APQ 2016 February UFO - Update!

As predicted, I needed all 29 days in February to meet my deadline.  Of course, a trip to Florida was thrown into the mix with very short notice. 

But, I finished my UFO! 

 

This was a class project that I took at the Quilter's Barn around 2003, if memory serves me correctly. It is the Lasagna pattern from the Spring Cleaning book by Atkinson Designs.  Lots of good scrap busting projects in this book!  When this project was chosen as the UFO for February,  I did not realize that the top was mostly complete except for the three borders, but they were already cut.  I needed to cut the backing to size though.  Now most folks, including me, thought this would be an easy, peasy project to finish!  Well, not so much! 

 

Here's what I learned from this quilt:

 

I need to remember for the next time that I need a larger surface if I want to spray baste a larger quilt.  This one ended up being 60" x 70" and my work table is only 48" x 60".  A bit to small for what I needed to do.  I started out on the table but eventually moved to the floor.  I still prefer to spray baste, but not on my knees, and not on my cement garage floor!  I must shop for a larger table! 

 

As a rule, I don't do bias bindings.  I think I have only been successful at making a few one so far.  Since this was a Christmas project and there really wasn't much I needed to do to complete it, I thought I would throw in a level of difficulty and make a bias binding from red and white striped fabric to give it a candy cane look.  Before I cut any fabric, I watched some many, many You Tube videos and looked through my reference sheets.  I finally bit the bullet and made the first cut!  I was surprised at how well it turned out on the first attempt.  My confidence got a big boost so I may try this again soon! 

 

 

Finally, in my attempt to do more machine quilting on my smaller projects, I thought long and hard on how to quilt this project.  I resisted doing stitch in the ditch since I wanted the quilting to break up all the linearity of the quilt.  I had recently taken a machine quilting class and learned, among other things, how to do cross hatch quilting.  I thought this would enhance the horizontal and vertical seams.  I used my walking foot on my newish Bernina along with the stitching guides to make my quilting lines 2 inches apart.  I cross hatched the quilt from edge to edge.  I was pleased at the result so now I have another quilting technique in my tool box!  I attached the binding by machine as well, using a decorative stitch.  I need to practice on this technique for future projects.  I love the hand stitched binding technique but I was running out of runway for this project.  It will do for a quilt I will have out for two weeks a year. 

 

The UFO for March will be my lighthouse wall hanging.  The top is done.  The backing is already cut.  I need to make the binding.  Then the top can be sandwiched and quilted.  That's as far as I have gotten on this one.  I would like to say it should not be a difficult finish, but I don't want to jinx myself! 

 

2 UFOs done, 10 to go! 

 

Stay tuned!

 

 

  

APQ 2016 February UFO

UFO score:  1 down, 11 to go!

The February number was chosen on the 1st and the magic number is 5!  A good choice for me!  

This UFO is a Christmas Lasagna quilt. The pattern is from the "Spring Cleaning" quilt book by Atkinson Designs.  This quilt pattern is described as "An appealing quilt, even when the bed isn't made".  This one is right up my alley!  

If memory serves me correctly, this was a class project.  I started it in the class and didn't finish it at home after the class ended.  Not the only class project I have lurking in my UFO pile!  I have a sneaking suspicion it was not started in this century!  Yikes!  

Here is the project as it stands on February 1st.  The top has made a good start.  Many, if not all, of the strips have already been cut as shown in the picture.  The backing is shown there as well.  I originally thought no borders would be added, but that is not yet carved in stone.  

My plan is to spray baste this one and machine quilt it on my Bernina - with my walking foot from the start this time!  Stay tuned!   

APQ 2016 January UFO

My New Year Resolutions included working on my UFOs, of which I have several many!  I have joined the APQ (All People Quilt) 2016 UFO challenge to complete at least 12 of them.  In my previous post, I listed the 12 I am hoping to do in order by month.  On the first of each month APQ will choose a number of a month and that is the project to be completed for the current month.  So in January, the number drawn was 2 which is the batik log cabin quilt I started as part of a Pat Sloan challenge.  The fabrics for the logs came from a jelly roll of her fabric line and the center rectangles, borders and backing fabrics came from my stash.  The binding was made from the leftover strips from the jelly roll.  

At the start, the quilt top was complete except for the borders.  I needed to add those, piece the backing and the binding strips.  Then (gulp), quilt it.  

The starting point as of January 1, 2016.

The finished quilt as of January 31, 2016.  Actually finished 6 hours before the deadline - talk about pressure! 

Here is what I learned from this UFO:

1. Batiks are very different from cotton fabrics.

2. A new needle and a new rotary cutting blade make all the difference.

3. For the first time, I used a basting spray instead of spending time on my knees inserting hundreds of pins into the fabric sandwich.  It was so much easier than I thought!  I did the spray basting in the garage but it really had no odor.  I used 505 spray.  It also did not gum up my sewing needle!  

4.  Although I bought a new Bernina 350PE several months ago, I did not use it very much.  I guess I was so used to using my Pfaff that I didn't take the time to learn to use my Bernina, despite taking the course to do so.  I bit the bullet and used the Bernina to finish this project.  It took referring to the manual and watching a few You Tube videos (what did we ever do before You Tube!) to accomplish a few tasks but I am glad I took this step.  

