Surrounded Nine Patch - UFO finish #19

This quilt started many years ago as a block swap in 2002! I swapped enough blocks to make two quilts. This is the second one. Lots of fun memories from that swap group. First called Carrie's Quilters and then Common Threads. Still in touch with some of the gals.

Surrounded Nine Patch, AKA Chicken Feed 2

Isn't that an absolutely beautiful fabric for the backing. I've been saving it forever and finally decided it was time to use it. 

This one got a Warm and Natural Frankenbatt made of 13 pieces. 53x68

2019 #19 finish of 67 quilt top UFOs.  48 to go!

Finish-A-Long Q1 - #14

https://quiltninwilton.blogspot.com/2019/01/finish-long-2019.html

Jungle Rainbow - UFO finish #18

I just love this adorable and quick kids quilt. Use any fun fabric, add some coordinating fabrics and you have a bright, cheerful quilt to brighten a child. 

I'm always on the lookout for adorable novelty fabrics. This one really caught my eye.

Perfect backing and binding.  48x53

2019 #18 finish of 67 quilt top UFOs.  49 to go!

Finish-A-Long Q1 - #13

https://quiltninwilton.blogspot.com/2019/01/finish-long-2019.html

Florida Charms

This quilt top was made from a very interesting, eclectic collection of 6 inch charms. They are from a LQS that no longer exists in Key West, FL. I believe they were gifted to me from someone that visited there but, to be honest, I don't remember.

I'd been hanging on to these charms with the hope that I'd figure out what to do with them but finally decided to do just a charm quilt top and be done with them. I was prompted to work on them when I read about a group that is collecting quilts for the victims of Hurricane Michael on the Florida panhandle. Who better to enjoy these fabrics than Floridians?

Florida Charms

I was lucky to find a backing in my stash that I think works and the striped binding works beautifully.

Another comfort quilt finished and will be sent off this week.

This was not a UFO so does not count in my 2019 Finish a Long nor in the count down from my 67 quilts as of 1/1/19.

Birthdays and Finishes

I'm a little behind on the posting of my completed quilts. Last week we celebrated the birthdays of these great guys. Graham turned 3 on the 19th, Joe turned 66 on the 20th and Grampi turned 93 on the 21st!! 

We had a lovely lunch together and were so glad that Grampi was able to join us!

I've been trying to keep up with the quilting of the quilt tops but have been slow to get the sewing machine with the walking foot set back up after the weekend of lots of visitors. I've been keeping my work horse Bernina set up on the dining room table to do all the bindings. The rest of the sewing has been happening in my sewing room in the basement.

Today, I finally dragged the Bernina back out and got the binding stitched down on the pink and purple tumbler quilt. 

It's absolutely beautiful - bright colors, fantastic fabrics.

I was lucky to have enough of the purple dot in stash to use on the back and the green floral for the binding. I used Fairfield Toasty Cotton batting and did a machine stitched serpentine binding.

Another comfort quilt finished. It is 52x73.

2019 #17 finish of 67 quilt top UFOs.  50 to go!

Finish-A-Long Q1 - #12

https://quiltninwilton.blogspot.com/2019/01/finish-long-2019.html

Cut Off Triangles - Finish #16

Elaine had a large collection of cut off triangles that she was tired of hanging on to. She came up with this adorable quilt top. She donated the top to our group so I could get it quilted and it could find a good home. 

We found a perfect backing and binding in my stash. Again, to expedite these finishes and to be easy on my back, this was quilted with a large meander. And the binding was machine attached with a serpentine stitch.

It's not large, 44x49, but all the triangles got used and now there is this adorable comfort quilt as a result.

2019 #16 finish of 67 quilt top UFOs.  51 to go!

Finish-A-Long Q1 - #11

https://quiltninwilton.blogspot.com/2019/01/finish-long-2019.html

Batik Alternating Jelly Roll - UFO finish #15

This is, again, a result of the kits I made up last year when we were gifted the beautiful fabrics. I came up with the design and cut several kits.

 Surprisingly I wasn't able to find a backing fabric in my stash that complimented the top. My good friend, Joyce (the founding member of our little charity sew group), shopped and found a very pretty fabric that is a very beautiful mate. It is not a batik but blends really well with the fabrics.  The binding was from stash.

Again, to expedite these finishes and to be easy on my back, this was quilted with a large meander. And the binding was machine attached with a serpentine stitch.

