No sew weekend

No sewing this weekend as Chris and the boys came to visit. Natalie went away for a girls weekend so we got to help Chris with Graham and Cooper. They were absolutely adorable and we had a wonderful time.

Green Pez - UFO #8

This is another quilt that came from the huge donation of fabrics we received last winter. Fun, quick, cheerful.  It is 50x67.   Like the others so far this year, it will be a comfort/charity quilt.

This was actually finished on Friday but the storm over the weekend prevented any picture taking.

2019 #8 finish of 67 quilt top UFOs.  59 to go!

Finish-A-Long Q1 - #3

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

Seahorse Strippie - UFO #7

Edit: This has been gifted to Harleigh.

Fellow Quilters with Heart friend, Elaine, wrote me this week and told me her daughter worked with a woman whose toddler daughter was very ill and in and out of the hospital. Did we have a quilt that we could give this little girl. Well, we don't have one that would be appropriate but we certainly have the huge pile of flimsies and I knew we had one that would be perfect.

The quilt top I chose was made using an adorable, bright seahorse fabric that I didn't want to cut too small. Perfect for Mary Johnson's Quick Strippie pattern. I cut out the fabrics, Elaine pieced it (sometime mid 2018), then I quilted it and bound it yesterday. Elaine's daughter will pick it up next week.

Seahorse Strippie

Sometimes having a huge stack of quilt tops at the ready is a good thing.

2019 #7 finish of 67 quilt top UFOs.  60 to go!

Finish-A-Long Q1 - #2

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

Juvenile Eye Spy - #6 UFO finish for the year

This is a fun, cheery quilt that I quilted up this week. It's a very long twin - 70x98. I'm not sure who in the group made it but I'm pretty sure it was a while ago. The blocks were made in that manner where you stack several squares, make a random cut, move the top fabric to the bottom of the stack and then sew. I can't remember the name of the method.

I found a perfect stripe in my stash to use for the binding. And I have finally given in to machine stitched bindings. With 67 tops to be done there just had to be a faster way. I'm stitching the binding to the front, fold to the back and the serpentine stitch from the front. So easy.

2019 #6 finish of 67 quilt top UFOs.  61 to go!

Finish-A-Long Q1 - #1

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

Finish-A-Long 2019

  

Sure, I'm in! A challenge to finish UFOs. It is made for me. I counted approx 67 quilt tops alone on January 1st. As of January 10th, I have already completed 5 of them, but they don't count for this challenge so I will list what I would like to accomplish after January 10th. I have 4x4 wire cubbies (16 cubbies) filled with flimsies. These are the projects from 8 of those cubbies.

These are tops that have been sitting waiting for quilting for anywhere up to 20 years.  Due to my ongoing back challenges, I will be quilting these in the quickest method possible - medium meander.

