Design Wall Monday January 30, 2012

Stripes and dots and plaids, oh my!  I made two (I think) log cabin quilts years ago, or variations thereon.  One was a red/white/blue for a friend whose birthday is near the 4th of July, the other was mostly blues.  Boring.  Then voila'!  I saw a picture of a bright log cabin quilt that made me rummage around and find all these cool (and warm!) fabrics.  A few months ago, I had the urge to get Marti Michell's log cabin ruler, so I was ready to jump right in and start cutting.

These are just stuck up on the wall, with no plan except the darker sides alternating up and down.  Then I took the picture, and another voila'!  It's amazing what taking a snapshot can do to your perspective.  Of course, I'm familiar with the various traditional log cabin settings, and it's going to be fun playing with these!  Not just the dark/light interplay, but also the color arrangement!  Wheeeeee, having fun!

Go see Judy's blog today, where there are lots of "Design Wall Monday" posts, and interesting things to look at :-)  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012/01/30/design-wall-monday-january-30-2012/

Progress! Whoop Whoop!

It's done, done, done!  I've had this delightful Mary Engelbreit semi-finished quilt top and backing in my UFO pile for awhile.  I had the front finished, and loved it. I had the back finished, which was totally scrappy, bits and pieces, strips and parts, with the two "Friends" sayings in the middle.  The problem was that I couldn't decide if they would be two quilts, or front and back.  Of course, as you can deduce, they melded into one, I quilted it, and bound it, and it is fini!  I practiced quilting leaves all over because my buddy MA brought me a top to quilt that is made up of lots of autumn leaves, and she suggested leaves as the quilt motif.  I'm liking this already!

Awhile back, I blogged that I had finished the Y2K/Millenium quilt top, and was trying to figure out how to finish the back.  Well, lucky me, a lovely lady from Canada (!) read the blog and offered to send me her stash of fabrics that have 2000 on them.  They arrived Thursday, and I'm just floored by her generosity!!  There were three pieces, one was 2 3/4 yards (the aqua blues with "2000" all over), another was almost 2 1/2 yards (the blue with "2000" and "Millenium" all over), and a third piece that was a generous fat quarter.  Then yesterday, a friend here sent me three pieces, two half-yards and a nearly-yard of "2000" fabric!  From what I had previously, the center pieced bit and the pieces above it and below it, I added strips to both sides, and with the aqua pieces along the outer edges, it will be just enough, plus binding!!!  This is one ginormous quilt!  But wait till you see :-)

Quilters are the most amazingly generous, cheerful, sharing bunch of people I've ever been associated with in my life, and I'm so thankful I've found this world!  Thank you, so much for being here :-D

Now, go to Sarah's website: http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2012/01/can-i-get-whoop-whoop-making-progress.html to see a couple dozen whoop-worthy accomplishments by some of those wonderful quilters!

2012 UFO Challenge for January

This was #5 on my 2012 UFO Challenge list, one of Curtis Boehringer Quilting's Old World Santas, called "The Holly Father Christmas."  The block has been made for a loooong time, but when I did some thread painting on it, I wasn't happy with the results.  And thread painting is miles and miles of dense quilting.  Unstitching was not an option.  So I did the only thing I knew to fix it: I put it in the UFO closet and left it there.  It's probably a good thing #5 was the first one chosen from the list, because while I love the piece, I still don't love the thread painting, and would probably have put it back in the closet to sulk awhile longer.  This would not be a good way to start the UFO Challenge, however, so I'm going to work on it, beginning next week.  It needs a few more miles of thread painting, then I'll need to sandwich and quilt it.  You can't see the entire wallhanging in this picture, but it's a complete top, borders and all, measuring 28" by 45", and it really will be beautiful when it's finished.

Anyone else struggling with your #5?  Go see Judy Laquidara's website where she talks about the challenge.  And join in -- it's never too late to work on that pile of UFOs!  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012-ufo-challenge/  There are 191 who have already joined and committed!

2011 UFO Finishes/December

As soon as the Egg Money Quilt got on the bed, Annie was on top of the situation! This was the last of the 2011 UFO Challenge quilts that I finished.  Not that I managed to do all 12, but I did finish more than I'd expected.  And I have my list ready for 2012, in fact Judy already designed #5 on the list as the January UFO Challenge.  Argh, it's one that I've already put off a couple of times.  But I'm determined to get it done -- and since it's a Christmas wallhanging, I might get my first 2012 Christmas gift done!!

Judy at PatchworkTimes.com has links to other December 2011 finishes, go take a look!