5.  I am not very confident about machine quilting but I decided to try "stitch in the ditch" on this quilt. This quilt is staying with me so I felt ok if it had a few "practice" stitches on it.  The stitching went ok on the vertical seams, but I started to get some puckers when I began the horizontal stitching.  The stitching on the back was looking good, attributed to the spray basting.  The puckers occurred at the intersections of the stitching.  Of course, I have some wonderful quilting groups online that I queried.  I found out that the solution to puckers was to use my walking foot.  Hey, one came with my Bernina!  After some angst with attaching that foot, I started stitching again.  Not a pucker in the bunch!  A light bulb moment!  

6.  And finally, I learned the joys of machine binding!  I had always avoided doing the binding by machine because I didn't like the look of the stitching on the back, at least not my stitching.  I have started using the flange method of machine binding but I did not see a way of using this method on this particular quilt.  But, time was of the essence and I had a deadline to meet.  It went better than I expected.  I did pin the binding down first which I think helped a good deal!  

I am happy with the result.  The quilt is not perfect, but I like the 20 feet from a galloping horse rule!  And the quilt is done, done, done!  And done is always better than perfect, or so "they" say!  

I waited with baited breath for February 1st to see what my next UFO adventure would be!  It turned out to be #5 on my list - my Christmas Lasagna quilt!  A good one - lots of straight stitching!  

Here's how it looks now. Partially done top, lots of strips already cut and the fabric for the backing.  I have red and white striped fabric that I may cut on the bias for the binding.  A new technique for me!  I think I will need all 29 days this month!  

A New Year, a New List

Well, happy 2016!  It's been a good year so far and I have been busy quilting already.  I started the year off by cleaning and organizing my sewing room and setting up a better way of storing my stash.  The previous year ended with me trying to finish a quilt for my husband without him knowing anything about it!  Not an easy task to be sure.  The top and backing were completed but the quilting could not be done in time for Christmas.  So, it was presented to him unquilted.  I took it to the long armer at the end of December so I will have a binding project in early February.  I will post photos and the story behind this quilt when it is totally completed.  I am so happy with how it turned out though.  Stay tuned for the preview. 

So, a new year means a new list of things I want to get done.  This year my list contains some new projects, some with new techniques, as well as 12 UFOs.  That number is set since it is designated by the All People Quilt UFO Challenge for 2016. I listed 12 UFOs by month, APQ will pick a number between 1 and 12 which tells me which UFO should be completed that month. More on this later.

MY NEEDS TO DO:

12 UFOs for APQ 2016 challenge - target is end of each month (2/12 done!)
2 mug rugs - target date is end of January March August
1 table runner for our cabin - target date is end of January (done!)
2 baby quilts - target date is mid-February April July
3 pillow cases - target date is 3 in late January March July, 1 in late February April
3 night stand runners - target date is end of May September
1 table runner for foyer table - target date is end of February (done!)
1 large lap quilt will need binding when it gets back from the quilter (done!)

MY WISH LIST:

Double Irish Chain king quilt for our bed
12 Christmas star ornaments
Table runner for my daughter
Holiday runners (10 minute type)
Sudoku wall hanging
Holiday pillow cases (Halloween, Christmas)
At least 1 twin quilt from baseball swap squares
Place mats for cabin table
Several self-binding receiving blankets with flannel on-hand
2 pillows for summer room at cabin


NEW THINGS TO TRY:

Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt - use rotary cutter lessons
Hexie table topper using 1 inch hexagons
Scrappy quilt using Accuquilt cutting dies
A quilt retreat
Small applique project


When I organized my sewing room, I also separated my UFOs into their own location.  I find that I get more accomplished when my projects are visible.  These 12 are the ones I selected for the APQ UFO challenge.  They are in various stages of completion.  That was done intentionally so I would be more apt to finish them within the month for which they are selected.  Here are the 12 UFOs that I plan to finish this year:

      √ 2" square stash challenge lap quilt, needs borders, quilting, binding

      √ Batik string bean lap quilt, needs borders, quilting, binding

      √ Lighthouse wall hanging, needs borders, quilting, binding

• DWR hand pieced table runner, 3rd ring needs to be added, then quilted

      √ Christmas lasagna quilt, needs borders added, quilting, binding

• Jelly roll race quilt, needs borders, quilting, binding

      √ Bright table runner, needs quilting and binding

• Tumbling blocks WH, blocks to be added, then borders, quilting and binding
• Churn dash lap quilt, blocks to be finished, then borders, quilting and binding
• Nickle quilt, blocks to be finished, then borders, quilting and binding
• Civil War lap quilt, blocks to be finished, then borders, quilting and binding
• 2015 BOM, Blocks 4 thru 12 to be made, top completed, borders, quilting, binding

The one chosen for January is the batik string bean quilt, seen below.  I have all of the fabrics on hand for the borders, backing and binding.  The borders and backing came from my stash and the binding will be made from the strips left over from the jelly roll used the make the top.  

The borders will be the aqua fabric, the backing is the orange.  The binding will be made from the left over strips from the jelly roll I used for the top.  This was a challenge from the Pat Sloan quilting group.  The challenge required that some of her fabrics needed to be used, but my own could be used as well.  I don't use many batiks but I loved these and I am happy at how the top came out.  I will be glad to get this one finished although I don't know where it will live yet.  It is named "Outside my box". 
















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