1. Juvenile eye spy 70x98 - Finished 1/16/19

2. Seahorse Strippie  40x54 - Finished 1/18/19  This has been gifted to Harleigh

3. Pink and Green Tumbler 48x66

4. Pink Railfence 60x60

5. Pink and Purples Tumbler 52x73 - Finished 2/26/19

 6. Batik Alternating Jelly Roll  56x70 - Finished 2/8/19

7. Pink Alternating Jelly Roll  51x58 - Finished 1/23/19

8. Green Pez 50x67 - Finished 1/19/19

 9. Pink and Green Tumbler 2   52x68 - Finished 2/6/19

10. Batik Alternating Jelly Roll 2  56x62

11. Triangles reused 44x49 - Finished 2/10/19

12. Jungle Rainbow 48x53 - Finished 2/26/19

13. Pink Alternating Jelly Roll 2  51x58

14. Bright Happy Blocks   45x63 - Finished 2/1/19

15. Neutral  88x104

16. Scrappy Pineapple Blossom  62x70 - Finished 1/28/19

17. Rainbow Pinwheels

18. Surrounded Nine Patch  53x68 - Finished 2/27/19

19. Disappearing Nine Patch

20. Bright Juvenile Strings   40x58

21. Blue Alternating Nine Patch

22. Yellow Irish Chain

23. 1930 Repro Square in Square

24. Random Charms   56x72

25. Flannel Red Checkerboard  42x52

26. Flannel Log Cabin   56x68 - Finished 3/11/19

27. Blue Offset Logcabin

28. Orange Strippie   41x54 - Finished 3/1/19

29. Orange Strippie 2   41x54 - Finished 3/4/19

30. Batik Charms   58x64 - Finished 1/29/19

32. Black PreCut Charm Challenge Checkerboard - 44x58 - Finished 3/30/19

33. Purple PreCut Charm Challenge   Will be 66x80 - Finished 3/17/19

34. Pastel Roman Stripes   33x44 - Finished 1/31/19

Civil War Finish #5

Quilt top finish #5 is 64x80 and made of 5" Civil War charms. I will update this post when I gather more information about who pieced the top.

Five done, 62 tops to go!! 

2019 Finish #4 and Charm top

Finish #4 is Nana's Garden, it was a Quilt in a Day block. This was a block swap from 2003. This top was assembled soon after that but sat in the "too be quilted" pile waiting for the time needed to quilt feathers in each neutral space.  Never happened and now I wanted it quickly quilted and done. So it is. This was 68x84.

Nana's Garden

This quilt I'm calling Charmed Checkerboard. In an attempt  to use some of my estimated 9000 5" charms I've joined the Precut Party over at Stashbusters/Heartstring. I did the quilt top as a Leader/Ender. Only used 44 charms. 8966 to go.  Still needs to be quilted.

PreCut Party

I have found a wonderful cause to send bed sized quilts to: The Carolina Quilt Project. I will be focusing on quilting bed sized tops from the remaining 63 tops in the pile.

2019 Finishes #2 and #3

On January 1st I guesstimated that I had 40+ quilt tops waiting to be quilted. The next day I took a quick count of those that were "where the were supposed to be while waiting to be quilted". The count was now at 55. Then two days later I had found 12 more in closets and totes. So, currently, the number is at 67.

As so many people do at the beginning of the year I decided to set some basic quilting goals for the year.

1. Quilt these tops
2. Buy no unnecessary fabric
3. Work on UFOs
4. Use the stash
5. Participate in PreCut Party
6. Declutter the Sewing Room

With those goals in mind I have made a list of daily tasks to aim to accomplish. Having several different tasks each day helps to keep my back healthier. It won't happen everyday but here's to hoping it happens a lot.

1. Mount or quilt a top every day - one day mount, next day quilt
2. Spend 1 hour at sewing machine working on UFO
3. Do precut project as L/E
4. Declutter/cleanup one trouble spot
5. Bind 

So far the goals have helped me stay focused and on the tasks that I want. I have now completed two more tops. Finish #2 is from a block swap in 2003 (I think). We called it Chicken Feed but I can't find any blocks online with that name. The top was probably pieced maybe 10 years ago. Now it is done.

Chicken Feed 2002

Finish #3 is a Triple Four Patch, also a block swap. This was from 2005. The top was probably pieced around 5 years ago and now it's finished.

Triple Four Patch 2005

The current count of flimsies is now 64!!

First Finish in 2019

I have my first finish for 2019. This is a simple charm quilt, set on point. It was meant for my Personal Trainer for Christmas but a little surgery on my shoulder set me back a few weeks. No big deal on the shoulder but no long arm use for a few weeks. So it is now finished. She was married in October and her husband's groomsmen wore red plaid shirts. I thought this would be appropriate. Hope she likes it.

Red Plaid

Patriotic Quilt

Donated this quilt to Piecemakers Guild. 

They are doing a drive to collect quilts for Female Soldiers: Forgotten Heroes. It is "Connecticut’s first and only community-based transitional home exclusively for homeless female Veterans and their young children. Housed at the Nicholas A. Madaras Home, FS:FH provides ten beds for female Veterans and five beds, when available, for their young children. The PFC Nicholas A. Madaras Home is named in tribute to a young soldier from Wilton, CT."

When I heard about this drive went in hunt of patriotic fabric in my stash. What I found was 17 Heartstring blocks and all the precut strings to make the 31 blocks to make a quilt set 6x8. Perfect! Another UFO now finished and warming someone deserving instead.