Getting close to a finish.....

Recently pulled this UFO out to get it done. I was so close to finishing this and wondered why it became a UFO. On looking back in my blog, I found the reason.  My youngest grandson was on the way and my daughter wanted me to knit a christening gown.  That then lead to a couple of baby quilts (#1 and  #2) to be made.  Thus a UFO is born.  Oh and let's throw in a wedding and a wedding quilt, too!

I did think I was a little further along.  I thought I only had applique and two borders to attach, but actually had all four borders to do. 

Here you will see the two black borders attached.  The scrappy cream area is for the applique. 

Here's a close up of the black border.  It's scrappy, too.  

Added one half square triangle border here. 

Prepping the applique. 

Applique is done.

All that is left is the bottom border which is the half square triangles, too; but according to the pattern, she says it doesn't fit, so just whack it off.  Yeah...that's exactly how she puts it. But, I am just not the "whack it off" type.  So, I have made my border and I need to find a spot that I can lay out the whole quilt to get some good measurements before I attach the bottom border.  Then I will make my own adjustments WITHOUT whacking it off.  

Stay tuned for a finished quilt top in the next day or two.  

Seriously....did I need this much fabric?

I decided to pull another UFO out of the pile. This is my Gathering Baskets.

I felt I could look towards the next project because I only have the four mitered corners of my thimble quilt to hand stitch.  Here you will see I have the miters taped and ready to be stitched on that quilt.

I even have the backing cut, stitched  and folded up waiting to be quilted.  

So back to the basket quilt. 

I looked for my stash of fabrics that I had put away for this quilt.  Found them in my hand made bag and thought....what was I thinking when I bought all this fabric for this one quilt. 

Thankfully, when I pulled all the fabric out of there, I found the backing that I had pulled for this quilt, too.  So, there wasn't as much fabric in there as I thought.  

Thank goodness I stashed that away or I might have used it for my thimbles or something else.  

Then I had to go hunting for the pattern.  Sometimes it just doesn't pay to clean up your room.  Why I didn't keep the pattern with the fabric, I will never know. 

So, as I see it, my next step is to do the applique and then  there are two sides of half square triangles and then this quilt top will be done.  I am thinking it will be easy peasy.  

I do think I will re-configure the half square triangles from what the pattern shows.  This pattern doesn't have them fitting perfectly.  There are a couple that are just cut off and made to fit.  I am going to see if I can size them so that they will fit perfectly.  We'll see.  I will have to be in the mathematical mood when the time comes.  

I am actually looking forward to getting this one done now.  

First things first though.  I need to stitch those mitered corners, press the thimbles really well and then it is on the pile to be quilted.  

Ok....time to start doing some figuring.  

Trying to finish another UFO

A while back I was obsessed at getting this very old UFO complete. I am talking about my 2000 piece, hand pieced, thimble quilt that was started in 2006.  You can see where I was talking about it here.

Well I procrastinated again on it because I was going to hand stitch the borders.  Top and bottom were easy enough because they were straight, but the sides were the shape of the thimbles. 

I procrastinated because I was trying to figure out how I was going to do this.  In my head I felt I had a good idea, but to put it in motion was another thing.  Well, I bit the bullet today.  

 I drew a 1/4 " seam line on my border. 

Pinned all the lower points of the thimbles to the stitch lines.

....and started appliquing the thimbles to the border.  

I have one side down and one more to go.  

Now I REALLY see a light at the end of this tunnel.  Wish I had started this out earlier in the day so that I would have daylight to finish the second border, but at least I know this technique is do-able and it will be done in no time at all.  

My corners are going to be mitered.  Need to check the stash to see if I have a backing and then it will be ready to quilt.  

Smoke Stacks......

The brother-in-law of a friend of mine, Nancy, who lives on Harsen's Island  on Lake St. Clair here in MI loves watching all the freighters cruising by  and asked her  if she could design a quilt depicting the smoke stacks of some of these freighters.    She did a beautiful job on the quilt and then asked me to quilt it.  

Here's a couple close ups. 

Here is the completed top. 

I don't know what each of these smoke stacks stand for other than the Ford one.....that was easy....lol.

She picked a great backing for this quilt, too.  

I think the stitching on the back of this looks like the crazy paths these freighters might take. 

There are going to be some very jealous "freighter-loving friends"  when they see his new quilt; but Nancy did say that this was going to be "one of a kind" ONLY!

I know she is going to be ready to move onto something new and exciting.  She always has such great taste in fabrics and quilts.  

hmmm...now what's on the agenda?

What a lovely weekend.....

The weather was great, the fireworks were beautiful, family get togethers were fun and I even had time to work on my quilts.

I made a scappy binding for my very old 9-patch UFO  and completed it.  I sewed several scraps together that I still had gathered for this quilt to make the binding and in one day I sewed it on by machine AND hand sewed it down. 

You can see several different fabrics that I used in the binding in this picture.  A picture of the whole quilt will have to wait until another time when I have extra hands to hold this queen-sized quilt up.  

Then the topper today was when I got home to a package from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  I hadn't ordered anything, but this is what was inside it. 

A jelly roll called Bunny Tales. 

Well, wouldn't you know....when I bought the magazine for the pattern Babes in Farmland, there was this one other quilt in there that I thought I just had to make.  

I think this fabric will work perfectly for that. 

What do you think?

I am thinking this might just be the ticket for this quilt. 

Thank you Sandy for the nice little surprise.  

Now to decide which UFO is next...hopefully something that I can complete in a short period of time as that gives me a great deal of satisfaction....to see something completed.  

Stay tuned!

SOLD THE FARM!!!

Bunnies

Piglets

Chicks 

Kittens, lambs and Babes in Farmland.

Sold Babes in Farmland quilt today!

woohoo!!!