UFO List for 2012

Here is my UFO List (I'm only listing 12 of them) for 2012:

1. Roll Roll Cotton Boll - Still have 600 - 2" Half square triangles to sew
2. Stuffed Turtles - 4 to finish
3. Chart Your Course - Final Border and then Backing
4. Across the Sea - Finish piecing back
5. Red and White Block Lotto Blocks - Need more to complete a top

6. Crazy Mom Quilt - Add borders

7. International Round Robin - Fix and backing

8. Pink amd green with Mitered border - Fix final Border

9. Star Bumble Bee quilt - finish piecing add border

10. Chickens - Finish quilting

11. Postage Stamp Quilt

12. Diary of Hazel Ilene Quilt Along Quilt

I am hoping to finish one of these a month. I am sure that i will be creating new UFO's as the year progresses.

Friday - Saturday Sew In

My list was long and I got a lot done but the list included going to see my daughter perform in a Christmas production. It was hilarious. When I got home I got to sewing. Here is what I got done. A back pack for my daughter. She saw this fabric and told me I had to make her a bag out of it. Then my son asked me for a bag for his drumsticks. The Junior High mascot is a Husky. He wanted a husky on the bag. Here is what I came up with....

I was still completing the paper-pieced husky this morning. The top still needs to be sewn and the straps put in. He has 4 sets of sticks and I put a pocket in for his music sheets. I hope he likes it.

Too many things to complete!!

I can't believe that it is the 13th already. I did the Friday night Sew-In last friday but I was doing more of a knit in than a sew in. :) I got this far on this hat. (for my daughter's boyfriend) And i completed this infinity scarf. This is a pattern from Swan's Island and it is very long. The first two I made from the same pattern weren't quite long enough so I hope this is just right for her.

Saturday we all got up at the crack of dawn, swim meets, Holiday concerts, evening Christmas performances. Sunday was Church and more performances.

Here are the projects for this Friday night sew-in:

Complete the matching hat for my daughter

Finish the socks for my Mother

Sew drumstick bag for my son (he wants a paper-pieced husky on the front) (how am I going to do that?)

Make quilted bookcover for daughter

Make pillowcase for other daughter

Can i get this all done in one Friday night? No but I can try.!

Occupy Your Sewing Room

I have a long list of projects which need to be completed for Christmas and recently I have been reading a lot of blogs that are doing the Occupy your Sewing Room challenge. Well a lot of my projects are knitting so right now I am Occupying my couch as I knit. I am working on a pair of sock. They have 5 braids running up the front and after I turn the heel they will be running up th eback too. I can only do this project when I am alert. So I have a second project which requires very little thinking, counting, or cable needles. This is a Scalloped Edged Infinity Scarf. The design is by Swans Island and I am using an alpaca yarn. It is so much fun. This is the third time I have made this pattern and this time I added 52 stitches so it is 273 stitches. This is a lot of stitches. :)

The worst part is that I had 9 rows completed when I realized that I had twisted the first row and I had to take it all the way out. It was a double twist so it really had to come out.

I really hope to get back to quilting soon. The Friday Night Sew In is this friday. I will be trying to finish Orca Bay step 2 and start Orca Bay step 3.

My son has asked for a "bag" to carry his drumsticks. He has 4 sets of drumsticks. I have looked at various tutorials and I think I may use this one or this one.

That's all! Go have fun and occupy your couch or sewing room.

Another Friday Night

The first thing I did was get step #1 of Orca Bay finished. I am using a very deep green instead of black and my neutrals are on the white side. The next thing I did was sew together the rows of the Forest quilt along quilt. I like this quilt but it needs something more. my daughter says it needs a small brown border and then a wider Christmas print. I was thinking a little white border and then it's done.

I got most of the Backing for my Across the sea quilt done. It looks really big.

Then I laid the quilt top on it and remembered that I wanted to add a 4 inch white border on to the top and that is why i made the back so big.

That's it! I got alot accomplished and had fun. A great friday Night Sew In.

Friday Night Sew In Results

Well the list went out the window when I remembered that I had my class with Susan Carlson on Saturday. I hadn't done any of my homework. So I spent most of the night finishing this beautiful sea turtle. I also started a toad. I was pretty tired by the time I got to this spotty thing so he did not get too far.

I started the night off by trying to organize my scrap bin but was overwhelmed with the sheer volume of scraps. I settle with pulling all the colors i thought I might need for these quilts.