This one finished at 56x70.

2019 #15 finish of 67 quilt top UFOs.  52 to go!

Finish-A-Long Q1 - #10

https://quiltninwilton.blogspot.com/2019/01/finish-long-2019.html

Pink and Green Tumbler 2 - Finish #14

Woohoo, finish #14!

This tumbler quilt was another project that came from the enormous collection of beautiful fabrics donated to us last year.

These were all quilt shop quality fabrics!

I love the tumbler quilt because I have the Accuquilt BIG and can cut out the tumblers so quickly and then they are such a breeze to sew together. CarolAnne and I spent many an afternoon crawling on the floor laying out the several tumbler kits we had prepared up.

Quick to sew up into a top. And now quilted with a meander.

It was so wonderful to have matching backing fabric and binding.

This quilt is 52x68.

2019 #14 finish of 67 quilt top UFOs.  53 to go!

Finish-A-Long Q1 - #9

https://quiltninwilton.blogspot.com/2019/01/finish-long-2019.html

Elaine's Polka Dot - UFO #13

This bright and cheerful quilt was made by my good friend, Elaine. She is a longtime member of Quilters with Heart. We are a group that has been meeting for probably fifteen years. Our main focus has been charity work, mostly quilts but also pillowcases. Elaine made the quilt top and then donated it to the group late last year. 

She provided the backing and I found the perfect binding fabric in my stash. I used a frankenbatt and quilted it with a large meander.

This quilt is 45x63.

2019 #13 finish of 67 quilt top UFOs.  54 to go!

Finish-A-Long Q1 - #8

https://quiltninwilton.blogspot.com/2019/01/finish-long-2019.html

Roman Stripe - UFO #12

Oh my, this quilt started as a block swap in 2000. The top was made pretty soon after the swap and has been waiting in the "to be quilted" pile ever since.

The backing is a green dot from my stash and the binding is from a piece in my stash from waaaay back. The quilt has Fairfield's Toasty Cotton batting and quilted with a large swirl flower.

It is machine bound with a serpentine stitch. It is quite small - 33x45.

2019 #12 finish of 67 quilt top UFOs.  55 to go!

Finish-A-Long Q1 - #7

https://quiltninwilton.blogspot.com/2019/01/finish-long-2019.html

January Stats

This has probably been the most productive month in the sewing room for me. The weather has been cold so hunkering down in the quilting dungeon has been great.

As the New Year approached I contemplated the bins of quilt tops I had waiting to be quilted. I knew I had to commit to spending a lot of time at the long arm. I quesstimated that there were 40+. I was less than right. There were 67.

As much as I wanted to attack the quilt tops I also knew that I "needed" to work on UFOs and new projects as well. And primary in the plan was to not add any unnecessary fabric. I made a plan.

• Quilt those tops - 13 tops quilted, 11 of them bound, 2 of them gifted. 54 to go!

Buy no unnecessary fabric - No purchases made

Work on UFOs - 68 string blocks made using the leftover strings from last year's donated fabric

Use the stash - All backs and bindings were from stash

Participate in PreCut Party - Two new charm tops made, 1 charm UFO completed

Declutter the Sewing Room - SOME progress made

My back has struggled but rotating my activities has helped to keep it functioning. This month my daily goals will be:

Mount or quilt a top every day - one day mount, next day quilt

Spend 1 hour at sewing machine working on UFO

Do fat quarter precut project as L/E if possible.

Declutter/cleanup one trouble spot

Bind in the evening.

Precut Party Challenge - January Charms recap

The Stashbuster/Heartstring yahoo groups put out a challenge to spend 2019 working on precuts. Great, I have tons. The month of January was to be focused on charms. Even better!! I estimated I had 9000 of them. Those are all nickels in the two narrow bookcases (meant to hold CDs).

The first project I made I used my black and bright charms. I love it BUT it only used 44 of the black and bright charms. So I now had 8956 to go. Hmmm. There had to be a better way.

For the second project I copied Mary Johnson's Quilt but made it bigger. This one is about 58 x 72. This one used about 160 purple charms.  Better! Only 8796 to go. 

Both of these projects were done as Leader/Enders. The final two rows of the purple quilt became a primary project as I just wanted it finished.

The third charm project I worked on was the Civil War Repro charms. This was already a top and it is now quilted and bound.

One month of working on charms = 1 quilt completed, 2 tops completed = 456 charms used.