My SEWJO is back

I finished a top! This is super thrilling for me since lately I just haven't felt like sewing.  I lost my SEWJO in January and just couldn't get it back.

Well, this past weekend we met up with family.  I met a niece for the first time and her two adorable little girls. I have tops made for the little ones but just haven't had the ambition to quilt them. But now I do! 

First I figured I'd get this top off the floor and onto the "to be quilted" pile.

I woke up early, started doing laundry and then decided to go down to the sewing room and, at least, finish the friendship stars...maybe add them to the header and footer.

I did that and forced myself to finish...put it all together. There really wasnt that much to do!

So it's done! It's a top. And I think I have my sewjo back because, as I was having a cup of coffee, staring at my new ottoman, I decided I need a new quilt for this room.

I have mostly blue, gray and white in the upstairs. I needed some warmth so last fall I ordered a new "coffee table". Actually, I found this cute leather ottoman and a tray to serve as a coffee table we can put our feet on. The leather picks up the warm tones in the rug and in my fish picture. 

Now I need a quilt that matches better. I pulled out my Autumn/Halloween quilt for now. But I'm thinking gray beige, blue, and a bit of orange/rust might be nice.

So I guess I back😁 Time to get working on more quilts!

And it's DONE!

Finished! Done! Completed!

So happy to check this one off the list.

I spent some time reading my very old blog posts from 2009 when I won these blocks and first started on making this quilt. I came to one post where I was saying that I needed to concentrate on finishing up UFOs before making any more starts because I had 16....16! I wish that was all I had now😂

Well at least now I have one less.

Here's some close-ups of the wonderful blocks my quilter friends made me....

A UFO and some secret sewing

This week I made a Christmas pillow for someone that sent me a HUGE amount of fabric without wanting/needing anything in return as part of #getyourquiltywishesgranted.

She likes Cotton + Steel Xmas fabric, something I don't have and couldn't find at our LQSs. So I used what Cotton + Steel I DID have and made this hexagon tree. There's a text print binding on this pillow because she works at a library.... 📚 Hoping she likes it. 

So the other project this week is getting this 4 year old UFO finished up. Its a row robin that a bunch of ladies from Charlevoix helped create. I did the row of trees and sent that off with some of my favorite Fig Tree fabrics. I had nine beautiful rows at the end but just never got around to stitching them together. The top is finished and basted. With any luck this will be a finished quilt before Thanksgiving. There are loads of leftover scraps so it looks like I'll be doing at least one more Fig Tree quilt. 

Architectual quilting

If any of you are on Instagram, check out robertkaufman today. They are featuring my daughter Lisa's quilt blocks. She finds pictures of buildings that she likes and turns them into quilt blocks.

 

You can also she all her quilting on her instagram, @lizafranfran on Instagram.

Since Al and I returned from vacation in Florida I've been catching up on projects started before our trip. I finished all my scrappy blocks and finished quilting my Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt.

Now I have to decide on a binding....

I might do something very dark or very red...so that it stands out.

Now this quilt top below is the UFO of the month that has to be finished. I am pushing myself to have it done by the end of the month. That leaves me what?...3 or 4 days? Sounds reasonable..

And this is the paper pieced stars that I took to Florida and worked on. I was able to add on about 2 rows. It needs a couple more stars in the row on the left and then one row on the bottom. After that I have to figure out how I'm finishing it and IF I'm hand quilting. That's the way I'm leaning.

Making progress

Well this sampler is quilted! So nice to feel the progress.

Yesterday was a beautiful day but COLD! Al and I were babysitting Henry. During nap time I got to finish the quilting and pick out a binding.

Barb, here's my basting space...fits a lap sized quilt but not much larger. The next quilt that needs basting will have me rolling back the rug for a couple of days.

So my old friend Denise (not age kind of old!) told me about a UFO challenge on the PATCHWORK TIMES BLOG. I'm not officially doing it but I decided to follow it this month. 

She has you make a list of 12 projects then pulls a number a month ....you work on completing that one. So number 3 on my list is dr. Seuss. I plan to finish this up and hope to check it off that rediculously long UFO list. PATCHWORK TIMES BLOG

Garage sale blocks

I had a garage sale last year after I cleaned out my sewing room. There were a few projects I had started but knew I'd never get around to finishing....this is one.

 I sold a bunch of these star blocks to a friend who then made more, sashed them up ..and wow...look how pretty! It's nice to see another of my UFOs finished up...even if not by me.....Nancy, can I have it back now?!