All in all another successful Friday Night

Friday Night Sew In - October

Well it is time for another Friday Night Sew In. I have lots more stuff on my To Do List. I have class on Satursay to work on my Sea Turtle so I should get the homework done...? This is a picture of a sea turtle at the Rochester Quilt Show. Isn't it beautiful? I am still working on my flippers and I haven't even thought of the background yet. I'll take a before and after picture. I have also been dreaming of a toad done in this style.

I have two bindings to hand sew and that is all I am going to try to get to this Friday night!! But... there is always the possibility I will get into my sewing room and have to start something new :)

Sister's Weekend

This is where I spent my weekend. That is Mt Dessert Island and Cadillac Mountain. My sisters and I decided a couple years back that we needed to get together every year to celebrate our Birthdays (which land in Aug,Sept and Oct). So the three of us used to get together for just a day and explore a new place. The last two years we have been coming up to Lamoine to craft for a couple days. I brought this quilt which only needed a binding. All the squares came from a Block Lotto win. I put sashing around each square and mitered the corners.

Next I worked on bindings on two other quilts but didn't finish them or take pictures because I really wanted to move on to the next thing. Here is the border I put on to this quilt top. I think now this is complete.

What I really wanted to get to all weekend was the Crumb along blocks from Jo's Country Junction. I got the Flying Geese and the Star Blocks done.

This is what my sewing machine looked like. Lots of scraps to choose from.

I am definitely going to do the rest of the crumb along because I really need to use up some scraps. The time together ended to quickly but it was so much fun. I am planning for next year already.

Rochester NH Quilt Show

My birthday is coming up so my Mom took me to the Quilt Show in Rochester New Hampshire. I am only showing you a couple of the quilts but they were great and there were a lot of them. Not as many as at Maine Quilts but still a lot.
I have been dreaming about making a Judy Niemeyer quilt, there were a couple of her patterns or patterns inspired by her. This quilt was pieced by Judey Clemons. She named it "Dancing Batiks"I loved how simple this pattern was and I might have to copy this. This quilt was pieced and quilted by Aimee Raymond.

This quilt was the first thing you saw as you walked in the door. What a precious face?

Here is a close up of the face. Amazing! This quilt is called "Dakota - Waiting for Papa to come Home" by Bette Jo Quinn.

We had a great day! I will definitely be back next year.

September Friday night Sew-In

Well another productive Friday Night Sew In has happened at my house. I thought it was going to be unproductive because i am working on a UFO that is a postage stamp quilt (king size) and i am getting a sore back sitting at my sewing machine. I decided to get at some of the other UFO's in my box and so ... I combined a Breast Cancer pink and white block swap with my Boomerang Buddies swap from the Quilting Board. I had sent a pale green fabric with little pink flowers and asked for pink green and white blocks. Here is the first one.

These blocks were the ones that the colors just didn't go very well with the bright pink of the first quilts. I am going to have them quilted and then donate them to either the local hospice group or the hospital. i might add a border before I call them really done.

In other news I am taking a class today at Mariner's Compass in Bath with Susan Carlisle. We are making Sea turtles. I'm off...this is such a great sewing weekend :)

Dessert Plate Quilt Top

I absolutely love this quilt. This is inspired by Modern Quilt Relish Dinner Plate Quilt Along. She is using a larger circle and has a fancy tool to stitch the circle into the square. I used the six minute circle tecnique. A little freezer paper, a glue stick, and some patience. The blocks aren't sewn together yet, but I think this quilt does not need a border and will go directly to my longarmer.

Across the Sea

Last night I finally got the bug and worked on this Quilt along. Here are the fabrics I chose. This Kaffee print I have had for a while and really love. I picked up this fat quarter bundle at Maine Quilts 2010. It is a bundle of Hand Dyed cotton from Rainbow Dyes of Auburn Maine. I love these colors. The pattern and cutting was really easy and I put the blocks together quickly.

I think this is my final layout. Maybe i will move those two dark purple crosses farther away from each other.

One Finished and A little Irene

My big goal for the weekend was to get the last border put on this quilt. I am in an International Round Robin and i had to put an 8" border on this. I put the orange border. I think it looks great. We drove my daughter to college on Saturday. Her and three of the kids from her class are going to the same college in massachussettes. We dropped off and drove quickly home to try and beat Tropical Storm Irene back to Maine. Mines the one on the left. She is saying "take the picture and go already Mom" Well they called us this morning and Irene knocked down too many trees around the college that power isn't going to be restored till Thursday. We were asked to come get our kids. She's home and a little bit bummed but the final straw was that she couldn't charge her cell phone and she can't live with out the cellphone.

What is on my Design Wall/floor

I know that design walls are usually on Monday but I am thinking of it now and have taken the picture.
I recently took a class at Maine Quilts from Jan Krentz. This is the second quilt I designed from the class.

