Working on UFOs

Merry Christmas! I am enjoying a quiet day at home. Gift exchanges with grandchildren will be next weekend.


I committed to finishing 2 old UFOs to enter in Bear Creek Guild Quilt Show in Feb 2012.  I started this one in 2003 or so. I had a picture of a streetcar light on a foggy evening in the Garden District of New Orleans. I went to a seminar that David Walker was teaching in Baton Rouge. I used my design and his raw edge appliqué technique. I liked it but put it up because I had no idea how I wanted to finish it. Today I am applying borders and going to load and quilt it. I want to hesitate, I want to make it perfect, but that has paralyzed me and now I want to finish it.

 
I am also playing with this die from Patsy Thompson. http://www.patsythompsondesigns.com/shop/product/bird-simple-or-fancy/


I have another ufo to finish and I am thinking of adding some applique

what happened to December?

This month has gone so quickly!


I finished the little friendship star quilt and turned it in at the guild Christmas Party. The lady in charge of the Silent Auction asked me if I wanted it back if no one bid on it. I was surprised and said I would take it back. It made me a little sad. It is not my favorite quilt but I think it would make a cute table topper or wallhanging. I am sure she was being efficient and not disparaging. I hope someone bids on it.

My bee had a dinner out for Christmas and a notion gift exchange.

I had a work trip to my home town of Kalamazoo, MI. It was the week of my birthday. How cool is that? I have had Michigan and Houston areas at my current job for 2.5 years but I never had a reason to visit Kalamazoo until this month. I had some great times with family including a cake from my favorite bakery! It was a fun birthday.

My grandson, Brandon came and stayed 6 days. We did Christmas shopping and wrapping. We played lots of games, and made juices and green smoothies with my new juicer.

Occupy Your Sewing Room

I wish I had thought of that clever title.  Go to http://catpatches.blogspot.com/p/occupy-your-sewing-room.html  for information on the occupation and giveaway.

I have been occupying my sewing room on this rainy weekend.  I completed the quilt for my guild's silent auction in Feb.  Well I am to the binding stage but I should be able to do that within the next week and turn it in at December's guild meeting.

I thought long and hard about how to quilt it.  I finally jumped in with the SID hoping I would come up with a plan....  It has continuous curves in the stars, some snowflakes in the background with flowing lines to represent blowing snow.  I did swirls in the border and outlined the some of the ornaments.  I am binding it with the red fabric.  I hope some will want it for a Christmas table topper or wall hanging.  It is 25 x 25.

Organizing and Playing

My grandson, Brandon, spent Thanksgiving with me. He and his little sister, Natalie came over Wednesday night. He wanted to be with me on Thanksgiving because he thought I would be all alone eating salad on Thanksgiving. What a hoot!


Natalie only lasted one day before she became homesick. Brandon stayed all weekend. We played marathon sessions of Plants vs Zombies, and he helped me organize my longarm tools and templates.

All my other grandchildren are in Tennessee and I won’t see them until Christmas.

Below are pictures of longboards under the machine in dish racks, an idea someone posted on a longarm forum, and also the small templates in racks on the bookcase.  I purchased pot lids from The Container Store for the smaller items.  I also bought a plastic wheeled bookcase that I can slide up to the longarm and keep pins and small rulers handy.

Fabric Garage Sale

I went to a garage sale Saturday. The fat quarters were $1 each or 12 for $10, and fabric was $4 per yd, batiks $5 per yd. Someone was selling their sister’s fabric after her death. Apparently no one else in the family could use it. It was advertised in our guild and many of the “shoppers” were guild members.


She must have had a very large stash as this was the second sale and there will be another one after Christmas. Wow! I would have liked to see her studio, and her quilts. She had beautiful fabric.

Below is a picture of what I brought home – 12 fat quarters, 2 pieces 3 yards each and one 1 yard piece.

I also loaded a practice piece and started warming up as I haven’t quilted since I went to Portland. 

Miss Spider’s Fantasy Flowers.

I had bid on this quilt in the silent auction at Trinity Valley Quilt Show. Apparently 2 people bid higher than me, but then they both backed out of purchasing so it was offered to me. It was made by a woman named Kay Valentine.


I love the use of fabrics, and the colors. On the stems she double stitched with green and it makes the stems look really spiky.

I have it hanging in my kitchen.

quilt inspiration Houston Quilt Festival

Here is a link to the winners  http://www.quilts.org/winners.html

Here are some of the photos I took of quilting: