Why did I do that?

Why on earth did I ever make a list of my UFO's!?!  That was the dumbest thing EVER!!!!  Or rather, I should never have mentioned it to my hubby......because the very first time I mentioned starting another quilt, he said "NO!  You HAVE to finish one of these others first!!!!"

WHAT!?!

I was totally crushed!

He, of course, was joking.......but deep down inside, I knew he was right!  DANG!

So, I worked diligently on one of the warm-hug quilts, and finished it the other day.  BUT.....to my utter shock (and thanks, Pat, for pointing it out......) THAT quilt wasn't even on the list!!!!!!

WHAT!?!

SHEESH!

How did I not pay attention to that!?!

Oh well.....I'm counting it as done, a completed UFO, a giant check mark on the list (cuz I added it to the bottom!), and NOW........I get to start a new one!!!

YIPPEE!!!

It's a lap sized quilt for a lady, as the prints are all florals.

It's also the first FINISH of 2013......AND......the first finish on my Grace quilt frame!  I've had the Grace frame for over 5 years now, and the first quilt I put on it stopped me dead in my tracks!  For some stupid reason, it was the first time in my life that I 'let' the machine wind the bobbin without me guiding and checking the thread.  I've always done that since junior high home-ec class.  BUT.....this one time, I went crazy, and didn't pay attention to it.  And I was doing a stippling across it, back and forth, several rows, and when I rolled the rollers up for the next section, I saw that the bobbin thread was all screwy, and loopy, and a giant mess on the back!!!!  CRAP!

And I walked away disgusted!

For years I kept saying I was going to get to it, but it became a make-do table top for pulling fabrics, laying out pieces for measuring, etc.  I almost forgot sometimes that there was a quilt on it.  Well, a few months back, when I was showing someone the room, I realized (like a lightbulb moment!) that it was a hand-pieced quilt on that frame!  So......of course I needed to get it finished!  Sheesh!

I took the quilt off the frame and rollers, and picked away at it.  Some of the stitching was SO tight that I ended up cutting into the back a couple of times, but that's ok, cuz I can piece the back now.  And it's a Christmas quilt......so now I have the rest of the year to actually finish it!  (Yep....that's another ufo to add to the dang list!)  lol

Well......since the Grace didn't have a quilt on it, hubby was so nice and he dismantled it, and brought it down to the 1st floor parlor room so I could start quilting on it where there is heat!  (Our third floor, where it used to be, isn't heated!  It's always been the rule that I'm able to quilt up there in spring and fall, but not in winter or the stifling heat of summer.)

And.....the Grace frame is designed to be used with a Juki machine.....which is what I have now!  Perfect!

So I'm happy to say that the Grace is getting used now......and maybe those ufo's won't be far behind this one on it!

BUT.......because I finished SOMETHING.......I got to start something new!!!!  Woohoo!  :o)

I've been in love with all the churn dash quilts I've been seeing on the blogs lately, so I had to start one of my own!  It's made entirely from thrift store shirts!  The blocks will finish at 5", so I'll need about 130 of them for my quilt.  I have made 19 in the last two days!!!  Yippee!  And I just love em!  I'm making some with matched fabrics, and some totally scrappy.  I love that look!

The quilts I've been seeing have a solid one-color alternate block, but I just threw a bunch of shirt squares to fill in the alternates......and I really like that look, so that's what I'll do.

I love that I'm using up some shirt plaids......I have 3 extra large shopping bags full of shirts that have just been deboned, but not cut down at all.  I have so much of them......and I need to stop hoarding, and start using them.  :o)

And, to totally change the subject......hubby and I just got new phones!  Smart phones!  Holy cow!!!  I know, I know.....most everyone in the world is leaps and bounds ahead of me on this!  In fact, while we were in the phone store, I sent my very FIRST EVER text message!!!!.....to my son, who promptly replied "Glad you are now living in the 21st century, Mom!"  lol

We figured with all the traveling we do, it just made sense.  And I was worried that if we didn't do something soon, we'd be so far behind, we'd never catch up!  I'll be playing with it for weeks until I have a clue what it does......but it looks like fun!  :o)

Hope you're having a wonderful day!  I'm going back to the sewing room to those churndashes.....they're so addicting!

regan

I think I got it!

First, let me just say, THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the great suggestions that everyone made for the sashing on my plaids quilt.  I really appreciate everyone for putting their two cents in......it makes for a fun day of playing with fabrics, and moving stuff around on the design wall!  And what's really fun about that, is that you sometimes throw something up on the wall, totally unexpected, and that's the one that screams out "YES!  THIS IS IT!"

I started playing with all the sashings again, and looking back and forth from pic to pic, and I was really leaning towards a lighter beige/cream sashing with the black cornerstones, but it was reading really flat.  Ugh!  I went back and forth with the black sashing, and still was just kindof flat.  Nothing with a spark, and not that I need a spark in every quilt, but flat doesn't make me want to finish it.  You know what I mean?

So, imagine my surprise when I thought "Maybe orange!?!"

Yeah, imagine!  Me.....orange......hmmm!

Well.....WOOHOO!  This is it!

AND.....on point!  Holy cow.....I'm loving it now!  And I love that it is getting that secondary grid effect from the black cornerstones.....woohoo!

I was so excited about it, I made 5 more blocks, lickety split, so I could really see the wow-factor!

Of course, I'm wondering why it took me so long to think of orange..... (ok.....it's cheddar for you repro lovers!  lol......that was for you, Pat..... now leave a dang comment, will ya!?!).

Maybe I should just start each quilt with orange, and go from there......it would probably save a lot of time!

Have a great week!

regan

Florabunda top is done! Woohoo!

I was totally in love with making this top!  I love yellow (it's right up there with orange!), and all those fabulous big florals were so fun to look at, and cut up (finally)!  lol

Here's the top.....finished!  Yay!  It's about 76x86......a good size on it's own, no borders.

It's actually darker, more like the 2nd closeup pic.  I think the sunlight from the window was fading it out a bit in the first pic.  I'm just in love with it!  Thanks Bonnie Hunter for showing us the original in an antique shop, and giving us the challenge/nudge to use our big florals.  I'm so glad I did!  This is going on my bed when done!  I thought for a backing, I would use the florals in big sections......they are just beautiful fabrics, and should really be used and shown off.  I like that it will be totally reversible, too.

So, while I was making the florabunda quilt......I decided I needed to do something else for my leaders and enders.  Up until this, I have been sewing together 2" squares of my thrift store shirtings......any two squares together, then those together as a 4 patch.  Not caring if the pieces were light, dark, whatever!  A totally scappy 4 patch......and I had been making these for at least a year, and now have a drawer full of 4 patches.  At least 400!  So during the florabunda quilt, I thought I should make something of these 4 patches.  Here's what I came up with......a little red sashing and a black cornerstone creating a 9 patch block.

I put 7 blocks together while doing the florabunda quilt, and I'm just loving them!  But I need to really think about how these blocks will come together......I tried a few versions of sashings.  Above is just straight black.

This is black with red cornerstones.

 Here I thought I would try something different with the black and red theme.....I think it overpowers the blocks.

Here I put some of the 2 inch shirting squares across a wider sashing.

I just don't know.  I think they all pretty much overpower the blocks.  But as I'm typing this, and looking at this last pic......I'm looking at the blocks on the right with no sashing between them......and I kindof like THAT look.......so maybe I need to do a light shirting as the sashing.  Hmmmmmmm.  What do you think?  I would love your thoughts or suggestions on it.

I'm going to keep making the blocks as leaders/enders.......until I have at least 20!  Then we'll see what happens!

Have a great week!

regan