Quilt alongs - I want to do them all!!

I have been bitten by the Quilt along Bug again! So I thought I would put together a post with all the great quilt alongs that are going on or will start real soon.

Oh, Fransson Billboard Quilt along
Happy Quilting Stars Quilt along
Diamoond Mountain Quilt along
Little Forest Quilt Along
Across the Sea Quilt Along.
Dinner Plates Quilt along

Now I will not admit to doing all of these quilt alongs but I will say that at least two of these have fabric purchased for them. I didn't join any quilt alongs this summer and am jumping with both feet now.

A little Sewing going on

Well here is the reason I haven't gotten a lot of sewing done. My oldest daughter has mononucleosis and they called last night to say that the strep test that came back negative on the quick strep test was positive. She has a rare form of strep along with the mono. We finally got a diagnosis on Wednesday but she had been sick for about three days by then. I think we may be turning the corner today, she actually got some school work done this morning. I did find time to work on these Block Lotto blocks for the month of March. this is the first time in a couple months that I have been able to make the blocks. They were fun.

I had to drive #2 daughter to a swim meet in Orono yesterday. During the met I got one of the Birdie Stitches blocks done. No picture today but I will put the squares around the block and then I will take a picture.

It is raining here and melting all the snow. It is a bit ugly but I am so glad to see the ice and snow melt that I will deal with the little bit ugly. :)

Results of FNSI

Here is what I got accomplished last night. For one of my bee's the December block was a paper pieced Harry Potter themed 8x8 block. We are supposed to make two blocks. This has taken me a very long time to finish. the second block is the Hogwarts express. It looks a little easier than this. If your not a big Harry Potter fan this is Hagrid's umbrella which we find out in one of the books has his wand hidden in it (or something like that) All of the patterns are available here. Some of them are really hard.

I did organize a bunch of my sewing room but that really isn't sewing. It sure will help me to get sewing quicker next time I get a chance.

Friday Night Sew In - February 2011

Yeah! It is another Friday Night Sew In. I have a short list of things I want to do.I need to take a picture of the twelve blocks i have received from my Boomerang buddies.

(Here are the boomerang blocks I have received.)

Cut fabric for Paper Piecing of Hogwarts express

sew remaining two boomerang blocks

stitch some of tweet blocks

That should keep me up a awhile. :)

Another Friday Night has come and Gone

I was really looking forward to Friday Night Sew In this week. I had a pile of projects that needed to be completed. Being the mom of three tends to mean that I don't get more than short periods of sewing time. Add to that the fact that the kids had a snow day. I was really busy feeding kids entertaining ten year olds. Cleaning up snow....and then it was FNSI time. Everyone was fed and my husband was designated taxi driver. This is what the pile looked like on my sewing table. You can see some completed blocksin that pile. I am a member of the Quilting board and I joined in on the Boomerang swap. I get 35 f8's of fabric from 35 different people, I make a block for each of them. I have sent out my fabric and they are making something for me.A couple people asked for Red White and Blue blocks. I have always wanted to try paper piecing a 5 point star so I tried it. It was a lot of fun.

Two people asked for Red, White and Black blocks. I saw a neat log cabin quilt in the Red White and Black scheme. So that is what I made for them. One of the blocks has chicken fabric in the center.

Well by the end of the night I have sewn 8 blocks. Before Friday night I had completed 11 blocks. i got all the blocks put in envelopes and ready to mail out.

I was kind of hoping that I would have time to work on my Roll Roll Cotton Boll quilt. I don't like the red that I chose and I am going to try a deep gold instead. Maybe I will get to it today.

This has been another successful Friday Night Sew In (FNSI)

A New Year and The List

I know we all like to look at pictures of quilty fabric things, so I included a picture of the grocery bags that I made this year. These were all made with blocks that didn't have a project.

So here is "The List"

Quilty Things to get Accomplished in 2011

1) Roll Roll Cotton Boll by Bonnie Hunter at quiltville
2) Chunky Star Christmas quilt - this one is all graphed out and I have the fabric
3) Put binding on Pinwheel Sampler, Modify Tradition, and my son's quilt
4) Postage Stamp Quilt
5) Crazy Mom Quilt - (I can't get this to lie flat and am stopped at step 6)
6) Little Miss Shabby Block of the Month - involves embroidery but I am going to try
7) Join at least 2 Bees
8) Don't increase my stash by more than 20 yards

I think I can accomplish these and maybe some more.

Enjoy the new adventure of 2011.

Balinda