anyone else feeling the magic of January 2012?

So, I know I missed the first installment, but I figure better late than never, yes? So, here's MY first contribution to the list-making, track-keeping, over-sharing of WAY TOO MANY things on my plate!

I'll begin with the UFOs. One of my goals this year is to address several (if not all) of the projects that were begun in years past, then shelved indefinitely, primarily because they were either from classes I took but didn't follow through on, or simply because the gift-making and etsy-friendly projects took precedent.

A partial quilt top and blocks from a class with Lee Fowler entitled Encapsulated, which I took from her over 5 years ago, easily (back when StoryQuilts had a storefront in Beaverton, OR, where I had the pleasure of working for an all-too-quick year+)

My Summertime Stars quilt using Amy Butler's "Love" – discussed in detail in this post from yesterday.

A quilt top awaiting quilting for the past 2-3 years. I pin-basted it on Tuesday. Honestly, it is one of about 7 tops that need to be quilted, but I'm only going to address them a little at a time (I hope that's within the rules!!)

Half of my blocks for my second version of the Warm-Cool Quilt Along, hosted by Jeni at In Color Order.

NEXT on the list are projects that are in process, but begun *relatively* recently:

Must finish piecing (and then quilting and binding) the November quilt for the Bliss Circle of do.Good Stitches.

A set of placemats cut out and awaiting stitching/quilting.

Started quilting the I-Spy quilt top I finished last week. Still have a fair bit to go, though! Hopefully by next week it will be among the "Completed" list!

Got the majority of my bee blocks from the Seams Perfect Modern Scrap Bee pieced into a completed top, now I just need to piece the backing and quilt it (though this one I MIGHT farm out... we'll see!)

I've been adding to my received blocks from September's Nubees block swap on Flickr. I now have as many as I want, with the sashing fabric around each one. I think I might need to audition another background possibility, but if I DO end up going with this Michael Miller fabric, I'll still need to get a bit more.

And finally...

Another quilt top that's been hanging out on a shelf for quite a while, which I finished quilting this past week, and am just in the process of binding.

So the tally?
Completed - 0
New projects - 0
In progress - 10 (and that's a conservative estimation)

So, what is everyone else working on??
Now go get inspiration, as I did, from all of the other creative folks linking in at Freshly Pieced!!

Venturing into the vault of UFOs

Today I decided to revisit an old project... and I mean an OLD project.

Okay, maybe not THAT old! Nearly two years ago I bought the Fig Tree Quilts pattern "Summertime Stars" and that stack of fat quarters of Amy Butler's "Love" with coordinating solids.

I started working on it almost immediately, making one stack of 10 blocks.

And then other things took over (as Other Things are wont to do). These blocks got stowed away in a wire basket along with the untouched fat quarters... until today!!

Until THIS

becomes THIS

Now, is it dangerous that I left the step of piecing the blocks together into a finished quilt top until another day? Days DO sometimes become years in my world. But I'm trying to change that. Here's to moving forward!

First of many

Lately I have been so concentrated on trying to bust out these smaller items that it has actually been ages since I have completed a quilt. When I moved into the studio space, it gave me an opportunity to reorganize, and pull focus to some of my UFOs, including finished quilt tops that have been hanging around for years waiting to be quilted. Some of them are so simple, and ones that I hope to be able to show at craft fairs, or at least to be samples of patterns/formulas that I work with.

Yesterday I basted my first quilt in many months.

An alternate color way to another that I have up on my etsy page

Today, another will get basted. The backing and batting are already spread out on the floor just a-waitin' for me to return...