UFO #2 Finished

If you will remember, this was the year of finishing up as many UFO's as possible.  My ultimate goal was set at 2 per month, but we have already established that bar was set a little too high.  So, I still want to plow through what I have sitting on my table for finishing up as many UFO's this year.

Last night I finished hand sewing down the binding on this  wallhanging quilt.  This particular one was a project that took longer than it should have, but we crossed the finish line, and I couldn't be more happy with how it turned out.  This is the summer version of a four season set, which was part of a Thimbleberries Quilt Club of 2003(you can go back and read more about it here).  It depicts a row of canning jars, a row of watermelon and it's slice, and a row of ears of corn.

I did special straight line quilting to try to depict the ring on a canning jar, and the slanted lines to show the jar had contents.

Here, I echoed quilted the watermelon to have it looked like it was sliced.

And I did the same type of quilting for the slice of watermelon.

I did the middle corn ears with just some straigtht line quilting, but the ears on the end, I got kinda crazy by using a decorative stitch on my machine to make it look like the kernels.  Turned out really cool, but it took way too much tread and time to do each ear in the row.

The backing was purchased about 10 years after I had punched the kit.  I did a search for the specific Thimbleberries fabric that was used in this quilt, and found a piece large enough to do the backing on Ebay.  The print that I found was used in one of the ears of corn, so the backing will be a good match to the whole wallhanging!  

I use Ebay a lot to find missing or older lines of fabric to either complete a quilt or for backings.  Bay rocks for quilters!!

Warmest...

UFO #4 Complete

I have completed UFO #4 as of this evening.  Below is the best pictures I could get for the evening.  This first is almost the whole wall hanging in one picture.  Below that are the close ups of the different type of quilting I did on this project.  I combined both straight line quilting and some free motion quilting.

This shows some straight line quilting I did in the two inner borders, and then some free motion meandering quilting on the outer border.

In the white space around the trees, I used a loop d' loop meandering.  and if you look real close, I did some free hand stars in the blue above the snowmen.

This picture shows the inner shadowing quilting I did on the trees.

I did some intense straight line quilting (every 1/4") around the stars.  The the center star section, I quilted from side to side, and the two outside star sections, I quilted top to bottom.  Gave it some visual context.

I am delighted to have another UFO project completed, quilted and binding.  I am planning to get some more finished tops quilted this summer.  It is a goal,  something I will work hard on.  

Warmest...

UFO Project #2

When finishing up the last UFO Project, you can see it here, I was going through my massive collection of Thimbleberries UFO projects I came across one of the first Thimbleberries Clubs I participated back in 2003.  My involvement with the Thimbleberries craze began in 1999.

This club involved a project per quarter rather than a block a month.  The first picture is the advertisement of the collection of the four quarter projects.  I have it taped on the front of a three ring binder, which holds the collection of the documents and handouts that I received throughout the year.

Let me take a moment here, and say that I am a "Type A" when organizing my projects, fabric, clubs, BOM's.  I spend as much time organizing as I do the actual time spent sewing.  With that said, I have to admit I enjoy doing the "organizing" more than the sewing and putting the projects together.  I've been know to re-organize stuff more than once, just because I find that part of it very satisfying.  I call it my therapy, but some out there who are not the crafts kind would think I might need professional help (smile).  I don't think so, as it gives me a sense of contentment!

Here is the first quarter project, called Window Box.  I have put the ad for this project and a swatch for all the fabric used in the project on a piece of paper and then into a sheet proctor, so that I can add it to the Project binder.  

I completed the first quarter club project of 2003 in 2009.  This picture does not do it justice.  It is currently hanging in my hall, right between the master bedroom and bathroom doorway.  Not a day goes by, as I walk down the hall, or going to bed in the evening, I don't take the time to look at it and to run my hand over the quilting done on the wall hanging.  Again, it keeps me content!  

Below are closeups of the three blocks used twice in this wallhanging.  It also shows how I chose to quilt each block differently.  The border quilting was done in a cross hatching pattern.

Okay, now that we have the prelude all done, here is the next UFO project I am going to work on over the new week or so.  This is the second quarter project for the 2003 Thimbleberries Club.  This will be perfect for my kitchen, as it has many things garden related, including blocks that look like canning jars.  For those who don't know me well, I can several hundred jars of food either from my own garden or from local growers.  

When I found the Club of 2003 package, I found that I had already started on this project by getting all the pieces cut out.  And of course, I took the advertisement of the project and a swatch of each fabric used in the wall hanging and attached it to a piece of paper (recycled, see the printing in the upper right hand corner?)  and had already put it in a sheet proctor, and was in the project binder.

So, now I am ready to sit down and begin sewing it up for another "contentment" piece in my home!

Warmest...